Portia showed a vast amount of racial hatred toward Shylock, the Jew. Portia presents herself in the court where Antonio is to have a pound of flesh taken from him as part of the agreed bond by Shylock, as Doctor Balthazar. She is then able to turn the tables on the villain Jew, Shylock. Antonio is on the verge of being condemned when Portia makes her entrance. In the court room only Portia herself and Nerissa, who is disguised as a lawyer’s clerk, understand their true identities. To free Antonio from the bond, she firstly demands that a trained doctor cuts the pound of flesh. Secondly after reading through the bond with a fine tooth comb Portia discovers yet another implication. She intelligently spots that the bond mentions only taking a pound of flesh and does nowhere mention taking blood. However flesh cannot be cut from a person without taking blood.
“Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh, but in the cutting it, if thou dost shed one drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods are by the laws of Venice confiscate unto the state of Venice.”
Shylock now has no choice but to accept the bond, but now he tries to revert back to an offer made earlier by Bassanio. He demands the original bond is paid over thrice by the Christian. Bassanio simply agrees to pay, until a further act of racial discrimination is shown by Portia. She stops the bond being paid,
“He shall have nothing but the penalty.”
She continues to make demands that will cause Shylock grief and unhappiness.
“The law hath yet another hold on you. That by direct or indirect attempts he seek the life of any citizen, the party ‘gainst the which he doth contrive shall seize one half his goods, the other half comes to the privy coffer of the state.”
As well as showing racial hatred toward Shylock, Portia was also a victim of prejudice. The Elizabethan audience believed that females did not have any authority and once married they would belong to the husband.
“One half of me is yours, the other half yours.”
Portia says this to Bassanio so this was widely known and accepted in the day. Without any teaching or training a provoked Portia dressed up as a man to subvert her accepted role. Shylock even though he was a Jew, would have had even more right than Portia, to be in court at that time. This ironic confrontation adds to the comedy of the play and for Shylock to be defeated in a court by none other than a woman is extremely humiliating. This subversion is very successful, as not only does the whole court believe she is a man, she also wins the case.
Throughout the play Antonio shows typical racial discrimination toward Shylock the Jew. Antonio and Shylock hate each other, however all the hatred is not due to a racial difference. As a Christian Antonio borrows money and demands no interest on his loan. As Shylock was Jewish he could not work in Venice in a respected profession such as that of a doctor or a lawyer. Therefore to earn a living he would loan money to people and profit of the interest. During the play, Bassanio needs some money in order to capture his love interest, Portia. At that specific point, all of Antonio’s money is tied up at sea in various ships, so Antonio needs to borrow the money. Consequently Antonio and Shylock come to an agreement in which Shylock loans three thousand ducats to Antonio and demands no interest upon the re-payment of the money. However the stipulation is if Antonio is one day late with his payment then Shylock can lawfully cut one pound of flesh from Antonio. The Christian agrees to this bond, as he believes his ships will come in dwelling three times the amount to be paid a month before the bond is due. Antonio also has too much pride to back down to the proposed bond, he does not want to be seen backing down to the Jew especially if he believes he can easily pay the debt. Throughout the play Antonio refers to Shylock as “the Jew” or “Jew” this is an example of Antonio’s racially based disgust of Shylock as he does not show him the respect of calling him by his proper name. Antonio acted in what would be classed as a purely unnaceptable manner in todays world and he cut Shylock out of society because of his race. “You spat on me, you called my dog,” here Shylock shows the audience the ways in which Antonio treats him.
The base of most of the racial hatred is Shylock’s Jewish heritage and results from presence throughout the play. The bulk of the racial problems is down to the religious rift between the Christian’s and the Jewish. Due to the lack of understanding between the two religious parties a strong hatred is present and the audience of the time would have agreed with these views. This hatred, known as anti-Semitism, was also be present because the Christans blamed the Jewish for the crucifixion of Jesus. With this fundamental hatred, anti-Semitism grew and by Shakespearean times, Jews were becoming very successful businessmen. For this fact, jealousy fuelled the antagonism and resentment already felt because of the prejudice of the early Christians. The Christians held a great hatred for the Jewish.
In todays world there is an understanding that there is no difference in a person just merely in religion, and due to the acceptance of varied cultures the racial hatred would not be shown today.
For his part Shylock the Jew, shows frequent acts of racial hatred towards the Christian population in particular, Bassanio, Antonio, Lorenzo and their cirlce of friends. Shylock believs the Christian’s are common and beneath him in the social hiarachy. He therefore imposes these views upon his daughter, Jessica who is secretly happy with her Christian lover, Lorenzo. Shylock shows his disgust of the Christians to his daughter by telling her to separate themselves from the nearby Christians,
“Lock up my doors, and when you hear the drum and the vile squealing of the wry-wrecked fife, Nor thrust your head into the public street to gaze on Christian fools with varnished faces.”
The bond which involves Shylock and Antonio is yet another example of the Jews hate of the Christians. The Jew provides the idea of a forfeit of one pund of flesh from Antonio, which acts as a spiteful way to gain physical revenge on the Christian.
However not only is Shylock the purveyor of racial hatred, he has also the victim of much racial hatred. Shylock is victimised throughout the play by people of all levels, including the authorising Duke in the court room, who is clearly bias toward the Christians. The Shakespearean stereotype was for a Jewish person to be merciless, and this play is no different. Throughout the court case Shylock, is offered to be paid three times the bond but declines as he wants the full evil revenge of Antonio’s life.
“I'll have my bond; I will not hear thee speak, I'll have my bond, and therefore speak no more.”
In contrast to the merciless Jew, the Christians are portrayed as merciful. In the court when the tables have been turned upon Shylock, the Christians spare the Jew’s life and in doing so show mercy. In The Merchant of Venice we see Shylock, as a character who can be viewed in many different ways, this is due to the audience of the time. Up until the late 1700s he was played as a comic character but the 1700s onwards saw him played as more of a villainous character. In 1814 Shylock's role was depicted as a character to be pitied, and in 1879 he was first portrayed as a tragic character; this giving The Merchant of Venice its title of "tragicomedy". Since then he has been depicted in many different ways and has reaped sympathy from the audience ever since the unjustness towards Jews in the Second World War.
Shakespeare showcased each character bringing out their racial views and prejudices and showing how prejudice had its impact on them in their turn, in order to persuade the audience to think through the different ideas. He creates different dramatic effects by involving the audience. He forces the crowd to relate to the characters, so they are not just sitting passive. He manipulates the audience therefore the play is enjoyed more and becomes more successful. The Merchant of Venice was almost certainly performed between 1596 and 1598 and was performed in front of an Elizabethan audience who were not particularly well educated or literate but they understood the complexities of the issues being raised in the play.
