Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Apology For The Character And Conduct Of Shylock.
dustrv , or derived to him through the frugality of his ancestors , too-ether with some valuable memorials of former love or friendship . Let us suppose such a character introduced on the stage , bewailing , in broken sentences and pathetic exclamations , his loss of fortune , his daughter ' s ingratitude , and his own desolated state . ' Quis talia fando temperet a lachrymis ?'
Can we entertain the least doubt , but that our hearts would sympathize with the injured father , and secretly wish that some signal punishment mig ht be inflicted on the unnatural daughter , and on her abandoned seducer ? The same ideas as those which Shakspeare attributes to Shylock , and . he certainly did not mean to interest us in his favour , with little alteration , with a few tender expressions interspersed , would in all probability have that effect . It is incredible how much the manner of discourse affects us more than the matter ; and how much less things depend on themselves , than on the mode in which
they are related ! Of this I shall endeavour to produce an instance , and it is not irrelevant to the subject , by giving , in other words , the scene betwixt Shy lock and Tubal ; a scene that never fails in the representation to excite a mixture of mirth and indignation , at the expence of these unpopular characters . Let us , however , if possible , drop the idea of Shylock and Tubal , and imagine that we are looking over a domestic tragedy , in which
a parsimonious , severe , but affectionate parent , is deprived of his daughter in the same manner . Let us read the scene , as it might have been written , if not ludicrously intended—I do not presume to say as Shakspeare would have written it . One or two of the original ideas have received a little variation , but none are suppressed , nor any additionbut of the slihtest kindmadeexcept the two lines marked
, g , , with double inverted commas : they are taken from a speech of Shylock ' s to Antonio in the first act , who does not disavow , but rather * exults in the charge . For obvious reasons , let us now for awhile expunge these characters from our memory , and suppose the interlocutors to be two respectable Venetian merchants , Alberto and Sp inosa ,
Al . - \ ' Spinosa here , what news from Genoa ? Say , hast thou found my daughter V Spi . Oft I came Where rumour spoke of her ; but she eluded My strict pursuit . ' Al . ' Oh wretched that 1 ami ( Reduc'd in hoary age to indigence )
The precious casket that she bore away Contained unvalued wealth—one single gem Cost her fond father full two thousand ducats . Surely till now our frugal race hath lived Exempt from heavenly wrath I on me alone Lights every ill—Oil were she at my foot Dead , and the glittering mischief in her hearse ! My wealth , by painful industry acquired , Is lost , the thief who riots in my spoils Unfound , and added sums vainly expended
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Apology For The Character And Conduct Of Shylock.
dustrv , or derived to him through the frugality of his ancestors , too-ether with some valuable memorials of former love or friendship . Let us suppose such a character introduced on the stage , bewailing , in broken sentences and pathetic exclamations , his loss of fortune , his daughter ' s ingratitude , and his own desolated state . ' Quis talia fando temperet a lachrymis ?'
Can we entertain the least doubt , but that our hearts would sympathize with the injured father , and secretly wish that some signal punishment mig ht be inflicted on the unnatural daughter , and on her abandoned seducer ? The same ideas as those which Shakspeare attributes to Shylock , and . he certainly did not mean to interest us in his favour , with little alteration , with a few tender expressions interspersed , would in all probability have that effect . It is incredible how much the manner of discourse affects us more than the matter ; and how much less things depend on themselves , than on the mode in which
they are related ! Of this I shall endeavour to produce an instance , and it is not irrelevant to the subject , by giving , in other words , the scene betwixt Shy lock and Tubal ; a scene that never fails in the representation to excite a mixture of mirth and indignation , at the expence of these unpopular characters . Let us , however , if possible , drop the idea of Shylock and Tubal , and imagine that we are looking over a domestic tragedy , in which
a parsimonious , severe , but affectionate parent , is deprived of his daughter in the same manner . Let us read the scene , as it might have been written , if not ludicrously intended—I do not presume to say as Shakspeare would have written it . One or two of the original ideas have received a little variation , but none are suppressed , nor any additionbut of the slihtest kindmadeexcept the two lines marked
, g , , with double inverted commas : they are taken from a speech of Shylock ' s to Antonio in the first act , who does not disavow , but rather * exults in the charge . For obvious reasons , let us now for awhile expunge these characters from our memory , and suppose the interlocutors to be two respectable Venetian merchants , Alberto and Sp inosa ,
Al . - \ ' Spinosa here , what news from Genoa ? Say , hast thou found my daughter V Spi . Oft I came Where rumour spoke of her ; but she eluded My strict pursuit . ' Al . ' Oh wretched that 1 ami ( Reduc'd in hoary age to indigence )
The precious casket that she bore away Contained unvalued wealth—one single gem Cost her fond father full two thousand ducats . Surely till now our frugal race hath lived Exempt from heavenly wrath I on me alone Lights every ill—Oil were she at my foot Dead , and the glittering mischief in her hearse ! My wealth , by painful industry acquired , Is lost , the thief who riots in my spoils Unfound , and added sums vainly expended