Shylock is the newly considered main character of the Merchant of Venice he is a Venetian usurer Jew who has one daughter called Jessica who betrays him and elopes with the Christian Lorenzo. Shylock’s wife died long ago and all he has in her remembrance is a ring that is his most treasured possession. He is a passionate Jew and is extremely proud of his ‘sacred nation’ his religion is his life and he has been ‘spat upon’, insulted and disrespected by Christians particularly a Merchant called Antonio. Shylock stands strongly by his convictions and ‘bears an ancient grudge’ against Antonio as a result. He is a successful usurer and he takes great pride in his ‘well won thrift’. Shylock also appears to be a bitter, caniving and vengeful man searching for retribution for the pain that life has thrown at him. He believes he is as, good if not better than any Christian and this has made him a twisted and resentful man who seizes his opportunity to get revenge on his nemesis.
When Bassanio is in need of financial assistance from Antonio all of his money is tied up in ships abroad they are forced to turn to their local usurer Shylock. In a ‘merry sport’ Shylock offers to not charge any interest, as he knows Antonio’s disapproval of it and in its place they agree to a bond that if Antonio cannot pay the sum of three thousand ducats in three months then he must take a forfeit. This forfeit was allowing Shylock to take one pound of his flesh from wherever on Antonio’s body he chooses, Shylock chooses to take the flesh nearest his heart. This seemed at the time to be a friendly joke but when it came down to Antonio being unable to pay Shylock snapped at his opportunity to reap the vengeance he longed for and demanded his bond. This was a perfect demonstration of what life as a Jew in Elizabethan times could drive a man to, or was it the cynical, evil Shylock’s, sick and twisted scheme all along?
Antonio and how he treats Shylock is the pinnacle of Christian attitudes towards Jews in Elizabethan society. He treats Shylock as Jews were supposed to be treated, he is frequently insulting Shylock, he calls him a dog, spurns him and even spits upon his Jewish gabardine. When confronted about this by Shylock who asks why he should lend Antonio the money when he has done such things to him Antonio calmly replies. ‘I am as like to call thee so again, to spit on thee and to spurn thee too’ he has even paid Shylock the ultimate insults by calling him a devil and damning him to hell. This statement shows the exact feelings that Christians felt for Jews in the time of Shakespeare, that they have done such things to Jews before and they will do them again because they can, because they are better and because they are Christian. This gives them the right to do what they want whenever they want to anyone who was not a Christian too.
After Jessica has ran away with Lorenzo, Shylock goes to meet with Tubal however before Tubal arrives he speaks with Solanio and Salerio, who are two friends of Antonio and Bassanio. During the course of their conversation Solanio and Salerio frequently taunt and tease Shylock about the departure of his daughter Jessica and they also call him the ‘devil’ before he arrives. They didn’t deny and took no shame in the fact that they helped in his ‘daughter’s flight’ they imply that Shylock deserved the betrayal because he is a Jew. They go on to call him ‘old carrion’ and say that his daughter was barely his ‘flesh and blood’ and they were completely different. Everything they said would have been a sharp twist of the knife driven into him by his daughter’s desertion of him and Solanio and Salerio didn’t even care to contemplate the effect their cold words may have on the defenceless Shylock. Also in this scene Shylock learns that Jessica had exchanged his prized ring that she stole for a monkey this further feeds his building rage. He has a sinister sense of happiness when he discovers that two of Antonio’s ships have sunk and proclaims that Antonio can ‘look to his bond’.
In his defence Shylock unleashes a memorable and momentous speech, reminding Solanio and Salerio of his humanity. He explains all of the ways which Antonio has wronged him just because he is a Jew and then continues to ask what really is the difference between Christians and Jews? After all they are both human. He then says ‘if you prick us, do we not bleed’ and other such things to support his argument and then finally justifies his malicious bond by exclaiming ‘if a Jew wrong a Christian, revenge be his humility’. Therefore Shylock uses this ‘Christian example’ as a scapegoat for taking vengeance against Antonio. This speech shows us just how passionate Shylock is about his religion and about revenge against those who have hurt him and the Jewish nation as a Christian would be able to if the roles were reversed.
When three months since the bond was signed comes around none of Antonio’s ships have returned and it appears he must take his forfeit that will surely cause his demise, the matter is taken to the court for the trial scene. Shylock is begged to show mercy and remorse for Antonio and spare his life several times, but to no avail as he bluntly refuses demanding the ‘forfeit of my bond’ with a blatant disregard for life itself. Shylock is even offered up to three times the amount of money specified in his bond but still, he refuses claiming that even if were thirty-six thousand ducats ‘I would not draw, them I would have my bond’. The judge begs Shylock to show mercy one final time, which he refuses as he prepares to slice the flesh and get retribution for his people sticking precisely to his bond as Antonio waits in reluctant acceptance of the excruciating agony of his inevitable death. Then the judge informs Shylock that if he spill ‘ one drop of Christian blood’ then his goods would be confiscated, or if he cut any more or less than exactly one pound of flesh. She then says that his indirect attempt to seek the life of another citizen already means he must give half of his wealth to Antonio and half to the state and his life lays on Antonio’s mercy. Antonio does show mercy in letting Shylock keep his life and letting him keep Antonio’s half of the money but he must leave it to Jessica and Lorenzo on his death and as one final twist of the metaphoric knife that had been driven firmly into the chest of Shylock he must become a Christian. From the Christians perspective they were saving him but Shylock would have felt condemned to a fate worse than death and he left the court a broken man.
From this I can conclude that the reason for this change of attitude is the events that have happened since that has shaped the world, the attitudes in it and the way we look at it today. A contemporary audience Feels pitiful of Shylock because of the holocaust and because it is seen as cold and harsh (which is how they see Antonio for taking the one thing this man had left to live for) to persecute someone because of their religion nowadays. Also tolerance for other cultures has developed and religion plays a less important role in the lives of people today. The fact of the matter is that Shylock was persecuted because of his religion, as was every other non-Christian, but you must look beneath that to see that he truly was a villain. Shylock conjured a huge plan and exacted it with precision to kill Antonio, a man who did nothing that wasn’t accepted at the time and no different from what any other Christian would do. Antonio was saved by what could be construed as divine intervention and when his attempted murderer’s fate was placed in his hands he showed mercy. Then paid him the highest honour of becoming a Christian and a chance at what was at the time considered a real life, albeit not knowing the pain he was causing Shylock in the process. Yes Shylock wanted revenge, but for who? If every other Jew could get by under these circumstances then why couldn’t he? The only real reason Shylock wanted revenge was because of his daughter leaving him and he was enforcing his petty vengeance on the first person he got the opportunity to, and it was not true revenge either but a chance he saw in his bitter eyes and seized. Although Antonio was far from perfection, he was a better man than the devilish Shylock. Not because he was a Christian but because he showed ‘the quality of mercy’ to a man who had tried to end his life whereas Shylock could not show it to a man who merely threw the odd insult at him which was considered ordinary anyway.
Poetic justice was served on Shylock for his malice in an ironically cruel twist of fate.
