The Treatment of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice
The treatment of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice has long been a controversial issue. In the context of the play, Shylock hates Antonio and seeks his revenge in an unusual and even garish way by demanding a pound of flesh. Any villain would be seen as extremely villainous for that sort of behavior, but the villainy of Shylock has been tied to the idea that the play is saying his villainy derives from his being Jewish. In fact, such a view ignores the comic nature of the play itself and also the way Shakespeare gives Shylock real motivations for his actions and treats him more as a human being than would be likely if this were an anti-Semitic stance. First, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice has a number of reasons for hating Antonio and for seeking revenge on him and those Shylock sees as like him. Shylock is a Jew, and he believes he is shunned and hated by Christians. This alone differentiates his treatment in the play from an anti-Semitic rant, for Shakespeare recognizes that society does often demonize the Jew and that such a judgment is unfair, so much so as to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. He further discovers that his daughter, Jessica, has eloped with Lorenzo and intends to convert to Christianity herself.
Shylock is above all a man, no less prized by Shakespeare because he is Jewish. Shylock sets in motion the apparatus to bring Antonio to court:Go, Tubal, fee me an officer; bespeak him a fortnight before. Bloom notes of the drama that "at the heart of it are men" (Bloom 39), with all the faults and failures of men. Indeed, it would appear that the Christian hatred of the Jews is more an unreasoning hate than the Jewish reaction to being ill-treated. Shylock speaks of everything in terms of money, and this includes his daughter: "A diamond gone, cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfort!" (III. These events come on the heels of all the other reasons he detests Antonio--because Antonio lends money and does not charge interest, because Antonio has denigrated him in the past, and because Antonio is a Christian. Go, Tubal, and meet me at our synagogue; go, good Tubal; at our synagogue, Tubal (III. I will have the heart of him, if he forfeit; for, were he out of Venice, I can make what merchandise I will. Bernard Grebanier notes this and says, "I might convincingly enough make out Shakespeare's purposes to be anti-Semitic" with selective analysis: "But if I honestly wish to discover Shakespeare's intentions, I will begin with no preconceptions concerning Shylock's character, and start gauging him from the moment we first meet him in the play" (Grebanier 186). Bloom then notes that Shylock "is no more a mere means to exemplifying the Semitic problem than is Othello for the raising of the color question" (Bloom 39). He also has been asked to find out about Jessica but at this point has learned nothing new. The fact that Shylock speaks in prose rather than verse sets him apart and makes him appear to be of a lower class than the others in the play. This scene will lead directly to the court case that dominates the latter part of the play as Shylock seeks to exact his revenge for all the slights that have been visited upon him, including that of having his daughter run away with a Christian and take the turquoise ring discussed in this scene with her.
Common topics in this essay:
Jessica Antonio,
Merchant Venice,
Antonio Antonio,
Shylock Jew,
Bernard Grebanier,
Jewish Shylock,
Frankfort IIIi77,
Christian Tubal,
Harold Bloom,
Semitic Othello,
play anti-semitic,
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jewish community,
synagogue tubal,
shylock speaks,
bloom 39,
bloom notes,
seeking revenge,
shylock merchant,
merchant venice,
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Acceptance Essays
