Jessica has been brought up very strictly according to the Jewish traditions by her miserly father Shylock leading her to remark:"Our house is hell." ActII sc.3. She soon decides to elope with her lover Lorenzo and says: "But though I am a daughter to his blood/I am not to his manners......I shall end this strife/Become a Christian and thy (Lorenzo) loving wife." ActII Sc.3.
Jessica steals all of her father's jewels and money and elopes with Lorenzo when Shylock had gone to Bassanio's house for dinner. When Shylock discovers that his own daughter has stolen all his wealth he angrily excalims: "I would my daughter/ were dead at my foot." ActIII Sc.1.
In Act II Sc1 We hear from Tubal another Jew who reports to Shylock about the extravagant ways of Jessica. In Genoa she spent 80 ducats in one night and in Venice she bought a monkey with a very expensive ring.
Jessica's actions in stealing her own father's money and jewels and eloping with and marrying a person from another community-a communitywhich her father detests- is her way of protesting and rebelling agianst the cruel and stifling way in which she has been brought up.
It is however questionable whether her actions are right or wrong. Is she an ungrateful daugher? or a conscientious right thinkng individiual?
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