'Jessica' by William Quiller Orchardson
In the synopis of the play in part II, I left out Jessica and her subplot to keep the focus on Portia, so here is how Shylock’s daughter fits into the play.
Shylock is a widower and Jessica his only child. He loves her dearly, but she feels oppressed and lonely in her father’s house, which she describes as hell.
She finds a means of escape with Lorenzo, one of Bassanio’s friends. His name is derived from laurel. That is significant because the laurel represents victory over death and hell in Christian iconography, which is what Jessica’s relationship with Lorenza symbolizes, a Jew finding salvation in Christ.
Because her father would never accept their relationsip, Jessica and Lorenzo elope. Jessica takes a good portion of Shylock’s wealth with her, including her mother’s jewelry which holds sentimental value for her father. It can be argued that Shylock’s demand for a pound of Antonio’s flesh, was nothing more than a lark until his daughter and his treasure were stolen by a Christian. In any case, this is a devastating blow to Shylock and sends him to the depths of dispair.
Shakespeare invented the name ‘Jessica’ for this beautiful Jewish girl, who some see as a villain, others see as a victim of circumstance, and still others see as a victorious herione who conquers hell and death, so for Alan Ball to give Bill’s child this name is significant. Like Shakespeare’s Jessica, the TB one is motherless and hates being stuck in Bill’s oppressive house. Her ‘salvation’ comes from one of the few true Christians in the show, Hoyt.
Jessica compares her relationship with Lorenzo to Romeo and Juliet Pyramus and Thisbe. (Another of Ovid’s tales in Metamorphoses)They were the couple who fell in love by speaking to each other through a crack in the wall that separated their houses and their feuding families.
'Thisbe' by John William Waterhouse
They met tragedy when Pyramus thought Thisbe had been attacked by a lion and killed himself in grief. When Thisbe found Pyramus’s body, she threw herself on his sword.
'Pyramus en Thisbe' by Abraham Hondius
Jessica and Hoyt are the modern Pyramus and Thisbe who fall in love through the wonders of technology even though they are physically separated.
Jessica gets to know Hoyt over the phone
In a twist on the original story, instead of an imagined animal attack bringing tragedy, a real one brings the lovers together.
Jessica offers Hoyt her blood after Tommy's attack
But that doesn’t mean they won’t be touched by tragedy. If Maxine accidentally shoots Hoyt in season 4 and Jessica turns him into a vampire to save him, she will be playing the role of Lorenzo to Maxine’s Shylock, making Hoyt an alien to his own mother. Maxine’s downfall will be when her child becomes what she hates most, and if she is like Shylock, that will be when she is most dangerous.
Maxine is gunning for someone.
The name ‘Fortenberry’ is suggestive of the Latin word for fortune. Whether or not season 4 plays out this way, when Jessica fell in love with Hoyt, she stole Maxine’s fotune as well as her son because to her they are the one and same. Maxine identifies with Shylock whichever way you look at it..
In the True Blood Comic, there is another Jewish daughter who betrays her father (a wealthy merchant) for a man outside of her own culture whom she sees as a savior.
This time the woman’s name is Rachel and her hero is Eric. When the magister turns up as an instrument of the Inquisistion and finds Rachel and Eric in a compromising position, she betrays her father and his associates in the Jewish underground. She knowingly writes their death warrants and her own to save Eric from the breaking wheel.
Rachel betrays her father.
This is no foolish innocent blinded by love. This is a coldly calculating woman who knows that Eric will do much more for her political cause with these deaths on his conscious than her father and his cronies ever could do. She thinks her father will approve of her course of action.
Eric vows vengeance.
After the magister takes a pound of flesh from Eric and makes a verbal allusion to The Merhchant of Venice, kills Rachel, and executes all of those in the underground Rachel identified, Eric wreaks havoc and, as Rachel wanted, leaves the Inquisition in worse shape than the underground ever could have. Is Rachel a villain of the worst sort or a courageous determined heroine?
Part 4Screencaps courtesy of Daydreaming
What a fascinating series of posts! Unfortunately I have little knowledge of older English literature but I enjoy your insightful thoughts.
I like the parallels between Maxine and Shylock but I guess they differ in one crucial point. Shylock´s destiny was forced upon him, as a Jew he would always suffer from discrimination and hate in medival society. Maxine however chose her life to a large extent. She chose to lie to her son, she chose to refuse a more open-mindet outlook on life..
I always saw Hoyt as Christ-like figure and now I wonder if we will see his final death in S4. I fear that in the end he will have to give his life in order to save Jessica from a supposed eternal damnation. But I seriously hope that I am wrong..
Hi Sarah! You’re right about the difference between Shylock and Maxine. He was part of an oppressed minority, and she is part of the dominant culture. Bill’s situation is a little closer to Shylock’s, and I’m hoping they’ll explore this more with other vampires.
Even so, Shylock does bear some responsibility for his actions. He made the decision to murder Antonio. A good portion of the trial is spent on pleas to get him to be merciful and spare Antonio, all to no avail.
I was thinking that Jessica would turn Hoyt, but there would be a complication and voila, Bubba would be the result. As much as I’d hate to see that, I’d hate to have Hoyt gone altogether even more. You’re thinking that he won’t let her turn him, thinking it would endanger her soul? How sad would that be! I can see that scenario playing out, but I sure hope it doesn’t.