In Shakespeare times the main culture and religion was Christianity and not Jewish. This is the reason why in the play most characters are Christians and hate Jews. Money lending with interest is against Christian laws, and so the Jewish character Shylock is hated because of his actions against Christian law. A typical Shakespeare audience would think this play is more of a comedy than a tragedy; this is because the majority of the audience would be Christians, and so will laugh at the humiliation of Shylock. Examples of this are, ‘Devil’ and ‘Jew’, this is what he was to be called by the other Christian characters.
Shylock a high rank Jewish moneylender adores the interest that comes from his money lending, “No, not take interest, not as you would say directly interest”. This quote tells us that for this only time he is lending money without interest, but instead offers another deal to his lender, this would show Shylock as a villain, in the way that he must not let the idea of interest or something like it slip by him.
Other aspects of him being a villain are also proven, one of which is worse than his interest money lending, but is used by him to replace the interest, “A pound of flesh”, is what he calls it, this is horribly cruel and would certainly give him the identity of a villain. “A pound of flesh” taken from a man, is Shylock’s response to Antonio’s request not to deal with interest, the quote tells us that he instead of interest is taking a pound of flesh if there is a delay in the return of his money. He does this, only for the sake of revenge, to only feed his revenge against Antonio’s humiliations towards him.
Again proven as a villain, as his mercy wasn’t present, his mercy was no were to be seen. So eager to get his bond, he even rejected the offer of ten times the borrowed money, “I would have my bond”, this again tells us how cruel and eager he is in getting revenge, and that he will take nothing but his bond.
Shylock the so-called “Devil” enjoys torturing others, “I’ll torture him, I’m glad of it”, he proves his evilness by saying these words, even worse he admits that he is happy and glad of it, this is because of his greed for revenge.
Antonio however thinks he is worse than horrible. Shylocks name towards Antonio is not visible, but what is visible in his names place is “Jew” or “Devil”, this tell us that Antonio is purely against Shylock, because of what he does. This tells us that Antonio’s character is not sort of bright as well, but in fact can be cruel.
As well as strong evidence of him being a villain, there also is evidence of him being a victim, such as a betrayal from his daughter, when she steals his money and belongings, this tells us that not only do the Christians hate him, but his Jewish daughter also hates him and abandons their religion to join Christianity. Betrayal is one thing and discrimination is another, “hath not a Jew eyes”, hands, organs, dimensions…?”, this powerful quote tells us how innocent he is, and by giving these words, Shakespeare is trying to make his audience feel what Shylock feels.
He said the above quote during the court case, as a reason for his evilness and he wants to continue with his bond. For him to get revenge on a Christian, this means that he was a victim of a Christian deed towards him, but a villain during his deeds towards a Christian for revenge.
His greed for revenge makes his relationship with the other characters not good. The relationship between him and Bassanio is just as bad as the other characters; this is because he is Antonio’s friend and a fellow Christian, making him a complete opposite to Shylock. Other characters in the play have the same relationship with him as Bassanio and for the same reasons; his daughter a Jew also doesn’t have a clean relationship with him. Whereas he thinks his relationship with his daughter is a strong relationship, “I say my daughter is my flesh and my blood”, this quote gives us the idea that Shylock is thinking that his daughter will back him up and stay on his Jewish side against the rival Christians.
My opinion on Shylock is that at the beginning of the play he is seen as a victim of discrimination and humiliation, this is probably because the audience haven’t realised or learned that he is a Jew, and that he can be as horrible as someone who creates a ‘pound of flesh’ bond, and it is from this point that the audience strongly feel that he is a villain.
However I think he is neither a villain or a victim, this is because by looking at his behaviour through out the play and by the equal number of points that prove he is a villain/ victim, and because of these reasons I think of him as I think of the other characters.
If I were to direct the play I would start the play with bright lighting in the opening scenery, because it would show that it is a normal bright day, and as the play progresses, I would begin to use dark lighting and give some of the characters powerful speeches, such as, “Your blood and flesh will feed my revenge, your money is of no concern to me any more”, I would give this speech to Shylock to say during the court case. During the speech, I would make the scene dark and fogy, this will give the effect of evil in the atmosphere, this would also make the audience think of Shylock as a cruel and evil Jew. With this speech given to him I think that Shylock can and will be seen as an evil character.
