Shylock in the merchant of Venice

... ö I believe that this implies that Shylock believes he acts with his daughterÆs good interest in mind, but will not listen to her. In the second scene there is much evidence for Shylock valuing money over his daughter, portrayed in the internal conflict with his crisis of, ôMy daughter! My ducats!ö This is good source material, even though it comes from a third party. The sheer inhumanity of valuing ducats over daughter, or even the contemplation of such a point, must leave the audience reeling, thus continuing the roller coaster of the audienceÆs feeling towards Shylock: hating him one minute and pitying him the next. Toying with the audienceÆs emotions was always a pastime of ShakespeareÆs. When Shylock does eventually emerge, he greets the sarcasm of Salarino and Solanio and the new dislike from the audience with this phrase: ôI would rather my daughter dead at my feet and the jewels in her earö, a very revealing phrase. Fortunately, he then is infinitely cheered at the news of AntonioÆs boats, ôLet him look to his bondö, says Shylock, a gleeful harbinger of AntonioÆs gruesome fate. Later in this scene, after ruthless verbal attack on the part of Salarino and Solanio, Shylock returns with a timeless speech, ôI am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?ö and of course, the ...