Merchant Of Venice – Examine Act 4 Scene 1 And Comment On How Dramatically Effective You Found This Essay, Research Paper

?The

Merchant of Venice? was written by William Shakespeare almost certainly between

1596 and 1598 and was first performed at The Theater, London, in 1597. The play

is classed as one of the sixteen comedy plays but it is also a ?problem? play

due to the tragic elements woven throughout the intricate plot. It was

performed in front of a xenophobic, Elizabethan audience who were not

particularly well educated or literate but they understood the complexities of

the issues being raised in the play and would have been less sympathetic

towards Shylock than a modern day audience. The play concludes with a

harmonious ending but throughout the plot, reoccurring themes of sadness and

tragedy are included. This is why ?The Merchant of Venice? falls into one of

the more difficult comedy plays. ?The

play is set in Venice, an ancient civic republic and not a nation ruled by a

King or Queen. Venice fascinated the Elizabethans, as it was commercially

hospitable to people from all parts of the world e.g. Greeks, Jews and

Protestants. The city was also a trading centre of great importance; Venice

itself was a Catholic city and was politically independent. A place of great

beauty, luxury and extremely artistic, it is the perfect setting for ?The

Merchant of Venice?. ?The

play centres on two main characters, Antonio, an extremely wealthy merchant and

Shylock, a very wealthy Jew. In Venice, your word was your bond. A promise made

by word of mouth was the same as having an agreement in writing you had to keep

your word or pay the consequences. ?Shylock is a usurer, a person who lends sums of money to others,

charging vast amounts of interest. However, Antonio also lends amounts of

money, but minus the interest. This is one of the main reasons why Shylock

hates Antonio with a vengeance as Antonio is supposedly causing Shylocks?s

profits to drop. Shylock also hates Antonio for the differences in their

lifestyles and religions- ?I hate him for he

is a Christian? ?Shylock as agreed to lend a sum of

money to Antonio. As part of the agreement, Shylock insists that if his money

is not returned within a designated period of time, with the added interest, he

be entitled to cut exactly one pound of flesh from Antonio?s body. ?When the abuse of the Jew as usurer is

combined with the Christian religious bias that marked Elizabethan England; the

result is a natural demonization of the Jew. This demonization leads to the

degradation of Shylock and portrays the image of a wanton murderer. In

Elizabethan times, this corruption of the Jewish religion was of course

perfectly acceptable. Jews were often subjected to public humiliation- ?Laughed at my

losses?mocked at my gains? ?To live a fairly peaceful life, many Jews hid

behind the pretend veil of Christianity, often practising this foreign religion

in public to convince other people. ?It is this bond between Shylock and Antonio

that results in the court scene in Act 4 Scene 1, the dramatic climax of the

play. Although it is not the final scene, it is the finale of the ?The Merchant

of Venice? where all the perplexing sub-plots and main storyline are pulled

together to create an explosive ending. ?One of the reasons Act 4 Scene 1 is so

dramatically effective is due to the tension created between Shylock and

Antonio. At the very beginning of the scene, a slight sense of injustice is

induced due to the fact that Antonio is seated and Shylock is standing before

the Duke. In a Venetian court of justice, the accused is standing with the

accuser seated, not the reverse. This gives the impression that Shylock is the

one on trial when in fact it is Antonio, who is resigned to his seemingly

inevitable fate- ?To suffer with a quietness of spirit? ?Strong

emotive language is used to emphasise this point-?Poor merchants flesh? to remind the jury that Antonio has

suffered enough. As well as the stress caused from the trial,

Antonio?s greatest source of wealth, his argosies, sank earlier on in the plot,

causing him a great deal of anxiety and losing him a substantial amount of

money. These reasons make the audiences sympathies lie with Antonio, even

though Shylock is the defendant. ?Throughout the play, Shylock is perceived as inhuman and

malevolent. However, in Act 3 Scene 1, the powerful and emotive speech ? ? Hath a Jew not eyes? if you prick us do we not bleed? Stresses the common core of humanity that lies beneath

the exterior of Shylock?s complex character. A note of hypocrisy occurs here; a

mere seventeen lines after this plea, he is ranting and raving over the theft

of his money by his only daughter, Jessica. With very strong language, Shylock

wishes that Jessica ??Were dead at my foot? ?This wish for his

daughter?s death revokes much of the sympathy created by the former plea for

the recognition of his humanity. Shakespeare yet again paints a picture of a

malignant, murderous Jew ? who in this instance ? is willing to kill his only

daughter for the sake of a few ducats. This greed for money is recognised by

his repetition of his demands for his bond to be followed and the constant

reminder of how much he has lent Antonio ? three thousand ducats. ?This

gives the reader a powerful impression of who and what the character of Shylock

is as a person. With these thoughts in the audience?s heads, it is easy to see

why Shylock is doomed from the start of the trial even before it has begun.

