In The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare presents two different worlds. The first is Venice—a place of Christianity, lavishness, and commerce. The Venetian society, Christian and orderly as it seems to be, is also shown as a barbaric one. Here, money equals the law. Lending money for interest as a way of making profit is very much acceptable and is the driving force of Venice, which is why loan sharks are highly respected. One of the moneylenders is Shylock the Jew; however, despite being respected for being a good moneylender, he is ostracized because of his religion and is considered subhuman. Money-making logic is considered more important than religious values, and Venice is shown as the embodiment of emerging capitalist ethics.
The other world presented in the play is Belmont. It is an idealized world, where justice and equality are most important. There is no religious intolerance. Belmont is shown as a complete contrast to the town of Venice—with no economic exploitation, the city is able to flourish with charity, forgiveness, purity, and love.
Keeping the two societal worlds in mind, we can compare them to today's situation. Although there have been advancements made regarding society and laws that affect it, there still exists a clear gap between our current society and an ideal one. While Belmont is something we strive to achieve, we are still living in Venice, where capitalism is often placed above basic human needs.
The presence of prejudice is clear from the Venetians' treatment of Shylock. He is considered a villain and an outsider. The Christian, profit-oriented society only sees him as a human being as long as he is valuable as a loan shark—beyond that, he is subhuman. Should he lose his respect as a moneylender, he is sure to lose respect as a person. Shakespeare used this character to represent anti-Semitism, which is what makes the play relevant to this day. There is still a lot of controversy about whether Shakespeare wrote the character of Shylock to address the issue at hand or to present his alleged anti-Semitic views. This interpretation of the play is possible; after all, in the time the play was written, anti-Semitism was far too common in Elizabethan society.
However, throughout the play, Shylock is shown as a complex, ambiguous character. He not a conventional or caricatured Jewish figure; instead, he has positive and negative sides which do not necessarily represent his religious beliefs. This is why critics mostly agree that Shakespeare wanted to deconstruct anti-Semitic prejudice through this character. When we think of Marlowe's Jew of Malta, Barabas is made the villain due to his Jewish faith. In contrast, Shylock's behavior is not the result of his being Jewish. He is not inherently evil, but was in fact pushed into his malicious actions by society. This makes a difference in how the audience reacts to his tragic end: we sympathize with him, at least partly.
Similarly, in Othello, a black, converted Muslim tries to fit in a white, Christian society. Shakespeare wanted to deconstruct the stereotypes of "evil Jew" and "devilish black man." Both of these plays are still relevant in today's society—despite the progress being made when talking about religious and racial tolerance, there is still prejudice present in the world. In fact, the prejudice is being reinforced by a growing number of world leaders, giving a platform to those with hidden—or even blatant—detrimental values. With bigotry and narrow-mindedness on the rise, there is a big chance of our society taking steps in the wrong direction in the near future.
Shylock believes the Venetians are hypocrites for preaching Christian morals but not following them. In act 3, scene 1, he goes on to say:
I am a Jew. Hathnot a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs,dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed withthe same food, hurt with the same weapons, subjectto the same diseases, healed by the same means,warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, asa Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poisonus, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we notrevenge?
In his famous soliloquy, Shylock explains that Jewish people are no different from others—no matter their religious beliefs, people are bound to react to situations in the same way, and take similar actions. He believes that there is no fundamental difference between people, and that the Venetians are simply being hypocritical. This is a crucial part of arguing for an all-encompassing and humane society in today's world.
The Merchant of Venice is a play about prejudice and bigotry. Although the outcome of the plot shows Shylock defeated (and it is a defeat the other characters are reveling in and congratulating themselves on), it's undeniable that the "message" of most of the play is at odds with that outcome.
Though some aspects of Shylock's character are those of a stock villain and are a reinforcement of stereotypes, we need only compare him with Barabbas in Marlowe's The Jew of Malta to realize how sympathetic Shakespeare's portrayal actually is. Shylock speaks openly of the hypocrisy of Antonio and other Christians, and there is nothing in the text to contradict or refute his evaluation of them. Shylock's famous "I am a Jew" soliloquy asks the basic question of why he and other Jews are marginalized and persecuted simply because they are of a different religion from the majority.
It's relevant today because we are living in a time when, in spite of the changes ever since the Civil Rights movement began (which we've assumed should have become permanent), there are new efforts by leaders in both America and Europe to turn back the clock and to treat people differently from others simply because of religion, skin color, and the language they speak. It's no different from Shylock's situation in which he must rhetorically ask what it is that makes these people assume that he does not have the same feelings as others simply because he is a Jew, as if his religion or ethnicity somehow makes him a different species in their eyes.
In our society, as in the Venetian society that Shakespeare depicts, harsh justice often prevails over mercy. As Portia says in court:
The quality of mercy is not strained.
By this she means mercy is not overused.
This lack of mercy is also an aspect of our courts of law. Mandatory sentencing often prevails over mercy, leading people to arbitrarily serve long sentences for relatively minor crimes.
Second, people in our society often take on debts they can not repay on schedule, just as Antonio does. For example, individuals who are in over their heads with students loans can find themselves, like Antonio, in stressful situations.
Finally, anti-semitism has been on the rise in Europe and the United States in recent years, and stereotypes about Jews circulate now as they did in Venice centuries ago. As Shylock notes, he is still a human being even though he is Jewish. This is a lesson some today still have not assimilated.
Our society has much to learn from The Merchant of Venice, including the value of mercy, the risks that attend debt, and the evils of anti-semitism.
The main issue many modern critics find of immediate relevance to contemporary culture is the issue of antisemitism. Many of the characters in the play think of Jews in stereotypical terms and treat them as second-class citizens. Although Shylock is portrayed as fitting the negative stereotypes of Jews in the period, he also has one of the most moving speeches in the play in which he pleads for understanding and against racism and prejudice:
. . . I am a Jew. Hath
not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs,
dimensions, senses, affections, passions? . . .
If you prick us, do we not bleed?
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