Shylock is thrilled to hear that another of Antonio's ships is lost, making Antonio more vulnerable.
"I thank God, I thank God. Is it true, is it true? "
He is very confident that he will win, telling Antonio while he is in prison, "Thou call'dst me dog ... But since I am a dog, beware my fangs. " He knows that the Venetian justice system will have to support him and so relishes beating Antonio at his own game.
This leaves us wondering why Shylock makes such a strange agreement with Antonio; asking for a pound of flesh if the loan is not repaid within the arranged time. Does he genuinely want to be friends with Antonio when he says "I would be friends with you, and have your love” on the other hand it could also mean that Shylock wants Antonio dead, knowing that he wont be able to pay the loan back in time; therefore Shylock has the self-satisfaction of killing a Christian being.
Later on in the play Shylock discovers his daughter Jessica has eloped. When she runs away, he seems as upset about the loss of his money as her: "My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter! ... My ducats and my daughter! "
Shylock's greed is shown here as he puts his own daughter on the same level as his money. Shakespeare lets the audience recognize Shylock as the self-seeking, medieval Jew.
It would seem that Shylock cares for money more than anything else. Yet in an often forgotten moment when Shylock finds out his daughter traded his wife's ring for monkey he cares only for its sentimental value.
"Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal: it was my turquoise; I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor: I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys. "
It is important to note that later on in the play Shylock pleads with his persecutors to recognize his humanity. After the discovery of the elopement of his daughter and her theft of his money Shylock becomes ugly. After this finding he literally wish’s his daughter dead.
"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!" (III,i,88-90).
The fact that Shylock wish’s for his daughter to be dead, certainly withdraws a great deal of the sympathy that was created by the previous plea for the acknowledgment of his humanity. During the period of this outbreak, Shakespeare again portrays an image of an evil, murderous Jew who is willing to kill his own daughter for the sake of a few ‘ducats’.
Shylock seeks revenge against his enemies/betrayers, but it is also he who suffers the penalty after the Christians join to trick him. Possibly Shylock may have had more victory if he had worked at justice instead of revenge or perhaps it is the loss of Jessica as well as all the harsh treatment he has suffered from Antonio and others over the years that makes him bitter enough to ask for Antonio's pound of flesh.
Christians alienate Shylock
Christians alienate Shylock simply because he is a Jew. In ancient, medieval, and Renaissance times, Jews almost always encountered prejudice from non-Jews around them. Scholars are divided on whether Shakespeare, in The Merchant of Venice, was attempting condemn anti-Semitism by sympathizing with Shylock or approve of anti-Semitism by ridiculing Shylock. It may well be that Shakespeare was simply holding a mirror to civilization to allow audiences to draw their own conclusions contends that Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice to condemn the moral and ethical values of errant Christians, not the Jewish moneylender Shylock.
(“http://sites.microlink.net/zekscrab/”)
Throughout the play Shylock’s name is overlooked and rather than being called by his name he is referred to as “the Jew”. The fact that Shylock is being alienated (by being classed as “the Jew”) underlines the social deprivation of Jews at the time the play was written.
In England, when Shakespeare was writing, Jews had been banished for the past 300 years. Shakespeare's audience would not have known any Jews; their knowledge of Jews would have been based solely on rumor and prejudice. They would have enjoyed the verbal insults and racist jokes against Shylock, and would probably not have questioned the treatment Shylock receives as we do today.
During the period of time the play was written, audiences would have preferred Shylock to be the villain of the play, as in a pantomime character to be booed at, at every entrance or devious action, especially with the fact that Shylock was a Jew. But Shakespeare’s creation goes much deeper.
There is a lot of hostility between the Christians and the Jews of Venice, and this of course fuels the hatred between Shylock and Antonio. There is verbal abuse between the two groups. Shylock is keen to commit murder in the cutting out of the pound of Antonio's flesh.
Shylock hard character to portray
Shylocks character is a very hard character to portray, as he can be taken-in in many different ways. Many critics tend to agree that Shylock is the most noteworthy figure, no one has agreed on whether to read Shylock as a bloodthirsty Jewish, a stereotypical Jewish clown or a tragic figure whose lost all decency due to his daughter Jessica running away with a Christian. Our sympathised view of Shylock maybe due to the way Jewish people were killed in the past during the anti-Semitic way of the holocaust, which gives the reader/audience a gist of sympathy towards the Jewish character; Shylock.
Shylock is one of the most confusing characters in all of Shakespeare's plays. On the outside, he is a villain only concerned about money and revenge. Some critics may however argue that Shakespeare exaggerates this "stereotypical" Jew, making him a very complex character. Shylock’s anger seems to be boosted from the sufferings from racists. Shakespeare gives no ultimate answer as to how Shylock should be viewed.
Conclusion
It is frequently argued that the well-known quote of “…hath not a Jews eyes…If you prick us do we not bleed” (III, i, 59-70) emphasis’s the point of humanity that lingers beneath the outside of Shylock's public character. This speech reveals kind of humanist good will of Shakespeare who allows his audience to see into the troubles of Shylock, the wronged and bitter man. The fact that Shakespeare gives a glimpse of Shylock’s inner character mitigates the accusations of anti-Semitism.
On the whole I feel that this point about the humanity of Shylock being portrayed in the play is a good one. Evidently, this crucial piece of speech that Shakespeare has added creates a level of compassion in the audience for Shylock. However, I don’t feel that one short speech of eleven lines overshadows the far more dominate themes of Shylock's characterization in the play.
Shylock is one of the most confusing characters in all Shakespeare plays. Playing the character of Shylock would be quite difficult as he is a very confusing character. One would not know how to act out his character due to the different angles at which Shakespeare has presented his character. I personally feel Shakespeare takes this stereotypical view of Shylock; further then necessary. Hence presenting Shylock as a very complicated character to play.
In conclusion, I think Shylock is the villain in this play. The way in which Shakespeare presents this is how Shylock treats those he is closer with, for instance his relationship with his daughter Jessica corresponds to his evil character. Due to Shylock’s lack of benevolence towards Antonio, both audience and reader automatically classify Shylock as the bad character. Shylock’s need for revenge takes over all other parts of his life. Only Shakespeare really knows what he wanted the character ‘Shylock’ to be portrayed as.