Many people say that Shakespeare drew ambiguous characters, and that Shylock is neither a victim nor a villain. In fact Shakespeare’s characters are very fairly created, nobody is entirely evil, none entirely good, which makes for greater realism. Shakespeare seems to deliberately try to make it hard for the audience to decide if Shylock is a victim or a villain, as he does with all the characters. For example, Antonio appears to be the perfect Christian, but is un-Christian towards Shylock. Bassanio is more feckless, but he learns through his mistakes. When Shakespeare first brings Shylock onto the stage he shows us someone who, at first sight, appears to be a stereotypical Jewish character: vengeful and grasping. Shylock’s assertion that Antonio is a ‘good’ man refers not to Antonio’s moral standing, but to his financial standing, and Shylock later says of Antonio:
“How like a fawning publican he looks.
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.”
This makes Shylock seem to be an unpleasant character who dislikes Antonio just because he is a Christian and has different moral views, but Shakespeare later shows us that Antonio’s treatment of Shylock is just as bad, for he hates Shylock for exactly the same reason; that he is of a different religion: ‘…he hath disgrac’d me, and hinder’d me half a million,” Shylock says of Antonio, “laugh’d at my losses, mock’d at my gains, scorned my Nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies, and what’s his reason? I am a Jew.”
When Shylock justifies usury by quoting from the Bible, Antonio also says Shylock is like a devil citing scripture for his own purpose, “An evil soul producing holy witness…” and “a villain with a smiling cheek. A goodly apple rotten at the heart’. Shylock reminds Antonio of the names he has called him in the past: a ‘misbeliever’ a ‘cut-throat dog’ and ‘all for use of that which is mine own’. In other words Antonio hates Shylock for loaning him and others money. Shakespeare makes the injustice which Shylock feels clear later in the speech:
“What should I say to you? Should I not say,
Hath a dog money? Is it possible
A cur can lend three thousand ducats? or
Shall I bend low, and in a bondman’s key
With bated breath, and whisp’ring humbleness
Say this: Fair sir, you spet on me on Wednesday last;
You spurn’d me such a day; another time
You call’d me dog: and for these courtesies
I’ll lend you thus much moneys.”
This speech shows that Shylock feels, rightly so, that Antonio’s treatment of him is unjust; Antonio treats him very badly, but then expects him to lend him money.
Another factor which induces sympathy towards Shylock is the scene in which Shylock talks about the ring his partner Leah gave him, ‘it was my turkis, I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor: I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys.’ However, Bassanio the Christian gives away the ring Portia gave him without too much regret, and this shows that Shylock is definitely not lacking in emotion or love, and in comparison shows Bassanio in a poor light.
In the courtroom Bassanio also says to Antonio:
“…life itself, my wife, and all the world,
Are not with me esteem’d above thy life.”
Shylock finds the Christian view on marriage shocking, as he feels that husbands should give all to their wives, and love them more than anybody else:
“These be the Christian husbands: I have a daughter,
Would any of the stock of Barrabas
Had been her husband, rather than a Christian.”
This tells us that perhaps Shylock has higher morals than Bassanio, and indeed though the lead casket stated that Bassanio should ‘give and hazard all he hath’, Bassanio is putting his friend in front of his wife which is challenging the vows he has recently made.
One of the most important scenes in The Merchant of Venice is the court scene, as this reveals a lot about Shylock and the other key characters. The overwhelming feeling is that Shylock wants justice. He lives in a community of Christians, who shun him at every opportunity and treat him like a dog. Maybe Shylock does act villainously and inhumanely by demanding a pound of flesh, but that could be because he’s been victimised for so many years. Shylock wants justice for justice sake, even though he knows all he will ever gain is his moral victory: “…if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge…”. There seems to be great bitterness in this speech, as is understandable; Bassanio might say that Antonio is the best of men, but although Antonio treats Bassanio with kindness and friendship, he treats Shylock quite the opposite. Shylock goes on to say:
“The pound of flesh which I demand of him
Is dearly bought, ‘tis mine, and I will have it.
If you deny me: fie upon your Law
There is no force in the decrees of Venice;
I stand for judgement, answer. Shall I have it?”
So Shylock is after justice, a justice which has been denied him and his kind for a long time.
When Portia enters the court disguised as Balthasar, one of the first things she says is, “Which is the Merchant here? and which is the Jew?” Shakespeare has put that comment in for a reason; he might be saying that neither is better than the other, and in the laws of equality they are both the same.
During the court scene Portia makes an important speech:
“The quality of mercy is not strain’d…
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes,
‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest…
It is an attribute to God himself…”
At face value, Portia is saying that Shylock should be merciful towards Antonio, and release him from the bond, but Shakespeare is also trying to put across a message that all mankind should be merciful and accept mercy, and that nobody is entirely good or evil but a combination of both.
In conclusion I feel that Shylock is more a victim than a villain, although he does have a lot of unpleasant qualities. However, he seems to be emotional and has a strong sense of morality, as is shown when he talks about Leah and his views on marriage. The audience feels sympathy for Shylock because it appears everybody is against him, even his own daughter. Nothing seems to go right for him. In Shylock, Shakespeare has created a character who is a villain in appearance but a victim at heart.