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Shakspeare, Merchant of Venice. Act II, Scene V

1803, Engraving
Shakspeare, Merchant of Venice. Act II, Scene V
Shakspeare, Merchant of Venice. Act II, Scene V
Shakspeare, Merchant of Venice. Act II, Scene V
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Category
Library Item
Item no
40231
Title
Shakspeare [Shakespeare]. Merchant of Venice. Act II, Scene V
Description
SHYLOCK: What are there masques? Hear you me Jessica/Lock up my doors; and when you hear the drum,/And the vile squealing of the wry neck'd fife,/Clamber not you up to the casements then,/Nor thrust your head into the public street,/let not the sound of shallow foppery enter/My sober house.___

Shylock, the Jewish moneylender was invited for dinner, but he is reluctant to go. He goes anyway, just to spite the Christians, and dine at their expanse. In this illustration he stoops in the middle, wearing his cloak and hat, ready to go, but he is visibly irritated. He stops to lecture his daughter Jessica, who stands to his left, with the keys to the house in her hand. Her father tells her to shut the door and not to look out of the window when he is gone. At first glance, it seems that Jessica is looking at him obediently with her right hand on her heart, but she is of course looking at Launcelot, a servant who once worked in her house, now serves Shylock’s adversary. The servant, standing at the door on the right, already half way out, looks back at her reassuringly, since he just told the girl, that the man she loves will come for her tonight. Shylock is unaware of the situation and is blind to his daughter’s unhappiness with him and his ways. Perhaps this is not the most dramatic, but surely one of the most heart-breaking moments of the play. Shylock is the villain of the story, but he does love his daughter, who is miserable at his house, and cannot see another way out but to escape.
Engraver
Peter Simon
Date
1803
Size
46.5 x 64.5 cm
Type
Location
Art and Design Library
Rights and purchasing
Option
Price
Digital FileElectronic file 72 dpi JPEG​
£6.10(inc. VAT 20%)
Digital FileElectronic File 300 dpi TIFF​
£31.00(inc. VAT 20%)
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