MOV-Parent-Child Relationship

This is also one of the important themes in the MOV text. The theme of Parent-Child relationships are seen in two different situations, one with Portia and her father, the second with Shylock and Jessica. In the play, this theme is considered a sub-theme of love, the other being romance.

So, in the Father-Portia relationship, Portia’s father is a paternalistic and controlling figure. He comes up with the plan of choosing Portia’s bridegroom through the choice of 3 caskets just before he dies. These caskets can be seen as a way to protect his daughter from the greed and duplicity of the world, for the casket which the person chooses depicts his inward nature. It also protects Portia from her innate xenophobia of the outside world, which is obvious as Belmont, her hometown, is an idealistic world in Shakespeare’s play which is removed from the ruthlessness of the outside world. The caskets are also a way to ensure that that Portia’s spouse will value everything about Portia, not just her inherited wealth and beauty. This can also be seen as a subtle way of expressing his doubts about Portia’s choice of a good husband. On Portia’s side, however, she is seen to be a person of integrity, honour, dignity, self-restraint and discipline as although she is very tempted to give hints to Bassanio on the correct casket to choose, she controls herself and respects her father’s last wishes, a sign of filial piety in a way, too.

On the other hand, in the Shylock-Jessica relationship, it is actually a greed-compelled relationship as Shylock treats Jessica as an asset or belonging. He keeps her imprisoned in her house so that she will have no Christian suitors, on account of her exceptional beauty which Lorenzo fell for. He also does not seem to trust Jessica, much less show any love for her as a father. This can be seen because Shylock shows that he cares more for his money than his own flesh and blood which reflects his greedy personality when Jessica elopes with Lorenzo. It is also seen when he takes the perspectives of a moneylender first then a father, as he laments about his lost money, then his lost daughter. He prioritises his wealth before his daughter as can be seen in this quote:” O my ducats! O my daughter!” because he actually mentions the money that his daughter and Lorenzo took away before he laments his missing daughter, which subtly shows his inward priorities. As for Jessica, when she elopes with Lorenzo, she takes it as a fortune to escape her fate as there is no love, and worse, a lack of trust between her and her father.

Comparing between the Father-Portia relationship and the Shylock-Jessica relationship, there is actually quite a bit of juxtaposition. The former has the physical distance of death but spiritual proximity, while the latter has physical proximity but spiritual distance. This is because of the mutual feelings present in the Father-Portia relationship whereas there are only false pretences in the latter, and even that is not present sometimes. In the former, we see respect and trust in the form of Portia’s filial piety while there is only disrespect and distrust in the latter. This might be because Shylock does not endear to his daughter and hence Jessica does not fell love. Without this passionate feeling, Jessica thus does not know how to reciprocate. Furthermore, Shylock treats Jessica as an asset and objectifies her, thus Jessica is also has no obligation to love her father.

Obviously many might think that Shylock here is really cold and is definitely not a father figure. However, this can be disputed because after Jessica elopes, Shylock spends a lot of money in a desperate search for his daughter. The fact that he is willing to spend his wealth, the capital for his business, shows his possibly hidden affection for his daughter, and also a change in his priorities. Then again, Shakespeare might also have been trying to mean that Shylock merely wanted to find Jessica to get his ducats back, which she took when she eloped with Lorenzo. Through this, we can then see that Shakespeare was actually probably trying to discredit Shylock for being a bad father.