Christine Luo
Ichikawa
Literary Styles, A°
October 13, 2014
The Poison of Pride and Unforgiveness
People who seek vengeance are often driven blindly by flaws within their character. The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare illustrates this underlying attribute. A casual reading of this play may suggest that Shylock’s act of vengeance was what had led to his downfall, yet a closer reading indicates that it was because of his underlying characterial flaw of hubris and the lack of mercy that had led to his ultimate end.
Shylock’s characterial flaws prompt an chain reaction of deprivations, as they ultimately all contribute to his ruination. For instance, Shylock’s lack of mercy deprives him of all Judaism associations, as this lack
…show more content…
From the beginning, Shylock holds a tight grip on his daughter Jessica, as he restrains her within their house. As he leaves her one night, he states; “Lock up my doors, and when you hear...the vile squealing of the wry-necked fife, Clamber not you up to the casements then, Nor thrust your head into the public street To gaze on Christian fools.../ Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter / My sober house" (II, v, 28). Words cannot describe the love parents have for their children. Even as children grow to change, the hearts of parents continue to wish for the best of their child. Yet Shylock evidently does not portray this eternal love and care for his daughter, as his lack of mercy and contempt towards Antonio and Christians interferes with his relationship with Jessica. Shylock, being a loving father as he ought to be, merely desires the best of his daughter. Jessica is the only family he has left, illustrating the significance she must have to him. Therefore, due to his strong feelings of hatred and unforgiveness towards Antonio, he genuinely believes it is for the best of Jessica to stay clear of all Christians. Yet ultimately it was wrong of Shylock to let his personal experiences with Christians dictate Jessica’s life. Each and every one of us possess the freedom and right to live …show more content…
Revenge is a sign of weakness, as one often executes vengeance in order to make themselves feel redoubted. Thus, only people of true strength possess the blessings of forgiveness, as it takes a real person with a true heart to let go. This element of revenge is illustrated in The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, as Shylock ultimately meets his end as a result of his characterial flaws. While it may seem that Shylock’s vengeance is what left him in ruins, essentially it is because of his excessive pride and absence of mercy that he is greeted by his inevitable
Throughout the play, Shylock was often reduced to something other than Human. In many cases, even the simple title of "Jew" was stripped away, and Shylock was not a man, but an animal. For example, Gratiano curses Shylock with "O, be thou damned, inexecrable dog!" (IV, i, 128) whose "currish spirit govern'd a wolf" (IV, i, 133-134) and whose "desires are wolvish, bloody, starved, and ravenous" (IV, i, 137-138). Or when Shylock is neither a man nor an animal, he becomes "a stony adversary, inhuman wretch" (IV, i, 4-5). When the Christians applied these labels to Shylock, they effectively stripped him of his humanity, of his religious identity; he was reduced to something other than human.
On the one hand, in order to endure the “pressure of existence,” qualities such as pity, patience, humility and compassion become commendable. In this sense, “slave morality is essentially a morality of utility,” as it promotes qualities that would comfort and placate those who are living in pain. In another sense however, these aforementioned qualities are revered because the people are afraid of one another. The nobles valued and maintained some of “the highest and strongest drives, [which can] drive the individual far above the average and the flats of the herd conscience, wreck the self-confidence of the community, its faith in itself, and it is as if its spine snapped.” Wishing to prevent any possible danger to the stability of the community, the virtues of the nobles, which elevate the individual over the community, are condemned as evil. Since everyone is in fear of each other, slave morality is used to ensure that no one tries to subjugate the
Shakespeare’s plays, among other classic works of literature, tend to be forged with the tension of human emotion. The archetypical parallel of love and hatred polarizes characters and emphasizes the stark details of the plot. More specifically, the compelling force of revenge is behind most of the motives of Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet. The play opens with the return of Hamlet’s father, a surprising encounter, which ended in his son learning that his father’s death was the result of foul play. By emphasizing this scene as the beginning of the story to be told, Shakespeare clearly implies that the plot itself will be based around the theme of revenge. Through three different instances of behavior fueled entirely by vengeance, Shakespeare creates an image in the reader’s mind, which foreshadows the future of the story and provides insight into the plot line. Even so, despite the theme of revenge being the overarching concern of the plot, the parallels drawn between characters truly strengthen the thematic depth of the piece overall, making the play easily one of Shakespeare’s most infamous and historically valuable works.
One Writer;two tragedies and two really different murderers. William Shakespeare's Hamlet and Macbeth are generally common tragedies. Hamlet and Macbeth successfully deal with the need for royal power and its bad after effects.This essay examines the probable corollary that a tragic villain may possess and or including characteristics that may be on the same passing level with the tragic-heroes. Being hero-villains, Macbeth and Claudius present similarities.Both of them are magnanimous,driven by ambition,suffer internally,lack conscience and smart.
