The Merchant of Venice: Jessica Leaving Home

I will be talking about the event of Jessica leaving her home and the role of justice in that event. To start, I'll be writing about a few facts that will be helpful for you,if you want to understand the whole entire situation better. First, is that Jessica had left her home so that she could marry Lorenzo, who is a Christian. The reason why I called out his religion, is because back in those days, Jews and Christians were filled with a lot of prejudice. And they absolutely hated each other, even if they didn't know that particular person very well. It'd be completely normal for a Jew to fight with a Christian, even if they didn't know that Christian person personally/ One very clear example of this, is when Antonio met Shylock for the first time so that he could ask him if he could lend him some money (it's also very important to take note that Antonio was a Christian and that Shylock was a Jew). And before they even knew each other, or even get to know each other, they were already throwing numerous rude insults back and forth and were already hating each other already. I mean Shylock even said "How like a fawning publican he looks! I hate him for he is a Christian." (The Merchant of Venice, 1. 3.41-42). Another excerpt from the play that proves my point is when Antonio refers Shylock as the devil: "Mark you this, Bassanio, the devil can cite Scripture for his purpose! An evil soul producing holy witness is like a villain with a smiling cheek, a goodly apple rotten at the heart. O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!" (The Merchant of Venice 1. 3.106-111) Another fact that you should keep in mind, is that Shylock is the father of Jessica (which means that they are both Jews), and Lorenzo is a friend of Antonio (and both are Christians). So you'd probably feel very angry and betrayed at your daughter, knowing that she ran away from home to marry a friend of Antonio whom he threw insults at you earlier on, and to make things even worse, your Jewish daughter married a Christian man. And to add on to that, your Jewish daughter that married a Christian man, and stole a very, very huge amount of money from you and has taken your possessions. And by now, if you were Shylock, you'd definitely feel very angry at your own daughter and feel very betrayed as well. In my own words, justice is an act of fair play, or an act of neutrality.In this event, I feel like Jessica, in the name of justice, should be punished. The obvious reason why, is because she stole a lot of money from Shylock, her own father. But then another topic rises, throughout the play we can see evidence of Jessica living a unhappy life as a childhood. So could this be an act of revenge?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Connections Between Characters and Setting

In a story, characters and the setting are connected and have a relationship with each other, and can help the audience further comprehend the story. Those relationships include how a character's actions can reveal the setting of the story-- but the setting in a story also influences a character's actions. "The Sniper a short story by Liam O'Flaherty, is a good example of this connection. A character's actions can reveal the setting of the story, take for example, The Sniper , a short story by Liam O'Flaherty. The main character of the story is the first sniper-- the protagonist. Though the protagonist does mention that a civil war was occurring, other actions such as the sniper killing his brother, can also reveal the setting (O'Flaherty). Near the end, it is revealed that the protagonist killed his brother. This action reveals a major part of the story's setting; the story is happening in a civil war-- the Irish Civil War to be exact. A civil war...
Read more

Imagery and Tone

Tone: Comical  The bright, vibrant green cap of the juice bottle shone brightly under the classroom lights, all basked in its reflective glory. The juice inside was supposed to fill the bottle, though it just barely covered the bottom of the bottle. How inconvenient. But the little liquid that was left in the bottle happily swished around it its messy glory, unknown of how unuseful the juice bottle was. 
Read more

Historical Snapshot

Craters on Dublin It wasn’t supposed to happen. I didn’t want to believe it, and I couldn’t. I couldn’t feel anything, and I felt so numb. I walked past of what used to be decent-sized houses. Now they were just huge graves. They were massive craters dented into Dublin. The bricks of the house came undone; along with the families it once held. They were huge homes that once acted as a shelter for a family. How lucky these families were, to have a ma, children, and a Dad. A Dad. I wish they'd known how blessed they were to have one. But Dad has to come home, right? Ma can’t possibly support the two of us on her own. She needs Dad. I need Dad. I stopped in my tracks. I heard bells ringing, which signaled the start of school. But I couldn’t move, though I had to go to school or else the money will go to waste. My chest started to tremble, and I felt the sting of tears coming. He had to be safe, right? He’s a strong person, and he’d never leave me or Ma, right? De Valera promis...
Read more