Explore the conflicting responses, which the character of Shylock provokes in the audience. How does Shakespeare achieve this effect? Do you think Shylock is a victim or a villain?

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Explore the conflicting responses, which the character of Shylock provokes in the audience. How does Shakespeare achieve this effect? Do you think Shylock is a victim or a villain?

Written sometime between 1596 and 1598, The Merchant of Venice is classified as both an early Shakespearean comedy and as a problem play; it is a work in which good triumphs over evil, but serious themes are examined and some issues remain unresolved.

In the play, Shakespeare wove together two classic folk tales, one involving a vengeful, greedy creditor trying to take a pound of flesh, the other involving a fight for the hand of a rich princess with a correct choice among three chests and thereby winning his companion. Shakespeare's writing of the first tale centres on the Jewish moneylender Shylock who seeks a literal pound of flesh from his Christian opponent, the generous, faithful Antonio.

In Shakespeare’s A Merchant of Venice, the character Shylock provokes conflicting responses in the audience. Throughout the play, Shylock is portrayed as being a greedy, malicious and bitter man, who is hated for his religion and his money lending. However, the audience is still able to recognise an injustice in the way he is treated. Shylock is shunned from society, principally because of his Jewish background. Therefore, the audience have conflicting feelings towards the character. Shakespeare achieves this effect through varying language techniques and dramatic devices.

In this essay I will be looking at the different perceptions of Shylock and how Shakespeare controls them in order to answer the question; is Shylock a victim or a villain?

The audience’s perceptions of Shylock vary dramatically throughout the play. For example, Shakespeare portrays Shylock as being racist, selfish, profane and without integrity in Act 1 Scene 3, during Shylock’s aside. Shylock tells the audience: ‘I hate him for he is a Christian’. This quote shows Shylock as being racist. Another quote from the aside shows the character as being without integrity: ‘If I can catch him once upon the hip, I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him’. This quote also shows him as being grudge bearing, ruthless and unforgiving. Passages such as this aside give the audience the perception that Shylock is the villain of the play. Shylock is petty in his hatred of Antonio, and this gives the audience a bad impression of the character.

However, the audience’s opinion of Shylock changes as the play continues. For example, the audience take a more sympathetic view to Shylock in Act 3 Scene 1. Shylock’s ‘To bait fish withal’ speech is a pivotal moment in the play, and subsequently, is pivotal to the audience’s perceptions of Shylock. The speech shows Shylock’s sensitive side and sways the audience into thinking that he has reason to be embittered and that perhaps Antonio, plus the other men on the Rialto are the villains of the play, and Shylock is indeed a victim. Certain quotes from the play, such as the comparisons between Christians and Jews: ‘If you prick us, do we not bleed…’ and ‘fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons’ are particularly powerful moments in the speech and appeal massively to the audience’s empathetic side.

Overall, the audience’s perception of Shylock swings from dislike to sympathy, and from contempt to understanding. Therefore, throughout the play it is hard to suggest whether Shylock is a victim or a villain.

During Shakespeare’s time, anti-Semitism was very prominent. Christians hated Jews for their religious backgrounds and principally, the Jewish role in the death of Jesus Christ. Because of this hatred, many Jews were shunned from society and discriminated against because of their religion. For example, when a Portuguese Jew called Roderigo Lopez was accused of plotting to kill the Queen. During the trial, Lopez was called ‘worse than Judas himself’ and ‘of a religious profession fit for any execrable undertaking’. However, far worse, the Judge himself referred to Lopez as ‘that vile Jew’.

In The Merchant of Venice Shylock’s character reflects the feelings harboured towards the Jews at the time. In the play, Shylock is not allowed to prosper and is particularly denied by Antonio, a wealthy Christian. It is this rivalry between Shylock the Jew and Antonio the Christian that provides the spine of the play.

In my opinion, Shakespeare used this rivalry to write the play and in turn highlight the prejudice that was very strong at the time towards Jewish people. Speeches and sections of the play, such as Shylock’s speech ‘To bait fish withal…’ portray the message that the Jews are spurned by society, however, they also ask the question of why the Jews are hated when there are so many similarities between Jews and Christians? Therefore, I suggest that Shakespeare wrote the play to educate the audience about Jewish people and how they should not be discriminated against because of their beliefs.

