We first meet Shylock when he agrees to lend Antonio, a Christian, money in accordance to a ‘merry bond’ which entails that Antonia would have to give shylock a pound of flesh if he does not pay him back in three months. This made me feel like Shylock is a very evil man because he was willing to cut a pound of flesh form Antonio’s body. This would have been the same for the Christians in the audience. He also hates Christians, “I hate him for he is a Christian” this would have made the audience hate him even more as they would have been Christians. He also hates Antonio who is a Christian and the ‘hero of the play’ this would have annoyed the Christian audience even more. He hates Antonio because Antonio lends money out with out making the lender pay back interest this takes Shylocks business because Shylock makes his living by lending money and receiving large amounts of interest. This would have pleased the Elizabethan audiences because he is losing out.
Later in the play we hear Antonio say, ‘spit on thee again and spurn thee’ talking to Shylock. Antonio and his friends constantly downgrade Shylock by calling him ‘Jew’ instead of his name. I thought that this was unfair and I felt slightly sympathetic for him but the Elizabethan audiences would have loved to see him constantly downgraded. So our views of him have changed. The Elizabethan audiences would have also liked it when Shylocks servant leaves him to work for a Christian.
As the play continues I start to feel for sympathetic for Shylock because his daughter leaves him taking his jewels and money, and to make things worse she runs off with a Christian. He finds this out by Tabal telling him but the way that he tells him is cruel because he starts off by telling him his daughter has left so Shylock goes down then he perks him up by telling him Antonio’s ships have crashed and then he puts him down by telling him some more bad news. I think that this is unfair on Shylock but the Elizabethan audiences would have been laughing at him. At this point I felt extremely sorry for him but the Elizabethan audiences would have been pleased with this because they would never feel sorry for a Jew. But soon after his daughter leaves my views soon change as he says that he does not care if his daughter comes back dead as long as he gets his jewels and money back. This shows that his only love in the world is money. This is a terrible thing to say and all of the sympathy that I had flew out of the window. I felt like he was a greedy selfish person whose only care in the world was material things. This would have caused the Elizabethan audiences to dislike him even more and here are views of him are the same but their hate is more severe.
We next see Shylock at the trail scene were he is ready and willing to cut a pound of Antonio’s flesh. I think that this is sadistic and evil and the Elizabethan audience would have felt the same. He also does not accept Antonio’s pleas of mercy and is ready to cut Antonio until he finds out that he has to cut exactly one pound of Antonio’s flesh and no shed on drop of blood. This is an impossible task and so he cannot and does not do it. He is then forced to change his religion and give everything. At this point I felt extremely sorry for him but the Elizabethan audiences would not have minded it they would have enjoyed it.
In conclusion I don’t like Shylock sometimes but other times I feel sorry for him. I feel sorry for him when he gets tricked out of all his possessions and everything took from him but don’t like him when he is ready to kill Antonio in cold blood and does not care about his own flesh and blood. The Elizabethan audience would have hated him throughout the play and not liked him one bit. Their impression of him would have got worse as the play goes on as he announces that he hates Christians and as they see him ready to kill their hero, Antonio, in cold blood.