A pragmatic analysis of Shylock's use of thou and you

Abstract

Shakespeare's Shylock has been so debatable a character since its introduction to the English stage. According to the existing literature, there is an on-going debate as to whether this Jewish character is a villain or falls victim to the anti-Semitic community. The current study applies deictic theory of pronouns to examine the relationship between this character's employment of thou and you, and his affect based on the hypothesis that a person's use of pronouns, among other function words, can reveal their sense of self. Findings have shown that Shylock uses both pronouns in the normative way considerably more than in the pragmatic way; that he adheres to the normative use of the terms more than do his Christian counterparts; and that when he pragmatically uses them, expressions of his negative emotions often appear. Findings also suggest that (fictional) persons' use of second-person pronouns reflects to some degree their sense of freedom and reciprocity relative to others. In this case, the rather restrictive and abusive employment of thou and you by the Jew indicates him being suppressed and alienated from society, which in turn drives him to wreak vengeance on the Christians - the culminating action that makes him meet his eventual downfall.