Key Quote
“"I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?"”
Shylock · Act 3, Scene 1
Focus: “eyes”
Shylock's declaration of identity followed by his catalogue of shared humanity demands recognition that Jewish people possess the same physical and emotional capacities as Christians.
Technique 1 — DECLARATIVE + ENUMERATIO
The opening declarative — 'I am a Jew' — is strikingly simple: three monosyllabic words that refuse shame. Shylock does not apologise, explain, or qualify. He then employs enumeratio (a listing technique): 'eyes... hands... organs... dimensions... senses... affections... passions.' This catalogue moves systematically from the physical (eyes, hands) through the bodily (organs, dimensions) to the emotional (senses, affections, passions), constructing a complete human being piece by piece.
The anaphora (repeated opening) of 'Hath not a Jew' insists on the question form — Shylock could state these facts but instead asks, forcing his listeners to actively confirm each point. The rhetorical strategy is participatory: the audience cannot passively receive the argument but must engage with it, mentally answering 'yes' to each question.
Key Words
RAD — PROGRESS
Shylock progresses from a character defined by others (moneylender, usurer, Jew) to one who defines himself. The shift from third-person ('a Jew') to first-person ('I am') marks a crucial moment of self-assertion: Shylock refuses to be spoken about and insists on speaking for himself. This progression from object to subject is the fundamental act of human dignity.
Key Words
Technique 2 — SOMATIC ARGUMENT — THE BODY AS EVIDENCE
Shylock constructs what might be called a somatic argument (reasoning through the body): he proves shared humanity through shared physiology. Eyes, hands, organs — these are empirical (based on observable evidence) proofs that cannot be denied. By grounding his argument in the body rather than theology, Shylock bypasses religious disagreement and appeals to biological fact. The body becomes unanswerable evidence of equality.
The movement from 'organs' and 'dimensions' to 'affections' and 'passions' is crucial: Shylock argues not just for physical equality but emotional equality. Jews don't merely have bodies like Christians — they have FEELINGS like Christians. This challenges the dehumanisation (treating people as less than human) that underpins all persecution: to deny someone's feelings is to deny their full humanity.
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Context (AO3)
MEDICAL HUMANISM
Renaissance humanism emphasised the dignity and worth of the individual. Anatomical discoveries by Vesalius and others demonstrated that all human bodies shared the same structure — undermining claims of racial or religious biological difference. Shylock's somatic argument draws on this emerging scientific consensus.
THE GHETTO
Venetian Jews were confined to the Ghetto Nuovo from 1516 — forced to wear identifying markers and restricted in their movements. This physical segregation made Jewish humanity literally invisible to Venetian Christians, making Shylock's demand to be SEEN even more urgent.
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WOW — BARE LIFE & BIOPOLITICS (Agamben)
Giorgio Agamben's concept of bare life (*homo sacer*) describes people reduced to biological existence — alive but stripped of political rights and social recognition. Shylock exists in Venetian society as bare life: his body is present but his personhood is denied. His speech is an attempt to move from bare life to qualified life — to claim not just biological existence but social and political recognition. Agamben notes that the power to reduce people to bare life defines sovereign authority: Venice's treatment of Jews demonstrates how states create categories of persons who can be excluded, exploited, and finally expelled. Shakespeare stages the fundamental biopolitical question: who gets to be recognised as fully human, and who decides?
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