Free Merchant of Venice Essays: Noble and Worthy Jessica? :: Merchant Venice Essays

Noble and Worthy Jessica?          While researching for this paper I reviewed numerous essays, assessments, and commentaries concerning The Merchant of Venice. One essay used the terms statuesque and fit in relation to Jessica.  The author stated that sometimes what they the characters of the play sell bulge out for is worthy and shows them to be noble (Jessica for example).  The author goes on to say that Shylocks reasons for selling out seem ignoble.  Those statements re ally got me thinking, so I strolled over to my trusty lexicon to look up noble and worthy.    Noble--1. a possessing outstanding qualities.             2 of gamy birth or exalted rank.             3. a possessing very high or splendid qualities or properties. Worthy-1. a having worth or value.                          Merriam Websters Collegiate dictionary (10th edition)               The most common con nonation of noble, in my opinion, is a combination of the archetypical and third listings.  While Jessica certainly fits the second mean listed of noble and the meaning of worthy (financially anyway), I didnt see any proof of her being much(prenominal) an outstanding person or possessing very high or excellent qualities within the context of this play.  She may very well be a wonderful person, but I didnt see anything that would lead me to that conclusion in the play itself.  Lets look at the facts.  Jessica robs her father of all the jewels and money she kitty carry to marry Lorenzo.  She casts aside her religion as if it were an old hat.  The completely outstanding quality I see is that she stooge do all this without the slightest remorse.        &n bsp    We are told by Jessica that Shylocks residence is hell, but within the play I did not see any proof of this (II.iii.2).  It is true that Shylock did not know which to weep for more, his daughter or his ducats, but does that make that house a hell?  Because we didnt see what life was like in the house, we can only take Jessicas word for it.  I, for one, am not terribly wanton with her word as she has proven herself to be a thief and liar already.  How do we know she isnt just an incredibly ungrateful daughter blind by love (as she herself proclaimed love to be a rank force--II.vi.36)?             Frankly, Shakespeare did not give us much to work with as far as