Do you consider the character of shylock to be a victim or villain in the play The Merchant of Venice?

Zachary Beal

14/1/2005

1st draft: “The Merchant of Venice”

Word count:

Do you consider the character of shylock to be a victim or villain in the play The Merchant of Venice?

Shylock is one of the most interesting, memorable and debated characters in the play “The Merchant of Venice”. In many ways this is because he is both a victim and a villain.

Shylock was made a laughing stock of and is ridiculed by the Christians because he was Jewish. The Jewish community in Venice was treated very poorly at the time that the play was written. The Jews in Venice were not classified as citizens. They were ridiculed in public, not allowed to do any Christian jobs and had to live in the ghetto (a place just for the Jewish community) with walls around it. The ghetto was locked at night so the Jewish people could not get out. Shylock was also ridiculed about his job as a money lender, or “usurer” which was one of the few jobs Jews could do. Since lending money was their only way to make a living, they had to charge interest. The church prohibited Christians from lending money, and called it the sin of usury, but they often needed loans despite this.

The play is set in the trading capital of Venice, Italy because it was one of the trading capitals of the world at the time. It is in a prime location for trading, located at the head of the Adriatic Sea, next to the Balkans and below the mountain paths to Germany. In Venice the main form of trade and transportation is by sea. Venice has a spectacular harbour where huge trading ships could exchange gifts and goods. Trade needs capital, and only the Jews could provide it. The Jews made the loans but were hated for the interest they demanded.

In the play Shylock is described as a Victim and a Villain. It is clear he is a victim because of the appalling way he had been treated and the ridicule he had been put through because of his Jewish faith. He had also been depicted as a Villain in the way he expressed hate and loathing towards Antonio, repeatedly showing him no mercy and indirectly and directly wanting to kill him.

Shakespeare’s audience knew that King Edward I had expelled the Jews from England in 1290. In addition, they knew that, one of Queen Elizabeth’s doctors, (a Portuguese Jew, called Lopez), was accused of having tried to kill the Queen by poisoning her in 1594. He was tried, condemned and hung, drawn and quartered. This caused a lot of ill feeling towards the Jewish people and gave them a reason to become anti-Semitic. There are many occasions in “The Merchant of Venice” where there is physical and verbal abuse towards Shylock. Firstly we learn that Antonio had spat in Shylock’s face in the Rialto. Shylock remembered this, saying to Antonio you “spit upon my Jewish gabardine”. Shylock also recalls that Antonio mocked him because he was Jewish, saying “you call me a misbeliever, cut-throat dog.” Shylock is often called a devil because he is Jewish:

“Let me say ‘amen’ betimes, last the devil cross my prayer, for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew”

Antonio does not refer to Shylock by his name, usually referring to him as ‘Jew’, ‘Dog’, ‘Devil’ and ‘Harsh Jew’. By using these terms of abuse, the Christians dehumanize Shylock. He is not a human, but the devil in a man’s body. This is just what the Nazi’s believed. To them Jews were sub-human. Every time he was mocked or provoked by any Christian Shylock became bitterer and the desire for his revenge got stronger, building up until the ...

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“Let me say ‘amen’ betimes, last the devil cross my prayer, for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew”

Antonio does not refer to Shylock by his name, usually referring to him as ‘Jew’, ‘Dog’, ‘Devil’ and ‘Harsh Jew’. By using these terms of abuse, the Christians dehumanize Shylock. He is not a human, but the devil in a man’s body. This is just what the Nazi’s believed. To them Jews were sub-human. Every time he was mocked or provoked by any Christian Shylock became bitterer and the desire for his revenge got stronger, building up until the trial scene. Shylock had been victimized so much he could not stand it. This makes Shylock a victim. Shakespeare’s audience would have regarded Shylock as a sinful villain, and not as a sympathetic, tragic hero. Today the way people treat Jews and feel towards them has changed dramatically. One reason for the change of heart is because of the Nazi’s hatred and persecution of the Jews. The Nazi’s anti-Jewish propaganda made Shylock look like a villain. When people knew that the Nazi Germans had sent the Jews to Death Camps to be killed, they were very sympathetic. It took millions of Jews to die so that people could see they were innocent and persecuting them wrong. In Acts 2 and 3 other characters victimize Shylock. Salerio and Solanio behave like Antonio, mocking Shylock because of his Jewish religion. There are only two brief scenes with another Jew, Tubal. In all the other scenes Shylock is alone or with Christians, so we are usually given the Christian’s view of him. The Christians invite him to dinner the same night that Jessica, his daughter, elopes with Lorenzo. If not for the dinner, the elopement could have been stopped, and this further increased Shylock’s hatred towards the Christians. These are some of the reasons Shylock pursues his revenge against Antonio:.

“I’ll plague him, I’ll torture him – I am glad of it.”

