It is clear from very early on in the play that Shylock harbours a deep resentment towards Christians, especially Antonio. We can see this in the way he talks to him. For example in Act 1 Scene 3, Shylock says,
“I hate him for he is a Christian.”
This comment shows Shylock’s prejudice towards Christians for, as far as we know at this point, with no apparent reason. However as the scene progresses we can start to see the reason for Shylock’s hatred: the years of abuse he and other members of the Jewish faith had suffered at the hand of the native Christian Venetians. We can see much of the hatred is reserved for Antonio in particular when, speaking in a soliloquy, talks of how Antonio ruins his business by lending interest-free money to people and that if he can he will take some form of revenge and will:
“Feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him,”
This show that Shylock has hated Antonio for a very long time and we start to see the extent to which he does hate Antonio when he turns down the offer of three times the amount of the loan in the courtroom scene since when he learned that his daughter, Jessica had eloped with a Christian man, Lorenzo and stolen gold and possessions he was reported as running down a street, yelling:
“O my daughter! O my ducats!”
In my opinion this suggests that Shylock cares equally for his wealth as he does his own daughter. This shows how much he hates Antonio because he cares more for revenge then for wealth and in turn, more for revenge than for his only child.
I feel that the reason for Shylock’s bitterness and hatred towards Antonio and the Christians in general stems from of abuse and taunts, mainly from Antonio and his friends, Solanio, Salerio and Gratiano. We first hear of this abuse in Act One Scene Three during Shylock’s speech during discussion with Antonio and Bassanio:
“You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog, and spit upon my Jewish gaberdine…you come to me, and you say, ‘Shylock, we would have moneys’-you say so; You that did void your rheum upon my beard, and foot me as you spurn a stranger cur…I’ll lend you thus much moneys?”
It is this abuse that motivates Shylock in his desire for revenge, and when he sees his opportunity in the unpaid bond, he takes advantage of this glorious opportunity. We know that the bond is purely an act of revenge from Shylock’s reply when asked by Salerio, what he would do with a pound of flesh, to which he answered,
“If it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge.”
In later speech in Act Three Scene One, he talks of the Jews and the Christians’ common humanity and how he is seeking revenge after following Christian example:
“Hath a Jew not eyes? Hath not a Jew hands,
organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same
food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases,
healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter
and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If
you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?
And if you wrong us, do we not revenge? If we are like you in the
rest, we will resemble you in that.”
This is Shylock speaking to Salerio and Solanio, trying to tell them that a Christian is not above a Jew and a Jew is no less human. This also shows how bitter Shylock has become that he has also become as prejudiced against Christians as Antonio and his friends are against Jews, as he sees Christians as a single entity who all stand against him and his people.
Another reason I feel Shylock deserves our sympathies is how lonely he must be as he only had his daughter, Jessica who ran away. As well as feeling upset and lonely after Jessica running away, he must have felt betrayed as his only child, his own flesh and blood has eloped with a Christian, one of the “enemy”, as well as hearing that Jessica had exchanged one of his most treasured possessions for a monkey.
A final reason I believe Shylock is justified in his desire for vengeance is that he was fully and legally entitled to claim his bond and was tricked out of what he was owed by technicalities.
To conclude, I feel that although Shylock is embittered towards the world and driven purely by revenge, I think he was driven to this by years of prejudice and abuse. I therefore feel Shylock deserves out sympathies.
