The Merchant of Venice was created during the English Renaissance and is the work of the famous British dramatist Shakespeare. It tells the story between the Venetian merchant Antonio and the Jewish Shylock. Antonio's good friend Bassanio, who had no money to propose to his beloved woman, Portia, approached Antonio for help.
In order to fulfill his friends, Antonio borrowed money from Shylock. Shylock and Antonio had some festivals in the past, so this time Shylock took the opportunity to set a trap. Fortunately, Shylock did not succeed in the end, and got the punishment he deserved, and Antonio was successfully rescued.
Throughout the story, Sherlock is undoubtedly the villain, selfish and vengeful. And Shakespeare also wants to tell us a truth through the character of Sherlock: to be a person, we must jump out of the strange circle of selfishness, because people who are upright and kind are worthy of being respected by others.
Sherlock was a Jew in Venetian city, and he usually did a business of lending money and collecting high interest rates. As a businessman, Sherlock was undoubtedly shrewd. Because lending money is itself a high-risk industry, Sherlock is doing it well. Not only did he not go bankrupt, but he also accumulated a lot of wealth.
In the industry, Sherlock's reputation is also very good. Even Antonio, who had a vendetta against him before, thought of Sherlock for the first time when he needed to borrow money. Although in business, Sherlock is indeed a business genius, he is narrow-minded and ruthless, because Sherlock never misses any opportunity for revenge. So, this time, he set a trap, intending to kill Antonio.
Shylock made a pact with Antonio that if he could not repay the money in time, he would repay it with Antonio's "pound of white meat". Sherlock, who loves money like a fortune, ends up wanting antonio a pound of white meat without even money. In order to save Antonio, his friends pleaded bitterly, but Shylock refused to let go. Just when everyone felt that Antonio was doomed, the balance of fate still deviated from Shylock.
The clever Portia disguises herself as a lawyer and promises Sherlock that she can cut off a pound of Antonio's flesh, but if a drop of blood is shed, she will have to redeem Sherlock's life and all her possessions. As we all know, it is impossible to "cut flesh" without bleeding. Sherlock could not ensure that there would be no bloodshed, so he obediently accepted the punishment and lost all his possessions.
This punishment was undoubtedly tragic for Sherlock, who loved money like a fate. Because this is not just the simple matter of losing the "steady win" lawsuit, he must also face the reality of the enemy taking over his own property. However, this ending, in the final analysis, is still related to his selfishness. Those who have attained the tao have much help, and those who have lost the way have little help. If it were not for Sherlock who considered himself in advance, was selfish, and wanted to kill others, he would not have been punished, and he would not have lost the property he cared about most.
Selfish people are often prone to lose their minds and fall into hatred and cannot extricate themselves. If Sherlock can put aside the contradictions with Antonio, he will not want to take revenge and solve the hatred, let alone fight with Antonio. In fact, from the perspective of humanistic personality psychology, Sherlock's selfishness is due to a psychological mutation after self-realization is fruitless. Because of the limitations of the social environment, Shylock, as a Jew, was often restricted and prevented by the Christians represented by Antonio in various forms.
Humanistic personality psychology takes human experience as the starting point, emphasizes human integrity, uniqueness and autonomy; based on human body potential, emphasizes the possibility of human future development and its optimistic prospects; adheres to the focus on human value and personality development, emphasizing self-realization, self-selection and healthy personality as the pursuit goal of life.
According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the more unmet it is, the stronger its impetus for the motivation of individual personality behavior. Therefore, Sherlock must strive to find various ways to achieve satisfaction. It will even unscrupulously use "a pound of meat" as a contract to seek satisfaction.
But, despite this, this psychologically mutated selfishness is still not what Shakespeare agrees with. That's why Sherlock will eat his own fruit.
Shakespeare was an outstanding master of language, and the reason why "The Merchant of Venice" is loved by many people is inseparable from his distinctive language design. Through clever rhetoric and ironic language, the author enriches the selfish image of Sherlock as a villain.
Personalized language that enriches Sherlock's image of selfishness
Sherlock said sinisterly: "Even if each of these six thousand dollars can be divided into six parts, each one can be turned into a dollar, I do not want them, I only need to punish according to the contract." With that, he sharpened his knife on the muzzle of his shoe, ready to cut a pound of flesh from Antonio's chest, killing Antonio viciously, and stubbornly, without the slightest sympathy or pity.
This passage is described in court, when Shylock greedily wants to kill Antonio. Sherlock's selfishness and meanness are vividly displayed in a personalized language. It was as if we could close our eyes and see Sherlock's selfish and greedy face.
Shylock loves money as much as his life, but in order to kill Antonio, he is willing to not have money, but also to punish according to the contract, from "blind stubbornness" and "no slightest sympathy and pity", we can see Sherlock's fierce selfishness in order to satisfy his own selfish desires.
