Shylock is not only a monster he is also a victim. He is treated badly by all Christian’s, all because of his religion.
‘Fair sir you spat on me Wednesday last; you spurned me such a day; another
time you called me a dog; and for these courtesies I’ll lend you thus much
money?’
His viewpoint can be fully explained and can occasionally make the whole audience feel sorry for him. Shakespeare portrayed as an outcast who suffers a lot throughout the play. He is a most complex and dominating character. He only appears in five scenes but is the one character that sticks in peoples minds throughout the play. Throughout his five scenes in the play he is looked down upon, betrayed, deserted, punished and humiliated by Christian society, and how they stole his only daughter.
Jews were living in London at the time the play was written. While they may have professed Christianity in accordance with long standing laws against Jews living in England. Throughout his five scenes in the play he is looked down upon, betrayed, deserted, punished and humiliated by Christian society.
A modern audience feels sorry for Shylock throughout the play. He is treated badly throughout the play. This is because different religions and money lenders are accepted today. At the beginning of the trail, the audience don’t like Shylock because he doesn’t listen to Portia, and he will not change his mind and take the money, he would rather risk Antonio’s life. At the end of the trial scene when Portia makes Shylock give up all his money and his religion. The modern audience start to feel sorry for Shylock and hopes he will get to keep something.
An Elizabethan audience would take it a lot different to a modern day audience. They would be happy to see Shylock lose all his money and his religion, because they know as soon as he has turned to be a Christian they have helped another person go to heaven. Also the Elizabethan audience do not know as much as the modern audience about Jews, so whatever Shakespeare writes they believe and this can not always be true. The Elizabethans saw usury as a great evil and did not agree with it. Even though they were against is they still thought it should be legalised and controlled.
Shylock gains sympathy from the audience when he tells Bassino
My daughter is my flesh and blood
He is saying that a big part of him has been taken away by the Christians.
Shylock is a
usury and lend money out people and charges a lot of interest. Antonio is also a money lender but charges no interest. Because of this the two are turned against each other. It is not just because of this mind, it is because of there different religions.
I hate him for he is a Christian
Many Jews lived behind a mask at the time this play was written. They would pretend to be Christians but secretly practice Judaism. Shylock was not like this. He would openly admit he was a Jew and this would make more people turn against him.
Strong emotive language is used to emphasise this point-“Poor merchants flesh” to remind the jury that Antonio has suffered enough.
Shylocks greed comes out when he admits he would kill his daughter for a few ducats.
When shylock is sharpening his knife. The imaged portrayed of him to the audience is a blood thirsty monster who is after revenge by killing a Christian.
When Portia enters the courtroom, she asks-
“Which is the Jew and which is the merchant?”
this shows that she doesn’t judge by looks and she doesn’t take sides. She is also trying to create a sense of justice in the courtroom. But an Elizabethan audience would automatically no who was the Jew, just by the clothes he was wearing.
