Character Profile- Jessica Flashcards
How can Jessica be seen as a victim?
Jessica hates living with Shylock. The only time the audience sees them at home together is in Act 2 scene 5. Shylock uses a lot of imperatives such as “Do as I bid you”, which makes the atmosphere very oppressive.
Jessica admits that she’s “ashamed” to be Shylock’s daughter. The audience feels sympathy for her internal conflict. She doesn’t want to be Jewish, but knows it as a “heinous sin” to reject her family’s origins.
Marrying Lorenzo doesn’t solve all of Jessica’s problems. After the couples come back to Belmont in Act 5, Jessica doesn’t speak again. This could suggest she hasn’t been fully accepted into Christian society.
How is Jessica seen as not innocent?
Jessica betrays Shylock’s trust when she abandons him and steals from him. She doesn’t care if her actions hurt Shylock which makes her seem selfish.
She spends Shylock’s stolen money wastefully and trades Shylock’s ring “for a monkey”. This suggests that she doesn’t need the money in the first place, and that she might deliberately be trying to upset Shylock.
When the other characters return to Belmont in Act 5, Scene 1 Jessica doesn’t react to the news of Shylock’s fate. Lorenzo is delighted when he hears of the inheritance but Jessica stays silent. This leaves the audience wondering how she’s feeling as she shows neither concern nor happiness.
How are Jessica’s motives for marriage seen as unclear?
When Lorenzo comes to help Jessica escape from Shylock, she speaks to him using romantic language which suggests that she does have feelings for Lorenzo
However, Shakespeare hints that Lorenzo isn’t perfect to Jessica and she doesn’t agree with Lorenzo’s speech about “the sweet power of music”. This makes the audience question if Jessica marries Lorenzo purely out of love. She might also marry him to get away from Shylock. Her motives for converting to Christianity are just as unequally unclear as the audience can’t tell if she does it to escape her Jewish heritage or if she truly wishes to be Christian.
