You can sympathise with shylock’s cruel temperament and unmerciful nature, as he has been excluded from Christian society and mocked for his religion. He is continuously scolded and ridiculed by the not so perfect idealists, ‘hie thee, gentle Jew. The Hebrew will turn Christian, he grows kind’. He seems in modern day terms an average person, money seeking and focused on bringing people down, one would think that Shylock is ideal for modern society and that he suited for a co-operate company. Although in Venetian society he is recognised as a Jew through the work he does. He seems quite successful in that he has gained money through hard work and he is cunning in his approach to the bond. His attitude towards it is one in which he will not be humiliated, ‘to buy this favour, I extend this friendship. If he will take it, so; if not adieu.’ Antonio then accepts Shylocks bond through the intension of extending a false friendship.
The Christians are continuously represented as the ‘perfection’. When the Christians cease to withhold this image and Shylock starts to over power the Christians, they start to unravel and reveal themselves. The audience sees Bassanio fall apart when he hears the news of Antonio: ‘I freely told you all the wealth I had ran through my veins: I was a gentleman. And then I told you true, and yet dear lady, rating myself at nothing, you shall see how much I have braggart.’ Bassanio here confesses to Portia just how much he boasted his money and just how much he truly has and how he truly came across it.
Shylock seems hidden behind a mask. At one point he is spineless and wishes for his daughter’s death in place of his money and then he appears concerned about his daughter’s choice in marriage. When Bassanio and Gratanio wish to trade the lives of their wives for the life of Antonio he sounds vaguely sympathetic, ‘These be the Christian husbands! I have a daughter: would any of the stock of Brabbas had been her husband, rather than a Christian!’ In Venetian society it was probably best for Shylock to hide, as he was not supposed to express an opinion but to practice his religion quietly and lend money (the Christian Venetians were not allowed to bank by law).
Shylock is portrayed as everything a Christian is not; he is money-possessive and shows no human feelings or emotions. The Venetian Christians give the impression of being idealistic citizens, in the way that they are the majority religion and show their religion freely. They are very open and have ‘sophisticated’ parties involving aristocrats. Shylock looks upon these parties as unpleasant and is overly protective when he hears of one of these parties, ‘What, are these masques? Hear you me, Jessica, lock up the doors and when you hear the drum and the vile squealing of the wry-neck fife, clamber not you up to the casements and then nor thrust your head into the public street to gaze on Christian fools with varnished faces’. Shylock shows no interest in the communal gatherings and is completely set on avoiding them. In this way Shylock can be portrayed as villainous, but he could be again hiding from Venetian society.
The Christians appear very hypocritical in parts of the play. When the Christians beg for Antonio’s life through mercy and plead with the Jew, they contradict themselves when they catch the Jew out; the Christians show no mercy: ‘he hath refused it in the open court. He shall have merely justice and his bond.’ Portia, whilst under the disguise of a young judge called Balthazar, shows a stern cruelty towards the Jew. In doing so she makes herself appear very artificial and completely hypocritical. The Christians maintain this appearance by continuing with their romance and ceasing to remember Shylock or what happened. It gives the impression of being a cliché.
Whilst Shylock is being portrayed as a typical villain, Shakespeare is also stereotyping the Christians; Antonio is the loyal friend who comes through for Bassanio. And Bassanio is the romantic who is madly in love and desperately seeks ‘fair Portia’. Shakespeare then mocks the idealistic image by shattering the two friend’s relationship. This again mocks Bassanio who tries to appear noble and just but this image crumbles as Bassanio always appears false. In his attempt to gain he again appears artificial in that he says, ‘In Belmont is a lady richly left, and she is fair,’ this is reflection of Bassanio’s character he reveals himself as a bit of a gold-digger. He describes Portia through her fortune and then her beauty. Even then he still appears a bit vein by only commenting on her looks and money.
Shakespeare manages to trap the audience into believing that the Christian’s perfect life is always so, he then turns this all upside down and makes the play very realistic like an insight to real life, the audience sees the characters develop and watch as they all start to feel hate, sorrow, fear and anguish. At the beginning Antonio and Portia are very self pitying. Antonio appears very pathetic when he says, ‘In sooth I know not why I am so sad,’ he seems attention seeking. Portia overemotional about her life, ‘by my troth, Nerissa, my little body is aweary of this great world.’ This is again attention seeking.
In ‘the Merchant of Venice’ Shakespeare is continuously creating falsehoods between the characters. He also creates bonds and barriers between friends and lovers. By doing so he keeps the audience in ravelled in the play. Shakespeare portrays Shylock excellently and develops his character to be a hateable and disposable character, whilst making it easy for the audience to sympathise.
Jessica Woodward
