VENEDİK TACİRÎ - Engin Üzmen

7/29/2019 VENEDK TACR - Engin zmen

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SHAKESPEARE'N VENEDK TACR OYUNU VE

LATN KOMEDS

Do. Dr. Engin ZMEN

Shakespeare'in btn oyunlarnn kaynaklar, bu kaynaklarn eitliy nl en ve sonularyle ve yazar n kendisine has am a lar m gerekletirmek

iin yapma gerekli bulduu deitirmelerle birlikte o kadar etrafl birekilde incelenmitir ki bu sahada yeni bir aratrma gereksiz grlebilirdi.Fakat kaynak aratrmasnn pek ok eitli ve hemen gze arpmyan faydalar ve kullanl yerleri vardr. Kaynaklarn aratrlmas oyundaki bazzorluklarn anlalmasn kolay bir hale getirebilir ve belki oyunu ele altarzmzda bir deiiklik meydana getirmek suretiyle bir eletirme problemini zme yolunu bize gsterir. Orijinal olduunu hi bir zaman iddiaetmediimiz bu dnce P. H. Davison'un Volpone oyunu zerindeki birincelemesinde gayet iyi bir ekilde belirtilmektedir. 1 Bu incelemede yazarVolpone'deki vak'a ya da ahslarn modellerini Yunan Eski Komedisinde

bu lmaa almaz (zaten byle bir aba sz konusu olamazd) fakat oy un da

bu lunu p da Elizabeth komedisinde raslanlmas normal olmyan hususlarnbahsi geen Yuna n komedisinin dolayl etkileri ol duunu gstermee gayret eder. Bir oyunu bu adan ele aln Venedik Taciri iin de yararl olduuinancndayz . Shakespeare bu oyunun vak'asn ve ahslarn Lti n komedisinden almamtr; bunlar Orta alara ait halk hikyelerinde gelir,fakat bu Or ta a kayna klar Venedik Tacm'ndeki en nemli problemi,

yani Shakespeare' in Shylock'a olan tutumu nu ayd nlat maz. Bizce bu tutumen iyi ekilde Ltin komedisinin baz zelliklerinin altnda aa kar.Zaten Rnesans komedisinin etkilenmi olduu en nemli kaynak Ltinkomedisidir.

Venedik Taciri ve zellikle Shylock zerinde ok sayda bilgin ve eletirmeci tarafndan yaplan eitli aratrmalar sadece bu oyunun tefsirinekar duyulan ilginin daima artarak devam ettiini gstermekle kalmaz,ayn zamanda her zamankinden daha da fazla olmak zere, adeta gerekbir insanmkinden byk bu ut lar a sahip olan Shylock'un karakterindekikarmakl daha iyi deerlendirme frsatm da verir. Shylock ve onundman olan gen Hrstiyanlar zerinde son zamanlarda verilen en tarafsz hkm Shylock'un, en geni anlamiyle "iyi yaama" fikrinin aleyhindeolduu ve oyundaki en nemli iki mefhumu, yani sevgiyi ve paray birle-

1 "Volpone and the Old Comedy" , Modern Language harlerly, Vol. 24, No. 2, June 1963,

pp. 51-7.


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72 E N G N Z M E N

tiremediidir.2 Bu yzden, onu alt eden gen, sevgi dolu, cmert ve zamann

modasn temsil eden dier ahslarla karlatrld zaman komedininatmosferine ve erevesine uymyan bir unsur olarak grlr. 3 O bir Yahudi

ya da ya banc olduu iin deil fakat komedinin gerekl iliklerine uyamad iin yenilmee mahkmdur. 4

Dorudan doruya Shylock'u ele almadan nce Venedik Taciri ileLtin komedileri arasndaki benzerlik ve ilikileri belirtmek ve tesbit etmekgerekir. Yalnz daha nce u iki fikir hemen zikredilmelidir: Birincisi, Ltinkomedilerinde ve Venedik Taciri'ndeki durum ve ahslarn btnyle aynolmalarn beklememek lzmdr; nk aradaki yzyllar boyunca hemtoplumda hem de toplumun etkiledii dramda ok byk deimeler mey

dana gelmi bulunuyordu. kincisi, Shakespeare'in Ltin komedisi tarafndan ne ekilde etkilenmi olduunu gstermee almak gereksizdir, nkarat rman n amac bu deildir ve zaten, belki Ben Jonson mstesna, Shakespear e'in ya da herhang i bir Elizabeth dr am yazar nn klsik etkileri neekilde alm olduunu tespit etmek hemen hemen imknszdr. ShakespeareLtin komedilerini orijinallerinden ya da ngilizceye veya baka bir moderndile yaplm te rcmel erind en okumu ve belki bug n elde bulun -mya n tercmeleri kullanm olabilir. Yahu t da Shakespeare dorudandoruya veya dolayl bir ekilde Ltin komedilerinden yararlanm olaningiliz ya da Avrupa sahne oyunlarndan etkilenmi olabilir. Bizim iinnemli nokta, ingiliz Rnesans komedisinin onu bugn bulduumuz ekle

gelmesinde Ltin komedilerinin ok byk bir rol oynam olduudur.

Ltin komedileri ve Venedik Taciri arasndaki benzerlik ve ilikilerinbi rka gr up iinde incelenmesi en iyi yol olacaktr. Bu nu n iin nce dramtekniiyle ilikisi nisbeten daha byk olan arka pln ve sahne zelliklerigibi noktalar zerinde durulacak, sonra temalar ele alnacak ve tipler veahslarla incelemee devam edilecek ve Shylock'un kayna ve zellikleriaratrmann arlk noktasn tekil edecektir.5

I. AR KA PLN

Ltin komedileri baz Yunan Yeni Komedisi oyunlarnn tercmelerive adapte leri ol du u nd an ok defa arka pl n olarak denizi alrlar. At in a' n n

yaknndaki denizden ba za n ihtiyar efendi baz an da gen efendiler seyahatya da ticaret amaciyle hareket ederler. Mesel Pl au tus 'un Mercator adl

oyununun ilk sahnesinde, ihtiyar Demipho'nun genliinde deniz ticareti

2 M. V. Doren, " Th e Mer chan t of Venice", Shakespeare, (New York, 1955), p. 79.

3 Ibid. pp. 83-4.

4 J. R. Brovvn, Shakespeare and His Comedies, (London), p. 73.

5 in this study the references to Latin comedies are from the Loeb Classical Libr ary edition

of the works of Plautus and Terence, translated respectively by P. Nixon and J. Sargeaunt. Referen

ces to The Merchant of Venice are from the New Penguin Shakespeare edition of the play, edited by

W. M. Merc hant (1967).


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SHAKESPEARE'N VENEDK TACR OYUNU 73

sayesinde para kazanm olduunu reniriz. imdi ise gen olu Charinusparasn ve zamann memleketinde israf etmektedir. Bu yzden Demiphooluna bir gemi ve eya alp ticaret yapmas iin uzaklara gnderir. Charinuszengin olarak dner. Bunun gibi Bassanio Venedik'te kalr ve hem kendisininhe m de Antonio nun parasn israf eder; h albuki Antonio' nun gemileri denizleri dolap Antonio iin para kazanmaktadr. Bu parann bir ksmiyleBassanio gidip Portia'ya evlenme teklif edecek ve bu teebbsnde baarkazanrsa zengin olacaktr. Bassanio bunun iin gene bir deniz yolculuuyapm ak zo run da d r.

Baka bir rnek vermek gerekirse, Platus'un Rudens oyununda esirciLabrax denizde bir kazaya uram ve maln mlkn kaybetmitir. Denizin gvenilmez oluundan yaknr (II.iv.) ki bu bize Antonio'nun gemilerinin kaza haberlerini ve Shylock'un denizdeki tehlikelerden bahsedenszlerini hatrlatr (I.iii.).

II. SAHNE ZEL LKL ER

Rnesans dramndaki bir takm sahne ve oyun kuruluu ile ilgili zellikler Ltin komedisinden gelir. Kullanl ok yaygn olan bu zelliklerdenbe perde dzeni ve sahneye girmek zere olan bir ahsn o anda sahnedeolan bir bakas tarafndan haber verilmesi hemen akla gelen iki rnektir.Bu ikincisi iin misl olarak Venedik Taciri'nden aadaki yerleri gstere

bili riz: (I .i .57-8), (I.i ii .36-7), (II.vi.20), (II.ix.3) ve (V.i.24). Gze dahaabuk arpan komik zellikler arasnda uan mevkii ve fonksiyonu zikredilebilir. Ltin komedilerinde komik unsurun byk bir ksm klelerinkendi aralarnda, efendileriyle ya da bakalariyle konumalarndan kar.Venedik Taciri'nde sadece, belli bal fonksiyonu elendirici bir ekilde konuan Launcelot adl bir uak vardr. Ancak Launcelot'un konumasn bugngerektii kadar komik bulamyorsak suu o an zevki yksek olmyan bazseyircilerini me mn un etme amaciyle Launce lot' u derinlikten ma hr um birsoytar seviyesine indiren yazarda bulabiliriz. (Folio'da konuma balarndaLauncelot ad yerine "Soytar" kelimesi vardr). Rnesans komedisindeLtin klesi, saf ya da nkteden ve zeki oluuna gre cahi l veya sarayl

soytar ekline girer. Launcelot Venedik Taciri'nde zeki bir kimse gibi grnmek ve konumak arzusundadr. Bazan Ltin komedisinde grlen saf kleyerinde de La unc el ot 'un babas Gobbo bu lunmakta d r. Bu ihtiyar o lununakalarna hedef olur. Launcelot Shylock'a bir hediye gtrmekte olan babasna Shylock'un evinin yo lunu karmakar k bir ekilde tarif ederek onuartr ve bu kadar bir akayla yetinir. Zaten kor olan basn bulamyacabir evi arama a gndermee niyeti yoktur (II.ii.369). Bu durum Teren-tius'un Adelphi adl oyununda da grlr. Kurnaz kle Syrus, kzgn babaDemea'y bandan savmak iin artc bir yol tarafiyle onu bulamyacabir yere gnder ir . Go bbo'nun aksine olarak Deme a yola kar ve tabi i elibo dner (IV.i i. , V. i. ).
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Venedik Taciri'nin son sahnesinin banda Belmont sakinlerine mj de

getiren Launcelot'un sahneye garip bir ekilde girdiine ahit oluruz. Oradabu lun ma kta olan Lorenzo'yu arama kta olduu ha lde onu grmez, du ymazve ta nmazm gibi davr anr . La unc el ot 'un bu ocuka cokunluu uz unve zdrap verici ma hk em e sahnesinden ve Lorenzo ile Jess ica'nn efsaneler-deki talihsiz sevgililerden sz etmesinden sonra seyircileri tamamen ne'eli vekaygsz bir ruh hline sokma niyetine balanabilir, oyunun sonundaki ofars unsurlar tayan "yzk olay" iin de bir hazrlk olabilir. Fakat amane olursa olsun bu, Ltin komedilerinde sk sk raslanlan bir durumdur.Bu komedilerde bazen bir kle ya da parazit nnden ekilmeleri iin baraara sahneye girer ki grne gre "sola", "wo, ha, ho " diye hayk ranLauncelot da ayn eyi yapmaktadr. Buna benzer bir ekilde Plautus'unCaptivi oyununda parazit Ergasibus yolundaki hayli ahslar tehdit edereksahneye girer (IV.ii.). Kkken karlm olan olunun sa salim gerigeldii mjdesini vermek iin Hegio'yu aramaktadr. Gene de mjdesinivermeden nce or ada bul una n Hegio'yu grmemezlikten gelir. Pa ra zi t yada kle bu ekilde hareket ettii zaman daima iyi bir haber getirmekte olupbiraz aka yapm an n kendisine za ra r vermeyeceini bilir.

