Plays

Shakespeare allows the audience to construct their own moral responses to both plays, "The Merchant of Venice," and "Macbeth" by using a range of dramatic methods such as aides, dialogs, soliloquy, and tone of voice, juxtaposition of lines, metaphor, similes and imagery. It is a Shakespeare's skills as a dramatist the he encourages thought and creates a moral debate amongst the audience as The Merchant of Venice has many different interpretations of Shylock's choice, unlike Macbeth, as the audience generally has a similar moral response. Shakespeare manipulates the audience so that he leaves them in a state of confusion, as moral interpretations of Shylock's choice vary throughout the audience. Indeed at the end of the play, the audience might question whether or not the characters have learnt a moral lesson from the events, and the outcome has not changed the character's behaviour, although the audience learns a moral lesson.

In act 1: scene 1 of The Merchant of Venice, we witness Antonio's social power, being a wealthy Christian over a Jewish usurer. Shakespeare centres the attention to the cruel treatment Shylock receives by Antonio and invites the audience to sympathise with Shylock, "You call me misbeliever, cut throat dog/you spit on me Jewish gaberdine/and all for use of that which is mine own." The audience can sympathise with Shylock and justify his hatred and thirst for revenge over Antonio, although in Macbeth, the audience is wholly critical of Macbeth as in act 1: scene 2 Shakespeare highlights the King and Soldier's positive opinion of Macbeth, "brave Macbeth," "noble Macbeth." This leads the audience to criticise Macbeth when he makes the decision to kill the kind as Macbeth has no justification for his ambitious actions whereas, Shylock can be justified. Shakespeare is also keen to demonstrate Banquo in Macbeth as a character who discourages Macbeth's ideas to seize the crown, "tis strange:/And often sometimes, to win us our harm,/The instruments of darkness tell us truths,/Win us with honest trifles, to betrays,/In deepest consequence." Banquo cautions Macbeth and warns Macbeth not to pursue this ruthless ambition. In The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare has no friend to discourage him and has no character to kill his ambition.

Shakespeare uses a dramatic aside in The Merchant of Venice, Act 1: Scene 3 which allows the audience to for the first time, witness Shylock's true intentions and thought processes, "I hate him for he is Christian;/If i catch him once upon the hip i will feed fat the ancient grudge i bear him." Shakespeare crafts the memorable line to establish Shylock's hatred for Antonio, and also to present Shylock to have no moral awareness and instead to show excitement and desperation for revenge which the audience criticises, but may also understand his hatred and thirst for revenge to an extent. In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses an aside to give the audience further access to Macbeth's thoughts and an insight to his true intentions, "two truths are told,/As happy prologues to the swelling act/Of the imperial theme."Shakespeare uses the metaphor, "happy prologues" to provide clear evidence that Macbeth welcomes these titles to be king. Shakespeare continues to communicate Macbeth's thoughts through an aside showing that he is unsure of his choices, "Cannot be ill, cannot be good," "Why do i yield to that suggestion/Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair/And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,/Against the use of nature?" Shakespeare has presented Macbeth to have moral awareness between right and wrong, and has left him undecided yet easy to manipulate. Macbeth is seen to have human scrumples and believes the thought of killing the king to be horrifying. Macbeth has been shown by Shakespeare to understand differences between thought and action and Macbeth without the influence of another character does not have the strength to kill the king and might not act upon his thoughts.

In Act 3: Scene 1, Shakespeare presents Shylock as a sympathetic character once again, so that the audience can justify his actions, "He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scored my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies." Shakespeare gives the audience alot of reason to sympathise with Shylock and criticise Antonio, also, justify Shylock's thirst for revenge. But Shakespeare in the same dialogue, allows the sympathy to be stripped from Shylock and leads the audience to criticise him once again, and the audience can sense Shylock's awareness of the control he has over Antonio in the lines, "To bait fish withal; if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge." This establishes Shylock's motivation and his definite intention to extract the pound of flesh from Antonio, this creates debate throughout the audience from multiple opinions to Shylock's choice.