Act 3 Scene 2, lines 69- 80, Page 132
Shylock:
“Why, there, there, there, there! A diamond gone
cost me two thousands ducats in Frankfurt! The curse never fell
upon the nation until now. I never felt it til now. Two
thousand ducats in that, and other precious, precious
jewels! I would my daughter were dead at my foot
and the jewels in her ear; would she were hears’d at my foot
and the ducats in her coffin. No news of them? Why so?
And I know not what’s spent in the search! Why, thou loss
upon loss! The thief gone with so much, and so much to
find the thief, and no satisfaction, no revenge, nor no ill
luck stirring but what a lights a’ my shoulders, no sighs but
a’ my breathing, no tears but a’ my shedding.”
Shylock seems to care a lot more about his money than about his own daughter. He has a lot of anger towards his daughter. I think this a powerful passage because he says that he wants his daughter to be dead. I can understand why he has a lot of anger, but I don’t think I would want my own family to die. I do feel a little sympathy for him because he will never find his daughter and it is wrong to steal. However, wanting your daughter to be dead is pretty cruel.
Do you have any sympathy towards Shylock?