The Merchant of Venice - Shylock Villain or Victim?

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Jonathan Foxhall 11sw

The Merchant of Venice

Shylock Villain or Victim?  

In the Duke's opinion (Act IV Sc. 1) Shylock is"…an inhuman wretch." Do you agree? Do you fell that Shylock Receives "justice" at the end of the play?

The Merchant of Venice was written in 1598 and set in the late 16th century by William Shakespeare, and at the time it was written it was classed as a comedy this is because Shakespeare wrote for the common people, and they would have the same prejudices and attitudes of the day. The story is based on the ancient Christian Jewish hatred.  The Jews were looked down upon by the Christians, they saw them as scum but we don't really know why, perhaps it might be because the Jews were better business men than the Christians because as we see Shylock is a money lender (a merchant) a very wealthy man and is a successful business man but then we have Antonio who is a Christian merchant so people from the Christian religion would rather go to him than a Jewish merchant, because of the lies that Antonio had been spreading about Shylock saying that he is a liar he cannot be trusted. This leads on to whether Shylock is really this evil or that he had been made this way by the Christians abuse to him.

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Shylock was a typical Jewish merchant of his time most people did not trust him because all he cares about is his money and he is out to make as much money as he can by fair means or foul.   Shylock was a moneylender who caused much distress to people if they could not pay off the money that they loaned he would charge interest so he could make money off their loans.  

When Antonio borrows money off Shylock he says

"If you repay me not on such a day… let the forfeit be nominated for an ...

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