Shakespeare presents Shylock as a deceitful schemer, two-faced and certainly evil-minded, this takes away our recent sympathy for Shylock

TABREZ AKHTAR 11E

MERCHANT OF VENICE COURSEWORK

Merchant Of Venice Coursework

In the play, Antonio and Bassanio approach Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, for a loan. Shylock nurses a long-standing grudge against Antonio, who has made a habit of berating Shylock and other Jews for their usury, the practice of loaning money at exorbitant rates of interest, and who undermines their business by offering interest-free loans. Although Antonio refuses to apologize for his behaviour, Shylock acts agreeably and offers to lend Bassanio three thousand ducats with no interest. Shylock adds, however, that should the loan go unpaid, Shylock will be entitled to a pound of Antonio’s own flesh. Despite Bassanio’s warnings, Antonio agrees.

I think Shylock is the main character because the plot is set around him; there would not be a story if he were not there.

Shylock is presented as a strict Jew who has been hated and mocked by Antonio in the past "…You called me a misbeliever, cut-throat dog, and spit upon my Jewish gaberdine…You that did void your reheum upon my beard, And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur…Fair Sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last, You spurn'd me such a day; another time you called me dog; and for these courtesies, I'll lend you thus much moneys’?” [Act I iii 106-123]. Certainly, Shylock is the play’s antagonist. Shylock is also, however, of circumstance a creation; even in his determined pursuit of a pound of flesh, his frequent mentions of the cruelty he has endured at Christian hands make it hard for us to label him a natural born monster. He contributes towards the argument by Jaws and Christians by stating that he hates Antonio because he is a Christian and he gives out money for free. "…I hate him for he is a Christian; but more for that in low simplicity, He lends out money gratis, and brings down the rate of usance here with us in Venice…"[Act I iii 37-40].

According to the Elizabethan attitude Jews were aggressive and despised; a modern audience would react differently because nowadays people care about other peoples cultures and religions and are generally more accepting. During the Elizabethan times, Jews were thought of to be evil, spiteful, obsessed with money and even thought to eat human flesh. Many Christians hated Jews and therefore, many Jews hated Christians. However, nowadays, this comic appeal to prejudices would be considered appalling and racist. Shakespeare explores this comic potential by creating Shylock's evil, spiteful and malicious personality and deliberately encouraging the audience to hate him, not necessarily ...

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Shakespeare presents Shylock as a deceitful schemer, two-faced and certainly evil-minded, this takes away our recent sympathy for Shylock and makes us despise him.

We can judge Shylock to be two-faced as he suddenly changes his attitude towards Antonio, or so we think. He makes a bond with Antonio stating that if he does not return the money, then Shylock would have the right to take a pound of Antonio's flesh, closest to his heart. "…An equal pound of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken in what part of your body pleaseth me…"[Act I iii 145-146]. When talking to Bassanio and Antonio he speaks in a friendly manner but really he is putting on an act, in which he is showing them that he has forgot about the past but really he hasn’t and he just wants to exact his revenge.

Shakespeare also presents Shylock as having a number of different feelings and numerous sides to his character. This slightly confuses the audience and readers about to judge him. From some scenes, we judge him to love, caring, sentimental and feel sorry for him; however, from other scenes we judge him to be evil, spiteful, and malicious and certainly do not feel sympathy for him. From our results, we have to come to a conclusion and therefore decide if Shylock is more sinned against than a sinner.

At the beginning of the play Shylock is presented as a wealthy Jew who would stop at nothing to get his revenge on Antonio, He makes a bond with Antonio stating that if he does not return the money, then Shylock would have the right to take a pound of Antonio's flesh, closest to his heart. "…An equal pound of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken in what part of your body pleaseth me…"[Act I iii 145-146].

At the end of the play shylock is presented as an unlawful Jew who is forced to change his religion and hand over his wealth. Shylock's malicious seems to be unstoppable until finally Portia dressed as 'Bellario', points out that the bond does not mention anything about blood so that meant that if Shylock were to spill one drop of blood then all his goods and lands would be confiscated. At this point, Shylock is therefore stuck in the middle. He has only one choice as there is absolutely no way he would be able to cut a pound of flesh without shedding any blood. All Shylock's goods' and lands' are confiscated and Antonio is set free from his bond. This seems a slightly harsh punishment, but if you think about it, Shylock does actually deserve it and therefore we do not feel any more sympathy for Shylock. "…Give me my principal and let me go…I pray you, give me leave to go from hence; I am not well; send the deed after me and I will sign…" [Act IV i 393-394].

His character changes because of his determination to extort revenge. At the start of the play Shylock was wealthy, which caused Bassanio and Antonio to come to him and ask for money. He could have said ‘no’ but he wanted his revenge and said ‘yes’, which later proved to be the wrong decision.

Shylocks role enables he story to develop by making him the main character of the play. The idea of Christianity vs Judaism is great because it makes it a war between both Shylock and Antonio this also causes both Shylock and Antonio to defend their religions.

Shylock makes a dramatic contribution to mercy vs unmerciful by being unmerciful when pleaded to forgive Antonio but he still shows no mercy,” And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn, to have due and forfeit of my bond. If you deny it, let the danger light, upon your charter and your city's freedom. You'll ask me why I rather choose to have a weight of carrion flesh than to receive three thousand ducats. I'll not answer that, but say it is my humour…" [Act IV i 36-43]. Other members of the court then try to persuade Shylock and change his mind with the chance for three times the amount of the bond, however, Shylock surprisingly refuses and this makes us consider that he may desire revenge more than his money.

Shylock makes a dramatic contribution to the father/daughter by being very strict and by forcing her to run away. In the play there is a scene where Jessica, his daughter wants to go to the masked ball but Shylock protests [Act II v].

Clearly Shylock is a very strict father in the way he treats Jessica, as a result she feels her life is miserable and therefore wants to run away. During this part of the play where Shylock appears [Act II v], he is considered to be loving, caring and sentimental however, is it his money or his daughter that he loves more? The next scene in which Shylock appears is the scene where he finds out that Jessica, his daughter, has run away, with all his money, to marry a Christian and to become a Christian herself [Act III i]. During this scene, again, we feel a number of different feelings for Shylock, considering him to be a hypocrite, evil and spiteful, but at times feeling sympathy for him. In his first speech about his daughter's absence, we begin to despise Shylock again as he states many cruel and malicious things about his daughter, again proving himself to have a vengeful nature. "…I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear; I would she were hears'd at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin…” [Act III i 82-84]. Again, this speech brings up the thought of whether Shylock cares about his money more than his daughter and it is plainly obvious which he cares for the most.

I think Shylock is presented as a stubborn and sincere Jew but over the cause of the play he changes which in turn makes the plot change significantly, we feel sympathy for Shylock is the fact that nearly every other character in the play refers to him as "Jew" rather than by his name, Shylock. "…Hie thee, gentle Jew…and say there is much kindness in the Jew…" [Act I iii 169] but then we don’t feel any sympathy when he talks about taking Antonio’s flesh; "…An equal pound of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken in what part of your body pleaseth me…"[Act I iii 145-146].

Throughout the whole play, he has quite clearly proven himself to have a vengeful nature, to be a man with a grudge, two-faced, a hypocrite, a deceitful schemer, obsessed with the law, although clever too, ill-mannered, evil, spiteful, malicious and certainly materialistic. Now we come to the conclusion which states the amount of times in which Shylock has been a sinner has tremendously over-powered the number of times when Shylock has been sinned against therefore he is definitely more of a sinner than sinned against.