The classic revenge tragedy is thus quite a simple affair: there is an offence, and it is followed in a fairly mechanical manner by revenge, preferably bloody and protracted. However, as Delville and Michel (1998) point out, this structure is undermined by Shakespeare in the person of Hamlet. Unlike even Shakespeare’s own creations, Brutus, Macbeth, and Othello, Hamlet is unpredictable. In an earlier version of the play, referred to as the Ur-Hamlet, and attributed to Thomas Kyd, the only reason for...
Vengefulness is yet another inexorable human trait. Hamlet's entire character is changed by his need for revenge. He starts out as a serene, learned young man but the need for vengeance twists his soul to the point where he is driven only by his need for pay back.
Revenge is a recurring theme in Hamlet. Although Hamlet wants to avenge his father’s death, he is afraid of what would result from this. In the play Hamlet, Hamlet’s unwillingness to revenge appears throughout the text; Shakespeare exhibits this through Hamlet’s realization that revenge is not the right option, Hamlet‘s realization that revenge is the same as the crime which was already committed, and his understanding that to revenge is to become a “beast” and to not revenge is as well (Kastan 1).
Throughout Hamlet, each character’s course of revenge surrounds them with corruption, obsession, and fatality. Shakespeare shows that revenge proves to be extremely problematic. Revenge causes corruption by changing an individual’s persona and nature. Obsession to revenge brings forth difficulties such as destroyed relationships. Finally, revenge can be the foundation to the ultimate sacrifice of fatality. Hamlet goes to show that revenge is never the correct route to follow, and it is always the route with a dead
By the end of Act 4 scene 1, my view of Shylock is a man who wishes to
Shylock in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice Shylock has been very badly treated by certain Christians and he
“I am a jew?”-Shylock the merchant. The Merchant of venice is a play from William Shakespeare, in which a merchant called Antonio gets a loan from Shylock to pay for Bassanio's trip. Through a string of unfortunate events lead to a angry Shylock nearly killing Antonio, but that is narrowly averted. Shylock in the play “The Merchant of Venice” can be seen as a victim due to the hostile prejudice towards his kind, unfair treatment of him, and the random events that cause him misery.
To make the claim that Shakespeare creates Shylock within an anti-Semitic culture, and therefore invests Shylock with biased anti-Semitic attributes, does not impugn the artistry of the drama. Nor does such a claim implicate Shakespeare himself as a monstrous anti-Semite. All this claim suggests is that Shakespeare, like most of the rest of his society, was hostile toward Jewry for religious and cultural reasons, and that hostility is revealed most clearly in Shylock.
Shylock is a wealthy Jew who invests money into shipments and trades. When Shylock’s enemy, Antonio, requests a loan of 3000 ducats, “Shylock adopts this Christian model of "kind" lending in his bond with Antonio as a means for lawful revenge.” Shylock’s agreement is that if the ducats are not returned, Antonio must repay his loan in human flesh. This is a way for Shylock to either make money or kill a Christian, either will satisfy him. Lee describes Shylock’s feelings towards Christians, “Indeed, although Shylock will neither "eat," "drink," nor "pray" with the Christians, he is willing to "buy" and "sell" with them.” This is where Shakespeare first introduces the devil inside Shylock. Had Antonio been a Jew, there would not have been a payment of flesh. Shylock’s hatred propels the story from start to finish. His hatred causes him to lose his daughter, drives Portia to use her money and wit to save Antonio, and why he ends up losing
Shylock, in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, epitomizes emotion unrestricted by moral character or intellectual rationality. Shylocks' conversation at the beginning of act four, scene one clearly demonstrates this as the Duke and Antonio urge Shylock to use both his empathetic and rational abilities. Shylock’s humanity, a trait which would normally allow him to feel empathy, is doubted by Antonio who describes Shylock as. By calling him "stony" and "inhuman" and "empty," Antonio draws attention to Shylock’s clear lack of empathy and humanity, and furthermore, suggests that Shylock is deeply and inherently evil, describing him as something monstrous or animalistic.
At the end of The Merchant of Venice, Shylock has been both a victim and a villain. He is a victim of his religion, and a victim of his greed and overwhelming need for revenge. Shylock is definitely the most villainous character in the play, and only a few elements can show him as a victim overall, even then, his victimisation only seems to be a consequence of his own actions. His daughter running away, because of her treatment, and apparent lack of love. The taking of his assets, because he would show no mercy towards Antonio. The final conclusion must be that Shylock is unreasonable, spiteful, heinous, greedy - and a villain.