Merchant Of Venice Figurative Language Essay

During Elizabethan times, intolerance of the Jews was a fact of the 16th century era, which later developed anti-semitic ideas. Several Jews were prohibited from possessing as much freedom as a Christian does. Along with this, the Jews were commonly labeled as greedy and legalistic by the Christian community. The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare, involves Shylock, a Jewish moneylender who schemes to obtain revenge by demanding a pound of Antonio’s flesh for Antonio’s failure to fulfill a loan. Throughout the play, Shylock acts as a greedy and inhumane devil with a sense of malevolence. However, with Al Pacino’s portrayal of Shylock, Michael Radford’s movie production of The Merchant of Venice displays a perspective of Shylock’s deceiving appearance, which denotes the actor’s pessimistic interpretation and strengths of portraying the character. Ultimately,

However, Pacino’s portrayal of Shylock can give the viewer a false impression of the character’s calm, kind, and generous quality. Despite Pacino’s portrayal, a reader of the play may automatically receive a negative impression of Shylock from analyzing Shakespeare’s figurative language. In Shylock’s perspective, he deploys his appearance to deceive Antonio and Bassanio, which allows him to fulfill his revenge on Antonio. As Shylock informs Jessica of his dinner plans with the Christians, he implies, “I am not bid for love. They flatter me. But yet I’ll go in hate to feed upon the prodigal Christian” (Act II, sc v 11-15). Through Pacino’s portrayal, the viewer can indicate that Shylock attends the dinner to seek information of the Christian’s future plans. Although Shylock’s qualities may give the viewer and reader a false impression of his character, his subtle actions verify that appearance holds a higher place over