Jessica appears to detest living in her fathers house ‘Our house is hell’ this shows that although they are very rich, she does not enjoy living in a house that is bleak and lonely, and once Launcelot has left she feels her life will be hell living alone with her father. Shylock does not appear to treat Jessica very well ‘ what Jessica! – What sleep, and snore, and red apparel out. Why Jessica, I say!’ This shows that he is a very short-tempered man and does not think it is wrong to shout and order his daughter about the whole time. He also appears to be very over protective of her ‘Clamber not onto the casements then, Nor thrust your head into the public street’, weather this is because he is worried about someone coming in to steel his jewels or weather he is genuinely concerned about his daughters welfare we do not know. However, I do not think this reason justifies her treatment of him.
On the other hand she is not in any way joyous about her escape plans. On the contrary she seems very upset that she is ashamed of her own father, ‘Alack what heinous sin is it in me to be ashamed to be my father’s child but though I am a daughter to his blood I am not to his manors’. This conveys to us, that although she is aware of the effect her actions will have on her father she would still rather escape and have a good life herself than stay to keep her father content. The fact that she shows guilt in her treatment of her father may make some readers feel empathy for her, but I think that it would have been better to escape without the jewels than take the one thing from her father that she knows he cares for the most – his wealth.
In Solanio’s report of Shylock’s behaviour when he finds out his daughter and his jewels are missing there is a lot of evidence to suggest that Shylock is more concerned about his money than his daughter, ‘of double ducats, stolen from me by my daughter! And jewels, two stones, two rich and precious stones’. In Shylocks whole speech he only mentions Jessica a few times and when he does he never calls her by her name only ‘my daughter’, this suggests that they were never very close which maybe the reason he is more upset about his riches which will effect his life more directly. He also only refers to Jessica after mentioning his jewels, ‘my ducats, and my daughter’, ‘O my ducats! Oh my daughter. This is most likely because he is so angry about how Jessica has humiliated him and how his life has so suddenly fallen to pieces.
I do not think Shylock’s behaviour is enough to justify Jessica’s actions. Shylock had the right to be angry with his daughter by the way she treated him. I also believe his obsession with his riches to be understandable, he has slaved away all his life to make a living out of one of the most degrading jobs in Venetian society, only to be humiliated and driven to revenge by the cruel theft of a lifetimes worth of savings by his disloyal daughter.
I think the audience would feel sympathy for Shylock considering the state of his affairs; his daughter has taken his money, which will be very hard to retrieve, and she has also dishonoured their religion. He evidently has no other friends so is now alone in the world. His image has gone from being a sadistic and crafty moneymaker to a lonely humiliated Jew.
His status in society has been lowered yet more as he is ridiculed for who he is and laughed at for his disloyal daughter.
I think this scene does make Jessica seem more villainous as we see the effect her crime has had on Shylock and the sheer devastation she has caused. I think Shakespeare does not show us the actual scene where Shylock discovers his daughter and his money missing, as it would make the reader feel too much sympathy for Shylock, which Shakespeare does not want.
In my opinion Shylocks reaction in act 3 scene 1, does not justify Jessica’s actions in anyway. His daughter has disgraced him and his religion beyond all expectations, so the fact that he would like ‘my daughter dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear’ is not suprising considering his character. The thing that mattered most to him in his life was his money. This was not only because he was greedy it also represented how hard he had fought against prejudice all his life to get this far, and for it all to be taken from him in an instance by his deceitful daughter must have been utterly demoralising.
It suggests that he no longer even wants the gold because he is so furious at Jessica ‘would she were hearsed at my foot and the ducats in her coffin’ It is also to do with the fact that she has run off with a Christian depriving her father of the proud moment when he would be able to hand her over to a suitable husband. This quote also shows the extent to which she has dishonoured him by what she has done, making his life a futile and wasted one.
I disagree with the opinion that Jessica is the Victim of a cruel father as Shakespeare never shows Shylock harming Jessica and we have only seen one scene where he has got angry with her and even in this incident he did not really shout. On the contrary I think act 3 scene 1 emphasises Jessica’s villainy, as the true extent of her actions are understood. On the other hand Shylock does seem to be more interested in his work and money than his daughter but this is not necessarily being cruel.
We see the extent of Shylocks rage when he no longer calls his daughter by her first name and instead refers to Jessica as ‘the thief’. This suggests Shylock is now dismissing the fact that Jessica is his daughter in return for the way she rejected him as a father.
I think Jessica’s selling of her mothers ring for a monkey really highlights her villainy, ‘a ring that he had off your daughter for a monkey’. She knew how much it meant to her father and selling it for a monkey ridicules this by making it worthless.
We even start to feel empathy for Shylock as we know by this quote that he must have treasured it, ‘I had it off Leah when I was a bachelor. I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys.’ This has a big impact on weather Jessica is a victim or villain as it makes Shylock come across in a more human way, so that when in comparison to Jessica Shylock seems to be sentimental and lonely old man, whilst Jessica is conveyed as being selfish and thoughtless when she dishonours her mother as well by selling the ring and the only physical memory Shylock had left of Leah.
In conclusion I believe Jessica to be more of a Villain than a Victim. This is due to the way she went about her escape. In my opinion if she had gone off with a Christian she should have left Shylock with all his gold and possessions. This would have hurt Shylock a great deal less as he evidently cared more for his money than his daughter.
However even if she had left the gold she would still have been dishonouring her father and her religion and therefore be in the wrong again. Throughout my essay I have found a lot more reasons to suggest Jessica is a Villain and not the helpless victim of a cruel father.