Sympathizing with Shylock in William Shakespeare's Othello
Shylock is a miserly money-lender, but is he? one opinion of Shylock
would agree with that statement the other disagrees. Is he really a
"goodly apple rotten at the core"? or is he a confusing caricature
with two people drawn into one solid fixture, a person? He could very
well be that, could he be confused or miss-understood? This is up to
the ever changing audience. His two sides cause disagreement of
opinion of the audience. First is that he is a victim of the society
around him, a clean-living family man who would like to go about his
business unimpeded, and after he is a man driven to revenge by his
daughters elopement with a Christian. He suffers racial abuse, this he
is forced to endure daily. Shakespeare often uses animal imagery to
describe Shylock as "a dammed inexorable dog", "wolfish, bloody,
starved and ravenous". These images of Shylock reoccur during the
play. Another aspect is that he is a blood thirsty, maddened solider
who is armed with scales and a knife, he only cares for his money and
his possessions. He is an "impenetrable cur" a "villain with a smiling
cheek" who gets his justice in the end.
Jews have been resented through-out history. The beginning of their
appalling treatment is everyday anti-Semitic torture. This is
presented to Shylock by the Christians of Venice. The Jews in history
were known for their tight-knit communities and intelligence, they
were mistrusted and resented. Modern audiences will show more sympathy
towards Shylock because the greatest Jewish suffering during Hitler's
reign, this was inflicted by the Nazi's during World War Two....
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...he Christian go." Portia Refuses Shylock even his principle and
leaves his fate to the mercy of the duke and Antonio, the duke pardons
Shylock his life but confiscates one equal half of his goods, Shylock
is ungrateful to that and says that he pardon not that. Antonio is
less merciful and sets down some rules that of which, that "to quit
the fine for one half of his goods; I am content so he will let me
have the other half in use, to render it upon his death to the
gentleman [Lorenzo] that lately stole his daughter. Two things
provided more, that for this favor he presently become a Christian:
the other, that he do record a gift here in the court of all he dies
possessed unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter. Shylock cannot say
more than he is content. He leaves the count a broken man not to
reappear in the play again.
one page 11) this indicates that he is a selfish man and cares for his
required to not only restore his honor, but to re-store the honor of all of
have for him but to keep his life. To lose his dignity but to keep his
job. He owns very little material goods but has an insatiable appetite for luxury and
scene III, he admits to himself that he feels no remorse for what he has done, saying, ?But,
Dual Nature of Characters in Othello Many of the characters in Shakespeare's tragedy, Othello, are duplicitous to the extent that how. they are perceived in public is not how they behave in private. The perception of the public plays.
recognizes the truth of dukkha, he lives in a space of ignorance and with ignorance he seeks the
Throughout Othello the Moor of Venice we experience a rather uplifting story that seems to somehow come crashing down on not only the characters in the story but the reader also. Author William Shakespeare does a tremendous job at connecting us with the characters in the play. Othello, the protagonist in the play, falls slowly into the pit of destruction where jealousy takes control. He along with many other characters in the play are manipulated by Iago and slowly taken down from a peaceful, love filled, and triumphant place in their lives to one that is dark and revengeful. Many are led to their deaths because of the terrible deeds done by Iago, some of which include Othello himself who commits suicide only after murdering his new wife over nothing but the mindset of jealousy and hate. Shakespeare explores a vast amount of literary content here some of which delve into Jealousy. Jealousy alongside intense deceitful manipulation can introduce a person to another sinister side of themselves they never knew to existed. Iago 's ultimate goal in the play is not yet clearly laid out; there is much to
Debra Winger had stated once that “Most bad behaviour comes from insecurity”, this could not hold anymore truth in Shakespeare’s “Othello” as the story progresses only due to the insecurities of the characters. For starters, Othello is the protagonist so we get to see his internal conflicts about societal standards and judgement on display. Meanwhile, Iago’s vulnerabilities as a villain are only showed during his monologues as he is hinted to having a superiority complex against Othello, and a complete reverse of Iago, Cassio’s issues are visible from the readers perspective and the characters as his reputation is slandered and used against him. These are all prime examples of how insecurity was used as a primary plot device to advance the
say, “If I can catch once upon the hip I will feed fat the ancient
Emotions have some control over our actions. However, there are other factors that influence what we do. In the play Othello though, emotions have way more power over the characters' actions. For example, the actions committed by characters consumed by love are greatly amplified. Another example of this is that the characters in the play that are consumed by jealousy go to far greater lengths than one normally would to quench their thirst for vengeance. The last instance that proves this is that the actions of characters overcome by despair are based solely on their hopelessness. These three points all help to show that in the play Othello, Shakespeare exaggerates how much our actions are affected by the major emotions of love, jealousy, and despair.
his duty then he is met with conflict and is set t death or another
“Afterwards, I found out the envelope contained twenty-five guilders, representing Father’s surrender of me to him.” (84)
Othello is one of the typical Shakespearean plays in that it deals with the tragic hero. Othello is convinced that his wife, Desdemona, is cheating on him with Cassio. Beginning with the aperture lines of the play, Othello remains at a distance from much of the action that concerns and affects him. Roderigo and Iago refer equivocally to a “he” or “him” for much of the first scene. When they commence to designate whom they are verbalizing about, especially once they stand beneath Brabanzio’s window, they do so with racial epithets, not designations. These include “the Moor” , “the thick-lips” , “an old ebony ram”, and “a Barbary horse” (Cite). Although Othello appears at the commencement of the second scene, we do not hear him called by his name until well into Act I, scene 3. Later, Othello’s will be the last of the three ships to arrive at Cyprus in Act II, scene 1; Othello will stand apart while Cassio and Iago suppositious discuss Desdemona in Act IV, scene 1; Othello will postulate that Cassio is dead without being present when the fight takes place in Act V, scene 1. Othello’s status as an outsider may be the reason he is such easy prey for Iago.