In the Elizabethan period it was a literary traditionthat Jews were portrayed in a derogatory way. Write about Shakespeare’s presentation of Shylock throughout the play “Merchant if Venice”.

In the Elizabethan period it was a literary tradition that Jews were portrayed in a derogatory way. Write about Shakespeare’s presentation of Shylock throughout the play “Merchant if Venice”.

In 1599 England was a Christian country and many disliked, often despised, people of other races or religions, especially Jews. But is this shown through the literature of the time? In Shakespeare’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’ a Jewish moneylender, (this being a typical stereotype of the age due to some Jews being obsessed with money and several being moneylenders) Shylock, is involved in several Christians lives. Shylock, after lending one of the main characters, the Merchant of Venice, Antonio, three thousand ducats asked for a strange bond, which defines his character, but is his character shown in a derogatory way?

At the time Shakespeare wrote ‘The Merchant of Venice’ Jews were outlawed in Britain and in many Christian European Counties, unless they where willing to convert to Christianity. In fact practising Jews had been officially excluded from Britain for three hundred years at this time. King Phillip IV of France was one of the first to excluded Jews and did so in the fourteenth century. Throughout history there are many examples of anti-Semitic behaviour by Christians. For example during the People’s Crusade, flocks of Christians, on their way to the Holy Lands, changed their course in Germany so they could destroy Jews’ property, possessions and actually killed many Jews. This treatment of the Jews unfortunately is not all in the ‘ancient’ past; also in the Second World War, only 50 years ago, the Nazi Party killed and tortured millions of Jews in the countries they held control of.

When Shakespeare wrote ‘The Merchant of Venice’ public disapproval of Jews was high and other playwrights had capitalised on this, and wrote plays involving Jews, many of which became quite popular. One example of this was Shakespeare’s own friend, Christopher Marlowe, and his play ‘The Jew of Malta’. This is one reason why Shakespeare wrote ‘The Merchant of Venice’ at this time, as the audience wanted to see plays involving Jews, and so he could hopefully emulate the response that the previous plays about Jews received. Also at this time a much talked about, real life trial of a Jew was taking place. Queen Elizabeth’s Portuguese doctor was accused of treason; it was claimed that he attempted to poison her. In 1594 he was found guilty and executed, although after his death it became known that he was probably innocent. This is another reason why Shakespeare wrote ‘The Merchant of Venice’ at this time, as the audience would be interested in a play about a cruel, heartless Jew. Like several of Shakespeare plays, such as ‘Macbeth’, and his historical plays, the idea behind ‘The Merchant of Venice’ was not an original one. The basic story line can be found in a collection of Italian stories, entitled ‘Il Pecarone’ (‘The Simpleton’) by Ser Giovanni Fiorentino in 1558.

Money lending for profit was illegal until 1571, due to the majority of Christians feeling that it was a sin. By this time though businessmen and noblemen needed money and were forced to borrow it, often with extortionate interest. Money lending interested the Elizabethan public, and this may have been another reason why Shakespeare wrote 'The Merchant of Venice' at this time.

In Shakespeare’s 'The Merchant of Venice' there are four main aspects to Shylock’s role in the play: his role as a moneylender, his role as a father, his treatment by the Christians and his behaviour at his trial. These four aspects of the play describe Shylock’s character and show whether Shakespeare did portrayed Shylock in a derogatory manner.

Shakespeare’s interpretation of Shylock’s role as a moneylender is very important as the fact that he is a moneylender defines his character and, in turn, effects his treatment by other characters due to Christian hatred of moneylenders at this time. Shylock feels that his profession is a respectable and honest one, while the Christians argue that it’s a sin. In Shylock’s first scene (1:3) he refers to two stories from the Book of Genesis in which Jacob tricks people (his own brother in the first story) out of what is rightfully theirs, showing making profit out of others misfortune is righteous:

“This was a way to thrive, and he was the best:

And thrift is blessing, if the man do not steal” 1:3:85-86

This extract implies that the Jews have the opposite view to Christians, that not only is thrift, profiting from others, not a sin but their interpretation these stories states that it is blessed. The Christians felt that money lending was a sin and hated Shylock due to this and because he was a Jew. Antonio and Bassanio nevertheless still needed to borrow money from Shylock despite these feelings, and Shylock is the first to notice the irony.