III. TEMALAR

A. Ak

Captivi mstesna btn Ltin komedilerinde esas tema ak olup ok defabir gen kz ya da fahieyi elde etme amacyla ha z rl an an entrikalar nplna geer. Bu entrika genellikle gen efendi, onun klesi ve arkadalarnn,gen efendi tarafnda n sevilen kadn ele geirme ab alar ndan doa r.Gen efendi sevgilisine kavumasn salayacak paradan her zaman mahrumdur. Delikanl ya bu paray ihtiyar babasndan bir hileyle almak ya da sevgilisini bir esircinin veya palavrac askerin elinden kurtarmak zorundadr.Venedik Taciri'nde de buna benzer bir duruma ahit oluruz. Bassanio evlenmek istedii kza gidebilmek iin gereken paraya sahip deildir. Bu parayona arkada bor verir.

Venedik Taciri'nde daha baka aklar da vardr. Lorenzo ile Jessica birbir leriyle evlenmek istemektedirler. Fa kat onlarn yolundaki engel paray lailgili deildir. Babasnn Yahudi olmayan sevgilisiyle evlenmesine izin vermeyeceini bilen Jessica onunla kamak zoru ndad r . Lti n komedilerindeki buna benzer durumlar daha sonra esirci tipini incelerken gzden geireceiz.

Oyunda evlenen dier bir ift de Gratiano ile Nerissadr. Gratianobir bak ma Bassanio'nun srda durumund adr, Nerissa'nn da Port ia ileilikileri aa yukar ayndr. Gratiano'nun Nerissa ile ilgilenmesi bizePlautus'un Truculentus adl oyunundaki bir olay hatrlatr. Burada kleTruculentus, efendisi Strabax'm sevgilisi Phronesium'un hizmetisi Asta-

phium'a kar bir yaknlk hissetmektedir.


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B. Para-Tefecilik

Ltin komedilerinde bulduumuz dnya, ak elde etmek iin dahiparann gerekli olduu materyalist bir dnyadr. Evlenmelerde de paraesastr. Bir delikanlnn eyizi olmayan bir kzla evlenmesi hemen hementasavvur edilemeyecek bir eydir. Venedik Taciri'nde Bassanio'nun Portia'ysevdiine phemiz yoktur fakat hi bir zaman onun servetini aklndankarmaz ve bunu Antonio'ya olan borlarn deyecei bir vasta olarakzikreder (I.i.). Ayrca Portia'nn bulunduu Belmont'a gidip ona evlenmeteklif edebilmesi iin de paraya ihtiyac vardr. Ltin komedilerinde birdelikanlya para lzm olduu ve bunu arkadalarndan bulamad ya daba bas ndan hile ile alamad zam an bir tefeciden almak isteyecektir.Plautus'un Mostellaria adl oyununda Philoloches byle hareket eder fakattefeciye borcunu deyemeyince ba derde girer. Plutus'un Epidicus adloyununda Stratippocles faizle bulduu para karlnda bir esir kz satnalmtr. Arkada Chaeribulus'tan, tefeciye olan borcunu demek iinpara ister, fakat onun da paras yoktur (I.ii.). Bu rneklerden grld gibitefeciden para almak zor bir durumdan kurtulmak iin hi bir zaman iyi bir

yol deildir ve bu, Venedik Taciri'nin merkez temasdr.

C. Genlere Kar Tutum

Genellikle Ltin komedisinde ihtiyar babalar oullarnn paralarn ve

vakitlerini elence u ru na israf etmelerini uygun bulmazla r. Bu baba larhemen daima akl banda kimseler olup gen kua, fayda salamayan bomeguliyetleri yznden tenkit ederler. Venedik Taciri'nde bu tu tu mu, maskeli, mzikli gece elenceleri ve geitleri yaptklar iin Hristiyan genleriniaptal olarak gren Shylock temsil eder. Ltin komedilerindeki delikanllarserbest, samimi ve cmert bir tabiata sahip olup bize Venedik Taciri'nde

Antonio ve Bassani o'nun arkadalarn hat rlat r la r.

IV. AHISLAR

A. Ak Delikanl, Arkadalar ve Yardmclar

Birka istisna ile Ltin komedileri bir delikanlnn ak macerasndakarlat glkleri konu alr. Bu ak bazen gizlidir bazen deildir. Bas-sanio bu eit bir delikanlya ok bakmdan benzerlik gsterir. Ltin kome-disindeki ak genellikle fakirdir ve sevgilisine kavumas iin paraya ihtiyac

vardr . Bassanio da yledir. Ltin komedisindeki an zihni sadece bir tekama zerinde, yani sevgilisine nasl kavuaca problemi zerinde toplanmtr. Bassanio da Antonio'nun hayat tehlikeye girinceye kadar yledir.Ltin komedisinde an karakteri basit bir ekilde izilmitir, fert olmaktanziyade tip zellikleri tar. Sevgilisi dnda oyunda hi bir kimseye karmanev bir sorumluluk hissetmez; sevgilisine olan vazgeilmez ball ise


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arzularn tatmin amacndan ileri gitmez. Oyunun ilk yarsnda Bassanio

da byle hareket eden bir kimsedir. Bassanio burada, Bradbrook'un da syledii gibi fert olmaktan ziyade tip olarak grnr. 6

Ltin komedisinde gen an, gvendii kurnaz klesinden baka,ak macerasnda ya da iine dt zor durumda kendisine yardm eden

bir arkada vardr . Venedik Taciri'nde Antonio sevdii arkadana yardmetme arzusu yznden neredeyse hayatn kaybedecek duruma gelir kiLti n komedisinde bun a benzer bir iki dur umla karlarz. Adelphi'deDemeann olu Ctesipho bir esircinin elinde bulunan bir kza aktr. Babasna kar duyduu korku yznden bu hususta hi bir ey yapamaz. Bununiin kardei Aeschinus esircinin evine zorla girer, onu dver ve kardeinegtrmek zere kz karr. Bunu yaparken kendi ban derde sokmu olur,nk sevgilisi onun artk bakasn sevdiine inanr.

Anto ni o' nu n durumuna da ha iyi uy an bir olay Captivi de buluruz.Philocrates ve klesi Tyndarus bir savata esir dmlerdir. Efendisininserbest kalmasn salamak iin Tyndarus, karlaabilecei tehlikenin ciddiyetine ramen onunla elbiselerini deitirip onun yerine geer. Nitekimefendisi kle sanlarak braklr, fakat gerek anlald zaman TyndarusHegio tarafndan ar bir cezaya arptrlma tehlikesiyle kar karya kalr.Bu durumda Hegio, duyduu hiddet ve elindeki aciz kurbanna istediicezay uygulama imknna sahip olmas bakmndan Shylock'a ok benzer.Son anda Philocrates sadk klesini kurtarmak zere geri gelir. Bu bize

Bassanio'nun, henz evlenmi olduu Portia'y geride brakarak kendisi iintehlikeye dm olan arkada Antonio'nun yardmna komasn hatrlatr. Bu durumda Antonio, uruna hayatn kaybetmek zere olduu arkadana veda eder. Artk akbetine raz olmutur fakat gene de btn bunlarnBassanio'nun yznden bana gelmi olduunu ona hatrlatmaktan kendisini ala maz : "Bu du ru ma senin iin dt m diye keder len me" (IV.ii.262).Buna benzer bir ekilde Tyn dar us, "Allah seni kor usu n" diyen efendisineyle cevap veri r: "U r un a bu bellar ektiim siz efendimi de Allahkorusun" (V.IV.I009).

Venedik Taciri ile Captivi arasndaki dier bir benzerlik oyunlarn so

nunda grlr. Masum Antonio ve Tyndarus sadece lmden kurtulmaklakalmazlar ayn zamanda mkfatlandrlrlar. Antoni kaybettiini sandservetine fazlasyla kavuur ve Tyndarus'un, Hegio'nun kkken karlm olu olduu meydana kar.

B. Kz Kahraman

Ltin komedisinde kz kahramann oyundaki rol ok pasiftir. Hatta

ba ze n sa hnede grnmez bile. Bir delikanlnn bir gen kza ak olmas bir

6 Bassanio is called "luck and young love personified" in "Mor al Them e and Romantic Story",

Casebook Series, The Merchant of Venice, (London, 1969), p. 139.
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Ltin komedisini balatmak iin yeterli bir durumdur. Kz sadece komik

entrikann balamasna sebep olur. Gen kzla ilgili nemli dier bir nokta daevlenmesi konusunda hi bir sz sahibi olmaydr. phesiz Yunan-Romatoplumunda delikanlnn da babasnn kendisi iin semi olduu kza itiraza hakk yoktu; fakat Ltin komedisinde gen ok defa karsn kendisi semee alr. Kzn babas kzn hemen her zaman uygun bulduu bir ekilde evlendirmee hazrdr. Kzn kendisi iin seilmi olan delikanly sevipsevmedii bahis konusu olmaz. Kzn, isteklerine kar gsterilen bu kaytszla nem vermediini dnmee yazar bizi adeta zorlar. Zaten bazenkz kendisi iin seilmi olan delikanlya aktr. Romal babann kz zerindeki bu byk hakimiyeti bize, lm olduu halde kznn evlenmesiniby k lde kontrol edebilen Por tia 'n n babasn ha tr la t r. Po rt ia sevdii

adamla evlenirken dahi babasnn vasiyetine uygun bir evlenme yapmaktadr.

C. Kle ya da Uak

Delikanlnn sevdii kza kavumasnda oynad rolden tr Ltinkomedisinde ok nemli bir yeri olan kle bu yerini Rnesans komedisindekaybetmee balar ve ak delikanlnn arkadalar ok defa klenin bu fonksi

yo nu nu stlerine alr lar. Bu deiikliin bir rneini Venedik Taciri oyununda buluruz. Burada Antonio, Portia ile evlenmesi iin Bassanio'ya hertrl yardm yapt gibi Lorenzo Jessica'y karmasnda arkadalarnni birliine gvenir. Nitekim Lorenzo onlara bu nd an tr o kada r mt eekkirdir ki "evlenmek zere kz ka rm ak" istedikleri zam an arkadalar na

yar dm edeceini sylemek zor un da hisseder (II.v i .23).

Venedik Taciri'nde Ltin komedisindeki klenin etkisini az da olsa hissedebiliriz. Launcelot, efendisi Shylock'tan memnun deildir ve ondanayrlmak istemektedir. Fakat bu hususta kolayca karar veremez, efendisiniterketmek istedii iin vicdan onu rahatsz etmektedir . Bu bize gari p gelir,nk Hrstiyan bir toplumda bir Hrstiyan uan Yahudi efendisindenb ra km ak tan niin kor kt u un u, bu hususta niin vi cdan azab ektiinibilemeyiz. Fa kat eer Shakespeare Lau nc el ot'un ka ra kt er in i ta sarlarkenLtin komedilerindeki klelerin etkisi altnda kalmsa Launcelot'un gs

terdii kararszln sebebini anlamamz kolaylar. Yunan ya da Ltinklesi efendisinin malyd ve bu yzden ne kadar kt muamele grrsegrsn onunla kalmak zorundayd.7 (Tabii bu durumu tam bir tiyatro asndan ele alrsak grrz ki Laun celo t'u n teredd tleri komiktir, nkefendisini terketmek isteyiinin sebebi Shylock'un eytan olduu dncesidir. Bu dncenin, ilerde ele alnacak olan nemli bir yn vardr).