Clever rhetorical maneuvering that hints at Sherlock's selfishness
Antonio advises Shylock not to develop hatred for an unintentional offense, but Sherlock shouts, "Are you willing to be bitten repeatedly by a poisonous snake?" ”
In The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare used a lot of rhetorical techniques, such as metaphor, comparison, rhetoric, flattery, and so on. This passage is the sentence where Antonio persuades Sherlock to let go of his hatred, and Sherlock compares the enemy to a "serpent."
Sherlock's metaphor is very apt, because no one wants to be poisoned by the "poisonous snake", so he immediately puts himself in a "weak" position, with the purpose of rationalizing all his retaliatory actions, so as to continue to be selfish and selfish "at ease".
The ironic plot, well versed in the tragic end of Sherlock's selfishness
The so-called irony is to put two irreconcilable contradictions together and narrate them. The true thoughts of the speaker are hidden, and they simply rely on context and discourse for irony. The reader and the speaker can only understand it thoroughly if they fully understand the context.
In court, Sherlock gave up the idea of taking a pound of flesh from Antonio because he was losing to Portia, and lost the case that should have been won. This in itself is a great irony, but it is followed by the acceptance of the reality of giving the remaining half of the property to the enemy.
Sherlock was miserable at the thought that he was penniless and was going to give up his possessions, but to no avail. At the end of the story, Sherlock actually began to embrace the Christians he had always hated. This kind of scene irony not only puts a cloak of black humor on the characters, but also causes people to think more deeply.
If he was not selfish, how could Sherlock be punished in the end. Through personalized language, clever rhetoric, and ironic plots, Shakespeare vividly shows the cause of Sherlock's selfishness to the result of selfishness in front of the reader, and also uses this to warn us that we should not be selfish.
Buffett said: When evaluating a person, you should focus on four characteristics: kindness, integrity, intelligence, and ability. If you don't have the first two, then the latter two will hurt you. Many people choose partners and ignore the key item of "integrity and kindness".
Integrity is like a mountain, smiling and proud; kindness is like flowing water, nourishing life. Antonio is honest and kind, so he understands the beauty of adulthood; he does not run away when he cannot repay his debts. It is precisely because of Antonio's integrity and kindness that he will not abandon his friends and will be respected and helped by others.
Sherlock, on the other hand, is not so "lucky". Because of selfishness, he stole chickens and did not corrupt rice, and lost all his possessions; because of selfishness, even if he had the odds in his hands, the balance of victory was still unwilling to tilt toward him. In fact, life is the same, like Sherlock's selfish people, it is difficult to always take advantage of the "advantage"; and people like Antonio, who are honest and kind, are more likely to be respected by others, and Luanke is such a person.
Lu Anke, a German boy, has been teaching in a small mountain village in Guangxi, China, for 18 years. In order to give the children in the village a chance to learn, Luanke opened a school in such a place with no roads and no telephones. He spoke astronomy, fun facts, life, philosophy, geography, mathematics, and English. Every day he was busy, but he never charged a penny, and the people in the village respected him very much and called him "Yang Lei Feng".
Luanke is upright, he never sensationalizes, seeks exposure and traffic, everything he does for his children is completely out of his own heart; Luanke is also kind, he regards his children as his own, like a father, and is full of the purest and most authentic kindness to each child.
Integrity is always precious, kindness is never expected. It is precisely because of Luanke that the children in the village have the opportunity to learn more. In fact, life needs honest and kind people like Luanke and Antonio, because they are the foundation of society, so that we will not be shaken by the wind and waves, not eroded by ants, and only then will we be worthy of respect. However, there are many people in this world like Sherlock, who become more and more selfish in the midst of disturbances; they only care about the six relatives and move forward without recognition, but forget that integrity and kindness are the foundation of human beings.
Romain Rolland said that the most beautiful music for the soul is kindness. Hugo also said that under very special circumstances, a person can become a saint, but being a righteous person is the right track in life. Even though you have made mistakes and been confused, you should do your best to be a righteous person.
People with integrity and kindness are needed in life, because kindness purifies the soul; integrity can lead us through the darkness. There is no need for selfish people in life, because the more selfish they are, the easier it is to lose themselves and thus lose their authenticity. Life is originally full of many temptations, although satisfying their own desires is the instinct of human beings, but those who jump out of the strange circle of selfish desires and adhere to integrity and kindness are even more precious.
Honest and kind people deserve the respect of others. Because integrity is the foundation of man, kindness is the foundation of man. Therefore, I hope that there will be fewer selfish people and more righteous and kind people in the world, and I hope that every righteous and kind person can receive respect and blessings.