Act 1.3 was very entertaining to read because Shylock was introduced and it also portrayed the interaction between a Jewish usurer and a Christian merchant. I think there were clear tensions between both groups of men and Shakespeare highlighted their differences. Shylock's dialogue was filled with money diction and he was portrayed as being calculative, cautious, but also disciplined and fair. The amount of three thousand ducats that Basannio is planning to borrow on behalf of Antonio's credit was emphasized multiple times. There were many words of measurement such as "a pound of flesh" and he describes Antonio as "sufficient". As Meghan pointed out in her blogpost, line 15-17:"My meaning in saying he is a good man is to have you understand me that he is sufficient" shows that Shylock is focused on a person's financial condition. In contrast, Antonio called Shylock a "goodly apple rotten at heart" (line 10) which indicates that he judges people by their heart.
What I find ironic is that Antonio clearly does not treat Shylock with kindness even though he says at the end of the scene "The Hebrew will turn Christian: he grows kind." (line 191), meaning that he equates kindness with being a Christian. However earlier in the scene, Antonio displays his hatred for Shylock and insists that he will not treat Shylock with respect even if he should lend Basannio money with no interest: "I am as like to call thee so again, to spet on thee again, to spur thee, too." (line 152-153). Although Shylock is portrayed as a greedy, money-motivated villain, the only literal display of hate is how Christians will spit upon Jewish people and mock them with degrading names. Antonio does not show and kindness or compassion towards Shylock which I think exposes the hypocrisy of Christian values and sheds light upon Shylock's integrity.
I completely agree that the differences between Shylock and the Christian men were really clear in this scene. It was interesting how you pointed out that even Shylock's language was calculating, I hadn't noticed that! I also noticed how hypocritical Antonio was. His refusal to treat Shylock with respect, even though he's borrowing money from him, shows how strong his mindset for Jewish people is. Even though he's supposed to be a "good man", he's the only one so far that has been seen openly degrading someone.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was very interesting how you wrote about the clear differences between Jewish people and Christians. Shylock's is indeed very calculative, but also wants to uphold his honor of being a Jew and trying to take over the control and power from Antonio, but having a deal to cut his flesh. I think the quote that you pointed out: "The Hebrew will turn Christian: he grows kind." (line 191), clearly shows how there is strong belief that only Christians are kind and if you want to be kind you will have to be a Christians and not Jew.
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