How is the theme of revenge explored in this extract? How is it explored in the play as a whole? In this extract, the theme of revenge is revealed within the character of Shylock by his christian counterparts. In order to derive this emotion from his listeners, Shylock tries to prove to them that he too is human regardless of his faith, and that he suffers from the humiliation the Christians have caused him. Shylock lists all the ways in which Antonio had wronged him,, ‘He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation’ Through the use of listing, Shylock reminds the Christians of the history of suffering Jews had to endure due to the indoctrination in religious beliefs. This allows the audience to understand Shylock’s abhorrence of Antonio, and to convince them that Shylock was simply an innocent victim of this torment. The lexical set of emotion stirs up pathos in the audience and gives them an insight of the sufferance Shylock receives in the community, allowing them to feel sympathetic towards Shylock. The audience can understand why Shylock has a pursuit of revenge against the Christians and in particular a deep personal grudge against Antonio, therefore the readers sympathise with the Jew in his reasons to be revengeful. The dynamic verb ‘mocked’ further emphasizes how the Christians belittle the Jews to be poked fun of and despite the hardships Shylock had gone through, the Christians take pleasure in mocking his losses and refuses any feeling of sympathy towards Shylock. Furthermore, the theme of revenge is further exploited in Shylock’s speech of vengeance. The audience have an insight of the discrimination against Jews under the persecution of Christians as well as how the community is continuously degrades Jews without end. In the quote ‘Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, passions?’ the asyndetic listing of human features allows Shylock provides the connotation that not much difference exists between Christians and Jews, and both are equal as human beings. He does this comparison order to further add to the justification that he is in his every right for revenge just as a person of Christian faith. .By using asyndeton to avoid conjunctions in each of his rhetorical questions, Shylock was able to make his questions more forceful and dramatic.. However, Shylock’s intentions of delivering the speech isn’t to allow the Venetians to acknowledge their enemy’s humanity but rather to elevate his status above his tormentors. However Shakespeare manipulates the audience’s guilt and the tone changes from lamentful to inhumane, as Shylock pledges to stoop to their level and carry the same instructions, thus swaying the audience’s sympathy and presenting Shylock in a less empathetic light. Though the modern day Christians is able to understand his motivation, his perpetuation of such villainy cannot be excused. The theme of revenge is further explored through his loss of his daughter and his ducats. The community is aware of his loss of his ducats and his own daughter, yet they use this to poke fun at him and take pleasure into mocking him for such misfortune: ‘All the boys in Venice follow him, crying stones, his daughter and his ducats’. The verb phrase ‘crying’ illustrates the lack of sympathy the community has for Shylock. This allows Shakespeare to introduce the theme of revenge: Jessica’s betrayal has created an impression on Shylock as a fool, however his christian counterparts has an absence of sympathy and teases Shylock for his losses, thus feeding Shylock’s desire to retaliate. Shakespeare to reinforce the theme
of prejudice as the Venetians expresses their utmost intolerance towards Jews by disregarding them and their belief. The characters of Salanio and Solanio acts as the norm of the Venetian society therefore suggesting that most Christians are anti-semitic. During the Shakespearean Era, the majority of Jews were forced into exilation and were forced into converting to Christianity. The minority, however, had no choice but to practice their religion in secrecy, thus highlighting the prejudice in society. The theme of revenge is further exploited through the Jessica’s elopement to Solanio. Shylock’s disbelief at his daughter’s betrayal is predominant through the repetition of the exclamatory phrase ‘Justice!’. This suggests that Shylock is determined to get revenge on Antonio, therefore using the lack of justice receive as one of the main guiding forces of his revenge. Shylock is unable to attain justice over the loss of his ducats and his daughter, therefore he seeks to revenge against his tormentors.
Shylock is a character who has lost and suffered by the actions of others. Overall, Shylock’s character is but a speck in a greater conflict between Christians and Jews.
