Merchant of Venice Sample essays - Squarespace · PDF file“The Merchant of Venice” - A Dramatic Scene! 8 ... comedy is the trial scene which takes place in Act IV, scene i. ...

1

The Merchant Of VeniceC i a n H o g a n E n g l i s h N o t e s

Shylock’s Character! 3

Points to consider about Shylock! 5

“The Merchant of Venice” - A Dramatic Scene! 8

Two Characters in Conflict! 9

2

Shylock’s Character

Shakespeare 's "Merchant of Ven ice" i s a fasc inat ing p lay that conta ins many

interest ing and compel l ing char acter s . A l though he on ly appear s in f i ve scenes of

the p lay, i t has to be sa id that Shy lock holds the interest of the aud ience f rom

beg inn ing to end .

The most impor tant aspect of Shy lock 's char acter i s the fact that he i s a

Jew l iv ing in a c i ty contro l led by Chr i s t ians . Ever yth ing that Shy lock va lues and

holds dear i s desp ised by these Chr i s t ians . They hate the fact that he 's a

money lender, and are deeply mis t r ust fu l o f h i s re l ig ion . Probably the most famous

monologue of the p lay i s where Shy lock defends h imse l f . He i s t reated bad ly by

ever y Chr i s t ian char acter in the p lay. They ca l l h im a ‘non-be l iever, [a] cut throat

dog and sp i t upon [h i s ] Jewish gabard ine ’ . However, Shakespeare does not present

Shy lock as mere ly be ing a v ic t im. In fact Shy lock ’s defence of h i s p l ight i s one of

the most moving and thought provok ing speeches in l i ter ature :

I am a Jew.

Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands , organs ,

d imens ions , senses , a f fec t ions , pass ions ; fed wi th

the same food , hur t w i th the same weapons , sub jec t

to the same d i seases , hea l 'd by the same means ,

warm'd and coo l 'd by the same winter and summer,

as a Chr i s t ian i s ? I f you pr i c k us , do we not b leed?

Yet , for a l l h i s pass ionate humanism, he can be a deeply unpleasant char acter. His

own daughter resents h im, he explo i t s the economic d i f f i cu l t ies of other s , and he

mistreats h i s ser vant , Lance lot . When h is daughter r uns away, tak ing money and

jewels wi th her, he concerns h imse l f wi th the lost money wish ing that she were

“were dead at [h i s ] foot , and the jewe ls in her ear . "

3

What makes Shy lock so fasc inat ing i s that i t i s ver y d i f f i cu l t to know how to

react to h im. When one examines the p lay care fu l ly, one f inds that Shy lock has

many s t rong mot ives for behav ing as he does . A l though he treats Anton io

desp icably, he i s not as we have seen without cause . The la t ter has by h i s own

admiss ion "spat on " h im, "spurned " h im, and "ca l led [h im] dog . " Fur thermore ,

Anton io i s ent i re ly d i smiss ive of Shy lock 's compla ints . In fact , he even goes do far

as to promise to do the same aga in :

I am as l ike to ca l l thee so aga in , to

sp i t on thee aga in , to spurn thee too .

What makes Shy lock 's char acter so interest ing i s the fact that he embraces an a l l -

consuming hatred fue l led by a des i re to ach ieve vengeance at any cost :

I f I can catch h im once upon the

h ip , I w i l l feed fat the anc ient

grudge I bear h im.

As a resu l t , he dev ises a reprehens ible p lot to destroy Antonio. However,

Shakespeare once more unsett les the reader when Shy lock 's p lans are uncovered

and he i s brought to just ice . Much of the p lay centres on the not ion of jus t ice

and " the qua l i t y o f merc y . " Yet , when Shy lock throws h imse l f a t the mercy of the

cour t , Chr i s t ian just ice i s exposed for what i t i s :

Be assured , thou sha l l have jus t i ce

more than thou des i r i s t .

In the hear tbreak ing t r ia l scene we witness a profound abuse of jud ic ia l power.

Here , Shy lock i s forced to renounce h i s re l ig ion and sur render ha l f h i s money to

Antonio, whi le the other ha l f i s promised to the daughter who betr ayed h im.

Desp i te h i s cr imes , the s ight of a broken and v i r tua l ly dest i tute Shy lock i s d i f f i cu l t

to bear.