?The Merchant of Venice? is a comedy play so we know that the play is set to

include a harmonious ending, common sense allows us to guess that Shylock will

lose the trail. ?Dramatic tension is induced when Portia, disguised as a young man,

cross-examines Shylock in court. Lulling him into a false sense of security,

she allows him to believe she is on his side. Shylock is absolutely determined

to have his bond and to have his pound of ?carrion? flesh. ?Before

Portia presents her argument, Bassanio asks Shylock- ??Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?? ?And

Shylock replies ? ??To cut the forfeiture from that

bankrupt there? ?Shylock is actually

sharpening his knife in preparation to murder Antonio! His serious tone brings

forth images of grotesqueness, yet the crowd in the court are expecting to see

blood, and this horrific suggestion by Shylock is possibly met with approval by

the crowd. Images of blood and horror are continued when Gratiano portrays

images of wolves ? ??Governed a wolf?bloody, starved

and ravenous? ?This causes

dramatic thoughts and images to be conjured in the minds of the audience,

images of a bloodthirsty monster that will stop at nothing short of murder. ?When

Portia enters the courtroom, she asks- ??Which is the Jew and which is the

merchant?? ?Perhaps she is

trying to create a sense of justice by not wanting to show any favourites, but

on an Elizabethan stage set, she would immediately recognise the Jew from his

distinctive dress! ?Portia?s opening speech begins with ? ??The quality of mercy is not strained? ?She is trying to

explain that mercy cannot be forced, you can?t compel someone to show mercy if

they are not merciful. This statement is obviously aimed at Shylock as he has

just proclaimed ? ??On what compulsion must I?? ?He is stating that

he is going to show absolutely no mercy whatsoever. ?This

is an extremely powerful speech, full of references to Christianity and God.

Portia, in effect, personifies mercy as being like the qualities of a king. In

Elizabethan times, it was believed that God chose all kings. ?Portia

creates the impression she is agreeing with Shylock and his merciless bond ? ??You must prepare your bosom for his knife? ?Shylock is ecstatic

that Portia is on his side he obviously admires her judgement ? ?o excellent young man!? ?The audience?s

appetite for blood is whetted and it seems almost certain they are going to see

it until Portia makes an important discovery. By now, the audience will be on

the edge of their seats in anticipation of what is going to happen. ?In the

bond, not one drop of Christian blood may be spilt. Of course this would be an

impossible task to perform and it is here that the dramatic turning point of

the play occurs. Constant references to the weight of the flesh provokes images

of scales and measuring units and this picture of scales ties in with the

reoccurring theme of justice and how it is unfairly balanced between the two

religions. ?The

relationship between Bassanio and Antonio comes to the forefront in this

section. Antonio can literally be seen as the lover of Bassanio, willing to die

for him and to forgive him for it ??Sacrifice them all?? ?This

creates the conflict between Portia and Antonio, a conflict she is willing to

test by demanding that Bassanio give her his ring. The fact that Antonio does

part with his ring for Antonio?s sake, as does Gratiano, implies that Bassanio

chooses Antonio over Portia. This is of course unacceptable, as is seen in the

next act where Portia severally chastises Bassanio for loving a man more than

he loves her. ?Portia

not only frees Antonio at this point but also convicts Shylock of attempted

murder. Shylock cannot go through with the bond and is forced to give up his

fortune and to convert from Jewry to Christianity? ??To presently become a Christian? ?The theme of mercy

is continued with the Duke showing Shylock mercy ? ? I pardon thee life before thou ask it? ?The theme of justice

is also continued but perhaps now it is injustice. Shylock is being forced to

convert his religion. For Shylock, this is the worst possible thing he could be

made to do and it is the end of his world as he is proud to be a Jew. ?Earlier on in the court scene, Shylock exposed the hypocrisy of

the Christian religion by questioning the business of Christians having slaves.

In effect, the hypocrisy has been allowed to reappear in the fact that the Duke

and Antonio are forcing Shylock to become a Christian. ?Shylock is now a totally beaten and resigned man, a far cry from

his confident and vengeful image and with his exit from the courtroom, harmony

begins to leak into the play as the scene draws to a close. ?Shakespeare successfully combines elements of comedy, irony, sadness,

horror and justice in ?The Merchant of Venice? to produce a play full of dry

humour and thought provoking storylines. Many aspects of the plot such as the

discrimination of Jews are regretfully still in place in today?s society.

Throughout the play there was also the reoccurring image of the scapegoat. Both

men fit this description, with Shylock clearly the social outcast, driven out

of society and Antonio represents the goat about to be sacrificed. ?I

enjoyed reading and analysing ?The Merchant of Venice? although I recognise

that the text is open to multiple interpretations: some can even directly

contradict one another. The elements of anti-Semitism are frequent and have led

me think more deeply about how the changes in modern society have affected our

belief in God and the various ways in which we discriminate against those who

are different to us.ZoË Mitchell 11JRa ? ?