Kurnazl ve her derde are bulabilmesi gibi zelliklerinin yansra

Ltin klesi yemee, imee ve uyumaa fazlasyla dkndr ki bu husus-

7 J. W. Draper says "a master may take legal action against a servant who left without just

cause " in "Shakespeare's Rustic Servants", Stratford to Dogberry, (Pittsburg).
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78 E N G N ZM E N

lar onu daha da komik gsterir. Shylock Launcelot'ta bu dknlklerin

bul un du un u iddia edince Launcelot ile Lti n klesi aras nda bir benzerlikdaha kurulmu olur: "Serserinin iyi bir yrei var ama obur mu obur.Faydal ilerde salyangoz kadar yava. Gndz uykusunu yaban kedilerinden daha fazla seviyor" (II.v.44-6).

Launcelot ile Ltin klesi arasnda bir baka benzerlik daha bulunur.htiyar efendisinin muhalefetine ramen kle ak macerasnda gen efendisine yardmc olmaktadr. Launcelot da bir dereceye kadar ayn eyi

ya pa r, fakat bu iin n emin in Lti n komedi lerindeki kada r byk olmaysadece uan Rnesans komedisindeki fonksiyonunun azalm olduunaiarettir. Launcelot Jessica ile Lorenzo'nun birlikte kamalarnda rol oynar.

Bu tabii Ltin komedilerinde bulduumuz durumun tersidir, yani buradayard m edilen ahs delikanl deil de gen kzdr. Fa ka t Rnesans komedisinde gen kzn rol ve fonksiyonunun geliip nem kazandn, hattaok defa delikanlnn arka plana itildiini hatrdan karmamalyz. imdigen kz kyafetini deitirerek dahi olsa sokaa kabilir, hatta sevdii adam dnyann uzak yerlerine kadar takip edebilir. Ayrca Shylock'un, ua

ve genler tarafndan aldat lmas onu, ok defa genlerin istedikleri ekildehareket etmelerine kar olan Ltin komedilerindeki baba tipine de yaklatrr.

D. Parazit

Yu na n ve ha tta Roma top lumla r nda ve dolaysyla komedi lerindebelirli bir fonksiyonu olan parazi tin Rnesans toplum un da yeri yoktu.Bu yzden parazit Rnesans komedisinde grnd zaman ya bulunduuoyunun realitesi iinde ikna edici olmaktan uzak bir tiptir ya da kurnazl

ve bakalarnn safl sayesinde geinen ve o alarn ha ya tn da sk skrastlanan bir ahs olmutur. Venedik Taciri'nde an realitesine uymayancinsten bir parazitin dahi bulunduunu iddia etmek istemiyoruz, fakatoyundaki baz ahslar Ltin parazitinin baz zelliklerine sahiptirler. Gerek bir parazitin devaml bir ii ya da paras olmamaldr. Elenceyi, yemei, imei sevmelidir ve tabii kendisine bakacak birini bulmaldr. Bas-sanio iin Antoni'nun parazitidir demek muhakkak ki zordur fakat Antonio

ve Bassanio'nun arkadalar aras nda byle bir tiple karlamamz m mk n dr. Grne gre bu genlerin devaml bir ii yoktur ve arkadalariylaglp elenecek bol vakitleri vardr. Tabii onlar zengin ve bu bakmdanok zamanlar olan, sosyal mevkileri bakmndan Antonio ve Bassanio ayarn da kimselere olarak dnebiliriz. Fakat bu fikir, onlar n dostlar An-tonio'ya paraya en byk ihtiya duyduu bir anda yardm edemeyilerigerei karsnda doru grnmez . Salerio ve Salanio A nto nio 'nu n b t ngemilerinin kazaya uradn bilirler ve bizzat Shylock'un azndan, Antonio kendisine olan borcu vaktinde demezse anlamalarna uyarak onun

etinden yarm kilo keseceini duyarlar (III.i.). u nokta zellikle nem tar


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ki tam bu srada Antonio'nun ua gelerek Salerio ve Solanio'ya efendisininonlarla grmek istediini bildirir. inde bulunduu bu g durumdankendisini kurtarmak amacyla Antonio'nun onlardan bor para isteyeceinidnrz. Antonio ile iki arkadann konumalar sahnede gsterilmediigibi sonradan bu konumaya herhangi bir atfta da bulunulmaz. FakatAnton io 'nu n iki arkadandan para almad muhakkaktr . Dier yndenAntonio, bu ok skk ve tehlikeli durumd a arkadalar nn kendisine yardmdan kandn sylemedii iindir ki Antonio ve Bassanio'nun arkadalarndan hi birinin paral kimse olmadn kabul etmek zorunda kalrz

ve onlara bir eit parazi t gzyle bakabiliriz.

Venedik Taciri'nde parazit olarak grlebilen dier bir ahs da Gra-tiano'dur. Bu ahsn devaml bir ii olmay ve Bassanio nereye giderse onunda oraya gittii gereinin yannda Gratiano Ltin parazitlerinin en nemlibir zel liine, yani insanlar elendirebilme yeteneine sahiptir. Bassanioarkadann bu ii ne kadar iyi yaptn bildiinden Belmont'ta uyandrmas gereken olumlu intibalar Gratiano'nun bozmasndan korkar ve onaPortia'ya evlenme teklif ettii sralarda dilini tutmasn syler. Ancak Bel-mont'a hareketinden nce verecei bir veda partisinde istedii kadar ne'elihareket etmesi hususunda ona izin verir (II.ii.). Ltin parazitinin zellikle

bir yemek davetinde bt n yeteneklerini or taya dkt n biliyoruz. S.Burchardt Gratiano iin "saray soytars" tabirini kullanr. 8 Byle bir ifadeLtin komedisinde parazitin fonksiyonunun Rnesans komedisinde soyta

rnn fonksiyonuna yakn olduunu bize tekrar hatrlatr.

E. Palavrac Asker

Klsik komedinin en nde gelen ahslarndan biri palavrac askerdirki bu ahs sekiz Ltin komedisinde grlr. Palavrac askerin kaynadramn balarna kadar gider ve lp hayata dnen tanrnn rakibinde ve

Yu na n Eski Komedisindeki kah rama nn rakibinde, ya ni bir eit ya banc vesahtekr olan "alazon" tipinde grlr. Alazon vnmeyi sever, hakkolmayan eyler zerinde hak iddia eder ve sonunda alay edilerek uzaklatrlr. skender'in uzak lkelerde yapt savalarda arpm olan ada

askerlerden baz realist zellikler de alan palavrac askerin realist ve dramatikgelimesi Ltin komedisinde de srer ve sonra eitli yollardan Rnesanskomedisine geer. imdi on un fonksiyonu Yunan ve Lt in komedisindekifonksiyonu kadar nemli deildir. Buna sebep olarak artk savalarda silh

ve tekniin kiisel ka hraman l kt an daha mh im ol maa baladn gsterebiliriz. Gene de palavrac asker hi bir za ma n dramdan bt n bt n kaybolmaz ; eski ve tecrbeli asker, parazi t, sarayl olarak karmza kt gibidramdaki gerek askere baz zelliklerini, bilhassa kahramanl ve gemiteki byk asker baarlaryla vnme huyunu verir.

8 "T he Gentle Bond", Casebook Series, The Merchant of Venice, (London, 1969), p. 218.


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80 NECLA AYTR

Venedik Taciri'nde Fas Hkmdar palavrac askerin baz nemli zel

liklerini kendisinde toplar grnmektedir. Renginin esmer olduunu nkgnein komusu ve (eer "near bred" kelimelerini "yakn akraba" olarakalrsak) yakn akrabas olduunu syler (II.i.). Bu, tanrlarla olan ilikilerinden ve tabiat st vasflarndan vnerek sz eden Ltin palavrac askerinden iddialarna benzer. Mesel Plautus'un Miles Gloriosus adl oyunundaPyrgopolynices Vens'n torunu ve hemen hemen Jpiter'le yat olduunu,ocuklarnn 800 yl yaadn syler (IV.vi.).

Gene renginden sz ederken Fas Hkmdar kannn herhangi birkuzeylininki kadar krmz olduunu syler ki bu bir cesaret almetidir.Hkmdar grnnn cesur kimseleri rkttn fakat lkesinin kzlarnn bundan holand ilve eder. Onun szlerini ciddiye almamz gerekir, nk bu iddialarnda samimi olduu phesizdir; fakat gene de kulland sz ve ifadeler, sadece askerlik ynnden byk baarlar ve tabiatst zellikleriyle deil ayn zamanda dnyann her yerinde kadnlarnkalbini almakla vnen Ltin palavrac askerine has sz ve ifadelerdir.

Palas zerine yemin eden Fas Hkmdar bize harp tanrs ya da tanras zerine yemin eden Ltin palavrac askerini hatrlatr. Mesel Plautus'un Bacchides adl eserinde Cleomachus Bellona ve Mars zerine yemineder (IV.viii.). Fas Hkmdar, Sultan Sleyman'n ordusundaki baarlarndan da sz eder. an byk hkmdarlarndan bu ekilde bahsetmekde bazen gerek bir kirala hizmet etmekte olan ya da hayal bir kirala yapt

hizmetlerle vnen Ltin palavrac askerine has bir zelliktir. Mesel MilesGloriosus''ta Pyrgopolynices Kral Selecus iin asker toplamaktadr (I.i.).Terentius'un Eunuchus'unda Thraso, adn vermedii bir kralla olan samimiilikileriyle vnr (III.i.).

Fas Hkmdar, "ana aydan st emen yavrular alp gtrecek" ve"aslan av ararken onunla alay edecek" kadar cesur olduunu iddia eder.Gene Portia'nn sevgisini kazanabilmek iin onun btn bunlar yapmaahazr olduuna inanrz. Buna ramen bu trl szler bize Ltin palavracaskerinin hayvanlarla yapt mbala dolu mcadelelerin bir yanks gibigelir. Mesel Plautus'un Curculio'sundaki Therapontigonus'un mhrnde

"bir fili klcyla ikiye blen zrhl bir sava" grlr (III.i.). Miles Glorio-sus'ta Pyrgopolynices bir filin n bacan bir yumrukta krabileceini iddiaeder (I.i.).

Ltin palavrac askeri bazen kendisi ve harp ilh Mars arasnda savalk zellikleri bakmndan benzerlikler bulur. Mesel Plautus'un Truculen-tus adl oyun unda Stratophant es (II.iv.) bun a iyi bir rnektir. Eunuchus'ta,Thraso ise yar tanr Herkl'n kendisi gibi ak olmu olduunu hatrlatr(V.vii.). Fas Hkmdar da kendisini Herkl'e benzeterek nasl o klesiylezar oynarken kaybedebilirse kendisinin de kapal kutudan, iinde Portia'nn resmini bulunan semesinde baarszla uramasnn mmknolduunu hatrlatr.


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Fas Hkmdarnn altn kutuyu semesi (ve bu yzden Portia ile evlen

me ansn kaybetmesi) onun sath dnya grnnn bir sonucu olmaklabe ra be r ayn zamanda klsik ya da Rnesans palavrac askerini daima bek-leyen, istedii kadn elde edememe akbetine ayr bir rnek olur.

Ltin palavrac askeri hemen daima oyundaki erkek kahramann sevgilisi ya da nianls olan bir kadnn peindedir. Bir yabanc olan Fas Hkmdar da ayn amala ortaya kar ve baarszla urar. Baarszldorudan doruya kutudan iinde Portia'nn resmini olan bulamayna

balanabil ir fakat o gitt ikten sonra Po rtia 'n n syledii szler Fas H km dar nn Venedik toplu mun da nasl karlandna iyi bir rnek verir: "Bundan iyi kurtulduk. Perdeleri ekin, haydi. Onun rengindekiler beni hep

byle sesinler" (II. vi i.78-9).

