Shakespeare - "Merchant of Venice" Is Shylock a victim or a villain? Discuss?

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Merchant of Venice

Assignment 5DF 8th July 2003

Daniela Ward F.P.C.A.C

Shakespeare- "Merchant of Venice"

Is Shylock a victim or a villain? Discuss?

The Play I am writing about in this assignment is " The merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare. This play's main theme is the hatred between two people of different religions and beliefs. One a Christian and the other a Jew, but which is the villain and which is the victim? " The merchant of Venice" is a well-known play and Shylock is one of literatures best characters. In this assignment I am going to be assigning whether Shylock is a Villain or a Victim. During the Elizabethan period this play would have been the centre of entertainment because people loved to hate Jewish people and everyone hated Shylock. People would enjoy hating this evil character because he was both a moneylender and a Jew.

Is Shylock a Villain or Victim?

Firstly to be a villain you need to have harmed someone or broken the law in some way and also be disliked. Shylock hasn't physically harmed anyone, but would take a pound of flesh from a