The Merchant of Venice

1
The Merchant of Venice

• Day Two Slide Show
• ENGL 305
• Dr. Fike

2
Review

• MV includes a mixture of classical and Christian
  elements.
• Although not officially a problem comedy, it is
  darker than MSND (festive comedy) and is
  therefore a good example of what the Bedford
  calls mixed modes.
• The sadness of Antonio, the central character,
  has numerous possible causes but the ones that
  we favored last time are that he is overly fond
  of Bassanio, who is moving toward marriage, and
  that material acquisition is ultimately
  disappointing.
• Shylock has a secret desire to harm Antonio, but
  private hatred becomes public motivation,
  possibly when he finds out that Jessica has
  traded the ring that Leah (his late wife) gave
  him.

3
Why Shylock Seeks Revenge

• We noted that Shylocks aside indicates a
  desire to harm Antonio, but that private desire
  probably doesnt become public intention until
  Shylock learns that Jessica has used his ring to
  buy a monkey.
• On the next slide, I explore the psychological
  implications of their father-daughter
  relationship in terms of projection.

4
My Take on Shylock

• In The Merchant of Venice, the antagonistic pair
  of gendered opposites is the father/daughter
  syzygy of Shylock and Jessica. The Jew may be so
  leery of losing his daughter to romance because
  he has already lost his wife, Leah, to death
  therefore, he possessively projects the part of
  his anima that appropriately attaches to a wife
  onto his daughter, an imbalance in which
  disappointment festers. Just as the mother seems
  to be the first carrier of the projection-making
  factor for the son, so is the father for the
  daughter, writes Jung (CW 9ii, 28/14). I am
  suggesting that projection, in Shylock and
  Jessicas case, works in the opposite direction
  as wellthe daughter receives the fathers
  projections. But when Jessica leaves with
  Lorenzo, taking Shylocks money and an important
  anima-token, the ring that Leah gave him, he is
  deprived of father/daughter relations and
  reminded of the missing husband/wife conjunction.
  As a result, he becomes centered on himself and
  fixed on revenge. For Hillman, Jungs syzygy
  theory accounts for such a reaction in the wake
  of psychological loss An animus that loses its
  soul (anima) connection, that posits itself as
  independent of the syzygy, is ego or what
  Jung calls the monotheism of consciousness. In
  Shylocks case, ego-consciousness manifests as a
  desire for strict justice. emphasis added
• --Dr. Fike

5
Todays Main Topic Venturing

• The American Heritage Dictionary n. 1. An
  undertaking that is dangerous, daring, or of
  doubtful outcome. 2. Something at hazard in a
  venture stake. --tr. 1. To expose to danger or
  risk. 2. To brave dangers of ventured the
  high seas in a light boat.

6
More on Venturing

• Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
• Venturing involves risking something for the sake
  of gain.

7
Usury One Type of Venturing

• Lending money at a rate of interest.
• May I have readers for the next 6 slides?

8
Jo McMurtry, Understanding Shakespeares England
A Companion for the American Reader, pages 80-81

• England, or for that matter western Europe,
  did not have in the sixteenth century banks of
  the sort we know today. No central banks offered
  customers the convenience of savings plans or
  personal loans. Banking functions were evolving
  in various parts of the economy, but one could
  not go to one place and conduct ones financial
  business with the kind of assistance we know
  today. ?

9
McMurtry, continued

• With regard to the ease with which monetary
  operations could take place, a considerable
  difference existed between large-scale and
  small-scale transactions. A small businessman
  had no means of transferring money easily. With
  no paper currency and no regular systems of
  credit, he had to carry around bags of coins. A
  large trading company had more scope. It might,
  for example, set up a system of agents and pay
  its accounts through bills of exchange, thus
  keeping the wheels of commerce turning. Since
  these bills were drawn on a specific mercantile
  house, the necessary element of faith was easy to
  achieve. ?

10
McMurtry, continued

• On this comparatively large scale, and
  particularly when the business was being done
  abroad, loans could be arranged, usually at a
  reasonable rate of interest because the borrower
  was not helpless and might seek better terms
  elsewhere. Nations as well as companies were
  involved here. The financial wizard Sir Thomas
  Gresham, for example, spent much of his career in
  Antwerp negotiating loans for the Tudor
  sovereigns. ?