F. Cimri

Ltin komedisi ve Venedik Taciri arasndaki ilikileri ve benzerlikleri buekilde tesbit etmee altktan sonra imdi Shylock'u ele alp onun Ltinkomedisindeki muhtemel kaynaklarn aratrabiliriz. Mamafih Shylock'uniinde bulunduu durumlar ve sahip olduu zelliklerini, onun bir prototipi olduunu iddia edeceimiz Ltin esircisininkilerle karlatrmadan nceShylock'un dier bir tiple, yani cimri ihtiyar tipiyle de baz mterek zelliklere sahip olduunu grmeden geemeyiz.

Paras ve mal zerindeki ar dikkati yznden Shylock'u hasis birkimse olarak grenler bulunabilir. Bununla beraber hasislik onun karakterinde nde gelen bir yer tutmaz ve n plna kar grnd zaman da

bunu ya ba nc ve ha tta d ma n bir toplum da yaamak zoru nda olan bi rahsta gayet tabii bulacamz bir ihtiyatl hareket etme kaygsna balaya-bil iriz. Gene de Shylock ile L tin komedisindeki tek gerek cimri, ya niPlautus'un Aulularia oyunundaki Euclio arasnda en aa iki benzerlik

bu lu ru z. Eu cl io 'nu n to pr aa g mm oldu u bir mlek al tn ve gen birkz vardr. Batl itikatlara inand iin sol tarafnda bir kuzgunun tmesinidefinesinin tehlikede olduunu bildiren bir iaret olarak kabul eder (IV.iii.).

ve mleini yer inde n karp baka bir yere gmer (IV.iv.) . Lyconides' inklesi Strobilus buna ahit olur ve altn dolu mlei alp gtrr. Eucliobtn servetini kaybettiini anlad zaman (IV.ix.), kz Jess ica'nn pa ra -syla birlikte katn renen Shylock gibi yanp yaklr. Fakat bu Euclio'nun bana gelen tek felket deildir, kz Lyconides ile kar-koca hayat

ya a makt ad r . Ancak Lyconides Lo renzo 'nu n aksine d r st bir delikanl dr ;sadece kzla evlenmek istemekle kalmaz, klesinin onun iin yapt hrszlktan habersizdir. Euclio Lyconides'ten phelenip de onu en kymetli varln almakla itham ettii zaman Lyconides onun kzn kastettiini sanr

ve on un la ya a ma kt a ol du u nu itiraf eder. Euclio o zaman kade rd en ikidarbe yemi olduunu, hem kznn iffetinin hem de parasnn kaybolmu

v


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82 E N G N ZM E N

olduunu renir. Sonunda altnlar gene Euclio'ya ide edilir ve gen sev

gililer evlenirler.

G. Esirci

Ltin komedisindeki belli bal ahslardan biri esircidir. Birok oyunda grnr, komik olduu kadar trajik zelliklere sahiptir ve Ltin komedisindeki en nemli komik unsur olan entrikada nemli bir rol oynar. imdikarakter ve aksiyon bakm ndan Shylock ve Ltin esircisi arasndaki benzerliklere ksaca gz gezdirelim.

Esircinin entrikada pasif bir rol vardr, nk daima entrika onu

hedef alr. Elinde bulunan kzlardan birine erkek kahraman aktr ve parasolmad iin onu satn almaktan acizdir. Gen ak bu yzden kurnazklesinin, arkadalarnn ve klesinin arkadalarnn yardmyla kz esirciden kurtarmaa alr. Terentius'un iki oyununda bu durumu buluruz.Phormio'da esirci Dorio, Phaedria'nn sevdii Pamphila adl kzn sahibidir.Adelphi'de esircinin elinde Aeschinus 'un kardei tarafndan sevilen bir kzbu lun makta d r. Yuka rda sylendii gibi Aeschinus, esirci Sa nn io 'nu n evinezorla girerek, onu dverek ve ayrca ona hakaret ederek kz kardei iinkarr. Plautus'un oyunlarnda da esirci bu rneklere benzeyen bir durumdagrlr. Curculio'da (I.i.) Phaedromus, esirci Cappadox'un evinde bulunansevgilisini bir gece ziyaret ederken yannda me'ale tayan kleler vardr.Bu grn bize Venedik Taciri'nde maskeli arkadalaryla bir gece Jessica'ykarmaya gelen Lorenzo'yu hatrlatr. Sonra kz bir hileyle Cappadox'unelinden alnr. Esirci kz elinden kardktan baka para kaybna da urar,nk bu esir kzn aslnda hr bir Atin'lnn kz olmadna dair iddiayagirmitir. Bu oyunda da esirci hakaretle karlar.

Esirciye sk sk hakaret edilir. Persa oyununda bu vuku bulduu zaman(III.iii.) esirci Dordalus'un ayn ekilde davranmas ve hakarete hakaretlekarlk vereceini sylemesi bize, grd kt muameleye intikam almaklacevap vermee alan Shylock'u hatrlatr. Bu oyunda bir esir kz sevgilisinesatm olan Dordalus'a kar bir komplo hazrlamaktadr. (Dordalus da,Launcelot ayrld zaman Shylock'un syledii gibi beslemek zorunda olduu bir kimsenin evinden gitmesinden tr memnun grnmektedir).Kurnaz kle Toxilus, Dordalus'un dikkatini ona kar kurmakta olduukomplodan uzaklatrmak iin onu iltifat ve vgye boar. Klenin niyetiesirciye hr bir Atina'l kz satarak onun ban derde sokmaktr (IV.iii.).Dordalus yanl bir i yapp mahkemeye gitmekten ekindii iin kz satnalmakta tereddt ederse de kolayca para kazanaca dncesi ihtiyatn

yener, kz alr ve gerekten hemen ba derde girer. Sadece kz iin dediiparay kaybettiini zannederken kzn babas kagelir ve Dordalus'u mahkemeye srkler. Sonunda esirci hem davay kaybeder hem de parasn verip

alm olduu kz elinden karr.


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Poenulus'ta Agorastocles, esirci Lycus'un sahibi olduu bir kza aktr.Agorastocles ' in klesi Milphio Lycus'a bir oyun oyna ma a ha z rl anmakt a

dr . Gen efendisine sadece sevdii kz deil esircinin kendisini ve bt nmaln mlk n da hi vadeder. Milphi o esircinin klesi Syncera stus'tanLycus'un elindeki iki kzn hr bir ailenin ocuklar olduunu renir (IV.ii.). (Syncerastus Ltin komedisinde efendisine bu ekilde ihanet eden tekkledir ve bu yzden Launcelot ile onun arasnda bir benzerlik vardr).Sonunda kzlarn babas esirciden ift para cezas ister (V.vi.). Bu aradaLycus hem para hem de moral bakmndan kt bir duruma dm veartk kadere boyun emitir. O kadar ki lmee dahi hazr olduunu syler.Kaybedecek bir eyi kalmam olmas onu byk bir krgnlk iine atmtr.Bu krgnlk bize Venedik Taciri'nde mah keme sahnesinin sonunda her eyinikaybetme durumunda olan Shylock'un szlerini hatrlatr:

Hayr, hayatm ve her eyimi aln, hayatm dahi balamayn.Evimi ayakta tutan destei alrsanz evimi elimden alyorsunuzdemektir. Hayatm devam ettiren vastalar elimden alnca hayatm alm oluyorsunuz.

IV..37I -4

Ancak Poenulus'ta kzlarn babas Lycus'a kar merhametli davranr veVenediklilerin Shylock'a yaptk lar gibi cezay sonuna kadar gtrmez.Gene de Lycus Agorastocles'e bir miktar para verecektir, fakat iinde bulun

duu moral bozukluu yznden bunu hemen o anda deyemez ve "sanaparan sonra vereceim" der (V.vii.I4I 7 ) . O nu n ruh hli ve szleri bizegene Shylock'u hatrlatr:

Rica ederim, buradan gitmeme izin veriniz benim. Kendimi

iyi hissetmiyorum. Bonoyu arkadan gnderin; imza ederim.IV.i.392-4

Pseudolus'un banda Callidorus adl bir delikanlnn Ballio isimli biresircinin elinde bulunan bir kza ak olduunu reniriz. Callidorus sevgilisinden bir mektup almtr ve bu mektubu yazm olan eli vmekte ve

klesine yle sylemektedir: "Ah, zarif bir el tarafndan zarif tabletle reyazlm bu zarif yazy niin ta kdir et mi yor sun ?" (I . i . 2 7 _8). Bu vg,Jessica'dan mektup aldktan sonra ondan sz eden Lorenzo'nun sylediklerini hatrlatr:

Bunu yazan eli tanyorum. Gerekten gzel bir eldir o. Hem de

zerine yazd kttan daha da beyaz bir eldir o.

II.iv.12-4

Her iki mektubun muhtevasnn benzer olduunu, yani her iki kzn da

aa yukar arzularna kar olarak alkonulduklar evden kurtarlma


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84 E N G N Z M E N

arzu ettiklerini hatrlarsak bu iki durum arasndaki benzerlik daha da kuv

vet ka za n r. Bu arada Ballio gen an babas Simo ta ra f ndan uyar lmve ona ku rnaz kle Pseudolus ta raf ndan bir oyun oy na na ca ihtar edilmitir. Fakat Ballio zeksna o kada r gvenmektedir ki adanma yaca hususunda Simo ile iddiaya girer. Sonunda tabii aldatlr ve hem kz hem deiddia parasn kaybederek ikili bir zar ara ur ar. Shylock da hem Jessica'yhem de onu n berab erinde g trd pa ralar kaybederek byle bir zar aragirmiti. Oyunun sonunda Pseudolus, Ballio'yu aldatn arkadalarylakutlar ve Simo da onlara katlr. Bu sahneyle Venedik Tacirisonundaki ne'elitoplant arasnda benzerlik bulabiliriz.

Rudens'te esirci Labrax'n bindii gemi batm ve Labrax kendisine aitolan iki kzdan ayrlmtr. Kzlar Vens tapnana snrlar ve Labrax'adnmek istemezler. Labrax onlar zorla almaa teebbs ettii zaman daklelerden dayak yer. Klelerin sahibi Daemones, o yerde geerli olan veLabrax'n esir kzlarn geri almasn nleyecei anlalan bir kanundan szeder (III.iv.). Labrax gerekten zorla mahkemeye gtrlr ve orada kzlarndan birisi elinden alnr (V.i.). Sonunda Daemones ile yapt bir anlamaya gre dier kz zerindeki haklarndan da vazgeer. Burada da esircimah kem ede davasn kaybetmitir. Buna sebep o memlekete has garipbir kanundur. Lab ra x'n bylece hem kzlar hem de paras el inden alnr.

