The Merchant of Venice is a satiric play for several
reasons. The entire play was set in favour of an audience that hated Jews and believed
that even the most inhumane treatment was well-deserved. Labelled as "killers of Jesus
Christ", the Jews were hated by Venetians; in this case, the merchant Antonio, for
charging usury and for being a Jew. Shylock the Jewish money-lender in the play,
received harsh treatment from Antonio for being "thrifty". He disgraced Shylock publicly
by speaking badly about him, calling him a "cut throat dog", spitting on his clothes and
in his face and by kicking him like you would a stray dog. (Act One, scene Three). After
all this, Antonio approaches Shylock about borrowing money to which Shylock replies,
“Hath a dog money? Is it possible that a dog can lend three thousand ducats?" Without
remorse, Antonio, one of Shakespeare’s "protagonists" in the play, responds by telling
Shylock, "I am like as like to call thee so again, to spit on thee again, to spurn thee
too."
Shylock again suffers abuse at the hands of
Christians when his only daughter Jessica elopes with Lorenzo, Antonio's friend, taking
from him; bags of ducats, jewels and precious stones, even his treasured turquoise ring,
which he received from his wife before she died. He is mocked and ridiculed when
Solanio, Antonio's friend, refers to him as "the dog Jew" and telling of how Shylock ran
through the streets of Venice crying for his ducats and his daughter,
with boys following mockingly. (Act two, Scene
Eight).
Finally, the play is satiric because, having
suffered all the things mentioned above, Shylock is taken to court and stripped of his
dignity, his possessions and most importantly, his religion, when Portia, disguised as a
lawyer, brilliantly accuses him of attempting to kill Antonio in the signing a bond that
demands a pound of his flesh, should he forfeit his loan. Shylock was left dejected and
ridiculed for his vice.
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