On the Charater of Shylock in the Merchant of Venice 英语毕业论文.doc

abstract: shylock is one of the most controversial figures created by william shakespeare in the merchant of venice. for the past 300 years or more, anyone who has been an audience or a reader of shakespeares the merchant of venice could not deny that the titular and protagonist antonio and the antagonist shylock differ greatly in their religious belies, values and attitudes toward money and frendship. their difference as best manifested in the pound of flesh bond is the dominant one that unifies the drama , thrilla the audience and readers and reveals the implied victory of christianity over judaism. whether shylock is a comic villain or a tragic hero heated discussion among shakespearean critics. we all know , shylock, one of shakespeares most complicated and least sympathetic characters-the guy who wants the pound of flesh for an unpaid debt. so, we can say, shylock is the most vivid and memorable character in the merchant of venice, and he is one of shakespeares greatest dramatic creations. there are so many debates about shylock, including his character, religion and so on . in my article, i do not simply classify him as comic or tragic figure. i interpret shylock from three perspectives and then draw a conclusionshylock is a multi - dimensional character and shakespeare reveals to us how the social factors and shylocks personality result in his tragic life.key words: shylock, jew, usuver , individual, religious摘 要: 在莎士比亚创造的威尼斯商人中，夏洛克是具有争议的人物。在过去的300 年或更远的时间里, 任何观众或莎士比亚的读者都不能否认安东尼奥 和对立者夏洛克他们在宗教、金钱的价值和态度上有很大的区别，剧中以一磅肉为焦点。观众和读者都认为基督战胜犹太教。夏洛克是一个可笑的恶棍或一个悲剧的英雄成为评论家讨论的热点。大家都知道,在莎士比亚笔下的夏洛克是一个想要以一磅肉作为债物的最复杂和最缺少同情心的人。而且我们也能说夏洛克的人物形象是最生动和最难忘的, 并且他是莎士比亚的巨作当中的一个。关于夏洛克有很多不同的评论,包括他的个性特征,宗教信仰等等.在这篇论文里面, 我不单只分析他作为可笑、悲剧的一面,并且还更进一步透视然后得出结论。分析莎士比亚笔下的夏洛克所处的社会因素和个性导致他悲剧的生活。关键词: 夏洛克, 犹太民族,高利贷,个性,宗教contentsabstract icontentsiiiintroduction 11. shyclock as a jew 21.1 the origin of jew 21.2 jews images in european works 21.2.1 greeding and cheeseparing 21.2.2 colding and cunning 31.2.3 the highest heart of revenge 31.3 as a jew, the significance of shylock images under shakespeare42. shylock as a usurer 62.1 the definition of usury 62.2 what is the usurry being 62.3 shylock as a usurer is no doubt 63. shylock as an individual 83.1 shylock is hypocritical 83.2 shylock is self-centered 83.3 shylock is stubborn and literal 9conclusion 10bibliography 11acknowledgement 12introductionthe merchant of venice is a well -known play by william shakespeare in 1596. in the play, antonio, a christian, is a venetian merchant. in order to help his friend bassanio to woo portia of belmont, he borrows 3000 ducats for three months from shylock, a jewish usurer, and signs a contract: if the money is not repaid on time , he will forfeit a pound of flesh. with the money, bassanio succeed in proposing to portia. after three months, antonio, being unable to repay the money, is requester by shylock to forfeit the flesh. at that critical moment, portia , disguised as a lawyer , wittily help antonio out of trouble and make shylock a convict. however, the name of the play is not justified, for shylock out earns antonio-the merchant of venice in terms of critical interest and public attention. whether shylock is a comic villain or a tragic hero has been a controversial issue. no doubt shakespeare intends the noble antonio as the hero of the play, who is the representative of the perfect renaissance man. however, shakespeares power of characterization is too rich to subordinate the complex personality of shylock to the sober hero antonio. the critic charlee nowton coe comments,“ shylock is over characterized for the role he was intended to play ” then, here emerges an unavoidable question: how to interpret shylock. after the detailed study of the merchant of venice, i would like to interpret him from three perspectives, namely, shylock as a jew, shylock as a usurer , shylock as an individual.1. shylock as a jew in european literature, jews are usually characterized as usurers and profiteers who are avaricious, mean, cunning and full of anxiety. moreover, jews are usually in subordinae status to serve as the christians foils. such images are not in accordance with the real jews, but they reflect the christian writers bias towards jews. it lays emphasis on the ususual significance of jews images under shakespeare and scotts pens.1.1 the origin of jew anciently, the jew called hebrew. it was made of over ten jewish tribes. the jewish history was full with embarrassments and tears. the jewry is always a puny nation. from thousands ago, the jewry have suffered lots of pressure and crucifition at the hands of the christians. but a lot of great people come from this nation. for example, marx、alber einstein. its enormous contribution for developgment human civilization. it shows tough jewry extraordinary wisdom and creation. 