In this post, I would like to express my opinions on a few characters in Merchant of Venice, namely Antonio, Portia, Shylock and Bassanio.
Frankly, in the entire MOV, I feel that Antonio is the most dislikable person. I felt repulsed by his baseless prejudice against Jews. His life is already so much better than those the Jew's enjoy, and he is so much richer, yet he insults their religion and their way of life. It is not as if the Jew's have ever harmed him. I think that he should be more independent, rather than following the mainstream view of anti semitism. Shylock does not deserve to be spat on, or kicked at, and while i was reading the book, I felt considerably more sympathetic for Shylock than Antonio.
Next, I also do not feel Portia is a very morally upright person. In the last act, where she completely dismantled Shylock, taking away his assets, and even his religion. I felt that this was completely unneccesary, especially as she had already saved Antonio. I felt that Shylock need not have killed Antonio, but at the very least he should recieve his principal back. Shylock needs to make a living too, same as Antonio, and without any assets, how is he to do so? Portia has completely destroyed his life. By taking away his religion, she is adding insult to injury. No one deserves to be humiliated in such a manner, and for all his faults, Shylock is no exception.
Thirdly, I think that Bassanio is quite a upright person, and he is my favourite character. His laid back character and light hearted spirit lightened the mood, especially after Antonio's and Shylock's heavy and serious conversations. I think that during the trial, where Portia destroyed Shylock, he did the right thing by offering the money back. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Shylock does not deserve to be treated in such a manner. However, I did not enjoy his antisemitic viewpoint, similar to Antonio's.
Finally, I think that out of all the characters in MOV, I sympathise most with Shylock. Throughout the entire book, his life was taken apart slowly, and at the end, he was left humiliated and bankrupted. The first blow came when Jessica left him, and went off with a Christian, a further insult to Shylock. During the trial, I really felt sorry for Shylock. Though some might say that Shylock deserved it by plotting to kill Antonio, I do not think that he did wrong. After all, Antonio could have turned down the deal. However, he decided to go with it, and agreed to gamble on his life. I think that the best outcome would be that Shylock receives three times his principle, and keeps his religion. I failed to see the significance of Portia forcing Shylock to change his religion. Does she really hate him that much? It was a needless humiliation, and I lost any remnants of respect for Portia at that point.
In conclusion, I think that MOV played the story out from a very biased viewpoint, and I also felt that the ending was not appropriate. I think that Shylock should not have been treated in such a manner, and if anyone deserved to be treated that way, it was Antonio.
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1 comments:
Hi Kenneth :D
I guess this shows a vast difference between the way we view things and the way people did in the past, something rather interesting.
We all know that in this play Antonio, if not Bassanio, is the protagonist, and Shylock the antagonist. It was written to make the audience cheer for Antonio, and stand against Shylock. Interestingly though, we now feel more for Shylock than Antonio.
I guess one of the reasons for this is the motive of watching/reading the play, for in the past they watch for entertainment, while we study the text. Of course we can take into account other factors such as the relations between people of different religions. The difference in thoughts as time passes is what really intrigues me :o
I generally do concur with your thoughts on the characters, though I would say Bassanio didn't offer the money to Shylock intentionally, but rather, as discussed in class, done as a result of his anxiety of wanting to settle the matter quick. Though, very interestingly when I first read it the first time, I felt more for Antonio, but as we went through the text, I changed sides and felt more with Shylock, which I guess is something interesting about the way this play was designed.
Perhaps Shakespeare had meant to to create this effect. O:
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