The Merchant of Venice
To receive a big reward you have to take big risks. In the play The Merchant of Venice, Shylock and Jessica make the ultimate risks in their lives. They risk everything they have for a reward suitable for the risk. When people risk everything they have, theyre doing exactly that, taking a chance in losing everything they have in an effort to gain something they desperately want. They have no control over what is going to happen. It could go in their favor or it could destroy everything they have.
Jessica risks everything to be with the person she loves. I will make fast the doors and gild myself with some more ducats, and be with you straight, Jessica takes all of her fathers money and runs away with Lorenzo, a Christian. She feels she has no other way to be happy, because her father chooses who she is going to be married to. She thinks if she runs away she is going to be better off and happy with her husband, but if things dont work out with her husband then she is stuck being a Christian, or if the money runs out then they are left out to dry because she cant go ask her dad for more money because she already stole everything he has.
Shylock risks everything he has so he can have revenge on a Christian. Shylock has so much hate for Christians that he would risk everything he has just to have the chance to hurt one Christian even though he has been hurt by many. Shylock agrees to the bond, but is in a risky situation because even though the Christian has to pay him back the odds are already against him in a legal sense because he is Jewish. Ill have my bond. I will not hear thee speak. Ill have my bone, and therefore speak no more. Ill not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool, to shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield To a Christian intercessors. Follow not! Ill have no speaking. I will have my bond. Shylock has an option to have more money instead of the pound of flesh, but he takes his risk and declines the offer for extra money and decides he wants his pound of flesh, but it back fires on him and he is caught in a bind and he has to give up all he owns.
When Shylock and Jessica risked everything they had it was because there was an ultimate goal of happiness they wanted to achieve. Shylock wanted to get revenge on any Christian he could. Jessica wanted to be married to the man she chose. Shylocks situation worked out against him. He didnt get revenge, his decision actually worked against him and he was caught in a legal bind. Jessicas results were different though; she was able to escape and take control over her own destiny and choose her own husband.
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