Gerek Shylock gerekse Ltin komedilerindeki esircilere yneltilen biritham dinsizliktir. Her iki durumda da bu itham geree uygun grnr.Shylock Hristiyanlar iinde bir Yahudidir ve insanlar samimi olarak onun

bu yzden cehennemlik ol du una in anr la r. Jessica bile evlerinin "b ircehennem" olduu fikrindedir (II.iii.2). Daha nce sylendii gibi Ltinkomedilerinde esirci eitli hakaretlere maruz kalr ve bu hakaretlerin arasnda onun tanrlara kar gerekli saygy gstermeyii ithamnn bulunmastabiidir. ok defa esircilerin kendileri dahi tanrlara olan inanlarnda bireksiklik olduunu itiraf ederler; zellikle kr kayglar din dev ve zorunluluklarla atma halindeyse. Adelphi'de Sannio iin "u dinsizliin takendisi" (II.ii.266) denir. Curculio'da Cappadox hasta olup tp tanrs Aescu-

lapius'un yardmn dilemektedir. Esirci ryasnda Aesculapius'un yannagelmek istemediini grr ve as onun bu ryasn, dier tanrlarn daCappadox'u terkedecekleri eklinde tabir eder (II.ii.). Poenulus'ta. Lycus,

Vens iin kur ban kesmi fakat onda n arzu la r nn ka bul edi leceine da irbir iaret alamam t r (II.i.). Bun un zer ine hi ddet le ni p Ve ns' on a ai t ol ankurban etinden mahrum brakmaa karar verir. Pseudolus'ta. Ballio, krbahis konusu olduu zaman Jpiter'den da hi kur ba n etini esirgeyeceiniitiraf eder (I.iii.). Rudens'te Labrax dinsizlikle itham edilir (III.iii.). Birrahibeyi bile bomaktan ekinmeyecei sylenir ki Vens tapnana snm olan iki esir kz geri almak iin neredeyse bu ii yapar (II.vii.). Oyununsonunda, elini Vens sunana koyarak etmi olduu yeminden geri dner.
http://ii.ii.266/http://ii.ii.266/


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ou eletirmecilere gre Shylock davasn haksz bir ekilde, bir ke

lime oyunu yznden kaybetmitir ve bylece kz ve parasndan bakanc bir kayba daha uramtr. Mahkemenin kararna gre, sadeceAnto ni o' ya vermi olduu para y kaybet mekle kalmaz, ma l n n bir ksmceza olarak devlete geer. Bylece iki defada ift zar ara maru z kalr. Ltin komedilerindeki esirciler delikanl ve onun kurnaz klesiyle anlamazlkhalinde bulunduklar zaman hakl olduklarn bilirler ve bazen buna gvenerek kendi arzularyla mahkemeye giderler. Ellerinde olduu takdirdemahkemeye gitmemei tercih ettikleri zamanlar da vardr. Her iki durumdada muhakkak davalarn kaybederler. Shylock gibi iki katl bir kayba maruzkalrlar, kz ve par ala rn kaybederler. Bunu nla ilgili olarak Adelphi'dance hakkn elde etmek iin mahkemeye gitmek istedii halde sonra fikrini

deitiren Sannioyu hatrlyabiliriz (II.ii.). Persa'da Dordalus, sonundamahkemeye gitme korkusuyla harp esiri olduu iddia edilen bir kz btnsorumluluu kendisine ait olacak ekilde satn alma hususunda tereddtldr (IV. .) .

Gerek Shylock'un gerek Ltin esircisinin haksz muamele grdnephe yoktur ve her ikisi de bu yzden ikyet eder. Shylock bor olarak

vermi olduu pa ra y dah i geri alamayacan rendii zaman aknlader: "Ama param dahi alamyacak mym?" (IV.i. 3 3 9 ). Bu bize, Adel-

phi'de esir kz iin demi olduu paray geri alamayan Sannio 'yu hat rlatr : "A man tanr m, bi r zavall demi olduu par ay dahi alp almayaca

hususunda phede mi kalacak?" (II.ii.242-3 ).Shylock karlat hakszlklardan ikyet eder ve Yahudilerin Hris-

tiyanlardan farkl olmadn syler. Mahkemede Venedik devletinin tanyp ko ru duu hakl ar n a gvenerek D ke kar di reni r. Bu durum geneSannio'nun, nnde herkesin eit olduu kanunlarn geerli bulunduu

At ina ehrinde oturd uu ve hr bir vatanda olarak herkese eit olduuhakkndaki szlerini hatrlatr (II.i.).

Anto nio ve Bassnio ile yemee gi tme de n nce Shylock'un iine k teyler domaktadr. Bir gece nce ryasnda para torbalarn grmtr

ve evini br akma hi istememektedir (II.v.I8). Ltin komedi lerindeki

esircilerin de balarna felket gelmeden nce bunu hatrlatan ie domalarya da iaretlerle karlatklar olur. Persa'da Dordalus, ok ucuz olduuiin harp esiri sand bir kz satn almaa raz olur ve fala gre o gnnkendisi iin krl olacan renmi olduunu syler (IV.vi.). Tabii yanlmaktadr ve bu yzden ar bir kayba maruz kalr. Bu olaya, daima kaybetmee mahkm bir adama kade rin oynad bir oy un olarak bakabiliriz.e doma ya da ters kan bir fal fikri bir tanr ya da tanra iin kesilenkurbann beklenilen ekilde sonu vermedii durumla ve kt bir rya grlmesiyle birletirilebilir. Bununla beraberRudens'te byle bir rya gren kimseesirci deil fakat Daemones'tir. Bu rya esircinin bir kayba urayacangsterir ki bu kayp da iki esir kzdr (III.i.).


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Ltin komedilerindeki esirciler Shylock gibi sadece hakaretle karla

makla kalmazlar, ayn zamanda belirli bir hakaret sk sk onlara yneltilirki bu herkesin onlara gidip kendilerini asmalarn sylemeleridir. Bazen deesirci fazla baskya maruz kald zaman kendini asma dnr. Persa'daPaegnium adl bir kle Dordalus'a kendisini asmas dn verir (V.i.).Poenulus'ta Lycus tuzaa dt zaman tek kar yol olarak kendisini asma iki defa aklndan geirir (III.v.). Grne gre bu fikirde olan sadecekendisi deildir, nk sonra tekrar sahnede grnd zaman arkadalarnn dahi kendisi asmasndan baka bir tavsiyede bulunamadklarn bildirir (V.vi.). Rudens'te esirci Labrax'n dman olan Plesidippus drt defaonun aslmas gerektiini syler (III.iii. ve III.vi.).

Ltin komedisinde Tasladmz bu zalimce davrann Shylock'a karda gsterildiini grrz. Launcelot, Shylock'a hediye getiren babasna,"Ona hediye vermek mi? Ona yal bir kement ver" der (II.ii. 9 7 -8). Shylock mahkemede davasn kaybettikten ve Portia ona Dkten merhametdilemesine syledii zaman Gratiano atlr:

Kendini asmana izin vermelerini dile. Ama btn maln devlete

getiine gre kendine bir ip alacak dahi paran kalmamtr.

Bunun iin senin aslmann masrafn devletin vermesi gerekecek.IV.i.36I-4

Portia bu defa Antonio'ya Shylock iin nasl bir merhamet gsterebileceinisordu u za ma n Grati ano gene sze kar r: "Bedava bir kement. Allah akna baka bir eye raz olma" (IV.i. 3 7 5 ). Bu asma fikri sadece szden ibaretdeildir, Roma toplumunda esircilere kar taknlan, Ltin komedilerindekarlalan bir tutumu ve daha da kuvvetli bir ekilde Shakespeare'in seyircilerinin bir Yahudi tefeciye kar olan tutumlarnn canl bir ifadesidir.

. Dr am da iki ahs arasndaki benzerlikler karak ter ve aksiyonun dnakp bunlarn evresindeki ahslara da uzanabilir. Shylock'un ua ilebir ya da iki esircinin kleleri iin de bu geerlidir. La unce lot so nu nd aShylock'a hizmet etmekten vazgeer. Bunu hatrlatacak bir ekilde Poenu-lus'taki esircinin klesi Syncerastus efendisinin mesleinden, yapt ilerden ve evinin atmosferinden ikyet eder (IV.ii.). Tabii klenin efendisinden kamas sz konusu deildir fakat bir esircinin evi yerine ta ocanda

ya da deir me nd e alma te rcih et ti i ni syler. Ayn sa hnede kle efendisinin "btn kurbanlarna ramen Vens bayramnda tanradan olumlu

bi r iaret alamad n , ha lb uki fahielerin daha ilk ku rbanla ryla bekledileriiareti bulduklarn" sylerken Syncerastus da Launcelot gibi efendisinindinsiz yn zerinde durmu olur.

Gobbo'nun, olunun efendisine hediye getiriine benzer bir durumuPseudolus'ta buluruz. Esirci Ballio doum yldnm iin sade emrindealan fahielerden deil klelerinden de hediye beklemektedir.


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Sonu

Yukarda verilen benzerliklere da yan ara k Shakespeare' in do r udandoruya veya dolayl olarak, bilerek veya bilmeyerek Ltin komedisindenetkilenmi olduunu gstermi olduumuzu umarz. Shakespeare'in btnkomedileri arasnda Venedik Taciri'nin, zellikle Yanllklar Komedyas ya daHrn kz'a nisbetle Ltin komedisinden en az etkilenmi eserleri arasndaolmas bu Ltin etkisinin ne kadar kuvvetli olduunu gsterir. Venedik Ta~ciri'ndeki ahslarn da bu etkilerden uzak kalmalarna imkn yoktu. Buincelememizin esas konusu olan Shylock'ta da Orta alar ya da Elizabetha edebiyatndaki Yahudi karakterinden farkl bir kiilik buluruz. Ltinkomedisinde Shylock iin rnek tekil edebilecek bir Yahudi bulunmad

halde onu etkileyen ve Shakespeare'in oyunundaki hale getiren baka birtiple, yani esirciyle karlayoruz. Bu tipin, iinde bulunduu komedilerdeifa edecei belirli bir rol olan komik bir ahs olduu muhakkaktr. Buahsn, ama, aksiyon ve oynad rol bakmndan Shylock'la arasnda benzerlikler bulunur ve bunlar Shylock'un da her eyden nce bir komedidekikomik bir ahs olduunu ileri sren son eletirmecilerin fikirlerini destekler mahiyettedir.

imdiye kadar anlattklarmz yle derleyip toplayabiliriz: Shylockve Ltin esircisi birok zellikleri paylarlar. He r ikisi de mte hakkimdir,kazanc severler, kendilerini kuvvetli ve emniyette hissettikleri zaman avan

tajl dur uml ar nda n faydalanmak isterler. Ya dinsizdirler ya da dinsizlik-likle itham edilirler. Onlarn kk grlen mesleklerinden yararlanmahususunda hi tereddd olmayan kimselerden, hatta zarara girip zor birduruma dtkleri zaman bile kt muamele grrler. Herkes onlarn aslmasn diler. Mahke meye gittikleri zaman hakl grnmelerine ramendavalarn kaybederler. zellikle kz (ya da kzlar) eklinde, kayp stnekayba urarlar. Mesleklerinin kt ynlerinin farkndadrlar fakat bunlardeitiremezler, onun yerine mesleklerini kendilerine avantaj salayacakekilde kullanmaa alrlar. Bu da onlarn kendilerini emniyette hisset-meyilerinde doar. inde bulunduklar dman toplumda yapabildikleritek ey para kazanp onun sayesinde bir eit kudret sahibi olmaktr. Karlatklar kt muameleden ikyet ve devlet iinde kanun tarafndan kabul edilmi olan du ru ml ar na gvenerek kendilerine hakare t edenlerle eithaklara sahip olduklarn iddia ederler. Bazen onlara fenalk etmek isteyen-lerin iltifatna hedef olurlar. Bazen, yakn bir za man da urayacaklar birkayb gsteren bir rya grrler ya da kt veya aldatc bir iaretle karlarlar.

Genellikle her komedinin amac bir delikanlyla bir gen kzn evlenmesi ya da bazen Ltin komedisinde olduu gibi bir delikanlnn holand bir fahieyle beraber yaamas olduundan gen kz ya da fahieyielinde tutan esircinin, aklarn yolunda engel tekil etmesi yznden saf


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d edilmesi gerekir. Dolayl bir ekilde olsa bile Shylock Bassanio ile Por-

tia 'nn dman bul undu kta n baka Jessica ile Lorenzo' nun evlenmesinemani olma durumundadr. Bu yzden onun da Ltin komedisindeki esircigibi aldatlmas gerekir. Shylock hi bir Ltin esircisinin yapmad birekilde, arkadalaryla birlikte ak, dostluu, cmertlii ve iyi yaamatemsil eden bir adamn hayatn tehdit etmektedir. Buna gre komedininatmosferinin fazla zarar grmemesi iin onun bu kimseler tarafndan aldatlp alt edilmesi gereklidir. Fakat Shakespeare'in ann din inanlarnagre Shylock iin hal mit vardr, nk zorla Hristiyan yapld zamansadece Venediklilerin arasna kabul edilme frsatn elde etmekle kalmazayrca cennete gitme imknna da sahip olur. Bylece gen Venediklilerincmertlii Shylock'u da iine alr ve netice itibariyle hi bir Ltin esircisinin

karlaamad iyi bir muameleyle karlaaca mjdesi ort aya kar. Shake-speare Shylock'u, Plautus ve Te rentiu s'u n esircilerini ilediinden dahainsan bir ekilde canlandrm dahi olsa Yahudi tefecisinin rol ve kaderiyle Ltin komedisindeki prototipinin (yani esircinin) rol ve kaderi arasndaki nemli benzerlikler gene de ortada durmaktadr.