11
McMurtry, continued

• International finance owed a considerable
  amount of its growth to the Jewish moneylenders
  who in many countries of Europe had become an
  important part of the picture. Holland
  particularly welcomed refugees fleeing
  persecution elsewhere, in contrast to Englands
  continuing medieval bias. ?

12
McMurtry, continued

• The association between Jews and lending money
  on interest, or usury, had been mandated, in the
  view of many Englishmen, by the Bible itself,
  which appeared to say that Jews might charge
  interest from Christians and that Christians
  should not charge interest from each other. Upon
  examination one finds that this interpretation
  depends on a somewhat twisted logic. In Exodus
  2225 and Deuteronomy 2319, Jews are forbidden
  to lend money upon usury to fellow Jews but are
  allowed (in Deuteronomy) to enter such
  transactions with strangersinterpreted as
  Christians, although an Old Testament text could
  hardly be specific about this particular type of
  stranger. Neither passage goes into the question
  of what kind of loans strangers are allowed to
  make to each other. ?

13
McMurtry, continued

• Gradually, during the sixteenth century,
  Englands official attitude toward the charging
  of interest, whether by Jews or Christians,
  shifted. The view of capital as a commodity like
  any otherwarehouse space, for exampleto be made
  available for lease on certain terms, began to
  win practical acceptance, and the notion that
  money might breed other money no longer seemed
  an offense against nature. Between 1545 and
  1552, Parliament allowed certain types of
  interest-bearing loans to be made, provided the
  interest charged was no higher than ten percent.
  (This stipulation referred to transactions within
  England. Loans arranged in foreign countries,
  even if English merchants or the English
  government were involved, had never come under
  Parliaments authority.) The ban on usury was
  renewed in 1552 but was finally lifted in 1571,
  the same year that Gresham opened the London
  Royal Exchangea handsome, four-story building
  modeled after the bourse at Antwerp, with a
  central court surrounded by arcaded walkways
  where merchants might discuss business matters
  without having to stand in the rain. The
  building served as a quite practical symbol of
  Englands increasing prominence in the worlds
  economy.

14
Exodus 2225

• If you lend money to any of my people with you
  who is poor, you shall not be to him as a
  creditor, and you shall not exact interest from
  him.

15
Deuteronomy 2319-20

• You shall not lend upon interest to your
  brother, interest on money, interest on victuals,
  interest on anything that is lent for interest.
  To a foreigner you may lend upon interest, but to
  your brother you shall not lend upon interest
  that the Lord your God may bless you in all that
  you undertake in the land which you are entering
  to take possession of it (emphasis added).

16
The Point Is

• The Jewish position was that you dont lend money
  on interest to your brothers, but it is okay to
  loan money to a foreigner.
• Christians interpreted this to mean that Jews
  could loan money to Christians.

17
What About the Bond in MV?

• It is NOT usurious!
• It simply imposes a penalty, one that Shylock
  passes off as a joke.
• In other words, the loan is in Christian
  termsgratis, no interest.
• Cf. 1.3.41 He Antonio lends out money gratis
  and brings down / The rate of usance here with us
  in Venice.

18
More on Shylock and the Bond

• Shylock claims that loaning money without
  interest reflects his interest in brotherhood
  To buy his favor I extend this friendship
  (1.3.167).
• His actual intention, however, is more
  sinisterto catch him Antonio upon the hip
  (1.3.38-49).
• And Shylock gets in trouble when he loans money
  on Christian termsi.e., without interest.

19
A Critics View

• When he loans money without interest, he is
  forcing Antonio to borrow as friends and equals
  borrow.
• He has been admitted to the society to the
  extent that he has been allowed to lend money
  gratis, as its members do.
• Source Paula Brody, Shylocks Omophagia A
  Ritual Approach to The Merchant of Venice,
  Literature and Psychology 17 (1967), 230 and 232.
  (Omophagia is the eating of raw flesh.)

20
The Problem

• But Shylocks sinister intention regarding the
  bond makes it clear that Otherness is still a
  factor.
• As the Bible says, there are brothers, and there
  are others.
• Despite the interest-free loan, Antonio still
  views Shylock as one of the latter, and Shylock
  sees himself the same way. As a sign of this
  disconnection, the loan, while interest-free, is
  not penalty-free.
• Point Shakespeare is playing with the biblical
  background on usury, but ultimately the Jew is
  still the Other.

21
Jews in Early Modern England

• See Usury Handout.

