The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-02-23
THE STORY OF SHYL0CK.

st. Louis Republican.
Shyock is the subject of the story. Shy
lock lives with men of to-day and is as real as
anybody in common life, while the type will
last forever He stands up for universal man
hood and fights for his rights according to law.
He asks the powers that be to give him the sub
stance Of a certain bond The bond is not for
money Although he has advanced money in a
particular case, he does not care about the re
turn of the sum in this instance he simply
wants justice and his bond. In fact "a greed for
gain cuts no figure in his character in the
play in which he is set. Human nature is the
argument. and Shyock is a type of inexorable
Justice. He has a revenge to work out and to
accomplish it he is willing to sacrifice all his
worldly goods. and that is Shylocks own bust
ness, He makes that perfectly clear He
is cheated out of his rightful pound of flesh
which the law of the land gives him,
and which would have been of no use to him,
except as trophy of vengeance and retribution
for the most humiliating of all insults-see
Merchant of Wonderland he stands defeated
giant amongst a gang Of pigmies, who are
however, largely in the majority. The jew
Shylock, might have stabbed the Christian
Antonio, when Antonio spit on him, and said it
was likely he would do the same thing again.
but the Jews were in the minority in Venice,
and Shylock waited for justice under the law
He was polite and law-abiding. When the trial
came and he had the expectorating Christian ION
the hip" he did not want money, although an
other dizzy Christian had robbed him of ducats
and daughter; he simply demanded justice and
his bond. large loser he did not want to take
undue or unlawful advantage of anybody. That
is Shylock as he aRpears-lnany,|
before the court OF Venetian trick lex
and them elevates him immeasur-
ably in his inevitable defeat. He is the
only man in sight and commands respect be-
cause he represents the universal type Of man
kind which no form of religion, nor no religion
at all, can obliterate or change when it comes in
contact with the small things of this world
such as family, property and life.
The general interest in the subject of ShylOck
makes interest iii the original germ of the char
acter of Shylock as elaborated and colored by
Shakespeare. The materials very slender
and put to shame some of our modern play
wrights who claim that Shakespeare stole his
plots from old stories, just as they steal from
novelists and other dramatlsts Shakespeare
gathered his materials and took hints from all
sources and authorities within his reach. and
wrought them over 10y creative genius He re-
created old things and set them forever in the
eye of time. For instance, he took ancient his
tory itself and crystallized into English Julius
Caesar and his times, and the play has become
history among the masses of English
speaking peoples The masses know nothing
about Julius Caesar beyond what they get from
Shakspeare's play. This is true of other of
Shakspeare's classical plays, and also of several
of his English historical dramas They furnish
information as well as entertainment for the
English millions. They are virtual authority,
and the pictures they present of the times are
truer than histories i'll which facts are colored
and distorted to serve the purposes of parties.
Thus it comes that, although leading facts may
be stated, there is not necessarily any truth in
history. Facts are often false as they are stated
the ideal is always true. Shakespeare presented
the ideal in historical as well as romantic themes
His dramatic historical pictures have been ac-
cepted by the world, ana his romantic figures
are true types of men. Shylock is one Of them
To return to the materials from which Shak-
speare culled and built his grand structure of
''The Merchant of Venice" and nodded the
character of Shylock. The following sketches
of the plays skeleton are preserved in an old
and time stained edition of Shakspeare-the
property of N. NJ Ludlow, of this city, the old
est actor and manager alive to-day: