Shylock: Victim or Villain?

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Shylock: Victim or Villain?

The question frequently asked after reading The Merchant of Venice is: is Shylock a victim or a villain? The best way to investigate this question is to explore the text of the play to find out what Shakespeare wanted us to believe.

        Life for the Jews in the Elizabethan period was often very hard. In England Jews were viewed with distaste, suspected of a number of heinous crimes such as child murder. They were also distrusted by Christians for the rejection of Christ as the Messiah and because they did not lend money gratis. Many Christians were financially beholden to the Jews.

        Roderigo Lopez was a Jew of Portuguese decent, who fled to England in 1559 where he worked as a physician. His practice grew, and in time he was appointed physician to the Queen of England. But the Earl of Essex found what he believed to be evidence that Lopez had accepted a bribe from the King of Spain to poison Queen Elizabeth. It is true that Lopez had underhand dealings with Spanish spies, but it is to this day unproven if Lopez ever intended any harm towards the Queen. However, he was found guilty and in 1996 he was hung, drawn and quartered for a crime he probably was never going to commit. The Merchant of Venice was written two years later in 1596, and the treatment of Shylock is similar to that of Lopez. Shylock is shunned by the Christians and treated as an outcast. Possibly, Shakespeare wrote this play as the Lopez case was fresh in people’s minds, and he knew that a play about a detested Jew would be of great interest.

In Italy, where The Merchant of Venice is set, the Jews were being greatly prejudiced against; they were being expelled from the country, they were made to wear demoralising items such as ‘badges of shame’ and Jewish synagogues were turned into Christian churches. They were made to wear cloaks, caps or badges which indicated that they were beneath the Christians, and they were condemned to live in just one part of the city, the Ghettos, which were often of bad condition. The only place they were allowed to commune with Christians was on the Rialto where they could do business. The Rialto is where we first meet Shylock.

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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 ...

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