22
Venturing and UsuryVenturing and the Caskets

• These themes come together in the passages where
  Shylock justifies his business practices and
  where the suitors choose a casket.
• Note Those of you working on the casket scenes
  will need to divide the questions and passages
  up. (The casket handout is something one of my
  former students found you are welcome to use it,
  but you may need to look beyond what it lays out.)

23
Group Activity Ten Minutes, Groups of 3-5 People

• Your texts
• 1.3.69-100
• Genesis 3025 to 3116
• What is the relationship between the two texts?
• What is Shylock saying?
• What is Antonios criticism?
• How does venturing inform your reading of the two
  texts?

• Passages
• 1.2.12-34 Portias father
• 2.7.13ff. Morocco
• 2.9.19ff. Aragon
• 3.2.1ff. Bassanio
• Why does Portias father establish the casket
  test?
• Why dont Morocco and Aragon choose correctly?
  Are they appropriate for her?
• What about Bassanio? Is he more appropriate for
  her?
• Does Portia play by the rules of the casket test
  when Bassanio chooses?
• How is Belmont unlike Shylocks house? See 2.3.2
  and 2.5.29ff. Compare 5.1.60ff.

24
Shylock and Biblical Allusion

• Your texts
• 1.3.69-100
• Genesis 3025 to 3116
• What is the relationship between the two texts?
• What is Shylock saying?
• What is Antonios criticism?
• How does venturing inform your reading of the two
  texts?

25
Questions about the Casket Test (a particular
venture)

• Why does Portias father establish the casket
  test? See 1.2.27.
• Why dont Morocco and Aragon choose correctly?
  Are they appropriate for her?
• Does Portia play by the rules of the casket test
  when Bassanio chooses?
• What about Bassanio? Is he more appropriate for
  her? See 1.1.161-63, 1.2.110, and 3.2.77.
• How is Belmont unlike Shylocks house? See 2.3.2
  and 2.5.29ff. Compare 5.1.60ff.

26
Third times a charm.

• Numerology is to mathematics as astrology is to
  astronomy.
• http//www.flickr.com/photos/mysticpolitics/633316
  2973/

27
3

• The number 3 suggests
• Union of opposites (male and female) in marriage.
• Reunification/reconciliation.
• Wholeness/completeness.
• Unity, harmony, human love, and divine love
  (Trinity).

28
From a Bulgarian Students Undergraduate Term
Paper

• Thus, there is a kind of heavenly aura about
  the number three as a sign of divine love which
  unites two lovers into one. It combines the
  limited nature of each to generate a limitless
  experience shared by both. It leads to the
  highest expression of love, which unites all
  lovers in general. In this sense we can conclude
  that the presence of the number three as a major
  motif in the casket scene in MV is a favorable
  omen for the choice that needs to be made by
  Portias wooers. The use of that number suggests
  that love, in its noblest form will triumph in
  the end.

29
More on Venturing

• How else does MV make use of the motif of
  venturing?
• What other examples are there?
• Brainstorm Write down examples in your notes.
  You might go right down the list of characters
  before 1.1 and consider each one in terms of
  venturing.
• Share them with the class.

30
Summary of Venturing

• Antonio sends his ships abroad.
• Shylock loans Antonio money.
• Antonio loans Bassanio money (again). See
  1.1.140ff.
• Jessica runs away with Lorenzo (cf. Rachel).
• Lorenzo runs away with Jessica (cf. Jacob in a
  foreign land ShylockJessicaLabanRachel).
• The suitors Morocco, Aragon, Bassanio venture
  (3.2.10) for Portias hand in marriage. See
  2.7.9 and 2.9.31ff. (For a connection between
  Morocco and Lancelot, see 3.5.36-37. Does Portia
  fear miscegenation?)
• Lancelot ventures when he switches from Shylock
  to Bassanio (cf. the shift from the Old Testament
  to the New Testament). (LancelotOld
  GobboJacobIsaac.)
• Prodigal son allusion the prodigal Christian,
  2.5.16. (Prodigality means both extreme
  wastefulness son and extreme generosity
  father. Cf. Sylvan Barnets article,
  Prodigality and Time in The Merchant of Venice
  in PMLA 87.)
• Jason 1.1.170, 3.2.241-42. (Jasons success
  with the golden fleece is the opposite of the
  prodigal sons unsuccessful venture.) END