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The Merchant of Venice Jessica Quotes

Jessica

Quote 4

JESSICA
Alack, what heinous sin is it in me
To be asham'd to be my father's child!
But though I am a daughter to his blood,
I am not to his manners. O Lorenzo,
If thou keep promise, I shall end this strife,
Become a Christian and thy loving wife. (2.3.2)

Jessica is isolated. She neither fits in with her father (and implicitly her Jewish background) nor is she a Christian. This tension causes her distress. She's willing to abandon her father and her religion to resolve it and join a community she can relate with more.

Jessica

Quote 5

JESSICA
Alack, what heinous sin is it in me
To be asham'd to be my father's child!
But though I am a daughter to his blood,
I am not to his manners. O Lorenzo,
If thou keep promise, I shall end this strife,
Become a Christian and thy loving wife. (2.3.2)

Jessica chooses Lorenzo, and a Christian life, over her father and her Jewish background. She recognizes that it's a sin to be ashamed of her father, but she makes a choice that she thinks is truer to her nature. As her Jewish father's nature is so dissimilar to hers, it looks like her only choice is to become a Christian, walking away from being her father's child.