Question

Character sketch of Jessica merchant of Venice

Answer 1

ANSWER.

Her Strong Dislike of Her Father’s Nature and Temperament

Jessica is the daughter of the Jew, Shylock, but a daughter who is ashamed of having that man as her father. She finds the atmosphere of her father’s home to be suffocating and almost intolerable. She is sensitive girl having an artistic temperament; and she is unable to endure the narrow-mindedness, the miserliness, and the tyrannical nature of her father. Although her father is a fanatical Jew who is intolerant of Christians, she falls in love with a Christian and runs away from home with a bag full of her father’s money and jewels. Her conduct in running away from home and stealing her father’s cash and jewels is certainly objectionable in the extreme. However, we feel inclined to take a lenient view of her conduct because we know that her father is really a close-fisted and suspicious man with a dictatorial nature and that he imposes all kinds of restrictions on his daughter’s movements.

Beautiful, Wise, and Faithful Girl

Beautiful, Wise, and Faithful GirlJessica impresses the Christian Lorenzo as a very beautiful, wise, and faithful girl; and she strikes us as a charming girl with a strong sense of humour and a poetical nature. Lorenzo tells his friends that he would “place her in his constant soul”, meaning that he would always remain loyal to her. For his sake, she does not mind giving up her own religion and becoming a Christian.

Beautiful, Wise, and Faithful GirlJessica impresses the Christian Lorenzo as a very beautiful, wise, and faithful girl; and she strikes us as a charming girl with a strong sense of humour and a poetical nature. Lorenzo tells his friends that he would “place her in his constant soul”, meaning that he would always remain loyal to her. For his sake, she does not mind giving up her own religion and becoming a Christian.Her Artistic and Poetic Temperament

Beautiful, Wise, and Faithful GirlJessica impresses the Christian Lorenzo as a very beautiful, wise, and faithful girl; and she strikes us as a charming girl with a strong sense of humour and a poetical nature. Lorenzo tells his friends that he would “place her in his constant soul”, meaning that he would always remain loyal to her. For his sake, she does not mind giving up her own religion and becoming a Christian.Her Artistic and Poetic TemperamentJessica’s artistic and poetic temperament manifests itself clearly in the moonlight scene at Belmont when she is having a conversation with Lorenzo about the beauty of the night. Here she appears in a favourable light because of her wide knowledge and her capacity to make use of that knowledge when occasion demands it. She recalls the ancient, mythological love-stories, competing with Lorenzo in this respect and holding her own in this amorous dialogue. She refer to the stories of Thisbe and Medea; and tells Lorenzo that she can “out-night him*” if she is not interrupted in the course of this conversation. Her artistic nature shows itself also in her responsiveness to music. She gets into a melancholy mood whenever she hears sweet strains of music; and this effect is produced on her by music because she is very sensitive to it.