In Act 1 Scene1 Shylock tries to justify having his revenge on Antonio. He makes a powerful speech using rhetorical questions to make the audience see that the Christians have treated him wrongly. He says “for sufferance is the badge of all our tribe” He tries to show that even though he is a different religion he is the same as the Christians. Shylock says “hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hard organs, dimensions, senses affections, passions? Shakespeare uses rhetorical questions here to provoke the audience. He also says “ If you poisons us do we not die” He is saying that they die as well as the Christians The audience then would have reacted shocked that they were being compared to the Jews they are totally unmoved by this the power of his speech. A modern day audience would feel angry on Shylock’s behalf. They would feel he is right.
In Belmont Portia’s dead Father has instructed his daughter only to marry the person who solves the riddle. If she does not do this she will lose all her fortune. Portia is also shallow we can tell this because she ridicules one of the suitors to Nerrissa. “God made him and therefore let him pass for a man” Bassanio appears to be stupid when he does not get the riddle right he needs hints to help him choose the right casket. Portia is singing words rhyming with lead “Bred head” This shows that Bassanio is stupid and is insulting to the Christian audience because they would not like to appear stupid or to be mocked but they were too arrogant and did not notice.
Like Bassanio and Portia, Jessica and Lancelot are shallow because Jessica becomes a Christian to spite her father. Her hate for her father shylock is unjust because all he seems to do is protect her because he does not want her to go through the same pain as he does with the Christians. We can tell she dislikes him because she says “Though I am daughter by blood I am not to his manners.” This shows that she really hates him and wishes they were not father and daughter. While leaving Jessica steals all of her Father’s jewels and a lot of his money. Among the jewels is Shylock wife’s ring, He says where he got the ring from he says “I had it Leah when I was just a bachelor.” The Audience feel he does not deserve this because he has only loved and cherished, Jessica, She has also stolen his ring that was from his wife.
The ring is later sold for a monkey, Shylock is furious because that is the only thing that reminds him of his dead wife. We can tell he truly cherished the ring because he says “I would not have sold it for a wilderness of monkeys.” This shows he truly loved his wife unlike Bassanio and Portia who are only getting married for the money and looks. This is the first time Shylock is not seen as just loving money he seems to really care about Leah &Jessica. A Shakespearian audience would not feel sorry for Shylock as they would think Jessica’s action as justified.
Shylock has been let down and badly treated by the Christians and Shakespeare uses this as the reason for Shylocks later actions. Shylock swears revenge “I will have the heart of him if he forfeit” He has been badly treated by the Christians and now wants his revenge. A Shakespearian audience would have believed he had deserved this treatment. A modern audience would not.
In the court scene Shylock’s emotions change many times, First he feels intimidated because so many Christians are telling him to have mercy on Antonio Bassanio calls him an “unfeeling man” and tells him he cannot ‘excuse the current of my cruelty”. Then Shylock becomes angry as he feels he is entitled to his bond. He says “the pound of flesh which I demand of is dearly bought, “tis mine and I will have it”. He is also arrogant as he turns down all offers of extra money from Antonio’s friends. He appears cruel as he sharpens his knife in court so he can “out the forfeiture from that bankrupt there”. The Christian audience would see Shylock as very callous and unfeeling when he does this. However the modern audience would have mixed feelings. Shylock points out that “you have among you many a purchased slave” so we can see that the Christians can be just as cruel.
When Portia enters and agrees with everything Shylock says Shylock is happy and excited He shows this by the way he keeps praising Portia “a noble judge, an excellent young man.” At this point he thinks the case is going in his favour. However the audience can guess it will not stay this way. When Shylock is completely confident that he will win the case Portia brings up a point of law which completely ruins Shylock’s argument.
Shylock’s mood changes dramatically to sadness and disappointment when he realizes what he has lost. A modern audience would feel sorry for Shylock when he says “my life when you do take the means whereby I live” He is emphasizing how important his house and money are to him. Shylock is humiliated but to what extent the audience feels he deserves this depends on the way the actor plays the part. The actor would act sad and humiliated so the audience would feel more sorry for him.
Shylock walks off the stage appearing totally dismayed He does not appear again in the play. Instead the turn of the play turns completely and becomes a comedy in the final act with the trick Portia and Nerrisa with their rings. An Elizabethan audience would have found this a comic ending. However a modern day audience would have found this an inappropriate ending as it Attracts from the argument Shakespeare is making about anti Semitism. He does however make a point in the scene as Christians Bassanio and Gratioarno give away their ring with out much persuasion Gratioarno calls it “ a paltry ring” This contrasts with shylock who is devastated to find Jessica gave away his ring from his dead wife he says he would not have swapped this for a “ Wilderness of monkeys”. Here Shylock appears better than the Christians. But the Elizabethan audience would not have seen this.
Shylock’s punishment is not deserved because he should have had the pound of flesh not lose his religion, money, and house. It could be argued he did deserve the punishment because he was quite arrogant and annoyed the Christians. Antonio was also well aware be was putting his life on the line when he signed the deed. There is a lot of anti Semitism shown in the play and a modern audience would not be in favour of this. Throughout the play Shakespeare often shows the Christians in a bad light and in contrast to them Shylock is a sympathetic character.
