The main characters mode of existence in two literary works: Shylock in the Merchant of Venice and Ella in the Forty Rules of Love

William Shakespeare (1564-1616), is one of the most outstanding and important British authors. His plays are still very popular all over the world. By inserting comic dialogues and scenes, Shakespeare mixes comedy and tragedy in his works. The Merchant of Venice is one of William Shakespeare's most special, impressive and current plays thanks to its contemporary content. In this literary work we can see the results of othering the others. People's disrespectful and opportunist behaviours cause undesirable consequences. Our honour, well known Turkish writer Elif Shafak's book The Forty Rules of Love tells us the story of an unhappy woman called Ella who forgets her existence in her monotonous life. Later she discovers herself within the love of a man called Zahara and under the light of divine love by sufism. As a conclusion in these two literary works one can observe, the conservative Jew, Shylock's point of view which is far from the love of people and Ella's story which is full of love. This thesis is aimed to investigate the mode of people through their point of view to the meaning of human existence. The fight between humans existed since the beginning of the world. The first crime occured with the murder of Habil by his brother Kabil. After the industrial development capitalism which means money became the goal of people's lives. People's selfishness caused the wars; I and II World Wars are the most significant ones. After this process, humans started to lose the meaning of their existence, humanity an essence. It can be thought that from modernism to postmodernism this situation got worse. As a result, people turned into a machine or mechanic item with limited feelings, senses and emotions. This situation caused many problems. Day by day society gets worse, the attitude of people to each other is artificial and people are far from sincerety. When a person questions the problem of these issues and wants to examine the bottom of the iceberg, they choose this subject. This issue is so important because nearly everyone suffers from unhappiness and depression. With crimes, wars, and arguments people's lives turn into hell. Instead of hatred if a person prefers mercy and love, then his/her world would turn into heaven. The purpose of this study is to show that we are not desperate and alone in the universe. God is the source of love like the Sun is the source of heat to Earth. So, humans do not need to fight for anything because the meaning and existence of the person is the love of others and God. As it is known, people are not eternal or immortal, being cruel in a short time in this world is just waste of time. It can be suggested that in families, parents and at schools teachers should emphasize the importance of moral attitudes. Religious education can not be considered, not only memorising of prays, but also the education of being a decent person. As it is very difficult to separate the abstract with the concrete for small kids instead of theorotical knowledge, the syllabus should be prepared according to practical examples.