After a dose of Julius Caesar, at class 10th,
I thought I had said goodbye to Shakespeare for once and for all. Only then did
I realise, that it was coming back to haunt me back in College. Et tu College?
One element that caught my eye in the play was the
method in which, Shylock, the antagonist, moneylender, became a victim of
manipulation. Shakespearean plays were staged in an era, where the population
was primarily Catholic, with Jews, being one of the despicable minorities. The
grounds on which this bias was held against them was the conflict in the
legitimacy of the principal faith of both the groups, while the Catholic
population was in a simple majority. This has been the socio-demographic precedent
for the plays.
However, the Shakespearean world didn’t seem as bad as
my dystopic vision. Turns out, a couple of years of added experience can change
the way you view the world, along with all its elements. This only struck me
once we began to do the play, The Merchant of Venice in our class. Though the
language seemed ever so messed up, it was much more comprehensible in terms of
the central theme and its characters.
One element that caught my eye in the play was the
method in which, Shylock, the antagonist, moneylender, became a victim of
manipulation. Shakespearean plays were staged in an era, where the population
was primarily Catholic, with Jews, being one of the despicable minorities. The
grounds on which this bias was held against them was the conflict in the
legitimacy of the principal faith of both the groups, while the Catholic
population was in a simple majority. This has been the socio-demographic precedent
for the plays.
Under a normal scenario, the act of asking for the
fulfillment of the contract in case of a lapse is considered the ideal manner
of a legal proceeding. However, in the play, the “crude” Shylock is being
dismissed for his highly diabolic and sinister line of thought. He is being
framed the devil, in consequence of the irrational actions by Antonio, the one
who complied with the condition without any hesitation. Legal rights are being
denied to him on the grounds of attempted homicide, which was the result of a
mutually agreed contract.
At the same time, the Catholic, irrational Antonio has
managed to draw in a lot of sympathizers, just because of the fact that he was
a majority. The court, through its vile acts of groupism shows Shylock that,
the court is not governed by the Lady if Justice, rather the community from which
you’re from and the chance factor pertaining to the fact as to whether you
belong to the favourable group.
This interpretation of the story, made me reflect on
the current status quo of India. One gets exempted from paying the most basic
tolls if its party is in power. The phenomenon of the rich minorities getting
richer while the poor, neglected, general community getting poorer, against a
background in which, communities seem to not care about the volume of damage
they cause for being included as one among the “favored” minorities, are the
many signs of a failing state.
It is indeed high time, we reflected upon literature,
and come into a sort of understanding with our flaws and take a firm stance to
rectify them.
No comments:
Post a Comment