"The Merchant of Venice" was offered to Shakespeare's audience as a comedy. What problems does presenting the play to a modern audience present in portraying the character of Shylock?

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English Coursework                                        Gerhard Ruspi 7098                        

The Merchant of Venice

“The Merchant of Venice” was offered to Shakespeare’s audience as a comedy.  What problems does presenting the play to a modern audience present in portraying the character of Shylock?

The Merchant of Venice” is a story of love and hate, power, control and inequality.  It evolves around Shylock, a rich Jew moneylender who lives in Venice and Venetian Christians, which have constantly abused and humiliated Shylock.

The moneylender tricks Antonio, one of his abusers, to sign a bond that will entitle him to one pound of his flesh if he doesn’t pay back the money he borrowed in three months.  Antonio borrowed this money to lend it to his friend Bassanio who needs it to try for the hand of Portia, a rich and beautiful heiress.

After Shylocks daughter, Jessica runs away with a Christian and Bassanio wins Portia’s hand, news come that Antonio’s ships have been destroyed and he isn’t able to pay Shylock in time.

The spiritually wounded Shylock wants revenge and demands a pound of Antonio’s flesh but Portia turns the tables on him during the court hearing.  He not only doesn’t get a pound of Antonio’s flesh but half his wealth is confiscated by the venetian state and he’s forced to become a Christian, the very thing that humiliated and reduced him.

The reason Shakespeare’s work is so popular today is that he wrote about human nature and how people behave.  That is why “The Merchant of Venice” is as relevant now as it was four centuries ago.

Shakespeare wrote “The Merchant of Venice” to be viewed in front of white people in the 16th century.  The Merchant of Venice followed other plays where Jews were involved like the “Jew of Malta”.  Unlike in these other plays where Jews involved performed all kinds of outrages; Shylock is someone who the Christians pick on. In Shakespeare’s time white people were very racist towards the aliens.  Venice was one of the few cities in the world that had laws and gave rights to the ethnic minorities but even so the rights of Christians were superior.  

“…If you prick us, do we not bleed? … The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instructions.”  We do not know whether Shakespeare himself was racist or not.  But from these words said by Shylock we realise that that Shakespeare understood how Shylock felt and where his anger and hatred came from.

This story was written to be viewed in front of a racist audience who would expect Shylock to be humiliated and reduced yet Shakespeare managed to create sophisticated characters that can be played in a number of different ways.

Shakespeare points out in this play to stories that only educated people would know about such as Portia’s reference to the ‘Hercules and sea monster’ legend that she uses to be compared to Troy’s virgins:

‘...I stand for sacrifice.

The rest aloof are the Sardinian wives’.

This reveals that the play was also written for high classes that would attend when the play was shown.  Educated people like these would understand more of the play’s complexity and characters.  They would analyse the play and see which actions sparked, which feelings, but from my point of view they’d have similar views towards Shylock and other characters as the rest of the audiences.  

The Elizabethans audience would have seen Antonio as noble gentlemen. On the contrary today we see Antonio as a self-seeking, arrogant, racist. Antonio abuses Shylock in many different ways simply because he is a Jew.  He calls him a misbeliever and many other names offending his Jewish faith, he spits on him, he kicks him.  This would look ‘normal’ to the Elizabethans audiences while today in the 21st century we would be outraged and disgusted by such behaviour.  Such behaviour as Antonio’s would not be tolerated and if Antonio was to abuse Shylock today he would be arrested charged and probably sentenced to jail.

The fact that Shylock is a Jew would have automatically made him the ‘bad guy’ and a subject of abuse ion by the audience.  He would have probably been played as an evil and dark also comic character.  Unlike us the Elizabethans audience would have not been interested in Shylock’s complexity.  They would have not been listening to him nor interested in figuring out where do his feelings of anger and rage towards Christians come from.  On the contrary they’d found it hilarious when Shylock is deeply hurt. Despised as an alien and unconverted Jew they would believe that he was a sinner bound for hell.

Shylock can be played in very altered ways. In the two versions that I have seen he’s portrayed in the Modern version as businessman that speaks with a Jewish accent who is a good, warm but strict father and who wants to teach Antonio a lesson.  He is broken to pieces from Jessica’s elopement.  When he is given the right to cut a pound of Antonio’s flesh he firstly hesitates and then is stopped by Portia.  He is represented colder and darker in the Oliver production therefore more malicious.  Depending on how you represent a character gives the audiences a view angle to look at this character. The Elizabethan stage Jew would have been someone who showed hatred towards the Christians and would do anything to harm them.

Portia appeals herself as a confident and composed young woman yet gives herself to Bassanio as unschooled girl.  She can be depicted in opposed methods.  In the Oliver production Portia is presented as more in control, someone that knows herself and capable of hiding feelings.  In the courtroom she is very professional and formal.  She makes her speech on mercy standing up, talking to Shylock from across the table.  On the other hand, in the Modern production Portia is also in control but is represented as slightly softer and gentle.  In the courtroom she takes a chair, sits next to Shylock and looking him in the eyes, gently explains him about mercy as thought he is a child. On the contrary with her behaviour in the Oliver production she’s desperate to change Shylock’s mind.

The Elizabethan audiences would admire Portia and simply see her as angel who saved a poor merchant’s life.  They’d have been delighted when Antonio is saved and Shylock starts to get charged.  To them he just was a bloodthirsty moneylender.

Now we see Portia as a touch of cruelty.  We understand in the trial she carefully plans her actions against Shylock.  She knows about the loophole in the bond all along, gives him three chances to back down and waits until the very moment he’s going to cut Antonio’s flesh when she stops him.

‘Tarry a little, there is something else.

This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood’

Portia’s suitors Morocco and Aragon can either be interpreted as comics or serious.  In the Oliver production Morocco was a comic who wore traditional clothes and talked to himself while Arragon was an old man about 70 years of age who clearly did not deserve Portia’s hand.  In the Modern version Morocco was a wealthy black businessman while Arragon was a Spaniard who used Spanish gestures and talked with a Spanish accent.  Although Aragon looked serious he was made to be a comic.  The gestures and accent formed a rather racist humour that managed to get me laughing.  As it was described as a comedy Shakespeare must have made the two characters comics.  The audiences would have been entertained and would probably insulted these two if they thought they were not worthy of Portia’s hand. Humour races and different traditions is still present in blockbuster films made today like ‘Scary Movie’ or ‘Black Night’. The difference is that today the humour is not humiliating for a race.

Solanio and Salarino make Shylock the subject of their jokes after his daughter runs away with Lorenzo.  Referring to him as ‘the dog Jew’ they say that Shylock is bothered more about his money than his daughter running away:

‘My daughter!  O my ducats! O my daughter!

Fled with a Christian!  O my Christian ducats!’

They continue their victimisation although they know Shylock is grieved at his daughter’s disappearance.  While the Elizabethan audience would have found this amusing, we see it as racist and senseless.

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Throughout the play there are moments were the emotional intensity is high and others where it’s low.  The main, most powerful excitement in “The Merchant of Venice” starts to rise when we hear about Antonio ships and drops Shylock has been punished.  The courtroom is a very tense scene.  Although we know what happen we would follow the action in silence.  To the Elizabethan audience the play would have been unknown.  In Elizabethan times Jews were not expected to hit back to the Christian abuses therefore Shylock’s actions would not have been understood by the audience and regarded as immoral. ...

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