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“This was a way to thrive, and he was the best:

And thrift is blessing, if the man do not steal” 1:3:85-86

“Fair sir, you spat on me on Wednesday last…

You call’d me dog – and for these courtesies

I lend you thus much moneys?” 1:3:22-25

Shylock hates Antonio, not only on principle, as the Christians hate him, but also due to Antonio’s own money lending activities and this, his cardinal sin, of charging no interest. Yet here he is on the verge of lending him three thousand ducats. His hatred of Antonio is shown in the first words he speaks to Antonio on his entrance in act 1 scene 3:

“I hate him for he is a Christian;

But more for that in low simplicity

He lends out money gratis, and brings down

The rate of usance here with us in Venice.” 1:3:38-41

Even now, Shylock’s hatred can be recognised, firstly upon principle of religion, and secondly hatred on behalf of his business, which may be the most important thing to Shylock apart from his beloved religion. The burden of his race gives Shylock both a sense of righteous indignation and an overwhelming sense of superiority. By Antonio lowering the rate of usance, Shylock feels threatened by the Christian, whose religion does not force him into the caste of moneylender. Antonio is therefore treated by Shylock with a sense of envy and Shylock’s secret desire to have Antonio’s money and influence. These facts separate him from the Christian cast, throughout both the play and his life.

In Elizabethan England the general public, therefore Shakespeare’s audience, was extremely xenophobic. They held little appreciation for other races and religions and the treatment of Shylock in 'The Merchant of Venice' is typical of how a Jew would have been treated. Race, religion and xenophobia are conscious features throughout of the play; xenophobia is one of the main motifs in 'The Merchant of Venice', the other being greed. At the beginning of the play, when Antonio and Bassanio ask Shylock for the three thousand ducats, Shylock catalogues things that Antonio has done to him which might stop him from lending the money:

“You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,

And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine,

…And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur” 1:3:107-114

As Shylock has been treated like this throughout his life, it has seemed to make him quite bitter, and may start to explain why he asked for such a bond. Shylock later loses his servant, Launcelot Gobbo, due to Launcelot not wanting to work for a Jew.

“To be ruled by

my conscience, I should stay with the Jew my

master, who (God bless this mark!) is a kind of devil;

and, to run away from the Jew, I should be ruled

by the fiend, who (saving you reverence)

is the devil himself” 2:2:21-26

Launcelot is trying to decide whether or not to leave Shylock. He personifies his warring views, calling one his conscience (against him leaving) and the other the fiend (for him leaving), and in the end he agrees with the fiend (“The fiend gives the more friendly counsel” 2:2:29-30). This is another point in the play where Shylock is persecuted due to his faith as it is implied that he is a fair master.

At the point when Shylock must have been feeling his lowest, after losing his daughter and his money, which many people believed he cared about more than his daughter, Solanio and Salerio are seen describing the events and mocking Shylock:

“I never heard a passion so confus’d,

So strange, out rageous, and so variable,

As the dog Jew did utter in the streets;” 2:9:12-14

After hearing about his daughter’s defection Shylock, apparently, as the information comes from a biased third party, started to cry out for his daughter, his money and revenge, explaining why Solanio said the cry was “so variable”. He seems in this passage to care more about his ducats and jewels than his own daughter and wants revenge on his daughter. When Shylock does eventually emerge, he has to reply to the sarcasm of Salarino and Solanio, which turns into a ruthless verbal attack. Shylock returns with a timeless speech:

“I am a Jew. Hath

not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs,

dimensions, senses, affections, passions?” 3:1:54-56

This speech evokes sympathy from an audience, which might not have felt much before this. This speech is when Shylock seems at his weakest, it seems a desperate speech from the heart, not the hard, sarcastic and quick-witted comments that he has used before. Here Shylock is just asking why the Christians treat him as less than human even though he is the same as them, and this is greeted by laughter on the part of the Christians who consider that even entertaining such a thought would be beneath them.