I found Shy lock to be a fasc inat ing char acter because he insp i res so many

mixed emot ions in me . I fe l t revu ls ion at h i s a t tempted murder of Antonio, and

4

anger and p i ty over the t r ia l scene . Al though th i s p lay i s ca l led "The Merchant of

Ven ice" i t i s in fact , more than anyth ing e l se a p lay about Shy lock , the Jewish

money lender.

Points to consider about Shylock

Shy lock i s the negat ive and s tereotype p ic ture of the usurer that most

of the E l i zabethans had-one that was seen as a ‘greedy dog ’ , ‘ a leech ’ .

The interpretat ion of Shy lock ’s char acter i s d i f f i cu l t and a l so to some

extent ambiguous . He has been por t r ayed var ious ly as a comic

char acter a malevolent v i l l a in and a v ic t im.

Whi le he can be p layed as be ing comic , when he i s the t r ag ic

protagonis t he ‘usurps the centre of the s tage .’ Shy lock “represents the

k i l l joy aga inst whom the p leasure- lov ing char acter s un i te .”

Shy lock ex is ts as a v i s ible compl icat ion to the smooth r unn ing of

Bassan io ’s f r iendsh ip wi th Antonio and h i s cour tsh ip of Por t ia . One can

a lmost say that i s the char acter that makes the p lot poss ible .

As John Pa lmer has sa id , Shy lock i s “An imag inat ive rea l i zat ion of what i t

means to wear the Star of Dav id .”

Shy lock i s a Jew in a Gent i le Soc iety, an a l ien who i s never accepted . He

i s proud of h i s r ace , h i s re l ig ion but he i s up aga inst a Venet ian soc iety

that i s insu f fer able to the outs ider.

Even h i s daughter at tacks a l l that he holds dear. She mar r ies a Chr i s t ian

and takes away h i s money- h i s fami ly pr ide , the on ly “props” in h i s l i fe .

5

He is humi l ia ted and scorned at by the Chr i s t ians . One fee ls sympathy

for such a man , who i s more s inned aga inst than s inn ing .

Dur ing the t r ia l scene i t i s even less easy to make a mora l dec i s ion , a

comfor table d i scr iminat ion between the gent le Chr i s t ian and r apac ious

Jew.

The reader ’s and the aud ience ’s sympath ies are d i rected towards

Shy lock who ear l ier had p leaded h i s humani ty : “Hath not a Jew eyes?

Hath not a Jew hands , or gans , d imens ions , senses , a f fect ions , pass ions?”

Our compass ion i s due to Shy lock ’s p l ight but a l so because of the

unease that we exper ience at the behav iour of the Chr i s t ians : “A

Danie l…! Mar k Jew!”

Here the Chr i s t ian cr ue l ty i s on par wi th that of the Jew. However in

the 20th C we are more sens i t ive and consc ious about pol i t i ca l

cor rectness .

The i s sue o f r ac i sm has fur ther compl i ca ted Shy lock ’s char acter.

Shy lock ’s ro le at t r acts greater sympathy.

One fee ls that the Venet ian Chr i s t ians have den ied Shy lock ’s humani ty

and we are a l l the t ime reminded of the Ant i -Semit i sm of the Naz i ’s and

of the Genoc ide that took p lace dur ing the holocaust .

These modern at t i tudes then in the words of Edwin Booth , tend “to l i f t

(Shy lock) out of the dar kness of h i s nat ive e lement of revengefu l

se l f i shness into the l i ght of the vener able Hebrew, the Mar tyr, the

Avenger.”

6

Shy lock can be seen as a product of centur ies of r ac ia l per secut ion .

Thus Shy lock ‘ s char acter osc i l l a tes between the mal ignant car icature

and the d ign i f ied t r ag ic hero.

I s Shy lock a representat ion of the Jewish hatred for Chr i s t ians or i s he

mot ivated due to h i s per sona l hatred for Anton io? When Shy lock says , “ I

hate h im for he i s a Chr i s t ian : But more for…He lends out money

gr at i s…” one rea l i ses that h i s hatred i s based on money and he i s not

the re l ig ious mar tyr that he por tr ays h imse l f to be .

He takes a gamble when he lends the money and makes Antonio s ign

the “mer r y” bond. He has no way of knowing that a l l o f Anton io ’s

for tune wi l l s ink and that he wi l l be able to take the for fe i t . His hatred

for Anton io and the rest i s apparent throughout .

