by Julie Kliegman

Created on: June 17, 2010

In The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare’s repeated use of the word “flesh” shows Shylock, a Jew, to be morally and religiously inferior to the other characters, who are all Christians.  The Oxford English Dictionary defines flesh in Shakespeare’s time as “the soft substance, especially the muscular parts, of an animal body; that which covers the framework of bones and is enclosed by the skin” (“flesh” n I.1.a).  The word appears many times throughout the play, but is of particular importance when Shylock first makes the deal with Antonio and says:

Let the forfeit

Be nominated for an equal pound

Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken

In what part of your body pleaseth me (1.3.144-147)

At the most superficial level, Shylock is expressing that he will take a pound of Antonio’s flesh if Bassanio does not repay his bond within three months.  The implications of the word flesh deepen the transaction’s meaning.  The fact that Shylock chooses to make the penalty a pound of flesh, rather than a sum of money or a piece of property, makes him appear inhumane and only concerned with his own greediness.  It also serves as a commentary on his Jewish practices, since, etymologically speaking, the word “flesh” comes from the German language and refers specifically to swine flesh (“flesh” n “Etymology”).  In that way, Shylock asking something of Antonio that would be against his religion foreshadows the outcome of the play, where he must convert to Christianity and therefore give up keeping kosher. Along those same lines, an alternate definition of “flesh” from the Elizabethan Era defines it as the body of Jesus Christ that was spiritually eaten by believers in the Christian faith (“flesh” n I.1.c).  This definition further emphasizes Shylock’s transformation and even suggests that Shylock would be better off as a Christian.  Shakespeare builds on this idea later on in the scene when Antonio later says, “The Hebrew will turn Christian; he grows kind” (1.3.174).  Antonio’s commentary both implies that Christians are nicer than Jews –they would not harm others – and foreshadows the courtroom events of Act 4.

From the moment Shylock strikes the deal with Antonio and Bassanio, he is portrayed as being both greedy for lending money and inhumane for demanding such a high

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