The Merchant of Venice
In Shakespeare’s era, the reign of rampant anti-Semitism and Christian supremacy was mostly unquestioned, leaving anyone who openly opposed this view to be condemned and defamed. Regarding this, Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is actually a sympathetic tragedy of Shylock’s story, disguised as a light-hearted comedy for his audience of the time. He manipulates the genre of the play to appease his audience, meanwhile also criticising their hypocrisy without them noticing.
In this play, the generic comedic elements are used as a distracting veil that, once removed, change the play’s meaning. Scenes that may outwardly appear to be comedic actually suggests cruelty on the part of the characters and even the audience. …show more content…
Overlooking how he’s portrayed as a villain in a comedy, if we read into Shylock’s character we see he is actually the tragic hero. From the beginning, Shylock prides himself on being a man of business, not associating himself with his clients as friends: “I will buy / with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you and so / following. But I will not eat with you, drink with you nor pray / with you.” (I.iii.28-32) However, as the play goes on we see him struggle to stay sombre and emotionally detached from the Christians, as he remains conflicted whether or not to go to the masquerade (II.vi). Though it’s somewhat unclear why Shylock decided to attend the party, it seems as though he went to prove a point, and maybe show the Christians they were not so different after all. Despite his efforts, Shylock’s inability to isolate his emotions and relationships from his business would eventually become his fatal flaw, whereas once he was a calm and collected man, he became too emotionally invested and it ended up consuming him. There are several instances that could be considered the turning point in Shylock’s tragedy. Some would argue that it was his decision to leave for the masquerade, because he was unable to separate his personal life from his business matters. Alternatively, it could also have been from the very beginning, when he first made his contract to take Antonio’s pound of flesh if he did not return his payment, in revenge for how Antonio wronged him and his kind in the past (I.iii.153-170). Thus Shylock’s fatal flaw would cause him to make a crucial decision that would seal his fate. In the end, it all amassed to a single point in the climax, where Shylock was so blinded by his need for revenge he was incapable of wanting anything else. In the trial Shylock had many opportunities to back down, as Bassanio even offers him even ten times the
In Shakespeare’s era, the reign of rampant anti-Semitism and Christian supremacy was mostly unquestioned, leaving anyone who openly opposed this view to be condemned and defamed. Regarding this, Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is actually a sympathetic tragedy of Shylock’s story, disguised as a light-hearted comedy for his audience of the time. He manipulates the genre of the play to appease his audience, meanwhile also criticising their hypocrisy without them noticing.
In this play, the generic comedic elements are used as a distracting veil that, once removed, change the play’s meaning. Scenes that may outwardly appear to be comedic actually suggests cruelty on the part of the characters and even the audience. …show more content…
Overlooking how he’s portrayed as a villain in a comedy, if we read into Shylock’s character we see he is actually the tragic hero. From the beginning, Shylock prides himself on being a man of business, not associating himself with his clients as friends: “I will buy / with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you and so / following. But I will not eat with you, drink with you nor pray / with you.” (I.iii.28-32) However, as the play goes on we see him struggle to stay sombre and emotionally detached from the Christians, as he remains conflicted whether or not to go to the masquerade (II.vi). Though it’s somewhat unclear why Shylock decided to attend the party, it seems as though he went to prove a point, and maybe show the Christians they were not so different after all. Despite his efforts, Shylock’s inability to isolate his emotions and relationships from his business would eventually become his fatal flaw, whereas once he was a calm and collected man, he became too emotionally invested and it ended up consuming him. There are several instances that could be considered the turning point in Shylock’s tragedy. Some would argue that it was his decision to leave for the masquerade, because he was unable to separate his personal life from his business matters. Alternatively, it could also have been from the very beginning, when he first made his contract to take Antonio’s pound of flesh if he did not return his payment, in revenge for how Antonio wronged him and his kind in the past (I.iii.153-170). Thus Shylock’s fatal flaw would cause him to make a crucial decision that would seal his fate. In the end, it all amassed to a single point in the climax, where Shylock was so blinded by his need for revenge he was incapable of wanting anything else. In the trial Shylock had many opportunities to back down, as Bassanio even offers him even ten times the