I t cou ld be that he i s a v i l l a in who i s a l lowed to express the sor t of

t reatment that has made h im what he i s and he just i f ies h i s route to

v i l l a iny.

However the humani ty of Shy lock as seen here i s an unconsc ious by

product of the Shakespeare ’s dr amat ic gen ius . I t i s an example of the

interp lay between techn ica l cr a f t and creat ive imag inat ion . I t i s an

example of a char acter so dynamic that i t takes over f rom the wr i ter

and assumes d imens ions of an independent ent i ty. He evokes an interest

that i s beyond the scope of the p lay. Shy lock for us i s not jus t a Jew; he

s tands for a l l the people that are d i scr iminated aga inst , people who

suf fer in just ice due to the i r co lour, re l i g ion and even caste .

And th i s i s the un iver sa l i ty o f Shakespeare ; he created a char acter not

for h i s t ime but for a l l t imes . But Shakespeare a l so set a dr amat ic

problem when he establ i shed ‘ the v i l l a in as hero ’ as Shy lock does ‘ s tea l

the show’ and over shadows the formal hero. And i t i s t r ue that , as E .W.

Godwin sa id , “at Shy lock ’s ex i t the p lay i s v i r tua l ly over.”

7

Shy lock evokes mul t ip le react ions in the reader and the aud ience . When

we v iew the Chr i s t ian smugness and hypocr i sy we see a modern par a l le l

to the t reatment of the any underc lass . But one i s a l so repu lsed by h i s

t reatment of h i s daughter and h i s mercenar y at t i tude .

“The Merchant of Venice” - A Dramatic Scene

The p lay that I have s tud ied i s the merchant of Ven ice by Wi l l i am

Shakespeare . In the p lay, a noble but impover i shed Venet ian asks h i s f r iend

Antonio for a loan to impress an he i ress . His f r iend agrees but i s forced to

bor row a sum of money f rom a cyn ica l , Jewish money lender. In order to obta in

the loan , shy lock forces Antonio to s ign a ch i l l ing contr act to honour the debt

wi th a pound of h i s own f lesh . In my opin ion the most dr amat ic scene in th i s

complex and controver s ia l comedy i s the t r ia l scene which takes p lace in Act IV,

scene i .

In th i s scene , Antonio has been brought before the Venet ian cour t as a

resu l t o f h i s fa i lure to honour the terms of h i s agreement wi th Shy lock . In my

opin ion , th i s scene i s h igh ly dr amat ic for a number of reasons . Shy lock enter s the

scene wel l past the point of reconc i l i a t ion . He wants Anton io dead and i s deaf to

the p leas of mercy f rom a l l those present . The ar r iva l o f Be l lar io of Padoa (Por t ia

in d i sgu i se) does much to he ighten both the tens ion and dr amat ic i rony of the

scene . Por t ia agrees wi th shy lock that the law must be upheld . By ins i s t ing on the

s t r ic t obser vat ion of the law, Por t ia forces the scene to i t s inev i table and

dr amat ic conc lus ion . At th i s po int the aud ience i s res igned to Antonio 's death . As

shy lock prepares to take h i s pound of f lesh Por t ia s tops h im. In a moment of

great dr ama, she te l l s h im that he may not sp i l l one drop of the merchant ' s

blood. Fur thermore , she reminds h im that should he do so ‘ ’h is lands and goods

[w i l l ] by the laws of Ven ice be confi scated” .8

The ef fect on shy lock i s devastat ing and the aud ience re l i shes in h i s

undoing . The he ightened tens ion of the prev ious moments i s rep laced by an

overwhelming sense of re l ie f as we come to rea l i se that Anton io ’s l i fe wi l l be

spared . Shy lock at tempts to leave wi th the or ig ina l 3000 ducats . However, Por t ia

reminds h im that he has a l ready re fused such a sum ‘ ’ i n open cour t ’ ’ a t the same

t ime she makes one fur ther dr amat ic proc lamat ion . She reminds the cour t and of

cour se shy lock that i f any fore igner should ‘ ’by d i rec t or ind i rec t a t tempts seek the

l i fe o f a c i t izen ’ ’ , then he must for fe i t ha l f h i s goods to the c i t i zen and the other

ha l f to the s tate . In a dr amat ic twis t o f fa i th ,Shy lock i s forced to turn to the duke

for mercy.

