“Do we not bleed?”-Role of fairness in Jessica leaving home

             
“Do we not bleed?”

Role of fairness in Jessica leaving home

by: Sujin 8B

  

Throughout “The Merchant of Venice”, the main concepts are fairness and justice. Fairness is the quality of making judgments that are free from discrimination and it plays an important role in affecting characters and their actions as well as relationships. Characters in the play come from different religious backgrounds with radical and dogmatic perspectives which fuel conflicts. Without being biased, one can look into Jessica’s actions and see her as the victim of her father, Shylock.

The main reason that leads Jessica to run away and leave Shylock is that Jessica has fallen in love with Lorenzo, who is a Christian and she knows her father will never allow her to marry a Christian. Not only that, but Jessica is ashamed of her father and she doesn’t share the hatred towards Christian or his attitude. She states in Act two, scene three:

Alack, what heinous sin is it in me

To be ashamed to be my father’s child!

But though I am a daughter to his blood,

I am not to his manners.

Shylock has a stubborn attitude, dogmatic religious perspectives and is materialistic as all he cares about is money and fortune which affects Jessica and her actions of leaving home with jewels and gold. Shakespeare shows us little taste of life at Shylock’s in Act 2, scene 5. He says, “What says that fool of Hagar’s offspring, ha?” and this shows his mistreatment towards his servants well and is not a good example for Jessica. 

In my opinion, it is understandable why Jessica decided to run away to Genoa with Lorenzo. She spends a great deal of money in the flush of her freedom, gives up a ring for a monkey and converts to Christianity which can be seen as acts of abandonment. However, she has had enough of her father, his strictness, his greed towards money. She is prepared to give up everything she has learned and lived up to now. She states, "I shall be saved by my husband. He hath made me a Christian" (3.5.18-19). “Fairness” can be seen as she is the by-product of her upbringing.

When Tubal tells Shylock about how Jessica spent 80 ducats in one night (III.I,107-109), Shylock wants his daughter dead at his feet with jewels she stole, which is something a father of a daughter shouldn’t say about his own child (III.i,87-89).

This play is a clear example of how discrimination can lead to undesirable consequences. Shylock’s evil acts result Jessica run off and become a Christian. The reason she steals the money can be a way to get back at her father, to prove her love for Lorenzo and the need money when she runs away. Throughout this play, “fairness” plays a big role. Even though it might not sound fair for shylock, he ends up with what he deserves as there is a saying that “An abused becomes an abused at lasts”.