3.1
Shylock's speech at the bottom of p. 42: How does Shylock deny is own humanity? What are we to make of his speech? How is it delivered?
3.2
Portia and Bassanio at last! Discuss the homework questions. Excellent responses, especially to question #2. How is Shylock's character developed in Scene 2? Why does Bassanio use such fancy rhetoric for such a simple bargain (marriage with Portia). In what ways does Shakespeare contrast Shylock and Jessica? Are we to side with one more than the other? Understand the struggles they both face?
Let's visit the films again.
1 comment:
1) He denies his humanity by his thirst for revenge. He builds us up to sympathize with him through the whole speech, then whips out this part about wanting an eye for an eye. Or a pound of flesh for being mean. But, as they say, 'a pound of flesh for every time someone is mean leaves only bone'. Or something like that. He would deliver this speech building up to the climax, the outrage bubbling just beneath the surface. The speech itself is the clincher for the audience that he is in fact the villain.
2) Bassanio uses fancy language to impress Portia and impart a sense of grandeur. Shylock is stingy and mean, whereas Jessica is in love and therefore love-able herself. I think we are meant to side with Jessica, because you always want the love-interest to be happy, and Shylock is mean. Yes, we are meant to understand and relate to their struggles, I think.
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