Two Characters in Conflict

The p lay I have s tud ied i s the “Merchant of Ven ice” by Wi l l i am Shakespeare . The

two char acter s in conf l i c t are Antonio, the Chr i s t ian merchant of Venice , and

Shy lock , a Jewish money lender. The b i t ter conf l i c t i s f ina l ly reso lved in the t r ia l

scene , in act IV scene 1 .

There are a number of reasons for the conf l i c t between shy lock and Antonio. The

f i r s t o f these reasons i s s imply Shy lock ’s hatred of Chr i s t ians . Th is i s obv ious in

the way he ta lks about Antonio ; ‘ ’how l ike a fawning pub l i can he looks , I hate h im

for he i s Chr i s t ian ’ ’ . The second reason i s Shy lock ’s deep resentment of Anton io ’s

ant i -Semit i sm. Shy lock r a i l s aga inst the in just ice of how he has been treated and

reminds us that he i s ever y b i t wor thy of respect as h i s fe l low Chr i s t ians :

‘ hath not a Jew eyes? ’ ’

Fur thermore , Shy lock v iews Antonio as be ing bad for bus iness because he ‘ ’ lends

out money grat i s and br ings down the rate o f usance/ in Ven ice ’ ’ . I f a l l th i s were not

enough , Antonio has publ ic ly r id icu led and demeaned h im in the past and

consequent ly, he wants to “catch h im once upon the h ip ,” in order to “ feed fat the

anc ient grudge I bear h im ’ ’ . The conf l i c t between the two i s fur ther accentuated

by fundamenta l d i f ferences in the i r per sona l i t ies . They are at the oppos i te end of 9

the mora l spectr um. Shy lock i s ego-centred , acqu is i t i ve and mercenar y. Th is i s

shown when h is daughter Jess ica e lopes wi th a Chr i s t ian , s tea l ing a sum of h i s

money in the process . Shy lock i s more concerned about the loss of h i s money

than the loss of h i s own ch i ld profess ing that he ‘ ’would [h i s ] daughter were dead

at [h i s ] foot and the jewe ls in her ear ’ ’ . On the other hand , Antonio i s se l f less ,

car ing and good-natured :

‘ ‘A k inder man threads not the ear th ’ ’ .

The longstand ing conf l i c t between Antonio and Shy lock i s u l t imate ly reso lved in

the denouement of the p lay, the t r ia l scene . When Bassan io asks Anton io for

f inanc ia l he lp to impress an he i ress , Anton io agrees but i s forced to bor row a sum

of money f rom Shy lock . In order to obta in the loan , Shy lock forces Antonio to

s ign a ch i l l ing contr act to honour the debt wi th a pound of h i s own f lesh . In the

t r ia l scene Antonio has been brought before the Venet ian cour t as a resu l t o f h i s

fa i lure to honour the terms of h i s bond. Shy lock enter s the cour t wel l past the

point of reconc i l i a t ion , he wants Anton io dead and i s deaf to the p leas of mercy

f rom a l l those present . He sharpens h i s kn i fe ready to r ip out Antonio 's hear t . A

d isgu i sed Por t ia takes char ge of proceedings , but shy lock i s unmoved by her p leas

for mercy. He ins i s ts that the terms of the bond must be met :

‘ ‘ Le t h im look to h i s bond , he was wont to ca l l me usurer. Let

h im look to h i s bond , he was wont to lend money for a

Chr i s t ian cour tesy. Let h im look to h i s bond .’ ’

Although a l l the cards seem in h i s favour, Shy lock su f fer s a cr ush ing rever sa l . The

conf l i c t i s u l t imate ly reso lved in Antonio ’s favour when the v i l l a in i s undone by

h i s own treacher y. Por t ia po ints out that i f he takes a s ing le drop of Anton io ’s

blood he wi l l loose ever yth ing ; because , th i s i s not par t o f the bond. Shy lock i s

‘ ’ho is t by h i s own petard ’ ’ . As a resu l t o f h i s conf l i c t wi th Antonio, he loses ha l f h i s

wea l th and i s forced to become Chr i s t ian . He leaves the cour t a broken man.

10

For a var iety of reasons Shy lock and Antonio engage in a b i t ter and long

r unn ing Conf l i c t . In the end , Shy lock i s destroyed by th i s conf l i c t and the aud ience

i s le f t wonder ing about the just ice of what happens to h im.

11