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daughter with the keys to his fortune. He tells her, “Chamber not you up to the casements
then,/nor thrust your head into the public street” (2.5.32-33). Shylock is enforcing his patriarchal
authority by telling her how to behave, however, he makes a mistake from withdrawing her from
nature. The other fathers shared a relationship with their daughter because of the existence of the
binary oppositions of men-women and nature-culture. However, since Shylock withholds Jessica
from the outside world, their relationship is thrown off balance as she acts unnaturally and
abandons her father after stealing his money. Kakkonen and Penjak describe the broken
relationship through a common explanation of ecofeminism. They write that “dominance and
power in patriarchal structures act through binary opposition that often includes: male-female,
mind-body… culture-nature etc” (30). Since Shylock’s dominance in the patriarchal structure of
their relationship is challenged due to his lack of relating his daughter to nature, the outcome of
their relationship is broken.
When Shylock is stricken because of his daughter’s betrayal, he finally calls upon nature.
He makes a slight reference in nature as he discusses with Salerio and Solanio the news of his
daughter. He says, “You knew… none so well as/ you, of my daughter’s flight” (2.9.22-23).
Shylock is unconsciously connecting Jessica with the image of a bird, a concept confirmed by
Salerio and Solanio, who note that birds, like Jessica, fly away once they are grown. Shylock
still does not accept the belief that his own flesh and blood would betray him, which keeps their
relationship strained. He exclaims, “My own flesh and blood to rebel!” (3.1.32). Shylock is
unable to accept the supposed rebellion against him of his own flesh and blood, yet he clearly
understands the concept of the grown bird flying away.
As seen in King Lear (1605-1606), Much Ado About Nothing (1598-1599), The Merchant
of Venice (c. 1596-1597), and The Tempest (c. 1611), father and daughter relationships play a
