Have you heard the story of the moneylender Shylock who lent money on the condition that if unpaid, he will take a pound of the debtor’s flesh? The villain Shylock and the super-lady Portia who saves the hero from the villain appear in Shakespeare’s famous comedy, Merchant of Venice.
Bassanio was a young noble Venetian, who wanted to marry the gracious, intelligent and rich young woman, Portia. He needed 3,000 ducats for the purpose, but he did not have the money as he was a reckless spendthrift. Bassanio approached his friend Antonio, a wealthy merchant of Venice. Antonio promised Bassanio money; however, since his ships were at sea, he could not bail him out this time. So, both of them approached a Jewish moneylender Shylock.
Shylock had a bitter rivalry with Antonio, who had abused the former many times. Antonio also had the habit of lending money without interest and this had forced Shylock to lower his interest. However, finally Shylock agreed to pay enough- enough money to Bassanio on one condition: if Antonio could not produce the money, he would carve out a pound of flesh from Antonio! Despite the protests of Bassanio, Antonio signed the contract.
At Portia’s palace at Belmont, suitors to the young maiden were flooding in. In a contest, which required the suitor to choose a casket intelligently in order to marry her, Bassanio won Portia’s hand as he choose the right casket. In the meanwhile, Antonio’s ships were reported to be lost at sea and thus he could not pay his debts. In the court, shylock refuses to accept twice the amount of money he lent and demanded his lawful pound of flesh from Antonio. A young law appeared in the court then and declared to the court that if the moneylender were adamant about the pound of flesh, he could take it. But he must take only flesh! He should not shed any drop of blood in the process. Shylock lost the case, and even his wealth due to the intelligence of the young lawyer. Now, to the surprise of Antonio and Bassanio, Balthazar turned out to be Portia in disguise. The play ends on a happy note when everything, including the safe return of Antonio’s ships, turned out well.
While any scholars argue that Merchant of Venice is the best of Shakespeare’s comedies, the Play is accused of racism anti-Semitism the hatred of Jews. Shylock’s words in the play are quite popular: ‘If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?’
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