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THE MERCHANT OF VENICE AND LATIN COMEDY

Dr. Engin UZMEN

The sources of all Shakespeare's plays have been so throughly studied

in their various aspects and implications together with the alterat ions th at

the dramatist found necessary to make in order to serve his peculiar ends

that one more effort in this field might seem superfluous; yet source studyhas its many varied and subtle uses -it can shed light on difficult points in a

play an d, pe rha ps by causing a change of emphasis in our critical outlook,

show us the way to solve a critical pro ble m. This tho ugh t - by no means

original - is well illustrated in a study ofVolpone by P. H. Davison1, in which

the writer does not try to find models for the story and the characters in

Old Greek comedy, which he obviously could not have done, but rather

tries to show th at those aspects of the play which were un usua l in Eli zabe than

comedy were the result of the indirect influences of Old Greek comedy.

Such an approach may, I believe, be fruitfully taken to The Merchant of

Venice. Shakesp eare did not find the act ual story or the ch arac ters of this

play in Latin comedy - these came from medieval folk-tale. But the medievalsources do not throw light on the most important problem in The Merchant

of Venice, th at of Shakespeare's att itu de to ward Shylock. This att itu de, I feel,

is best ill umin ated by the peculiarities of Lat in comed y, which, after all,

was the principal basis for Renaissance comedy.

The numerous studies by scholars and critics ofThe Merchant of Venice,

in parti cular of Shylock, not only show a continuin g interest in the inter

pre tat ion of the play bu t also enable us to appr ecia te more fully th an ever

the complexity of the larger than life figure of Shylock. A rece nt an d im

par ti al ju dge ment on him and on the youn g Christians who are his enemies

finds that Shylock is against good living in the broadest sense of the term,that he cannot reconcile love and money

2, the two dominant themes in

The Merchant of Venice, and th at, therefore, he is a ja rr in g element in the

comedy when contrasted with the young, loving, generous, and fashionable

young men by whom he must be defeated3. He must be defeated not because

he is a Je w, a stranger , or an outsider4

but because he is at odds with the

main characteristics of comedy.

1 "Volpone and the Old Comedy", Modern Language Quarterly, Gilt 24, No. 2, Haziran1963, s. 51-7.

2 M. V. Doren, "The Mercha nt of Venic e" Shakespeare, (New York, 1955), s. 79.

3 Ibid. s. 83-4.

4 J. R. Brown, Shakespeare and His Comedies, (London), s. 73.


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Before we look at the specific case of Shylock, however, we should try

to establish the affinities between The Merchant of Venice and Latin comedy.Two considerations must be mentioned. First, we should not expect to findthat the situations and characters in Latin comedy and in The Merchant ofVenice are exactly alike; many violent changes had taken place in societyand drama during the intervening centuries. Second, we should not attemptto show how Shakespeare happened to be influenced by Latin comedy.For one thing, such an attempt is not our primary concern here, and, foranother, there seems little likelihood that we shall ever be able to tell precisely how Shakespeare, or perhaps any Elizabethan playwright, with thepossible exception of Ben Jonson, received his classical influences. Shakespeare may have read the Latin comedies in their originals, he may have

read them in translations, either in English or in some modern language,and he may have used translations which have not survived. Or, again,he may have been influenced by English and continental dramatic works,

which have been influenced in turn , directly or indirectly, by these La ti ncomedies. It should suffice to realize that Shakespeare was influenced bythe Latin comedy writers, Plautus and Terence, and it is irrelevant whethersuch an influence was conscious or unconscious, direct or indirect. Thepoint is that without the example of the Latin comedies Renaissance Englishcomedy would not and could not have been what it was.

My study of the parallels and resemblances between Lat in comedy

an d The Merchant of Venice can, I feel, be best presented under several divisions, beginning with more technical points such as background and stagedevices, continuing with themes, and ending with types and characters,

with special emphasis on the origin of the character of Shylock.5

I. THE BACKGROUND

Latin comedies, being translations and adaptations of some New Greekcomedies, often have the sea as background. Athens is very near the sea andsometimes the old master or the young men go out on the sea, travelling orbuying an d selling. For example, in the first scene of the Mercator by Plautus,

we learn that De mi ph o, an old gent lema n, had tr aded at sea and mademoney in his youth. Now Charinus, his young son, has been wasting hismoney and time at home. So Demipho furnishes Charinus with a ship andmerchandise and sends him away to make his fortune. Charinus comes

back ho me prosperous. Similarly, Bassanio stays in Venice, squa nder in ghis money and Antonio's, while Antonio's ships are plying the sea makingmoney for him, money which Bassanio uses to go and woo Portia with, an

5 Bu aratrmada kullanlan Lat in komedileri, srasyla P. Nixon ve J. Sarge aunt'u n "L oe b

Classical Lib rar y" serisindeki Plautus ve Terentius edisyonlardr. Venedik Taciri'nin ngilizce metni

iin W. M. Merchant'in 1967 tarihli "New Penguin Shakespeare" serisinden The Merchant of Venice

edisyonu kullanlmstr.


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TH E MERCHANT OF VENICE AND LATIN COMEDY 91

ente rpr ise which will make him rich if he succeeds in it. To carry it out he

has to unde rtake a sea jou rne y.

Or , to take anot her example, in Rudens by Plautus, Labr ax the slave

-dea ler has jus t suffered a shipwreck and lost his pro per ty. He complains

about the unpredictable qualities of the sea (II. iv.), a complaint which

reminds us of the rumoured wrecks of Antonio' s ships, as well as Shylock's

description of the dangers of the sea (I.iii.).

II. STAGE DEVICES

A numb er of stage devices and structura l peculiarities in Renaissance

dr am a come from Latin comedy. Ma ny of these are so widely used tha t we

need only mention them in passing. We can stra ightaw ay think of the five-act structu re an d of a chara cter be ing announced jus t before his entrance

by ano ther who is a lready on the stage. T he chief instances in The Merchant

of Venice are Li.57-8, I.iii.36-7, II.vi.20, II.ix3 , V.i.24. Among the more

notabl e comic devices is tha t of the place and the funct ion of the servant.

In Lat in comedies the great er par t of the comic element occurs when slaves

talk among themselves, with their masters, or with other people. In The

Merchant of Venice we have only one servant, Launce lot, one of whose func

tions is to provide most of the amusing conversation . If we find his comic

talk unsatisfactory, we may perhaps put the blame on the dramatist who,

feeling it necessary to cater to the groundlings, made Launcelot into a shal

low clown. (In The Folio Launcelot is not mentioned in the speech headings,

which are simply labelled "Clown"). In Renaissance comedy the Latin

slave often becomes a clown or a fool or jester according to whether he is

dull or witty and clever. In The Merchant of Venice Launcelot performs

the function of raising an easy lau gh, and in the place of the othe r Latin

slave, the dull one, we have his father , old Gobbo, who is a foil to his son.

Early in the play Launcelot teases his father by describing in a very

confusing way the where abouts of the house of Shylock, to whom old Gobb o

is bringing a present. Launcelot bewilders his father by his directions but

does not send him on a wild goose chase, something which he did not intend

to do in the first place (II .ii. 36-9 ). This whole exchange is parallel to a

situation in Adelphi by Tere nce . The cunning slave Syrus, in order to get

Demea, t he angry father, out of the way, gives him misleading directions.

Unlike Gobbo, Demea attempts to follow these and failing, returns (IV.ii.,

V . i ) .

At the beginning of the last scene in The Merchant of Venice we witness

Launcelot making a curious entrance, who comes in with good news for the

people of Belmont. He is looking for Lorenzo, who is there, but he pretends

not to see him, hear him, or recognize him. The childish boisterousness may

be intended to put the spectators into an entirely gay and irresponsible


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92 E N G N ZM E N

mood after the long and painful trial scene and after the talk of Lorenzo andJessica about the unfortunate lovers in legends. It may also be a preparation for the farcical ring incident. But regardless of its purpose, the trick hasits parallel in Latin comedy. Sometimes a slave or a parasite comes in shouting to the people to make way for him, as Launcelot apparently does withhis "sola" and "wo, ha, ho". Similarly, in the Captivi by Plautus the parasiteErgasibus comes in threatening the imaginary people in his way (IV.ii.).He is looking for Hegio in order to tell him tell him the good news that hiskidnapped son is safe and back. Before he delivers this news, however, hepretends not to see Hegio, who is there. When the parasite or the slaveacts in this way, he is bringing good news, and he knows that he can getaway with a little teasing.

III. THEMES

A. Lo ve

In all Latin comedies, with the exception of the Captivi, love is the maintheme and often results in an intrigue for capturing a young woman or acourtesan. This intrigue generally arises from the efforts on the part of theyoung master, his slave, an d his friends, to get the girl loved by the yo ungmaster, who is always in need of money to attain her. The young man haseither to extort this money from his old father or to kidnap the girl from the

clutches of a slave-dealer or a braggart soldier. In The Merchant of Venicewe witness a similar situation. Bassanio is the poor young lover in need ofmoney to attain the desire of his heart. The money is lent to him so that hecan attempt to marry Portia.

There are other wooings in The Merchant of Venice. Lorenzo wants tomarr y Jessica, but the difficulty in getting her is not a monetary one. K nowing tha t her father would never consent to her mar ria ge with a gentile, shehas to elope with her lover. Similar incidents happen in Latin comedy, andthese we shall study later in connection with the slave-dealer.

The other couple who get married in The Merchant of Venice are Gra-

tiano and Nerissa. Gratiano is a confidant of Bassanio's at this point andNerissa is his female c ount erpart . Their att raction can be compared tothat which we find in Truculentus by Plautus between the slave and Asta-phium, maid to Phronesium, with whom Strabax, the master of Truculentus, is in love (III.ii.).

B. Money-Usury

The world that we find in Latin comedy is a materialistic one wheremoney is necessary even to attain love. In marriages too it plays a greatpart. It is almost inconceivable for a young man to marry a girl who has no


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THE MERCHANT OF VENICE AND LATIN COMEDY 93

dowry. In The Merchant of Venice Bassanio no doubt loves Portia, but henever forgets her riches and mentions them as a means by which he hopesto pay back his debts to Antonio (Li.)- Also he must have money before hecan woo Portia. In Latin comedy, when a young man is in need of moneyand cannot get it from friends or extort it from his father, he will borrow itfrom a money-lender. In Mostellaria by Plautus Philoloches does this, andwhen he cannot pay the money-lender, he is in trouble. In Epidicus byPlautus Stratippocles, the young master, has bought a slave girl with themoney he had borrowed upon interest. He asks his friend Chaeribulus for aloan to pay back the money-lender, but Chaeribulus has no money (I.ii.).

As these examples show, borrowing money from a usurer is not a good wayto get out of a difficult situation, a truth which is central in The Merchant of

Venice.