Shylock is not portrayed as the model father, we assume this from his one scene with his daughter, Jessica, and of course the later scene after she has stolen his money. The first is not an ideal scene to draw upon, as Shylock seems inattentive, but may simply be worried about business. Throughout this scene, Shylock does seem preoccupied with business matters, as he remarks he is going to:

“I’ll go in hate, to feed upon

The prodigal Christian” 2:5:14-15

He is referring, of course, to Antonio, the Christian’s Christian. By saying this in the presence of his daughter Jessica suggests that he would often share information about his work with her, but unfortunately, we can only comment on what is seen in this scene and this is limited to a snapshot of their relationship. This is, of course, Shylock’s portrayal as an ill-attentive, restrictive father. Many even say he treats her ‘like a slave’, as he calls her in between the conversations and gets annoyed when she does not respond immediately:

“As thou hast done with me – What, Jesssica! –

And I sleep and snore, and rend apparel out –

Why, Jessica, I say!” 2:5:4-6

Unfortunately, other evidence for Shylock’s portrayal as a father is sparse in this scene, as Shylock has only to order his daughter to lock up and not watch the Masque ball. Yet Jessica’s parting words are bitter:

“Farewell; and if my fortune be not cross’d,

I have a father, you a daughter lost.” 2:5:56-57

suggesting she has had to put up with years of hardship and that he did not listen to her views. Although it could be argued that Shylock seems to believe he acts with his daughter’s best interests in mind.

In Act two scene eight there is much evidence for Shylock valuing money over his daughter, his internal conflict is portrayed by his cry of, “My daughter! O my ducats!” This evidence is intriguing, even though its comes from a third party and so might not be totally reliable. The sheer inhumanity of valuing ducats over daughter, or even the contemplation of such a point, must leave the audience reeling, thus continuing the roller coaster of the audience’s feeling towards Shylock: hating him one minute and pitying him the next. This skill is one of Shakespeare’s famous talents, the way he manages to toy with the audience’s emotions.

In Shylock’s next scene he faces the bombardment from Salarino and Solanio and utters the famous “Hath not a Jew…” speech. He also faces a new dislike from the audience due to the his words:

“I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels

in her ear” 3:1:83-85

This is extremely revealing, and shows furthermore that Shylock cannot forgive; he is unable to forgive the Christians for what they do to him and now he cannot forgive or understand his daughter. He is also so greedy he would prefer his daughter dead in order to regain his jewels that she stole from him. Audiences are often shocked and appalled by Shylock wanting revenge on his own daughter and wishing her dead, but in the Jewish faith the belief “an eye for an eye” is widely held. So if Shylock was brought up with that belief it is understandable why he should wish revenge on Jessica.

The bond that Shylock asks for the loan to Antonio results in the trial at the end of the play, Act 4 Scene 1, due to Antonio not back the loan in the agreed time (three months). Shylock agreed to lend three thousand ducats to Antonio. As part of the agreement, Shylock insists that if his money is not returned within a designated period of time he’ll be entitled to cut exactly one pound of flesh from Antonio’s body. Although it is not the final scene, it is the finale of the “The Merchant of Venice”, where all the perplexing sub-plots and the main storyline are pulled together to create an explosive ending.

One of the reasons Act 4 Scene 1 is so dramatically effective is due to the tension created between Shylock and Antonio. At the very beginning of the scene, a slight sense of injustice is induced due to the fact that, as it is implied and usually interpreted, Antonio is seated and Shylock is standing before the Duke. In a Venetian court of justice, the accused is standing with the accuser seated, not the reverse. This gives the impression that Shylock is the one on trial when in fact it is Antonio, who is resigned to his seemingly inevitable fate;

“To suffer with a quietness of spirit” 4:1:12

Strong emotive language is used to emphasise this point - “Poor merchants flesh”(4:1:23) to remind the jury that Antonio has suffered enough. As well as the stress caused from the trial, Antonio’s greatest source of wealth, his argosies, sank earlier on in the plot, causing him a great deal of anxiety and losing him a substantial amount of money. These reasons make the audiences sympathies lie with Antonio, even though Shylock is the defendant. Shylock soon makes it clear that he now has no interest in the money now that his has the chance to cut Antonio’s flesh,

“If every ducat in six thousand ducats

Were in six parts, and every part a ducat,

I would not draw them. I would have my bond.” 4:1:85-88

and that he wants the bond for no more reason then that he wants it, and that he hates Antonio.