This shows the bitterness he feels for Antonio because he has been mocked so much and spat at. Shylock uses the words “plague” and “torture” which give a very powerful image of the extent of the hatred shown towards Antonio and the terrible, merciless revenge he plans. Although Shylock has an arguably unhealthy thirst for revenge, we can relate to what he is feeling because it is a natural human flaw to want to avenge wrongs and injustice. Shylock's passionate speech is designed to evoke the audience's sympathy:

“I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs dimensions, senses, affections, passions fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons…”

Shylock makes us feel sorry for him because he shows that the Christians' racism is affecting him. He is saying that Jews are human just like Christians and everyone is equal underneath their exterior. Shylock is trying to justify his lust for revenge on Antonio, by saying that Antonio has unjustly wronged him because of his religion. The use of the rhetorical questions increases sympathy and helps persuade the audience to think Shylock as a victim of racism. During the play, Shylock becomes more and more isolated. Firstly, his servant Lancelot Gobbo leaves his service to work with Bassanio, and then his daughter leaves him to elope with Lorenzo. Both Bassanio and Lorenzo are Christians, which again suggests that he is a victim of racism, or at least that he is forever being betrayed and hurt by Christians. Before Jessica left her house she stole a large amount of Shylock's jewels and money, and also his turquoise ring, which was given to him by his wife. The ring was very precious to Shylock, and he was very angry with Jessica for selling it for a monkey. This portrays him as a victim because even his own daughter cannot stand to be around him, and hates him. Jessica says she is ashamed to be her father's daughter, and describes her house as hell, which indicates how strong she dislikes living there and the suffering involved:

“Our house is hell and thou a merry devil didst rob it of some taste of tediousness”

Jessica misses the only person in the house who relieved the evil, hellish atmosphere, Lancelot Gobbo.

And:

“Alack, what heinous sin is it in me to be ashamed to be my father's child! But though I am a daughter to his blood I am not to his manners.”

This is the anguished cry of a daughter who knows she should love her father but is not able to. She may be his biological daughter, but her personality and morality (“manners”) are completely different. In the trial scene Shylock has his chance to show that he is far better and superior to the Christians and Antonio. Shylock was given many chances to show mercy. If Shylock had shown mercy the outcome of the play would be very different. Shylock would have benefited, because it would have shown that the Jews were not evil or as ignorant as the Christians believed. Shylock, however, did not take Portia’s advice to show mercy:

“Portia: “Then must the Jew be merciful.

Shylock: “On what compulsion must I? Tell me that.”

Instead he does the opposite and presses on ruthlessly with his attempt to enforce his bond, kill Antonio and gain his revenge. The quote demonstrates that Shylock has no remorse and is an evil man. While the scene is playing, Shylock is sharpening his knife ready to kill Antonio. This shows that Shylock is confident that he is on the right side of the law and that he is able to enforce his bond. The reader or the audience can see that Shylock has given the bond a lot of thought. When Antonio approaches Shylock about lending him three thousand ducats, Shylock offers to do so on condition that he could cut a pound of flesh off Antonio’s body if he did not return the bond money on time, but would not charge interest if Antonio repaid the money. When the bond was written up Shylock craftily changed the bond to say “nearest the heart”. This meant that if Antonio did not pay the bond Shylock could kill him. If the bond was repaid, Shylock would have his money back. Shylock would win either way.

Sharpening the knife also showed he was determined to kill and prepared to do so. He had checked the bond and could not find any flaw. Shylock was confident and was sure he would win and be able to kill Antonio and enjoy his revenge. Shylock wanted revenge so badly that he even refuses to accept nine thousand ducats, three times the amount that Antonio owed:

“Portia: Shylock, there’s three times the money offer’d thee.

Shylock: An oath, an oath. I have an oath in heaven! Shall I lay perjury upon my soul? No, not for Venice.”

It is in this complete lack of compassion for human life that we see Shylock’s real villainous character.

Shylock’s daughter, Jessica, left Shylock to be with the Christians, but she left because he was villainous towards her. Shylock complains his ‘own flesh and blood’ has deserted him but it was his fault she left because he showed no love to her:

“Clamber not you up to the casements then nor thrust your head into the public street to gaze on Christian fools with varnish’s faces…. Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter my sober house.”

This shows that Shylock did not let Jessica out of the house and restrained her because he did not trust her. He tried to make Jessica hate the Christian’s as much as he did. Shylock used the words “Christian fools” and “shallow foppery” which shows that he has as much contempt for the Christians as they have for him. He contrasts his “sober” house, with their outlandish clothes and foolish behaviour. He orders Jessica around as if she were a slave, treating her as the Christians treated him. Shylock was taking out his frustration and pain on his daughter, so she had a good reason to leave.

As you can see, there is a lot of evidence to support each of the two sides of the argument, ‘Do you consider the character of Shylock to be a victim or villain in the play The Merchant of Venice?’ I believe that Shylock was victimised by the Christians, and therefore a victim of racial abuse and ridicule. The case that Shylock is a victim is a stronger one than him being a villain. In the end, in my opinion it was the prejudice and oppression of Venetian society that caused his villainy. It even denied him the satisfaction of revenge.