C. Attitude to Young People

In Latin comedy, generally speaking, the old men do not approve oftheir sons wasting their time and money in having a gay time. They arealmost always sober and critical of the younger generation and of any unprofitable and frivolous behaviour. In The Merchant of Venice this attitude isre pres ented by Shylock, who thinks tha t the young Christian men are sillyfor arranging masques and pageants. Young men in Latin comedy havefree, open, and generous natures, reminding us of their counterparts in

The Merchant of Venice, the friends of Antonio and Bassanio.

IV. THE CHARACTERS

A. The Young Man, or Lover, and His

Friends and Helpers

With a few exceptions, Lati n comedies are about the difficulties encountered by a young man in a love affair which may or may not be clandestine. To such a young man Bassanio shows many resemblances. TheRoman lover is often poor and needs money to attain his sweetheart; so tooBassanio. The Roman lover is single-minded in his purpose, all his beingseems to centre around the one idea of getting his sweetheart, and Bassaniois like that until Antonio is in danger of his life. The Roman lover is depictedin a simple way, not as an individual but as a type, and he feels no moralresponsibility towards anybody in the play, except perhaps to his sweetheart,and this only with the purpose of gratifying his desires. This is true of Bassanio in the first part of the play, where he may strike one more as a typethan as an individual, as has been noticed by Bradbrook. 6

6 Bassanio iin ansn ve genlik aknn ahslandrlm ekli" kelimeleri kullanlr. "Case

book Series", The Merchant of Venice, (London, 1969), s. 139.


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The Roman lover, besides having a clever slave to rely on, has a friend,

whose help he needs in his love affair or in getting him out of a difficulty.Antonio in The Merchant of Venice nearly loses his life because of his desire tohelp his good friend, and this situation has one or two counterparts in Latincomedy. In The Adelphi Ctesipho, Demea's son, loves a girl who is kept bya slave-dealer. As he is too frightened of his father to do anything about hislove, his brother Aeschinus breaks into the slave-dealer's house, beats him,and takes the girl away for his brother. In so doing he gets into troublehimself because his sweetheart believes that he does not love her any more.

Another and perha ps more relevant si tuat ion occurs in the Captivi.Philocrates and his slave Tyndarus have been captured in war. To free his

master, Tyndarus changes clothes with him, despite the serious danger hemay incur. His master is set free, but when the truth is found out Tyndarus faces the threat of heavy corporal punishment in the hands of Hegio,

who, in this part icul ar situation, is just like Shylock in his anger an d is hiscapacity to inflict any kind of punishment on his victim. At the last momentthe master comes back to save his loyal slave. His return reminds us of Bas-sanio leaving Portia, whom he has just married, in order to help his friend

Antonio who is in danger because of him.

In The Merchant of Venice, when Bassanio comes to help Antonio incourt, Antonio bids farewell to his friend on whose account he is about to

lose his life. He is quite prepared to endure his fate; yet he cannot helpreminding Bassanio that he is suffering all this for him. "Grieve not tha t Iam fallen to this for you" (IV.ii.262). Similarly, Tyndarus replies to hismaster's "God bless you, Tyndarus" by saying, "And you, sir, for whosesake I am undergoing this confounded experience" (V.iv.1009 ).

Another parallel between these two plays occurs at the end of bo thof them. The innocent and self-sacrificing sufferers not only are saved fromdea th they are also rewarded. Antonio recovers his wealth and Tynda rusis found to be the kidnapped son of Hegio.

B. The Heroine

In Latin comedy the heroine has always a passive role in the action ofthe play. Sometimes she does not even appear on the stage. The fact that the

young ma n is in love with a girl is enough to start a Latin comedy. She isonly the cause of a comic intrigue. Another significant thing about theyoung girl is th at she does not seem to have any say in the ma tt er of hermarriage. Of course, in Graeco-Roman society even a young man had noright to object to his father's arranging a marriage for him; yet in Latincomedy the young man often tries to choose his own wife, whereas almostalways, the girl's father disposes of her in the way he sees fit. Often enough

it is immaterial whether she really loves the man chosen for her; we are made
http://iv.ii.262/http://iv.ii.262/


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THE MERCHANT OF VENICE AND LATIN COMEDY 95

to assume th at she would not mind this indifference to her wishes. Some

times she happens to be in love with the young man chosen for her. Theautho rity of the Roma n father over his dau ghter reminds us of Portia'sfather, who, although dead, can still control, to a great extent, the marriage of Portia . Even when Port ia marries the m an she loves, she is stillmarrying in accordance with her father's will.

C. The Slave or Servant

The slave, who is of great importance in Latin comedy because of thepart he plays in helping the young man get the girl he loves, loses his important place in Renaissance comedy, and is often superseded by young

man's friends. We find this kind of adaptation of Latin comedy in TheMerchant of Venice when Antonio helps Bassanio to get Portia, and Lorenzorelies on his friends' cooperation to run away with Jessica. Lorenzo is sograteful to his friends that he is compelled to tell them that when they want"to play thieves for wives" he will help them (II.vi.23 ).

Nevertheless there may be a faint echo of the slave in The Merchantof Venice. Launcel ot is dissatisfied with his master, Shylock, and wants toleave him. Yet he cannot make up his mind easily; he has strong compunctions about quitting his service, which strikes us as odd. We do not know

why he is afraid to leave his Je wish mast er in a Christ ian society, or why

his conscience should trouble him. But if Laun celot has been modelled onthe Lati n slave, then his hesitation becomes unde rstandable. The Greekor Latin slave was his master's property and so had to stay with him nomatter how badly he was treated.7 (Of course, from the purely theatricalpoint of view, the hesitation of Launcelot is comic as is his reason for wantingto desert his master, that he is a devil, though this has a significance which

we shall consider la te r) .

Besides his cunning and resourcefulness, the Latin slave is notoriousfor his fondness for food, drink, and sleep, a fondness which makes him appear even more amusing. The same fondness is said by Shylock to be foundin Launcelot, thus establishing another affinity with the Latin slave (II.v.44-6).

There is another parallel between Launcelot and the Latin slave. TheLatin slave helps his young master in his love affair, despite the oppositionof his old master. Launcelot does the same thing, though in a minor way

which reflects the diminished function of t he servant in Renaissance comedy.Launcelot plays a part in Jessica's running away with Lorenzo. This is thesituation in Latin comedy reversed, that is, it is the girl now who is helpedand not the young man, but we must remember that the young girl gains

7 J. W. Draper "bir efendi hakl bir sebep olmadan onu terkeden uan mahkemeye vere-

bili rdi" der. "Shakespeare's Rustic Servants" , Stratford lo Dogberry, (Pittsburg).


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importance in Renaissance comedy frequently at the expense of the young

man. She can now disguise herself, go out, and follow her sweetheart todistant parts of the world. Also, the duping of Shylock by a servant and the

yo ung lovers, brings, him closer to th e Latin father, who is almost alwaysagainst young people having their way.

D. The Parasite

The parasite, who was an accepted figure in the society, and also inthe comedy, of Greece as well as of Rome, had no place in Renaissancesociety. Therefore, either he is an unconvincing creation in the frameworkof Renaissance comedy or he is made more convincing by becoming afigure who has to live by his wits and at the expense of the gullibility of others.In The Merchant of Venice there is no character whom we can really call evenan unrealistically drawn Renaissance parasite; yet some characters have themore obvious qualities and characteristics of the Latin parasite. A parasitemust not have a regular job or money. He must love fun, eating, and drinking, and , of course, he must always have somebody to att ach himself to.It may be too much to find in Bassanio a parasite of Antonio's, but perhaps

we ma y find such a figure in Antonio and Bassanio's friends. Th ey ap parently do not have regular jobs and have a lot time to spare in having fun

with others. We may re gard th em, of course, as people of means an d leisure

on the same social footing as Bassanio and Antonio, but this does not altogether accord with the fact that they cannot help Antonio financially inhis great need. Salerio and Solanio are aware of Antonio's loss of ships andlearn from Shylock himself that he means to take Antonio's flesh if it is forfeit (III.i.). Significantly enough, at this point a man enters and tells thetwo young gentlemen that his master, Antonio, wishes to speak with them.

We have the impression tha t Antonio is going to ask the m for a loan to gethimself out of his difficulties. Their interview is not shown on the stage orreferred to later, but we know that Antonio did not obtain any financial aidfrom Salerio and Solanio. And as there is no complaint on the part of Antonio as to his friends le tting him down in his desperate need, we may

well be led to think tha t none of the friends of Antonio and Bassanio aremen of in dep end ent means and so tha t they should be looked upon asparasites.

There is another possible parasite in The Merchant of Venice. This isGratiano. Not only does he not have a regular job and is free to follow Bassanio wherever he goes, but also he has the most important characteristicof a Lati n parasite, namel y the capacity for enterta ining people . He doesit to such an extent that Bassanio is afraid that Gratiano may play his parttoo well and spoil his chances of makin g the right kind of impression in Belmont. Therefore Bassanio warns Gratiano to curb his tongue when he is

cou rti ng Port ia. Yet he gives him permission to be as merry as he likes at


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the party he is going to arrange for his friends (II.ii.). We will remember

that the Latin parasite was at his best at a party. Gratiano is referred to as

a "jester" by S. Burchardt,8 a reference which reminds us that the function

of a parasite in Latin comedy was close to the function of the jester as en

tertainer in Renaissance comedy.

E. The Braggart Soldier

On e of the major charac ters of classical comedy is the br agg art soldier,

who app ears in no less th an eight Lat in comedies. T he origin of the bra g

gart soldier goes back to the beginnings of the drama and can be found in

the rival of the god who dies and comes back to life, also in the "a lazon" of

Old Greek comedy, who is the rival of the hero , an impostor, an outsider.

This character claims the right to things which he does not deserve, loves

boasting, and is mocked and rejected. In Greek comedy he shows great deve

lopment, having acquired some realistic comtemporary attributes from the

soldiers who had fought in the camp aigns of Alexander in the remote part s

of the world. His deve lopment goes on in Latin comedy an d then passes by

various routes into Renaissance comedy where he performs some different

and less dignified functions compared to those which he performed in Greek

or Lat in comedy. The loss of his imp ort ance an d statur e in Renaissance

comedy can be attributed to the fact that weaponry and technical warfare

had become more important than personal valour. Yet the braggart sol

dier never disappears; instead he becomes the veteran soldier, the parasite,or the cour tie r. And sometimes he gives the real soldier in dram a some of his

characteristics, mainly his boasting about his bravery and about his great

military deeds.

In The Merchant of Venice the Prince of Morocco seems to be comprised

of the various qualities of the b rag gar t soldier. He says he is da rk because

he is a neighbour and a close rela tive to the sun, if we take the words "near

br ed " to mean close relative ( II. i.) . This is like the claims of the Lat in

Braggart soldier, who talks about his affinities with deities or about his

supernatural attributes. For example, Pyrgopolynices in Miles Gloriousus

by Plautu s says tha t he is the grandso n of Venus , t hat he is almost the sameage as Ju pi te r, a nd that his children live eight hu nd red years (IV.vi .).

While talking about his complexion, Morocco says that his blood is as

red as any northerner's - a sign of bravery - that his appearance frightens

the valiant, and t hat the girls of his country loved his aspect. These words

shoul d be taken seriously, and Morocco is no dou bt capable of living up to

them; yet his words and expressions are typical of the Latin braggart soldier,

who lays claim not only to great martial deeds and supernatural attributes

but also to the hearts of the women in all parts of the world.

8 "Th e Gentle Bond", "Casebook Series", The Merchant of Venice, (London, 1969), s. 218,


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Morocco swears on his scimitar, which remin ds us of the La tin br ag

gart soldier, who swears on the deities of war . For exampl e, Cleomachus inBacchides by Plautus swears on Bellona and Mars (IV.viii.). Morocco men

tions his achievements in the wars which he fought on the side of Solyman .

