The Merchant of Venice is a comedy by William Shakespeare that highlights the contradictions between an evolving capitalist system and the moral values of the characters. With many of the plays, conflicts stemming from characters’ actions contradicting their values. Here, we’ll analyze scenes and character interactions in the play to show how capitalist agendas created systemic pressure that led to the play’s conflicts.
The play’s central conflict between Shylock and Antonio is one that at first glance seems rooted in Antonio’s antisemitism and Shylock’s hatred of him for doing so. Although racism does play a vital role in their hate, Shakespeare makes it clear that it isn’t what drives their hatred. In scene three of the play, Shylock says this: “I hate him for he is a Christian, but more for that in low simplicity he lends out money gratis and brings down the rate of usance”. In this line, Shylock directly states that although he hates Antonio for being a Christian, he also hates him for being a direct reason for low interest rates in Venice. And while this makes it clear on the religious conflict between the two, Shylock highlights the fact that Antonio hurting his business is the biggest reason for his hate, Antonio also possibly has different ways to hurt Shylock’s business, such as taking away potential customers from him due to offering no interest rates, or discrediting shylock as a lender, it is also important to keep in mind this is the only time in the play where either of them speak on the root of their conflict. Antonio never gives an initial motive for why he hates Shylock (other than Shylock being Jewish), but the only Jew ever we see Antonio hate is Shylock. When Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice, it was incredibly common for Jews to become lenders (despite it being a social taboo), due to antisemitism, creating barriers for Jewish people when it came to employment. So, we could assume Shylock isn’t the only Jew lending out money in Venice, so if Antonio truly hated all jews in Venice, Shakespeare would interpret Antonio belittling other jews, but he doesn’t; this important distinction shows that Antonio uses antisemitism to give himself a socially acceptable reason to hate Shylock, as him hating Shylock for being a competitor would be looked down upon his peers. Showing us that the System of capitalism is inherently causing Antonio and Shylock to hate each other, it is within the nature of capitalist systems to create competitive markets, and Venice’s shift to capitalism has caused the main conflict of the play, because the market needs them to; otherwise, neither of them would be gaining a true profit from their ventures.
One of the play’s biggest focuses is morality and tradition; most of the cast are Christian, often upholding Christian values as their forefront, with the play specifically focusing on mercy, anti-materialist views, and selflessness. Despite this, our characters often commit actions that are contradictory to their morals. One important scene that distinguishes this is when Shylocks daughter (Jessica) leaves and steals her father’s money and jewels with the help of one of Bassanio’s friends, Lorenzo. “I must needs tell thee all. She hath directed how I shall take her from her father’s house, what gold and jewels she is furnished with.” In this line, Lorenzo states that he loves Jessica but also that Jessica carries fortune with her. Throughout the play, love is seen as a sacred value that holds no wealth; despite this, Lorenzo doesn’t only want to leave with Jessica, he wants to leave with the fortunes that come with her. And despite Shylock’s fortunes and his daughter being taken from him, Lorenzo and Jessica don’t show empathy or remorse for what they’ve done, and to an audience, this scene is not satisfying, nor does it make us root for the characters we are supposed to root for. In this scene, Lorenzo isn’t upholding any Christian values and seems to willfully ignore this fact. While he claims to love Jessica, there was no need to steal Shylock’s jewels, which would be seen as wrongful in both Jewish and Christian religions. Which leads to my next point, both stole from Shylock in hopes of both gaining some sort of wealth through their relationship. Jessica could become Christian and move upward socially, while Lorenzo gains wealth in return, and although Jessica paints Shylock as a bad parent, and that creates a need for her to leave, Jessica steals from Shylock because, without his wealth, she can’t leave independently, creating a sense of urgency despite feeling that it is wrong. Shakespeare, through this scene, shows us that in a system where needs and morality are sacrificed for wealth, people are forced to commit atrocious acts to survive.
The court scene is the most important piece that presents this theme, as it is the only moment in the play where we directly see the law structures of Venice and the contradictions between morality and wealth. The Duke is the representation of the laws of Venice, and despite feeling uncomfortable continuing with Shylock’s request, Shylock presents the argument that the duke not leading with his request to cut Antonio’s pound of flesh leads to a bad precedent in Venice. “To have the due and forfeit of my bond. If you deny it, let the danger light!” And despite being offered six thousand ducats and spare Antonio, Shylock refuses and calls out the hypocrisy within Venice’s values and practices regarding slavery. “Let their beds be as soft as yours, and let their plates be seasoned with such viands? You will answer, ‘slaves are ours!’ So do I have the pound of flesh, which demand of him is dearly bought;” upon hearing this, Shylock brings up the question if his contract is to be rejected by the court, then the court will be subjected to challenge, an exploitative practice such as slavery, which ultimately marks the Duke’s decision to let Shylock have his pound of Flesh. Shylock’s calling out Venice on being exploitative not only reveals something about Venice but also reveals parts of Shylock. He’s the only character in the play who is aware of his hypocrisy, and he’s also socially aware, and Instead of hiding it, he chooses to embrace it. Shylock’s selfish nature is allowed and rewarded in
Venice; if Shylock’s actions were to be punished materially, likely, Shylock wouldn’t act this Way.
Therefore, the characters in The Merchant of Venice don’t act out of an intrinsic sense of selfishness and materialistic needs; their actions are driven by the pressures and needs of capitalism. Antonio’s and Shylock’s hatred has to be cultivated so that they both outwardly compete and try to run out the other. Jessica’s and Lorenzo’s stealing from shylock came from a place of survival and monetary gain; Shylock’s selfishness is protected and reinforced by Venice because if it isn’t, further systems of exploitation will be exposed and prosecuted. All the actions listed contradict the character’s morals and religious beliefs, which show they want to uphold them, but can’t, as they wouldn’t survive if they did.
