Shakespeare/Merchant of Venice/Setting

Contrast the settings of Venice and Belmont.
 * 1) How does the imagery of water develop our understanding of Venice?
 * 2) Belmont, by contrast, is associated with mountains.

The final scene of the play is set to music in the garden at Belmont, and all the lovers meet and develop their relationships there. Gardens, like music, were very much symbols of harmony and romance in classical Greece and Rome, an idea that was picked up and continued in English poetry and literature, especially during the age of Shakespeare.