Salarino. Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take his flesh; what's that good for?
Shylock. To bait fish withal, if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge (III, i)
This is what Brandes probably meant when he said, in speaking of the character of Shylock 'Money is nothing to him in comparison with revenge. His hatred for Antonio is far more intense than his love for his jewels and it is the passionate hatred, not avarice, that makes him the monster he becomes'.
As Ernest Jones[1] has pointed out, an observation which was subsequently confirmed by Freud, there is a strong unconscious psychological connection between hate and anal erotism. This connection is seen to an extreme degree in Shylock. From this hate there arises the sadism of Shylock with its pleasure in the anticipation of inflicting pain on the hated person as a form of defiance. This character trait of sadistic hate is developed to its fullest extent in the trial scene, where Shylock is preparing to have the due and forfeit of his bond.
Bassanio. Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?
Shylock. To cut the forfeiture from that bankrupt there. (IV, i)
Here in this wonderful scene, the hate of Shylock, the pleasure in the anticipation of inflicting pain and seeing others suffer, is strongly over-emphasized and becomes stronger than the love for money.
Bassanio. For thy three thousand ducats here is six.
Shylock. If every ducat in six thousand ducats
Were in six parts and every part a ducat,
I would not draw them; I would have my bond. (IV, i)
Thus is portrayed with astonishing accuracy another anal-erotic trait, the idea or feeling of power, showing the deep connection between power and anal erotism or between force and possession, the sadistic and the anal-erotic impulses. For until the legal quibble of the distinguished Portia, Shylock's feeling of power over an
- ↑ Ernest Jones: 'Hate and Anal Erotism in the Obsessional Neuroses'. Papers on Psycho-Analysis, 2nd Edition. 1918