The relationship between Antonio and Shylock is very heated. This is highlighted in Act 1 Scene 3 when the bond is agreed between the two. Both men dislike each other and compete intensely for they are both in the money lending trade. Moreover, their hatred runs deep due to their conflicting religions. Antonio is a Christian, and Shylock is an orthodox Jew.

My first impressions of Shylock are that he is a shrewd businessman with a ruthless attitude. He is strong willed and determined. I also see him as being bitter and resentful. This opinion is based on Act 1 Scene 3, when Shylock agrees the bond with Antonio. This is apparent throughout the scene and is portrayed by the way Shylock is running the situation. He makes it clear that he is in control and the bond is made to seem far more important to Antonio and Bassanio than it is to Shylock. This is a dramatic device used by Shakespeare that is used to create an image of Shylock. Quotes such as: ‘Three thousand ducats – I think I may take his bond’ show Shylock as being care free about a very large sum of money.  Words such as ‘may’ show that it is not necessary for Shylock to take his bond and consequently, he is in control. This, coupled with the characters demeanour throughout the scene paints the picture that Shylock is very clever, wily and assured with his finances.

However, Shylock’s aside in this scene conveys to the audience that all is not what it seems; Shylock is acting cool about the bond so as to seem carefree. The aside shows Shylock’s darker, far more cynical side. As aforementioned, he speaks of his contempt for Antonio as he is a Christian, and perhaps more importantly, he is a moneylender, who charges no interest on his loans, therefore is Antonio is strong competition to Shylock. Because of this rivalry and the hostility between the two men, either would take delight in having any hold over them. The fact that Shylock has this bind in the early stages of the play tells the audience that he is a villain because he has control over another man once the bond is sealed. Moreover, Antonio is a gentleman and is seen as the hero of the play; therefore, his enemy – Shylock – must be the villain, particularly if he has a hold over Antonio that could threaten his life.

Act 3 Scene 1 is a very instrumental part of the play when answering the question; is Shylock a victim or a villain? In this scene, Shylock reports the loss of his daughter to Solanio, Salarino and consequently the audience. Shylock’s daughter, Jessica, has fled Venice and Shylock’s care with Lorenzo and all of her father’s wealth. This clearly angers Shylock, however this anger is furthered due to Lorenzo’s religious beliefs - he is a Christian. Shylock and his daughter are Jewish, the fact that Jessica should run away with someone who is not of Jewish background enrages Shylock. This is particularly the case as Jessica ran away with a Christian – she ran away with someone whose religion had caused her father so much indiscretion and humiliation. In this scene it is ambiguous as to whether Shylock cares more for the money he has lost, or for the loss of his only daughter. For example, quotes such as: ‘I say my daughter is my own flesh and blood’ show that Shylock is distraught over the abandonment subjected to him by his daughter. Jessica was all Shylock had, and for her to leave him must have been both deeply hurtful and angering.

However, there are many quotes further on in the scene when Shylock is discussing his daughter’s plight with Tubal, who had been searching for Jessica that suggest otherwise. For example: ‘I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear: would she were hears’d at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin…’ this quote is a perfect example of how materialistic Shylock is and how he cares more for his money than for the one person in the world he had a real connection with. This quote in particular shows Shylock, as being a villain, as the audience would find it hard to relate to a man who wishes his own daughter be dead, let alone sympathise with such a person, no matter what has brought this wish to his mind.

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The language used here is extremely vivid. For example, ‘I would she were hears’d at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin’. Words such as ‘coffin’ and ‘hears’d’ are excellent expression used to really paint a picture in the audience’s mind of Shylock being a heartless murderer. Shakespeare makes it this way so as to create a sense in the audience’s mind of Shylock stood over his daughter’s lifeless body, with his riches returned to him. The effect of this on the audience’s opinion of Shylock is that of Shylock being ruthless and overwhelmingly materialistic. Consequently, Shylock is ...

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