Alex Laubscher
Merchant of Venice Portfolio B
In order to justify holding up the bond,
in which he will take a pound of Antonio’s flesh, Shylock uses metaphors with
animals; Shakespeare reveals Shylock’s escalation into a merciless person,
rooting from his desire for revenge upon the Christians for mistreating him.
After entering, he addresses the Duke of Venice saying, “Is it answered? / What
if my house be troubled with a rat / And I pleased to give ten thousand ducats
to have it baned?” (4.1.42-45) Shylock compares his decision to go through with
his loan with Antonio to paying ten thousand ducats to kill a rat, in order to
show that he feels that his decision should not be questioned. By asking, “Is
it answered?,” he is saying that he does not need a reason to do as he pleases
with his money, and the same goes for his loan. It should not be questioned why
he would want to take the flesh of the Christian rat, Antonio, who has caused
him great troubles in lieu of receiving a great sum of money, for it is his
monetary decision. Shakespeare uses Shylock’s decisiveness to highlight his
mercilessness and lack of pity for Antonio because he is set on getting revenge
on the Christian. Later on, Shylock continues to try to validate his decision
by saying, “You have among you many a purchased slave / … like your asses and
your dogs and mules, / …You will answer / ‘The slaves are ours’. So do I answer
you / The pound of flesh which I demand of him is dearly bought: ‘tis mine, and
I will have it” (4.1.89-90, 97-99). Shylock states that “you,” Antonio,
Bassanio, and the Duke of Venice, have slaves and dehumanize them by treating
them like animals. However, they find justification in the fact that the slaves
are theirs because the bought them. Because of Shylock’s bond with Antonio, he
owns that pound of flesh which is still on Antonio and says that it would be
hypocritical of the Christians to stop him from taking the pound of flesh which
he rightfully owns, even if it causes a great deal of pain for Antonio. Shylock
is no longer posing questions justify his decision; he is demanding that he
gets his pound of flesh from Antonio, showing his now aggressive approach to reasoning
his decision. Shakespeare uses Shylock’s intensifying metaphors and dialogue to
exhibit Shylock’s escalation into a ruthless man determined to get revenge on
Antonio as a release of his anger towards Christian people for taking his
daughter and money.
