Shylock Flashcards
How does Shylock reflect wealth & power in the play?
- “Ships are but boards, sailors but men” - A1S3 -> saying that ships (made of wood back then) could still break at sea
- While he is approached by Bassanio (Shylock as the money lender, Bassanio looking for a loan deal of 3000 ducats)
- Based on Antonio’s good name -> used as security
- Shylock wants to make sure that Antonio will pay back the ducats and asks the quote
- Shylock listing out the reasons why Antonio banking on everything being totally fine is not valid if there is a shipwreck -> foreshadowing the news that Antonio’s ships are wrecked at sea and he becomes bankrupt
- Bassanio reassures Shylock that Antonio’s income from his ships at sea will help to pay off the loan
“Ships are but boards, sailors but men” - A1S3 - Word-level analysis
- Sibilance of “ships” and sailors” -> draws attention to the phrase and creates a negative atmosphere of what is to come
- Repetition of conjuction/connective “but” -> makes clear that this in particular is important to the text; draws the eye of the reader while simultaneously emphasising the importance of the idea -> proves Shylock to be a clever businessman by questioning Bassanio and Antonio’s nonchalance -> explains why he is able to make money by asking ‘clever’ questions
How does Shylock reflect prejudice & intolerance in the play?
- “I hate him for he is a Christian” - A1S3
- This is where we learn why Shylock hates Antonio
- Hates him because Antonio is horrible to him but also because he is a Christian in general
“I hate him for he is a Christian” - A1S3 - Word-level analysis
- Alliteration in “hate”, “him”, and “he” -> shows the passion & intensity in Shylock’s anger against Antonio
- Sets the tone of the play (prejudice), draws eye of reader & emphasises the phrase
How does Shylock reflect wealth & love?
- “My own flesh & blood to rebel” -> A3S1
- Shylock realises that Jessica hates him & has run away from him -> realises she has stolen his jewels & money & cannot believe it
“My own flesh & blood to rebel” - A3S1 - Word-level analysis
- Exclamatory sentence -> shows Shylock’s shock, can’t believe Jessica could betray him that way
- “Flesh & blood” - metaphor -> draws attention of reader by engaging their imagination in the interpretation of the metaphor -> more manageable images in the readers mind, prompting engagement ->
- Shylock seems alienated & isolated
- How does Shylock reflect prejudice & intolerance?
“I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes?” A3S1
- Justifying why he hates Antonio -> we feel a lot of sympathy for Antonio
- Monologue -> provides audience w/ more detail about a character + plot point -> helps to explain & progress the text’s storyline -> stating out the reasons people don’t like him which is simply down to the fact that he is a Jewish man -> expressing that people dehumanise him -> makes us question why people would mistreat him based on their heritage/colour of skin
- Reveals the stupidity of Antonio (+ others) treatment of Shylock based on his Jewish heritage
- Society feels sympathy for his mistreatment
“I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes?” A3S1 - Word level analysis
- Simple sentence “I am a Jew” -> makes us realise just how stupid & irrational society is just because he is a Jew
- Rhetorial question (structural) “Hath not a Jew eyes?” -> subtly influences the reader & persuades them of the argument at hand -> not meant to be answered instead to prompt deeper thoughtnin the reader -> question asking people why Jews aren’t supposedly humans like everyone else (sub-human)
- Repetition of the word “Jew” -> emphasises point/motif -> by repeating it makes it clear that this is important to the text -> draws the eye of the reader while simultaneously emphasising the importance of the idea -> focus on anti-Semitism from Antonio + other characters -> he was born a Jew & can’t control it
- How does Shylock reflect justice & mercy?
- At the end, he realises that he isn’t going to get the pound of Antonio’s flesh -> therefore he ends settling for his 3000 ducats back
- “Shall I not have barely my principal?” A4S1
“Shall I not have barely my principal?” A4S1 - Word-level analysis
- Assonance of ‘a’ in “shall”, “have”, “barely” and “principal” -> creates rhythm in text & allows readers to interpret a sentence the way the author intended by making clear which vowel sound should be stressed
- Shylock is asking for what is his -> being denied it -> he never gets that principal -> basically asking if he could at least receive back the money he loaned -> however never even gets it back, ends up losing more than that -> therefore, arguably, his money was stolen from him -> shows us that Shylock is very victimised in society
What is principal?
The original money that anybody that you’re loaning money from, that’s the original sum that they give you
