In the play, Shakespeare creates and sustains tension in the trial scene by using different scenes of action and pace. The trial scene is the longest in the play and stands as one of the most dramatic scenes in all of Shakespeare. Questions have been debated about the accuracy and fairness of the courtroom proceedings: the presiding duke is far from impartial; appears as an unbiased legal authority, when in fact she is married to the defendant’s best friend; and she appears in disguise, under a false name. These points would seem to stack the deck against Shylock, but if the trial is not just, then the play is not just, and it ceases to be a comedy. Thus, while Portia bends the rules of the court, her decision is nonetheless legally accurate. More important for the cause of justice, the original bond was made under false pretences—Shylock lied when he told Antonio that he would never collect the pound of flesh. Therefore, Portia’s actions restore justice instead of pervert it. Action is created in the trial scene when Shylock enters the courtroom; before he has entered the Duke more or less tells Antonio he is on his side of the case, we can tell this because he says to Antonio, “I am sorry for thee: thou art to come to answer A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch”. So when Shylock finally enters we know that the court, which is a Christian court, is against him already. So the atmosphere would be tense and quite stiff when he entered from outside; “He is ready at the door: he comes my lord”. We also know the rest of the court is against him as when Salerio calls him in he calls him “He” instead of “Shylock”. Another sense of injustice is shown when Antonio is seated and Shylock has to stand – in court the accused has to stand who in this case is Antonio and the defendant in this case Shylock has to be seated. Action is also created when Shylock is sharpening his knife on the sole of his shoe, the audiences would be getting more and more tense as they see that Antonio has seemed to give up trying to save himself and seeing Shylock becoming confident; “Not oh thy sole…knife keen” Shakespeare also makes action when Shylock seems to be coming ecstatic about wanting to cut of the flesh and preparing himself to do so. Portia tells Antonio: “You must prepare your bosom for his knife” At this point the audience will be on the edge of their seats, the tension would be so high, the audience would be thinking that Antonio would be going to die – the main character of the play, the character who the play is named after and that the villain of the play – the monster was going to win. However as well as these scenes of action from the trail scene William Shakespeare adds pace to the scene to slow the scene down and make it so it is not tense all the way through. An example of this is when Shylock is giving his speech about not wanting anything but Antonio’s flesh, whilst giving this speech, the audience would have time to decrease their tension levels, therefore, when the next dramatic event happens the audience’s tension will be increase higher than if the tension was already high. Pace is also restored when Portia stops Shylock from cutting Antonio’s flesh –“ Therefore prepare thee to cut off…and all thy goods are confiscate” At this speech from Portia, the audience will be relived that Antonio is not going to be killed and overjoyed that Shylock has been defeated and has gone away as a Christian and empty handed.
Another technique of Shakespeare’s is to use word devices such as foreshadowing, repetition, word play, puns and animal imagery. He uses foreshadowing several times in this scene, as it is ironic when we later see why a character has said this and it later applies to somebody else. An example of foreshadowing is when the Duke says to Shylock at the beginning of the scene; “How shalt thou hope for mercy rendering none” – he says this when Shylock is control, however at the end of the scene when Portia is in control, Shylock is begging for mercy and this time it is the Duke that needs to give mercy to a man that gives none. Another example of foreshadowing is when Portia is pretending to fight for Shylock. Nevertheless she is only making Shylock say that he obeys the bond and anything that in the bond cannot happen and does not apply; “I crave the law, the penalty and forefeet of my bond.” Later on in the scene, just as Shylock is about to cut a pound of flesh from Antonio, Portia reminds him that he can take not a drop of blood and not an ounce over or an ounce under a pound of flesh, “. Shed thou no blood…nor more; but just a pound of flesh”, he cannot do this because it does not say this in the bond that he is so eager to lead the trial by and obey! “He shall merely justice, and his bond,” says Portia. Repetition is also used in this scene; an example of this is when Shylock calls Portia, “A Daniel come to judgement! Yea, a Daniel!” He is praising Portia for helping him win the trial, he says she is a “Daniel” a worthy and honest person from the Bible, however he does not realise Portia’s trickery to make Antonio win the trial, After it has been made clear that Portia was really favouring Antonio and has helped him win, Gratianio, calls to Portia calling her; “A second Daniel. A Daniel, Jew!” This is foreshadowing and would have made the audience laugh, as they would have remembered Shylock calling Portia the exact same thing! Shakespeare uses imagery such as animal imagery through out the trial scene; this is to show Shylock as an inhuman person with no inner feelings. At the start of the scene whilst talking to Antonio, the Duke refers to Shylock as “ an inhuman wretch” and instead of calling him by his name, he calls him “Jew” and when speaking about him says “Him” or “The Jew”. This is to show the audience the Duke despises Antonio in every way possible and to try and make the audience feel the same way as the Duke does before the trail scene has even begun.
When “The Merchant of Venice” was written in the 16th century – Shylock would have been hated by the audience of that time. However, to a modern audience of today more sympathy will be shed for Shylock and he will be looked upon differently than that of the Elizabethans.
In the 16th century when the play was first performed, it was acted in front of a xenophobic Elizabethan audience of that time; from the moment Shylock entered the play he would have been hated by the audience. They would have been very one-sided all through the trial scene and been on Antonio’s side from the beginning. The Elizabethans would not have cared about the injustice and discrimination shown to Shylock and will have been delighted to se him lose the trial scene, conned and won over by a group of Christians. In the trail scene – the audience of that time would have instant hatred for shylock for being a Jew and a usurer, they would agree that Antonio need not pay back shylock his ducats and without a doubt not get a pound of his own flesh torn from his body. When Portia and Nerissa enter as Balthazar and his clerk, the audience would have seen this as amusing – to see the woman of the story dressed as men, this is known as dramatic irony – where the audience know something of importance but the people on stage do not. This can also be linked to the social context of this time, only men where allowed to act in these plays which is highly sexist, the men even had to dress as woman dressed as man which would have been a complicated issue to deal with and maybe slightly confusing for the audience. This play also lets us know what society would have been like in real life situations, only men where allowed into the court and women where not,
Centuries later the audience’s point of view of the play as a whole and especially the trail scene will have immensely changed. The audience would maybe not have sympathy for Antonio but think of him as stupid for lending the money from such a thug like man like Shylock and signing his name into such a brutal bond. During the trial The Duke clearly takes sides with Antonio, in modern day court this would not be allowed and the audience would not agree because the trail would be bias. The audience would probably have sympathy for Shylock as the whole court is fighting against him and he is fighting a battle he cannot really win. The view of Shylock would have been already sympathetic for losing his daughter and his wife, although it was mainly due to Shylock that Jessica his daughter ran away and we do not know how his wife died. The trial scene is very tragic in a point of view of today’s audience and we see Shylock, although a brutal and viscous man very poorly treated. Quite the reverse to an audience from centuries ago.
Overall, the trial scene is very dramatic and Shakespeare uses interesting techniques to improve the play for his audiences, The tension in this scene increases and decreases very dramatically which shows that Shakespeare is indeed a talented and most wonderful writer. I enjoyed the play as a whole and especially enjoyed the trial scene although I believe Shylock was conned out of everything, however, after studying Shylock in more detail and in better from I think he deserved all he got for showing no mercy and being greedy. I think that “Portia, The Merchants & Shylock” would have been a better name for the play although it is very basic it includes the main characters of the play unlike “The Merchant of Venice” which is referring to Antonio. I believe Portia played a bigger and more important part in the play than anybody else and deserves her name in the title of the play and more credit than she received.