Such name-droppi ng is like that of the Lati n brag gar t soldier's, who some

times serves a king or boasts of his services with an imag inary king. For

instance, Pyrgopolynices in Miles Gloriosus is recruiting soldiers for King

Seleucus (Ii.) and Thraso in Eunuchus by Terenc e boasts of his friendly

relationships with a king, whose name is not given (III.i.).

Morocco claims that he is brave enough to "pluck the young sucking

cubs from the she -bea r" and "mock the lion when he roars for pr ey" . Again,

we are convinced that Morocco is prepared to do all these things to win

Porti a's love ; yet his boasts seem to be echoes of the L ati n brag gar t soldier's

hyperbolical account s of his fights with animal s. For instance, the seal of

Therapontigonus in Curculio shows "a bucklered warrior cleaving an elephant

in twain with his blade" (III.i.), and Pyrgopolynices in Miles Gloriosus claims

tha t he can b reak the foreleg of an elephan t with his fist (I.i .).

Th e Lat in bragga rt soldier compares himself to Ma rs in warlike qual i

ties, as Stratophantes does in Truculentus (II.iv.), and to Hercules, as Thraso

does in Eunuchus when he says that he has fallen in love as the demi-god did

(V.vii. ). Morocco also compares himself to Hercule s saying tha t jus t as

Hercules playing at dice with his slave might lose, so too he may not be able

to choose the right casket.

Morocco's choice of the gold casket is, of course, a sign of his super

ficial view of things , but it is also, I feel, an echo of the inevitable failure and

rejection of the b rag gar t soldier, classical or Renai ssance .

Every Latin braggart soldier is after a woman, who is almost always

the sweethear t or the future wife of the hero of the play. So too Morocco,

who is an outsider an d fails. His failure is direc tly due to his lack of good

fortune in the choice of the caskets, bu t the farewell Por tia gives him behind

his back indicates what kind of a recepti on he would get in the Vene tia n

comm unit y: "A gentle riddance . D raw the curtains, go. /Let all of his com

plexion choose me so" (II. vii.78-9).

F. The Miser

Having established the affinities, resemblances, and parallels between

Latin comedy and The Merchant of Venice, it is now time to turn to Shylock

an d to his possible origins in La tin comedy. Before his position is compared

with th at of the La tin slave-dealer, who will be claimed to be the protot ype

for Shylock, however, we can not help noti cing tha t he partake s of some

characteristics of yet anot her type in Lat in comedy, that of the miser.


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Being careful - and perhaps over careful - about money and property,

Shylock may be said to be a miser. Miserliness, nevertheless, is not prominen t in him and whenever it shows itself it can be at tri buted to th e nat ura l

cau tio n of an individu al who is an alien in a hostile society. How ever, we

can find at least two parallels between Shylock and the only miser in Latin

comedy, Euclio in Aulularia by Plautus. Euclio has a buried pot of gold and

a young daughter. He is a superstitious person, and when he hears a raven

on his left side, he takes it as an omen that his treasure is in danger (IV.iii.).

and he hides it elsewhere (IV.iv.). Strobilus, slave to Lyconides, sees this

action an d takes the pot of gold away. W hen Euclio discovers tha t he has

lost all his wealth (IV.ix.), he raves as Shylock does when he finds out

abo ut the e lopement of Jessica wi th his money. But this is not the only

disaster that happens to Euclio. His daughter has been living with Lyconides. Unlike Lorenzo, Lyconides is honest in that he not only intends to marry

Euclio's daughter but also has no idea that his slave has stolen for his bene

fit. Wh en Eucl io suspects Lyconides and accuses him of stealing his most

valuable possession, Lyconides thinks Euclio means his daughter and con

fesses that he has been living with her. Euclio realizes that he has sustained

two blows, the loss of chastity of his daughter and the theft of his gold. In

the end the pot of gold is returned to him and the young lovers get mar ried.

G. The Slave- dealer

Another prominent character in Latin comedy is the slave-dealer. He

appears in many Latin comedies, possesses comic as well as tragic possibili

ties, and has an important function to perform in the intrigue, which is the

main comic interest in Latin comedies. Let us see, briefly, the similarities

between Shylock and the Latin slave-dealer in character and in action.

The role of the slave-dealer in the intrigue is a passive one because

invariably the intrigue is directed against him. He has in his possession the

slave girl loved by the young man who cannot attain her because he is

penniless. T he young ma n tries to cheat the slave-dealer of the girl throu gh

the help of his cu nni ng slave, of his own friends, an d of the friends of his

slave. This is wha t happen s in two of Terence's plays . In Phormio Dorio,the slave-dealer, owns Pam phi la, beloved by Pha edr ia. In Adelphi th e

slave-dealer keeps a girl wooed by the bro the r of Aeschinus, a nd Aeschinus

takes away the girl, breaking into Sannio's house and beating and insult

ing him to boo t. Th e slave-dealer plays a similar role in the plays of Plau

tus. In Curculio (I.i.) when Phaedomus visits his sweetheart at night, who is

a slave in the house of Cap pad ox, he has slaves with him carrying torches,

an d this remi nds us of the masqu ers with who m Lorenzo kidnaps Jessica in

The Merchant of Venice. Later, the girl is taken away from Cappadox by deceit.

Cappadox also loses some money because he had a bet that the slave girl

was not a free-born Ath enian. In this play, too, the slave-dealer is insu lted.


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Insul ts are frequently hur led at the slave-dealer. When this occurs in

Persa by Plautus (III.iii.) Dordalus, the slave-dealer, replies in kind andsays that he is ready to return insult for insult, reminding us of Shylock, whoatt empts to repay bad treat men t with revenge. A plot is brewing againstDordalus, who has just sold a slave girl to her lover. (He sounds pleasedthat he has one less mouth to feed, as Shylock does when Launcelot hasleft him). Toxilus, the cunning slave, approaches Dordalus, praising andflattering him in order to distract his attention from what he is intending todo, which is to sell him a free girl and thus to get him into trouble (IV.iii).Dordalus hesitates as he does not want to make a mistake and then go tocourt, but his desire for an easy profit overcomes his caution; he buys thegirl and immediately goes into trouble. Just when he thinks that he has lost

only the money he had paid for her, the girl's father appears and drags himto court. In the end, he loses his case and the slave girl.

In Poenulus by Plautus, Agorastocles is in love with a slave girl belonging to Lycus, the slave-dealer. Agorastocles' slave, Milphio, is plottingagainst Lycus, and promises his young master not only the girl but also theslave-dealer himself and all his house. Milphio approaches the slave-dealer's slave, Syncerastus, and learns from him that the two girls in possessionof Lycus were free-born (IV.ii.). (Syncerastus is the only slave in Latincomedy to betray his master in this way; in this regard he is parallel toLauncelot). The father of the girls demands double payment from the

slave-dealer (V.vi.). Apparently Lycus is at the end of his tether financiallyand emotionally. So great is his resignation that he even implies that he is

willing to die. In fact, feeling tha t he has lost everything, he becomes bi tt er .This bit terness reminds us of Shylock, who says at the end of the trialscene,

Nay, take my life and all! pardon not that!You take my house when you do take the pr opThat doth sustain my house. You take my life

When you do take the mean s whereby I live.

IV.i.37I- 4

The girls' father tends to be merciful, and like the Venetians with Shylock, will not press his claims any further. Lycus, however, must still givemoney to Agorastocles, but in his dejection he is unable t o bri ng himself topay it at the momen t; "I' ll give you your money tomor row" (V.vii .I4I7).His complete loss of spirit reminds us of the mood of Shylock's last words:

I pray you give me leave to go from hence,I am not well; send the deed after me,

And I will sign it .

IV.i.392 - 4


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At the beginning ofPseudolus by Plautus we see Callidorus, the young

man, in love with a slave girl belonging to Ballio, the slave-dealer. Calidorushas received a letter from his sweetheart, and he praises the hand that wrote

the letter, "Ah, why do you disparage the dainty writing in dainty tablets

indited by a dainty ha nd ?" (Li.2 7-8). This praise is reminiscent of Loren

zo's words after he has received a let ter from Jes sica:

I know the hand. In faith, "tis a fair hand,

And whiter than the paper it writ on

Is the fair ha nd that writ.

I I . iv . I2-4

When we remember that the content of both letters is similar, that is to say,both girls express a desire to be rescued from the houses where they are kept

more or less against their will, the parallel gains more strength. Ballio has

been war ned by Simo, t he father of the young lover, that Pseudolus may be

pre par ing a plot against him, bu t Ballio is so confident of his own astut e

ness that he makes a bet with Simo that he can not be chea ted. He is, of

course, chea ted, and when Simo demand s paym ent of the wager Ballio

sustains a double loss, the girl and the money, just as Shylock does, when

he loses Jessica an d the ducats . At the end of the play Pseudolus celebrates

his success over Ballio, a nd Simo joins the fun in a scene not unlike the gay

gathering at the end of The Merchant of Venice.

In Rudens by Plautus, Labrax, the slave-dealer, is shipwrecked and

separated from the two girls in his possession. The girls take refuge at the

temple of Venus an d refuse to re tur n to Lab rax, wh o is beate n by slaves

when he tries to take the m away by force. T he owner of the slaves, Da em o-

nes, mentions a law of the place which would appar ently prevent La br ax

from taking the girls back (III.iv.). Labrax is dragged to court, where he

loses one of the slave girls (V.i .) . In the end he has to give the othe r one up,

too, through a deal he makes with Daemones. Again, the slave-dealer has

been unlucky at cour t, this time main ly owing to a peculiar law of the place,

and has lost his girls and money.

A charge levelled at Shylock as well as most slave-dealers is that of

impiety. T his accusation rings true in both cases. Shylock is a Je w in a

strictly Christian community, and people sincerely believe that he is doomed

to hell. Even Jessica finds that her father's "house is He ll" (II. iii.2 ). In

Latin comedies, as we have already remarked, the slave-dealers are always

insulted, and it is natural that among the insults should be an accusation

of lack of respect for the gods. Often the slave-dealers themselves ad mi t

their lack of faith in gods, especially if the idea of profit is in conflict with

any religious duties and obligations. Sannio in Adelphi is called "That

piece of imp iety" (II.ii.266). In Curculio Cappadox is ill and craves the aid

of Aesculapius, the god of healing . He dreams th at Aesculapius refuses to
http://ii.ii.266/http://ii.ii.266/


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come near him, a dream which his cook inte rprets as his rejection by all the

other gods as well (II.ii.). In Poenulus (II.i.) Lycus has sacrificed to Venuswi thou t receiving any favourable signs from her. He gets angry an d decidesto deprive Venus of her sacrificial meat. Ballio in Pseudolus admits that forprofit he would deprive even Ju pi te r of his sacrificial meat (I.iii. ). In Rudens(Ill .iii .) Labrax is accused of impiet y. He is said to be capable of strangl inga priestess, an act which he nearly carries out when his two slave girls havetaken refuge in the temple of Venus (Il .vi i.) . At the end of the play he goes

back on a vow which he ha d taken with his hand on the al tar of Venus.

According to most critics Shylock loses his case at court unfairly, owingto a verbal quibble, thus sustaining another loss in addition to that of his

dau ght er an d ducats. At court he not only loses his bond but also some of hisproperty as a fine. Thus he receives two blows, or rather, two sets of blows.Slave-dealers in Latin comedy generally know themselves to be in the right

when they are in conflict with the yo ung man and his clever slave, an d so gogo to law willingly, though there are times when they would rather not go tocour t at all if they could help it. They invar iably lose their cases. LikeShylock they sustain two losses, the girl and money. In this connection wecan not e the case of Sann io in Adelphi, who want

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