“You must take you chance…or swear before you choose, if you choose wrong never to speak to the lady afterwards”. This is also evident in Act 5 Scene 1 where Portia and Nerrisa play the men like puppets. You can see this when Portia and Nerrisa talk about sleeping with a Lawyer and a Clerk. This is an example of comedy by Shakespeare. He uses wordplay, they really are the Clerk and Lawyer that they talked of, and were playing the men for fools.
Going back to what I said about Portia having power over the men with the caskets. In fact, She does have power over them but her father forced the casket ‘game’ on her. He wished this is how her husband was chosen on his death bed, and Portia, although she doesn’t have to do this, feels it would be wrong not to, seeing as it was her fathers dying wish. This then is a man having power over a woman having power over a man. In Shakespeare’s time might have been another example of his comedy. Some of the comedy in The merchant of Venice is irony. An example of this is having a man dressed a woman dressed as a man. This idea of having a man controlling a woman controlling a man is ironic.
This scene ends the play on a happy note. It is like a fairy tale, and as is a custom in fairy tales everyone (who is seen as to be on ‘the side of the good’) lives happily ever after. And anyone who is made out to be the ‘bad guy’ is either defeated or convert to the side of the good. Shylock, due to his hate of the Christian race, would never convert to the ways of Antonio and others, so he is seen as defeated. This scene is like the fairytale I have just described in many ways.
For one, all the couples of the play are together. That is Nerrisa and Grazziano, Lorenzo and Jessica and Bassanio and Portia. Antonio resumes his old distant, quiet personality and is again being a bit of a loner.
I am glad that Shakespeare resumed Antonio’s character, and didn’t make him ‘happy’ as such; he hasn’t gained anything, unlike the rest of the people at Belmont, who have gained a partner. Antonio on the other hand has not gained anything, therefore has no reason to change.
Shylock does not appear in this scene. He is see as the bad character in the play, is already broken, and therefore is not needed in the final scene. He wouldn’t fit in with the mood of the scene also.
Shylock to me is not such a bad character as he is a misjudged one. True, he is bitter, and some would comment he is a bit mad. But this is because of the treatment he has received at the hands of the Christian characters of the play. For example, shylock talks of how twice, Antonio has spat on shylock, And Antonio replied “ I am like to spurn thee so again, to spit on thee again, to spurn thee too”. He is saying that he would not hesitate to spit on him again. Also in court, Portia, instead of calling him Shylock, simply referred to him as “Jew” . In these modern times we may (like me) empathise with Shylock, but in the times of Shakespeare, these prejudices were active, and many Christian did hate the Jewish people because they believed that the Jews were responsible for the death of Christ. They resent that the Jews turned on Jesus, and supported Pilate’s bid to have him crucified. So seeing that Shakespeare, as far as I am aware, was a Christian, this might have just been dark humour on his part.
To make it a happy ending Shakespeare introduced a lot of romance into the scene, mainly between Jessica and Lorenzo. On many occasions they compare their love to various characters of romance in Greek mythology. At one point they compare their love to Dido, who waited everyday on the sea banks waiting for her loved to return. However, in order not to over romanticise it, Shakespeare introduced a lot of humour into the scene.
He introduced the ring story, which made the men very confused. Also, when Lorenzo and Jessica were challenging the strength of their love for each other, they start to insult each other. For example, Lorenzo says “on such a night, did Jessica, like a little shrew…” This was also a comedy element.
In my opinion, I would have preferred the play to end after the court scene (Act 4 Scene 3) because it is a crescendo to the play. It is a dramatic scene with an exciting finish, that’s how I would have liked it to end. Also, I feel that the final scene should contain the main character, Shylock.
By Ben Luke 10G
