In the Merchant of Venice explore Shakespeare's presentation as a villain and as a victim.

Another manner in which Shakespeare shows Shylock as villain as well as a victim is when Jessica feels she needs to change her religion, as she wants to marry a man of different religion which was not accepted. Also because shylock didn't let Jessica out of the house to go and meet other people, again this gives us a lot of sympathy for Shylock but also a lot of irritation towards him, because he isn't letting Jessica go into the real world and try and meet other people, the audience must feel he is being quite selfish here, by not letting her have any freedom.

Shakespeare also displays Shylock as a villain in 3.2 when Antonio says "hear me not good Shylock," but Shylock interrupts and forcefully says " I'll have my bond, speak not against my bond, I hath sworn an oath against my bond!". This shows us that Shylock is not going to give up with his bond and has convinced himself that he will be going home with a pound of Antonio's flesh.

Shakespeare gives us the feeling that Shylock is being bullied in many ways. We know this when we learn about shylocks profession. He can only do work that is put out for Jews. This gives the audience a lot of sympathy as it singles out certain people. Another way we see Shylock as a victim is not only Antonio's attitude towards him but all the other Christians as well. They shout at him spit at him which makes the audience feel very sorry for him.

Shylock is seen as a target because of his religion and is seen as un-natural and un-worthy of being in a Christian city, so the Christians built a ghetto for the Jews to live. This gives the audience a lot of sympathy not only to shylock but to all the other Jews living in the ghetto.

However, Shylock has characteristics of a villain, we can see this because Shylock must have his revenge on Antonio by not giving him any le-way with their bond, "I will have my bond, speak not against my bond!"

One of the main ways Shakespeare presents Shylock as a victim is in 4.1 when Gratiano says "O be thou damn'd, incredible dog, to hold opinion with Pythagoras!" This is showing us that shylock is seen to Christians as a pagan.

On the whole Shakespeare shows us in more than one way that Shylock is a victim as well as a villain. But he mainly presents shylock as a victim in my point of view. I believe this because Shakespeare shows Shylock as a villain 4 times and as a victim 5 times.

By Jack Cooper