The Merchant of Venice Essay

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GCSE Coursework-Shakespeare

The Merchant of Venice

Though Shylock is intended to be the villain of the play, he is also portrayed to be quite human. Discuss how Shakespeare allows the audience to see both sides of his character and to what effect?

During ‘The Merchant of Venice’, Shakespeare allows the audience to see both sides to Shylock, although one side of Shylock may be more obvious than another. Shakespeare manipulates the audience’s view of Shylock by: the word choice involved during Shylock ‘s speech in Act III scene 1, when trying to show the similarities between Jews and every other human, the reactions of other characters in the play towards Shylock, and the prejudice views against Jews in the 16th century.  Another factor that contributed greatly to how Shylock was seen was the type of play Shakespeare wrote. It was intended to be a comedy and therefore Shylock was intended to look like a certain type of character. All of these elements effected not only the depiction of Shylock's character but also the story of the play and the main themes, for example conflict.

One way that was instantly portrayed to the reader, as Shylock to be a villain was the fact he was a Jew, and the actions Shylock took when loaning money to people. These actions include lending loans on which he charges interest. For example, when arriving to ask for a loan, and finding out Shylock charges interest, Antonio states that what he does as, “An evil soul producing holy witness / Is like a villain with a smiling cheek”, (Act I, Scene 3, line 96-97). By allowing the reader to see this reaction of Antonio towards Shylock's actions, and the fact that Antonio was supposedly the “good man” of the play, Shakespeare influences the audience’s view of Shylock's actions to be similar of the reactions of Antonio towards Shylock. Therefore Shakespeare creates the image of Shylock to be villainous. This impression that the audience gets of Shylock is quite near to the beginning of the play, and so this impression seems to stay with us throughout. But not only does the villainous view of Shylock effect himself, but also the story and the events that take place in the rest of the play, for example the outcome of the trial.  By making Shylock look like the villain of the play, and Antonio to look like the “good man”, Shakespeare has also effected the importance of the themes, one in particular, conflict and this conflict arises between Antonio and Shylock due to the many differences in the characters, and these conflicts also add to the story.

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        Another way in which Shakespeare allowed the audience to see Shylock as a villain was by a plot in the play, the bond. One specific aspect of the bond allows Shakespeare to portray Shylock as a villain, by the punishment Antonio would suffer if he broke the bond “a pound of flesh”, chosen by Shylock. The idea of using this in the bond makes the reader think that Shylock could be quite gruesome and abnormal-which is often related with villains. Here, Shakespeare manipulates the reader’s reaction towards Shylock by using a plot of the play.

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