The Merchant of Venice coursework (about Shylocks gets what he deserves)

The running away of Shylock's daughter (with some of his wealth as

well) makes the audience sympathise with him because by doing this

Shakespeare makes the audience think that everyone is turning on

Shylock and he is lonely. By including lines like "my own flesh and

blood to rebel" and "I say my daughter is my own flesh and blood"

Shakespeare shows the audience how much he loved his daughter and how

much he wants her back, this also makes the audience sympathise with

him and it gives them a sense of injustice that he didn't get what he

disserved from the courtroom scene.

The fact that Antonio has stolen Shylock's customer's by producing

unfair competition. That makes the audience sympathise with Shylock

because what Antonio was doing was unfair and cruel. By including

lines like "I am as like to call thee so again" and "I spit on thee

again". Shakespeare is showing the audience that Antonio has no

respect for Shylock and it gives the audience a sense that Shylock

doesn't get what he disserves from the courtroom scene. Again this

only applies to modern audiences because in the days Shakespeare wrote

hid poems Jews were hated by people that lived then and therefore

didn't have the same opinion as modern day people who have different

views.

The fact that the law, unfairly, is put across Shylock makes the

audience sympathise with Shylock because the court judged him by his

religion and not the law. In the end Shylock has to convert to

Christianity or face death, which also makes the audience sympathise

with Shylock because it is unfair and undermines the law. Shakespeare

uses the line "A Daniel come to judgement", to show how much Shylock

thinks that the court is unfair; this also gives the audience a sense

that the court used the bond to force this on Shylock, and that

Shylock didn't get what he disserved from the courtroom scene.

The fact that Shylock chooses death rather than money makes the

audience despise Shylock because he is trying to kill a Christian and

it shows he is bloodthirsty and takes the bond to far. When

Shakespeare uses the line "If every ducat in six thousand ducats were

in six parts I would still not draw them" it makes the audience think

that he gets what he disserved from the court scene because of his

desperate attempt to kill because of someone that is innocent in their

eyes, a Christian. He is innocent in their eyes because in

Shakespeare's days people hated Jews and had a bad opinion of them,

which adds to the despised opinion.

The fact that Shylock shows no mercy during the courtroom scene makes

the audience despise him because it shows that he wont forgive Antonio

and make things right. When Shakespeare includes the lines "the flesh

nearest his heart" and "wherever pleases me" to make Shylock sound

like he wanted revenge by killing. This would give the audience a

sense that he gets what he disserves in the courtroom scene.

The fact that Jessica, Shylock's daughter, was imprisoned in her

father's house makes the audience despise Shylock because by

Shakespeare doing this the audience would think that he isn't allowing

his daughter to do what she wanted and is allowing her no freedom at

all. Shakespeare includes the line "She is my flesh and blood" which

makes the audience think that he is dependent on her and doesn't want

her to disturb him. It is no real surprise that she ran away. This

gives the audience a sense that he does get what he disserves in the

courtroom scene.

The fact that he cared more about the money and jewellery makes the

audience despise of Shylock because they will think that he doesn't

care about his daughter running away, he just cares about the money

which she ran off with! By this the audience will think that he is

uncaring and greedy, also selfish. Shakespeare includes the line "She

is damned for it" to make Shylock sound like he wants revenge on his

daughter now. This gives the audience a sense that he gets what he

disserves in the courtroom scene.

The way that the audience (modern or Old (Tudors)) interprets the

things that happen in the play plays major part in how the audience

judges Shylock because of the evolution from Shakespeare to modern

day. Nowadays people don't have hatred for Jews because of the

evolution of the religion all over the world, but then people didn't

understand religion and interpreted it wrongly, which was an unfair

disadvantage for Jews, individually and generally.