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Shylock's Rhetoric

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Firstly, Shakespeare makes this scene memorable because of the contrast between the way an Elizabethan audience would think about the play versus the way a modern audience would. This is most clearly shown when Shylock says “You have among you many a purchased slave, which like your asses and your dogs and mules, you use in abject and in slavish parts”. An Elizabethan audience wouldn’t think of this as a big deal since a vast majority of the audience would have a slave in their very own homes. But this is very different to a modern audience. After the abolition of slavery by Abraham Lincoln, the next generations have had a very dissimilar opinion on slavery. Children are taught in school about the horrors of slavery and as such they are disgusted …show more content…

Shylock’s speech starts strongly with a rhetorical question: “What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong”. Rhetorical questions subtly make the audience agree with the speaker. Rhetorical questions are not actually questions, but more of statements presented as questions. They get the audience thinking about what the possible answer could be. In this speech, Shylock uses rhetorical questions no less than four times. All these rhetorical questions make the audience take the side of Shylock, especially when he asks “What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong?” This rhetorical question makes the audience question why Shylock should be in trouble even though he did nothing wrong, making them thing that Shylock is the victim in this situation. This leads the audience into feeling sympathetic for Shylock and are more receptive to the points that Shylock is making. Furthermore, Shylock uses personal pronouns throughout his entire speech. Personal pronouns such as “you”, “yours”, and “I”, make the speech personal and feel as if Shylock is directing his entire speech at you. Since the audience is already feeling sympathetic towards Shylock, the use of personal pronouns makes them feel guilty because he is addressing them. This makes the scene more memorable since it makes the audience feel as if they are a part of the play and that they are

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