1.2 jews images in european works in european literature works, the jews images are not good. we can understand in lots of works about jewish history and culture.1.2.1 greeding and cheeseparing money is their all life .in their eyes, everything is not over it. in the merchant of venice, shylock is a typical greeding and cheeseparing people. he did not care his daughter but taken jewllery and looked for his daughters cost. “a diamond gone, lost me two thousand ducats in frankfort! the user never fell upon our nation till now; i never felt it till now. two thousand ducats in that, and other precious, precious jewels. i would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear; would she were reard at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin!” “nay, take my life and all, pardon not that. you take my house when you do take the prop that doth sustain my house; you take my life when you do take the means where by i live.” (iii,i)1.2.2 colding and cunningjust for a coin, it has two sides, like the jews trade.i can see it from play. for example: “no, none that thou hast wit enough to make.” “to cut the forfeiture from that bankrupt there.” (iv,i)1.2.3 the highest heart of revengewe are first introduced to shylock in act1sceneiii where we learn of the abuse he has suffered at the hands of the christions.many people are villainous in the way they behave. their villainous acts may be attributed to their desire to destroy others and in turn elevate themselves to a higher financial or social level. however, the root cause of their villainy may be a response to the treatment they have endured at the hands of others. in short, they have been taught villainy, rather than it being an integral part of their personality. in such instances, revenge can be a key motivator in inspiring them to act in a villainous way. “so can i give no reason, nor i will not, more than a ladyd hate and a certain loathing i bear antonio.”(iv i) “i have a daughter would any of the stock of barrabas. had been her husband, rather than a christian!” (iv i)1.3 as a jew, the significance of shylock images under shakespeare discussion concerning jewish shylock has been a hot issue over many centuries. during the entire middle ages, the jews were alternately protected and persecuted. the persecution was due to the religious bias, for christians inherited the fiction fabricated by the early church that the jews murdered christ and were therefore in league with the devil and were actively working to subvert spread of christianity. jews were contempt and biased by all the christians. in elizabethan times, anti-semitic still went on. from the merchant of venice, we can see that shakespeare knew the plight of the jewish people and therefore created accurate background for shylock. there are two opposite positions concerning the relationship between anti-semitic and shakespeares intention of depicting shylock , namely, romantic view and historical view. according to the research of j. l. cardozo in the contemporary jew in elizabethan drama , shakespeare did not know any jews personally and he was not actively engaged in anti-semitic crusade. he was simply following a centuries old stereotype of the jewish people as in marlows the jew of malta. in my article , the emphasis is not laid upon shakespeares intention , but upon the character of shylock unfolded in the play.taken the jews being persecuted as a background, shylock is definitely one of them. from act i scene iii, shylock appealingly reveals to us how he, as a jew, has been wronged. “you (antonio) call me misbeliever, cut throat dog, and spit upon my jewish gabardine.”(i, iii,) after his pitiful complaint about his social status as a heresy, he presents us his seemingly plausible logic: “have not a jew eyes? have not a jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? if a christian wrongs a jew, what should his sufferance be by christian example? why, revenge. the villainy you teach me i will execute; and it shall go hard but i will better the instruction.”(iii, i,)shylock suffers a lot from unbearable racial discrimination. in this sense, he seems to be partly justified. however, according to psychology, everyone tends to overstate ones miseries and tries to find sound excuse for ones own behavior. from this, we can infer that shylock, in order to justify his revenge , movingly reveals his misfortunes and to some extent , exaggerates his being ill treated as a jew so that he may seem to be a noble member of a down trodden race out crying the miseries of the race instead of his own. however, the case is that not all his ill fate is derived from his identity as a jew. his tragic life is, in fact, due to many factors. so in short, to the jewish people as a whole for which shylock serves as a mirror, we do show considerable sympathy and deploration. it is a persevering nation, including shylock, and his revenge is justified, however, only partly justified, for only after the discussion all the three identities, can we explicitly interpret shylock.2. shylock as a usurerusurer in peopleeye, it is a bad pronoun. in this play, shylock would be a usurer, or moneylender, with a beautiful daughter that he held on to as tightly as he did his ducats.2.1the definition of usuryusurythe lending of money at exorbitant rates of interest , was legalized in england in 1571. usury was forbidden to christians by the church of the middle ages, and as a consequence, money lending was controlled by the jews; as a rule, it was usually the only occupation which the law allowed to them. as a result, a great deal of medieval literature produced the conventional figure of the jewish moneylender, usually as a minor character, but also too, as a major character2.2 what is the usury beingrestricted as jews from owning real properties and keeping serfs which were essential to the agrarian