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Damn Fine Authors
Intro
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W. Shakespeare
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I think Shylock would do very well in the business world today.Unfortunately.
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Note:
This online paper is posted for the casual user. If you decide to use it or abuse it, you know the drill: quote the source, author, URL, and any of that other necessary stuff. Please use the honor system and give credit where credit is due. Have at it.
Shylock's Speech to Salerio
Almost any statement taken out of context is not truly indicative of that statement's original meaning. Therefore, if someone presents Shylock's famous speech (III, i, ll. 50-69) in an abbreviated form, then one is apt to misdiagnose its meaning in relation to the play's whole. Shylock's speech must be digested with some knowledge of the dramatic background of the story and at least some understanding of the character's interiority. For the sake of this exercise, Shylock's speech is to be taken out of the play's context to see if we can discern William Shakespeare's interiority concerning whether he was against or participated in racial bigotry. I will not venture an opinion whether Shakespeare is a bigot or not from this sample. Certainly his own age was ethnocentric, as seen by England's expulsion of Jews in 1290.1 For this reason and others, we may expect that England's overwhelming Christian population would look down on Jews. But these are generalized statements of the time and population, not of the individual. Perhaps William Shakespeare harbors compassion for different viewpoints and deftly weaves his opinion that all of us share the common link of humanity, regardless of religion, in his work. Then again, perhaps not. Maybe Shakespeare holds to the belief that Jews are less than human, and that the choice for a villain in his new play should be a Jew, which is popular with public opinion, and good for business. Individuals may find support for each of these polar views within the play, however, neither view cancels the other wholly out. Therefore, we cannot truly know Shakespeare's personal feelings toward racial bigotry within his known works. This work is a public play, not personal diary.
On the other hand, we may be more assertive with this excerpt when discussing the content of the speech about the character speaking these phrases. Shylock seems to be rebutting Salerio on at least three fronts. First, Shylock claims that Antonio has publicly humiliated him for merely being non-Christian:
He hath disgraced me, and
hind'red me half a million, lauged at my losses,
mocked my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted
my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine ene-
mies - and what's his reason? I am a Jew.
(ll. 51-55)
Secondly, Shylock's tactic shifts to the argument that we are all human by sharing the same joys and pains, thereby implying that we should all be treated the same. And his third thrust lies in the "eye for an eye" maxim, in which he claims that he is following the example of Christian mistreatment of Jews by enacting revenge with revenge. However, this argument is flawed because while Shylock notes the common condition of humanity ("If you prick us, do we not bleed?" l. 61), his primary motive still lies in revenge - revenge described as "void and empty/ From any dram of mercy." (IV, i, ll. 5-6). Couple this sentiment with Shylock's earlier aside, "I hate him [Antonio] for he is a Christian. . ." (I, iii, l. 39), and it may be argued that it is Shylock who is the religious bigot. This deceiving excerpt seems to be akin with Shylock's argument for usury in Scripture: on the surface it seems fairly valid and moving, yet closer scrutiny of the words in context with the character reveals the underlying motive.
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