ENG200.003 -- Introduction to Literary Study

Prof. Eileen Joy

Fall 2009

EXERCISE #2: Yet Another Character Analysis

Figure 1. Shylock and Antonio in a Longmont Theatre Company production of The Merchant of Venice

How like a fawning publican he looks!
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 here with us in Venice. (Shylock, speaking of Antonio, Act 1, Scene 3)

In your first exercise, you dabbled a little bit with character analysis, in which you briefly described what you saw as the qualities of "mind, spirit, and behavior" of a character in Antigone. Now, I want you to delve a little deeper into the minds of Antonio and Shylock and try to answer one of the questions no one has really been able to answer to everyone's satisfaction: why do Antonio and Shylock hate each other so much? In order to do the best possible job here, it is imperative that you answer the question ONLY with specific reference to the SPECIFIC actions and language of Antonio and Shylock throughout the play. In other words, I want you to show me that, through a CLOSE READING of the play text itself (and in particular, of what Antonio and Shylock do and say throughout the play), you can begin to take a stab at expressing what you believe chiefly motivates them and drives them in their respective animosity toward each other. Whereas in the first exercise you were mainly describing a character, here you are being asked to also undertake an interpretation of the relationship between two characters, and it is important to understand the difference. Interpretation requires description, but description by itself can be neutral and non-judgmental. Interpretation, on the other hand, requires judgment (meaning: you should have some sort of opinion regarding how these two characters should ultimately be understood and judged). You might also pause to consider whether Shakespeare wanted his audience to like one of these characters more than the other, and why or why not (and what, further, are the possible consequences of having to choose sides in this matter)?

I expect to see quotation of passages relevant to the main points you want to make.Use the present verb tense as much as possible when recounting the plot and action of literary works, and please place act, scene, and line numbers in parentheses after each quotation; example:

When Horatio expresses to Hamlet how strange it is that Hamlet's father's ghost has appeared to them, Hamlet replies, "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,/Than are dreamt in your philosophy" (II.i.165-66).

2 pages (TYPED and double-spaced) will suffice.