Here, they are laughing at Shylock’s obsession with money, and the fact that he has lost his daughter Jessica because she has eloped with a Christian. As Solerio and Solanio are only minor, unimportant characters in the play, Shylock is seen as a victim because even they can make fun of him and are superior to him.
Shylock’s daughter, Jessica, elopes with Lorenzo, a Christian, and Shylock is left with no money, and alone. She has stolen all Shylock’s jewels and money, and also his turquoise ring, which was given to him by his wife Leah. The ring was very precious to Shylock, and he is 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: ‘Alack, what heinous sin is it in me to be ashamed to be my father’s child!’
During the play, Shylock becomes more and more isolated. Firstly, his servant Launcelot 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.
In the courtroom, we feel sympathetic towards Shylock because he loses everything: his money, his house, his religion, and he is forced to leave his money to Jessica and Lorenzo. He is forced to convert to Christianity, and I think this was the worst punishment for Shylock because his religion is very important to him, and he already hates Christians. Forcing Shylock to convert to Christianity is practically racism because it is like saying that Christianity is the ‘right’ religion and you are not supposed to be Jewish.
At the time the play was written, Jews had little legal rights, and Christianity was the favoured religion. The punishment Shylock receives is very harsh; it would have been much less severe if the criminal were a Christian.
Portia uses persuasive legal language to convince the Duke, and also the audience that Shylock is guilty. She persecutes Shylock because he is a Jew. We knew Shylock had no chance of winning because of his religion, and he is seen as a victim because of the unfair way in which he was treated because he is a Jew.
In the play, many people refer to Shylock as the devil, Antonio: ‘The devil can cite scripture for his purpose’, Solanio: ‘…lest the devil…here he comes in the illness of a Jew’, ‘a third cannot be matched unless the devil himself turn Jew’, and also Solerio: ‘That’s certain, if the devil may be her judge’. They also refer to him simply as ‘the Jew’. This suggests Shylock is hated solely because of his religion.
In Act 3 Scene 1, Shylock makes us feel sorry for him because he shows that the Christians’ racism is really affecting him. He says: ‘If you prick us do we not bleed…If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?’ He is saying that Jews are human just like Christians, and he is trying to justify his want for revenge on Antonio by saying that Antonio has ‘wronged’ him. This portrays Shylock as a victim of racism.
There are also a lot of ways in the play in which Shylock is seen as a villain.
The way he behaves towards other people is seen as very villainous. He treats them and talks to them depending on how it will affect him financially. He is very selfish. A lot of his hatred for Antonio is due to the fact that Antonio lends out money without interest, which is bad for Shylock’s business: ‘Gaoler…tell me not of mercy: This is the fool that lends out money gratis.’ Here, Shylock is telling the Gaoler not to tell him to show mercy, because Antonio lends out money without interest. He holds a grudge against Antonio for this.
However, in Act 1 Scene 3, Antonio and Bassanio come to Shylock asking for a loan. Shylock sees this as an opportunity to make money and get revenge on Antonio, so he treats Antonio like a friend: ‘I would be friends with you, and have your love, forget the shames that you have stain’d me with.’ In an aside where he is speaking only to the audience, Shylock reveals his true feelings towards Antonio: ‘I hate him for he is a Christian…Cursed be my tribe if I forgive him!’ He has cunningly planned to trick Antonio out of his money and even his life by hiding his hatred behind a cunning front of fake friendship. This shows Shylock to be false and devious.
The way he behaves towards his daughter Jessica also shows Shylock to be a villain. In Act 2 Scene 5, he treats Jessica more like a servant than his own daughter. He orders her to lock his house up and keep it safe while he is out, and mentions nothing of her well-being: ‘Hear you me, Jessica: Lock up my doors.’ After he tells Jessica this, Shylock goes out to eat with Christians, and Jessica steals his money and jewels. This suggests she is so frustrated with the way her father treats her, and she just wants to get away from him.
After Jessica has eloped with Lorenzo, Shylock is more concerned about the jewels and money she has stolen than actually losing his daughter: ‘I would my daughter be dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear!’ This shows he would not care if his daughter were dead as long as he could get his money and jewels back. His obsession with money and the vicious way he talks about his own daughter shows his villainous nature, this is one case where it may seem that his villainous nature is not a by product of his treatment by the other characters in the play.
Shylock seems like even more of a villain because of the contrast between him and Antonio. Antonio is portrayed as such a decent, well respected, forgiving and kind man that Shylock’s cruel and unkind nature is emphasised because he seems so evil next to Antonio. Antonio shows Shylock mercy in the trial even when Shylock has been so vicious towards him and Shylock refuses outright to show Antonio mercy. Shylock tries to justify this by saying that he has sworn an oath to have his bond, so he cannot go back on it. He refuses to take the three thousand ducats he is offered. This makes him seem like a villain to us.
When Portia says that Shylock cannot have his pound of flesh, Shylock knows he is beaten, but still asks for as much money as he can get; first three times the bond, then twice the bond, and then the original three thousand ducats. This shows his obsession with money, and his determination to get revenge.
I slightly agree with the question of the essay in way in which Shakespeare proposed us to think in a way which would cast Shylock as a nasty villain. This is because of the racial prejudice people were made to believe at the time the play was written. Because of the time in which we read his play, where racial prejudice is coming to a minimum, we find ourselves taking sympathy for Shakespeare and his constant harassment. So in answer to the original question of the essay, yes Shakespeare does twist Shylocks character to make him seem nasty, but only as a product of their institutionalised racism of the people of the time the play was written.