economy of the middle ages, more and more jews became usurers, which was the only occupation the christian world has left open to them. meanwhile, the church has established that christians were not allowed to lend money at interest, which was a violation of the new testament concept of charity. so at that time, usurers were mostly contempt jews, and jews were mostly contempt usurers.2.3 from medieval literary tradition that shakespeare borrows the figure of shylockfrom medieval literary tradition that shakespeare borrows the figure of shylock, just as marlowe did for hia jew malta.in the merchant of venice, shakespeares identity as a usurer is never in doubt because in acti sceneii , his first line defines himself ,“three ducats-it is a good round sum. three months from twelve then let me see the rate.”to shylock, his business is just“ use of that which is mine own”(i, iii,) and “thrift is blessing if men steal it not.”(i, iii,) so far his occupation, though indecent and corrupt in christianseyes, is not for us to criticize ,for that is all he can do in the world. what i want to comment is on his disagreement with antonio. the underlying reason accounting for shylocks hatred lies largely in the usury affairs rather than religious affairs. he says“(antonio) lends our money graits, and he (antonio) disagreed me and brings down the rate of usance here with us in venice,”(i, iii,) and “(antonio) hinder me of half a million; laugh at my losses, mock at my gains.”(iii, i,) it is natural for our human beings to compete with others in order to survive and to be angry with the one who disdains our occupation. so, shylocks hatred towards antonio is understandable, however, he over leaps too much and takes his hatred as a good excuse to execute inexorable action. in the trial scene, he is just like a maniac driven by the nervous frenzy of accumulated hatred. as a usurer, he is supposed to lay his interest on money, but at last, we come to realize that his real intention is on antonios life a rivals life. in brief, he does justify his hatred. however, he can by no means justifies his relentless mrevenge. the only explanation would be that shylock is so passionate that he always takes extreme actions, which is to be analyzed in section iii.3. shylock as an individualin this section, i would like to analyze shylock from the standpoint of his personality, apart from his religious beliefs and occupation. when reading the merchant of venice, our view of shylock constantly moves beyond simple racist discrimination and our attention is drawn at the individual. shylock is on the first view, a somewhat comic figure: an alien with peculiar ways of speaking (e. g. repetition) and behaving. with such a comic appearance, what is on earth shylocks personality? here are three points drawn from the merchant of venice.3.1 shylock is hypocritical. from the very beginning, he nourishes murderous motivation, but in order to make it work, he slyly masks his intention. he deceptively says to antonio, “i would be friends with you, and have you love ”(i, iii,) and when bassanio doubts his intention , he claims that “to buy his (antonios) favor i extend this friendship.”(i, iii ,) by these misleading remarks, shylock succeeds to trap antonio with his well knit net. therefore, shylock is at his most sinister when he is pretending to be kind.3.2 shylock is self-centered. although he partly justifies his desire for revenge by pointing out that antonio dislikes jews, he seems incapable of realizing the prejudices that jews have suffered over centuries, until his money is stolen and his daughter is“ stolen ”. in act i scene iii, he says, “a diamond gone , lost me two thousand ducats in frankfort ! the curse never fell upon our nation till now, i never felt it till now.” so we can justifiably say that only his personal loss can make him think he is one of adown trodden race.3.3 shylock is stubborn and literal.he speaks like a hard business man, with no touches of warmth, even to his own daughter. in act ii scene v, when he is informed of masques, he insists that in his absence, his house be properly secured and“ let not the sound of shallow foppery enter my sober house”. he always literally sticks to rules and forms, especially in the trial scene.shylocks egotism and stubbornness directly leads to his revenge, and eventually leads to his tragic life. by depicting shylock as a villainous and comic butt shakespeare, to some extent, prevents shylock assuming a genuinely tragic stature.shylock, the focal point of the play, appears only in five scenes and has been one of the most controversial figures in the world literature.“it is a measure of shakespeares achievement that the play allows all interpretations.” shylock becomes all things to all men. in my article, i interpret shylock from three different, though interwoven dimensions. no one is born evil and there must be some reasons underlying it, that is, social evils. we cannot simply classify shylock as a tragic hero or a comic villain, for it is a multi-dimensional issue. shylock is wronged for being as a jew and a usurer, however, he goes too far as to take deadly revenge on his rival. to him, we hold a mixed feeling of sympathy and detestation.but, since shakespeare intended to focus the audiences attention on a particular jew rather than jews as a whole, i would like to draw a conclusion. just