Shylock
Shylock was a Jew who was living in Venice. During that period, Christians and Jews discriminated a lot against each other. We can find that the writer of this story, William Shakespeare wrote a bad ending for Shylock because Shylock was a Jew. Shylock had a daughter called Jessica and she was a Christian secretly. Also, she fell in love with a Christian guy, Lorenzo. After sometime, Jessica ran away with Lorenzo stealing money from her father. At the end of the story, Shylock got nothing. He could not even get one pound of flesh from Antonio because of Portia’s deception.
Shylock had always been discriminated by the Christians, so Shylock might have wanted pay back from Christians. When Antonio asked him to lend money for Bassanio, instead of charging interests, Shylock askedAntonioto give one pound of flesh from any part of the body which Shylock asks for. Even though Shylock’s strategy did not work, we can understand that he wanted revenge from Christians.According to me, Christians had mistreated Jews and Shylock had done the right thing by asking for Antonio’s flesh. If IwereAntonio,I would have done the same thing.
The only thing that Shylock did wrong is mistreating his daughter. First of all, Shylock should have understood what Jessica wanted.He should have known that she wanted to be a Christianand marry Lorenzo. That would have given Shylock enough time to consider what is good for Jessica.Ithink Jessica was able to make such a decision of running away with Lorenzo easily because Shylock was negligent towards his daughter.
Shylock was considered as a bad man in the story Merchant of Venice because he always wanted profits and never cared for the needy. This was because of his religion which did not allow him to possess any property, so it is better to read such stories with proper background information.
Bassanio
Bassanio was a Christian man who had lot of debts. He wanted to woo a rich and beautiful heiress so that he could clear all his debts. I consider such kind of a person selfish and insensitive parasite. He had no money even to go and ask for Portia’s hand. Antonio told Bassanio that he will borrow money from Shylock and as a surety give one pound of his flesh, in case of non-repayment by Bassanio. If Bassanio were to really care about his friend, he would not have agreed to this deal. He knew that this deal was risky because if he chose the wrong casket, Antonio would face the wrath of Shylock.
If Iwere Bassanio, I would not have made my friend’s flesh to be Shylock’s surety, no matter how badly I needed that money. Shylock hates Christians as he had been discriminated by them earlier. So, Shylock could do cruel things to Antonio and Bassanio shouldn’t let that happen to his friend. Also, it is not good to marry a person for money because if they marry without knowing each other much,there could be some problem between them and they may even break apart. Bassanio was thoughtless about his marriage and just marrieda random rich girl who could pay his debts.
He was also not faithful to his religion. In those days, Christians and Jews were against each other. In this story, Bassanio almost begs Shylock to lend him money. It doesn’t mean it is wrong to be polite to Christian people, but it is a non-pride act to beg an enemy. My basic opinion about Bassanio is negative, because he is too attached to money.
Antonio
As Antonio was a Christian, he hated Jews. But since his loving friend Bassanio needs money to reach a rich woman, Portia in Belmont, he borrowed money from Shylock, who is a Jew. Actually, he was a rich money lender himself, but his ship carrying all his properties were sailing on the sea, so he had no money then. He borrowed money for his friend by being his surety. One pound of his flesh from any part of the body, which Shylock may want to have will be taken in case of non-repayment. He would have definitely known that Shylockwould do cruel things to him if he borrows money from Shylock, but he finally chose to borrow money from him for his friend, Bassanio.
He really loved and respected his friend.Even though his friend Bassanio was being selfish by sacrificing his dear friend, Antonio, he was loyal to their friendship. In this part, we can find that Antonio is being kind but also foolish. Because even though his friend is mean and selfish, Antonio is still respecting his friend. If Iwere Antonio, I would have left Bassanio, because I know the fact that money is more important than friendship for Bassanio. Also, instead of just following Bassanio’s opinion that he should marry rich woman to clear the debts, I will talk to him about other ways to clear the debts. For example, arrange for jobswhere Bassanio can earn money by himself.
As I told earlier, Antonio could have beencleverer, instead of just borrowing money from Shylock by surety of his flesh. But Antonio’s sacrifice, kindness, love and respects are appreciable. It would be nice to have friendslike Antonio. I want to become a person who is kind as Antonio and clever as Portia.
Portia
Portia was a beautiful, rich heiress whose father had passed away.Before Portia’s father passed away, he left a testament saying that any men who wanted to marry Portia would have to choose the right casket among three caskets. If the person could not choose the casket, the person cannot ever marry in his life. Portia was displeased about her father’s testament. I agree on Portia’s opinion because it is very important and pleasing thing to marry a loving person. In case of Portia, she lost her right to choose her husband, who will live forever with her.
Later, Portia talks to Nerissa regarding bad things about the men who had come to choose the casket. Here, Portia is being mean by telling bad things about people who did nothing bad to her. According to Portia, Count Pelatine, the Duke of Saxony’s nephew was a weeping philosopher and a sponge because he was Alcoholic. Neapolitan Prince was a horse loving guy, Monsieur Le Bon was every man in no man, The Scottish Lord was the English water, Falconbridge was an English-dumb, who could only speak English and the Prince of Morocco was a good person but his skin color is dark. Portia is a racist because she is discriminating people with their race, skin color and their hobbies.
In the last part of the story, Portia helped Bassanio saving Antonio from Shylock in disguise of the judge who actually could not come to the court because he was sick. She was very clever and smart in the court. She was saying Shylock not to make any blood come out of Antonio’s body and also told him to take exact one pound of flesh from Antonio’s body. This made Shylock lay quiet. Finally, she saved her husband’s friend. Her immediate idea and judgment was changed the entire situation. But I wonder how could an ordinary person who did not study lawact as a judge in the court. If there’s more story after this, it would be like Portia will be caught and Antonio will be judged again and the judge who was supposed to come will be punished because he asked Portia, who was not a proper judge to come and judge the incident.
Portia was a very smart and clever woman, so if I were Portia, I would not have married a man who wants to marry to clear his debts. Also, I would become a proper judge if I want to judge an incident, because it is illegal to act as a judge even though I’m an ordinary person.
