The Merchant of Venice and The Story of Jacob and Laban

At the end of last week's questions about the first act of The Merchant of Venice was a statement with regard to the biblical story of Jacob and Laban and whether or not anyone knew that story. That statement led me to look at the Merchant of Venice as it related to that biblical story. While a detailed comparison of the relationship between Jacob and Laban and the Merchant of Venice is not possible in this venue, I thought that a brief comparison of the two stories might be of some value.

The biblical story of Jacob and Laban is found in the late chapters of the book of Genesis (Chapter 29 and following) and is a story marked by deceit, double dealing, and trickery. It can be summarized as follows:

Jacob, the son of Isaac, is on the lam, running, in fear for his life, from his firstborn and older brother Esau. Jacob is running from his brother because he, in collusion with his mother, has tricked his blind father into conferring the blessing reserved for firstborn children on himself. Directed by his mother he runs to his uncle Laban, who lives in a far off country, for safety.

Upon arriving at his uncle's property he sees Laban's daughter Rachel and immediately falls in love. Rachel also has an older sister Leah, who Jacob has no interest in. Rather than have his blood relative work for free, Laban offers to pay Jacob for working on his farm and asks Jacob to name his price. Jacob asks for Laban's daughter Rachel's hand in marriage. Laban agrees that after 7 years of working for Laban, he will give Rachel to Jacob.

7 years pass. Rachel is given to Jacob in marriage but… when it comes time to consummate the marriage, Laban sneaks his daughter Leah into Jacob's bed and Jacob wakes the next morning to find that he has consummated the marriage with Leah and not Rachel. When he questions Laban about the switch Laban states that it is the custom of the region not to marry off the younger daughter before the older is married off. He offers to allow Jacob to marry Rachel immediately if he will agree to work another seven years for Laban. Jacob agrees, but as part of the deal he makes Laban agree to let Jacob any sheep that Jacob breeds that aren't pure white. During the following seven years Jacob selectively breeds the sheep in such a way that he is able to steal all of Laban's fortune.

Shakespeare, in the Merchant Of Venice, makes several direct and indirect references to this very story and it's quite possible that The Merchant of Venice could be the Elizabethan version of a modern retelling of the story of Jacob and Laban.

The first direct reference to Laban takes place in 1.3.48 where Shylock says:

When Jacob graz'd his uncle Laban's sheep—
This Jacob from our holy Abram was
(As his wise mother wrought in his behalf)
The third posessor; ay, he was the third—

But throughout the The Merchant of Venice Shakespeare provides many references that make us think of the original.

I said earlier that Jacob deceives his blind father Isaac in order gain the blessing meant for his older brother. In the Merchant of Venice we also see a blind father unable to recognize his son in Scene 2 of Act 2, when Lancelot meets his father in the street.

Old Gobbo
Master young man, you, I pray you, which is the way to Master Jew's?

Lancelot Gobbo
O heavens, this is my true-begotten father, who being more than sand-blind, high-gravel-blind, knows me not. I will try confusions with him.

Although Lancelot does not attempt to deceive his father in the same fashion that Jacob deceived Isaac, there is here both a period of deception and of a blind father unable to recognize his son.

There are further, more obvious deceptions that take place when Portia pretends to be a doctor in order to keep Shylock from taking his legally deserved "pound of flesh." Like Jacob's deception, Portia's deception is designed to gain something that is not rightfully hers. In order to perform this deceit, both she and Nerissa must appear, not only as men, but as learned men and capable of making legal rulings. Portia lays out a portion of the plan 3.4.57:

Portia
Come on Nerissa, I have work in hand
That you yet not know of. We'll see our husbands
Before they think of us.

Nerissa
Shall they see us?

Portia
They shall Nerissa; but in such habit
That they shall think we are accomplished
With that we lack. I'll hold thee any wager.
When we are both accoutered like young men

This deception, like Jacob's, who puts lambswool on his arm to make his father think it is his hairy brother Esau's arm, leads to Shylock losing, not only his pound of flesh, but everything he owns.

And this leads to my final, although by no means the final Jacob and Laban reference.

Shylock, in seeking his pound of flesh, is bent on receiving what he justly deserves, and you'll note that, even though he was offered far more than that what he initially loaned, he is only interested in his contractual pound of flesh. In 4.1.190 he says:

My deeds upon my head! I crave the law,
The penalty and forfeit of my bond.

It is this pursuit of justice over mercy that ultimately leads to Shylock losing all that he owns. Likewise, in the story of Jacob and Laban, Laban sneaks Leah into Jacob's wedding bed stating that:

It is not the practice in our place to marry off the younger before the firstborn (Gen. 29:26)

Laban, in seeking out this local form of "justice" and by tricking Jacob into thinking he was marrying Rachel, ends up losing most, if not all of his wealth, because it is during the subsequent seven years, the seven years added on to Jacob's indenture because of Laban's trickery and supposed love of justice, that Jacob devises the breeding plan that turns all of Laban's sheep from snowy white to spotted and striped. And it is the spotted and striped sheep that become Jacob's. Laban is left with none.

The moral of both stories, if you're inclined to look for morals, is that it is far better to pursue mercy and plain dealing, than it is to pursue justice.