“So I can give no reason, nor I will,

More than a lodg’d hate and a certain loathing

I bear Antonio,” 4:1:59-61

This makes Shylock seem to be villainous and selfish, as he wants to kill someone and to kept their flesh just because he hates them, that and no other reason apart from him wanting it (“say it is my humour” 4:1:43). To add to this image, Shylock starts to sharpen his knife on the sole of his shoe (“whet thy knife” 4:1:121), in preparation to murder Antonio. This action brings grotesque and gory images to the audiences’ mind, as now they are expecting to see blood. Until now they most likely believed that ‘the good guys’ would win, saving Antonio, consequently having Shylock in the role as ‘the bad guy’ and villain in this simplified version of the story. This action now questions their believes and changes their perceptions. Images of blood and horror are continued when Gratiano portrays images of wolves –

“Governed a wolf…bloody, starved and ravenous” 4:1:134/138

This causes dramatic thoughts and images to be conjured in the minds of the audience, images of a bloodthirsty monster that will stop at nothing short of murder. Also wolves are the typically the ‘bad guys’ in fairytales, referring again to the fact that many may perceive Shylock as the ‘bad guy’ if the story is simplified. Previous to Shylock sharpening his knife on the sole of his foot, Nerissa enter the court dressed like a lawyers clerk, and following the action Portia entered as a ‘doctor of law’. After hearing the facts of the case she decide that the law states that he can have the pound of flesh he is entitled to. Upon hearing this Shylock is overjoyed;

“O noble judge! O excellent young man!”

4:1:245

This shows how masochistic he is, being so ecstatic at being allowed to cut a piece of someone’s flesh off. The use of exclamation marks show how ecstatic and overjoyed he is. It also proves again that Shylock is serious about cutting Antonio’s flesh, and that now he is given the chance he is willing to do so. Furthermore he is so ready and prepared to cut his flesh he even ahs the scales ready to weight the pound of flesh

“Are there balance here to weight

The flesh?

I have them ready” 4:1:253-254

Despite Portia’s request Shylock is to sadistic to help Antonio once the flesh has been cut, and refuses to hire a surgeon to make sure Antonio will not bleed to death;

“Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge,

To stop his wounds, lest he bleed to death.

…I cannot…’tis not in the bond” 4:1:255-260

The trial goes on until Portia states that the bond entitles Shylock to cut Antonio’s flesh, and does not entitle him to shed his blood. Shylock quickly retreats and tries to receive the three thousand ducats instead, but Portia states another law, which claims in illegal for a foreigner to plot against a Venicien, therefore Shylock broke that law. As punishment he must give Antonio half of what he owns, give the half to Lornezo and Jessica when he dies and to become a Christian.

In Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice”, many feel Shylock, a Jewish main character, is portrayed in a derogatory way. In the Elizabethan period it was a literary tradition that Jews were portrayed in a derogatory way, but did Shakespeare follow the literacy traditions of others.

At the beginning of the play, in Shylock first scene (1:3) the audience faces a split of conscience – listen to the reasons way he should not lend Antonio and Bassanio the

three thousand ducats ( the ‘You call me misbeliever…’ speech 1:3:102-125) and feel pity for him or pay more attention to the bond he insists on and feel unsympathetic towards him. Though throughout the play the audience is put through a ‘roller coaster of emotions towards Shylock: hating him one minute and pitying him the next’ this original feeling normally sticks with the independent audience member right through the play.

The play additionally teaches us about modern day society. Despite Shakespeare’s works being written around five hundred years ago the messages in his plays still have meaning to today’s populace. “The Merchant of Venice” makes us more aware of racism and xenophobia in today’s society and how greed effects all of us, and also the basic, raw message in most of Shakespeare’s plays, that love and grow and conquer any situation.

In answer to the title I do feel that Shakespeare portrayed Shylock in a derogatory way. He was a at times cruel, selfish and vile, as well as being sadistic and masochistic over the pound of flesh, with him also being a strong stereotype to Jews of the day, being money obsessed and being a moneylender. Though despite this through the play you can still feel pity and sympathy for him, and see how society as a whole had turned him into the vindictive and bitter person he was in the play.