When shylock says this he isn’t speaking of rights he is demanding his enemy’s blood, he admits that his desire for revenge lies in the “lodge hate” that he bears towards Antonio. Shakespeare also uses repetition to show shylocks determination as well as inpatients “Are you answer’d?” By reaping this phrase on several occasions shylock shows that he is impatient for the judge to come up with an answer in order for him to go throw with the killing of Antonio.
Antonio is certain that shylock will not show any mercy. Shakespeare tightens the tension of this scene by having Antonio ask Bassanio to stop tring to win sympathy from Shylock. It almost seems that Antonio is resigned to die, as he will “suffer with a quietness of spirit.” One explanation for this could be that death is the only way for him to express his love for Bassanio, however others may say that he has just given up hope and wants Shylock to get it over and done with.
Tension increases further when Narissa (as the clerk) is announced, and she present the letter from Bellario to the duke. Tension becomes almost unbearable as the duke reads the letters and Shylock pulls out a knife and begins to sharpen it on the sole of his shoe, this action shows Shylocks confidence and inhumanity in a visible form. At this point seems to be in total command in the knowledge that legally he has defeated everyone in the courtroom
When Portia is brought on in disguise, Shakespeare sustains the tension by having her question the legality of the bond. Her question “do you confess the bond” emphases that there is no hope of escape for Antonio. As Portia follows the traditional procedure of asking Shylock for mercy, from line 179-197, she reveals her skills by appealing to his methodical mind. Her argument draws on careful reasoning rather than emotion. Firstly she says that forgiving the bond will benefit Shylock, secondly it will elevate shylocks status. Lastly Portia warns Shylock that his quest for justice without mercy may result in his own suffering. Although it seems that Portia is offering an appeal in retrospect her speech becomes a final chance for. Shylock to save himself before Portia crushes his legal argument.
By Act 5 with Shylock off stage Shakespeare returns to the comic aspects of the play. The element of the comedy here lies in the dramatic irony. the knowledge which the two women and the audience have and the knowledge which the two husbands do not have. This produces some lines which are shocking to the two husbands but are quite literally true. Portia says, for example, that if the doctor comes "near my house . . . I'll not deny him anything I have, / No, not my body nor my husband's bed. . . . I'll have that doctor for my bedfellow." To which Nerissa adds, “And I his clerk." And further, when they return the rings, Portia is able to affirm, "For by this ring the doctor lay with me," to which infidelity Nerissa is again able to add, the "doctor's clerk." By this time Bassanio and Gratiano have been teased enough, and the end of the scene is a sequence of suprises: first, the true identity of the lawyer and his clerk, then of Antonio's good fortune, and finally, of Lorenzo and Jessica's inheritance.
I believe that Act 4 scene 1 is where the play reaches it’s dramatic high point as it is the most intense with the matter of the bond reaching it’s crisis and it’s resolution and I believe that the action after this is an anti climax because the mood is lightened with puns, the harmless exchange of the rings, and a happy ending, Antonio’s lost ships back in the port.
