How does the modern audience respond to Shylock?
The modern audience responds much differently to Shylock than the original audience, because the modern one is sympathetic to Jews because of the holocaust and there is less prejudice towards Jews now. Also at the time the play was written and performed there was anti-Semitism and Jews were not allowed to live in England.
Although the modern audience may feel sympathetic for Shylock, they will be able to see his greed and love for money; Shylock's first words are "Three thousand ducats-well" in Act 1 Scene 3. As the scene continues Antonio is being rude to Shylock even though he is trying to borrow money from him. This makes the modern audience feel sorry for Shylock but the audience of the early 17th century would not have cared at all about Shylock in those circumstances.
Before Antonio enters in the scene, Bassanio asks Shylock to dine with him. Shylock's reply is that he will not dine with the Christians because they might try to feed him pork, which he is not allowed to eat because he is a Jew. Shakespeare's audience must have disliked this but the modern audience will think that Shylock is being clever and uses his brain around those he does not trust.
In Act 1 Scene 3, Line 104, Shylock starts to talk about how Antonio has been treating him, calling him 'misbeliever' which is considered racist, and a 'dog' and how Antonio has spat on him on several occasions. Shakespeare's audience would have laughed at this and would have felt no sympathy for Shylock. However the modern audience would not laugh at this but they would start to feel sorry for Shylock and begin to hate Antonio.
Shylock sets up a bond for the money he is loaning to Antonio. If Antonio does not pay the money back ...
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In Act 1 Scene 3, Line 104, Shylock starts to talk about how Antonio has been treating him, calling him 'misbeliever' which is considered racist, and a 'dog' and how Antonio has spat on him on several occasions. Shakespeare's audience would have laughed at this and would have felt no sympathy for Shylock. However the modern audience would not laugh at this but they would start to feel sorry for Shylock and begin to hate Antonio.
Shylock sets up a bond for the money he is loaning to Antonio. If Antonio does not pay the money back within three months Shylock can take a pound of flesh from Antonio's body. The original audience would have not liked this mainly because Shylock was a Jew, but the modern audience would approve of this because they already have a lot of sympathy for Shylock and would want Shylock to have a sort of insurance policy for himself.
Also Solanio and Salerio mock Shylock in many ways: the Elizabethan audience would have enjoyed this, however the modern audience is already feeling guilty and sorry for Shylock for what has happened to him in the scenes before so they will have even more sympathy for him.
Soon Shylock finds out his daughter has run away with Lorenzo, a Christian. Now the greed of Shylock is really seen by the audience Shylock begins to shout out "My Daughter! O My Ducats! O my daughter! Fled with a Christian! O my Christian Ducats! Justice! The law! My ducats, and my daughter! A sealed bag, two sealed bags of ducats, double ducats, stolen from me by my daughter, and jewels, two stones, two rich and precious stones, stolen by my daughter. Justice! Find the girl! She hath the stones upon her and the ducats." The modern audience would immediately be able to see how much greed and love Shylock really has for money. He does not say bring his daughter back, he says bring his daughter back because she has the jewels and ducats. He may be angry that his daughter has fled with a Christian but he is much more angry when he knows his money is gone too. The modern audience may still feel sympathy for him but may dislike him a bit because he is caring much more about his money than his daughter.
Shylock now makes a speech talking about how Jews are equal to Christians, the speech is : "I am a Jew, Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs/ dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with/ the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject/ to the same diseases, heal'd by the same means/ warm'd and cool'd by the same winter and summer/ as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?/ If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you/ poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?" This speech by Shylock must make the modern audience feel that it is fine if Shylock takes revenge on Antonio because Shylock has been getting bad treatment from the beginning, but the original Elizabethan audience would not
In Act 4 Scene 1, the court case against Antonio begins as Shylock is trying to take advantage of his bond. Portia and Nerissa come in dressed up as men. Portia acts the impartial lawyer and makes him think she is going to let him get his revenge and Shylock is called "The Jew" even by the duke, who is supposed to be impartial. As the scene continues Shylock gets fooled. If he does not take exactly one pound of flesh from Antonio's body he will have to die. This would have probably been something the original audience would have liked but the modern audience will feel guilty and sorry for Shylock as he has been outnumbered, humiliated and then is about to lose his life. The modern audience will dislike Portia for getting Shylock into this situation and will have a huge amount of sympathy for Shylock.
To conclude I think the modern audience respond in a totally different and opposite way to the original audience. The modern audience will have sympathy for Shylock; even though they can see his obsession with money, they feel sorry for him and like to take his side, even when he is making the speech on why he hates Christians.
