common mod Flashcards
1
Q
major theme
A
Love and Wealth
- authenticity of the way individuals react to their prejudicial challenges and moral dilemmas of selfishness and selflessness
- these embed representations of moral hypocrisy
2
Q
Appreciation
A
- invites responders to appreciate their cultural and contextual landscape that shape their interpretation of the text
- value of authenticity across cultural and contextual landscapes
- stories willing to reclaim a sense of victimhood
3
Q
Connecting theme to TMOV
A
- construction of ambivalent “good” and “bad” individuals
- mercantile relationship as a guise for the ethnocentric Judeo-Christian
conflict - female search for autonomy under the patriarchal oppression of the traditional family.
- Merchant uses its morally ambiguous individuals to conflict between acting for personal gain or to address societal inequalities
- the moral hypocrisy of their imperfections are illuminated in the process of dealing with their prejudicial challenges
4
Q
Shylock and Antonio
A
- Judeo-Christian Conflict and their transgressions are hidden under a challenging business relationship
- authenticity of acting as themselves, can often get confused as acting for themselves as their communication between each other is muddled with te guise of personal gain
5
Q
Jessica and Launcelot (influence of Shylock)
A
- The search for female autonomy from patriarchal oppression shows the inner conflict of her selfishness as it expands upon whether authenticity is just
- Within the familial relationship they are hypocritical as they act according to the oppression that affects them the most
- The marriage is very transactional, as Launcelot is for Shylock’s money and Jessica for freedom
- Jessica is an anomaly as she marries into Christianity and is still shamed for she is a Jew, a shared experience as later Shylock is forced to convert alongside his daughter
6
Q
“if you prick us do we not bleed?”
A
- first time Shylock is introduced in the play he is seen immediately as a villain in the eyes of the audience and Venetian Christians of the 16th century
- one of many extended monologues posing rhetorical questions cumulatively
- direct address to the audience, thus the stereotypes of moneylending that often derail the humanity of a character as they are connected to so much material wealth
- weaponises christian behaviour
- language highlights pain which illuminates suffering, a shared human experience
- pursuit of self-identity is synonymous with love for oneself
7
Q
Shakespeare uses this construction of a villain as motive for Shylock’s demands for a “pound of flesh”
A
- metaphorically extremifies the usury of Jewish people
- does so to supplement his own emotional trauma for that of Antonio’s physical pain
8
Q
condemning Christian doctrine as “a Jew”
A
- put simply as a matter-of-fact statement
- historically biblical transgression in an Elizabethan era
- ownership of identity appreciates authenticity of character, vengeance is heroic
9
Q
misleads Antonio to loan “as a friend”
A
- deconstructs authentic appeal he built up
- by using both “good” and “bad” connotations, Shakespeare incorporates paradox of selfishness and selflessness (whether someone is doing something for oneself or for others
- imperfect
- uses Judeo-Christian conflict for self-indulgence
10
Q
Shylock compromises after Antonio wishes for a loan “not as to thy friends” turns into an insistent offer of “your fair flesh”
A
- individual revenge to hurt Antonio
- continues the moral dilemma of selfishness and selflessness
11
Q
the “fawning publican” Antonio
A
- biblically alluding to someone offering loans without tax, an accepted feature in the Christian church of Venetian society and not Shylock’s banned usury
- considers how those who preach morality are often hypocritical as Shylock’s loses a sense of his victimhood as he ironically insults Antonio in a similar manner
12
Q
Jessica’s plans to “become a Christian and thy loving wife”
A
- reinvigorates the paradox of selfishness and selflessness as her search for freedom and autonomy proves helpful for Launcelot (he gets Shylock’s wealth)
- rejection of Shylock’s moral conflict
- uses betrayal of her father
13
Q
Lorenzo questioning if “Jessica stole from the wealthy Jew”
A
- indicates the value of wealth over love from Shylock’s position
- their is a sense of material possession that can be more acquainted with the themes of deception and betrayal
14
Q
Shylock ends “not well”
A
- tragically forced into Christianity by his own daughter, inflicts an shared experience of an anomaly
- the anomaly of converting to Christianity and still being mocked for being a Jew is shared with her father as a “most sweet Jew” that is affectionate while still stereotype in renaissance Venice
15
Q
Portia still proving “the prettier of the two”
A
- representation of her crossdressing to indicate the embedded nature of female beauty standards on a patriarchally oppressed society
- consistent Shakespearean trope
- mocks current thought
- comments on the ability to speak freely as a man in a male hegemony
- To Jessica’s inner problems, this monologue strengthens the villainisation of Shylock as she searchs for autonomy
- Elizabethan audiences grow to understand intimacy of unacceptance and its emotional concerns of the complications of love
