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Obituary of Shylock from Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice”

Relations

Shylock died on 24th October, 1558 and is survived by his daughter, Jessica. He is joined closely in death by his wife who died in 1950. His daughter is married to Lorenzo who lives in Belmont.

Life

In his entire life, he was money lender. Prior to becoming a money lender, Shylock worked and lived in foundries of Venice. Shylock was a religious man, was humble and enjoyed warm relations with all Christians, especially Antonio. During his entire life, Shylock helped many all to start up their own businesses by providing them with the necessary capital. His generosity is well illustrated in an incidence where he loaned Antonio money even through Antonio had in the past insulted and abused him. However, besides Antonio, there other beneficiaries who abused his generosity but as a Jewish believer; Antonio was always ready to forgive them.

Despite the discriminatory laws that banned Jews from entering farm lands or buildings, Shylock became successful as evidenced by vast wealth which he acquired during his lifetime. In order to alleviate poverty in the Venetian ghettos, Shylock donated huge amounts of money to the Jewish residents to set up small businesses and contributed the initial sum for setting up the Levantine synagogue. Most importantly, Shylock persevered abuse from the Christian population, therefore setting up a good example to his folks and offering hope to the Jewish community.

Shylock had an unquenchable thirst for cultural books. He was at the same time strongly opposed to anti-Semitism. Interestingly, although he was wealthy, Shylock sometimes visited his friends in ghettos, and he always wore his red hat as required by the law. In addition, unlike his accusers who were cruel and avaricious, Shylock will be remembered for his love of humanity.

Death

His death came in bizarre circumstances, in what many would call a mockery of justice. He was sentenced to death by Portia, on charges of dishonesty. In his dying moments, Shylock urged both the Jews and Christians to live in peace and to shun hatred. Furthermore, he beseeched the entire Venetian society to live by the ideals of love and mercy.

Burial

The cortege leaves Venice Funeral home on 1st December, 1558 for a burial at the Lido di Venezia cemetery starting at 1pm. In attendance will be her daughter, and other invited guests. Shylock will forever be remembered for his great legacy and undying love for humanity. Despite the void that you left, we will forever cherish your generosity and your respect for all people. Your absence will be difficult to bear and will forever fill our eyes with tears. You have inspired us in many ways and you have provided an example through which we can triumph over evil and social hatred that bedevil our society. May God rest your soul, in eternal peace.

Why I chose Shylock

Every person has a good and a bad side. Unfortunately, the bad side is rarely talked about until that person dies. The death of an evil person elicits mixed reactions. For instance, there are those feel the victim deserved to die while others harbor opposite feelings. It is only human to die, but the good and bad memories remain forever. By immortalizing past characters we can be able to learn something hidden in the lives and attain an objective perceptive about their lives. Shylock is one such character, who has attracted love and hate in equal measure.

In many plays, Shylock has been portrayed as an avaricious and bloodthirsty Jew. His quest for revenge, earned him many Christian enemies. Shylock’s life was full of escapades and it gives us evidence on how inequality and anti-Semitic sentiments have been institutionalized in the society. A case in point, he was tried by Portia who is a bosom friend of the complainant (Lara 45). Obviously, in such a situation, justice is not likely to be served. By writing his obituary, I thought I would be able to evaluate his life in details and objectively analyze the hidden facts of his life. In particular, I would be able to put myself in his shoes and come up with a comprehensive view on his life and character.

Shylock is portrayed in different dimensions. For instance, there are those who consider him to be a devil incarnate, but this behind this veil of evil, he emerges nobler by far than people who triumph over him. In any case, he lives in era where the Jewish community is hated compassionately by the Christian community. That he survived and became rich under such conditions, is no mean task. Throughout his life, he is also forced to surmount hatred and betrayal from his daughter Jessica. Obviously, Shylock had every reason to feel so, bearing in mind his only daughter had eloped with a Christian, whom he despised for their double talk. By his writing this obituary, I thought I would expose the hypocrisy of the Christian community while defending Shylock as a victim of the circumstances in which he lived in.

Although, Shylock is depicted as a villain, on my part, I feel he was a peace loving and merciful character. Remember, shylock was living in an unjust society and as such he had to be harsh in order to survive the bigotry and discrimination that existed then. According to Martin (47) he is openly humiliated in the court room, forced to convert to Christianity and stripped much of his wealth, all against his will. Due to the harsh treatment, obviously he died a broken man. Personally, I empathized with him and that’s why I thought I should write an obituary about him. I thought this would give me an opportunity to evaluate the good side of him while disapproving the lies and falsehoods that were peddled against him. In addition, this chance would help me to demystify his character and evaluate the circumstances that led to his death.

I also chose Shylock, because he is a very interesting character. From the available literature, his love for money is undeniable. For instance, when his daughter elopes with Lorenzo, he seems more worried about the gold she stole, than the fact he might not see Jessica again. At the same time, he is presented as loving. For instance, when talking to Tubal about Jessica it becomes obvious that he has great love for his dead wife and would do anything to retrieve the turquoise ring (Patel 27). This scene brings out an aspect of humanity. I wonder how many people would survive under such circumstances. The fact Shylock triumphed over oppression, makes him a hero. It is this heroism that endeared me to write an obituary about him.

Lastly, after looking at several characters I realized that Shylock is a true reflection of other people’s lives. For instance, people have become lovers of money and the world has become capitalistic. Those who suffer in the world today are the ordinary citizens who are exploited by affluent and rich businessmen. Unfortunately, most people would rather not speak of this, but through Shylock’s life, we get a true reflection of rich people’s wolfish, bloody starved and ravenous behaviors. However, unlike most rich people, Shylock has a compassionate heart and his death would not have occurred if the rule of law had been observed.

Works cited

Patel Alisha. Shylock Is Shakespeare. University of Chicago Press, 2006

Martin, Yaffe. Shylock and the Jewish Question. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997

Lara, Baxter. Shakespeare and the Jews. Columbia University Press, 1997.