Attitudes to Shylock have changed dramatically over time, a seventeenth century audience would feel almost no sympathy towards Shylock as they were used to prejudice against Jews and probably took part in it themselves. However in today’s society people are more inclined to feel sorry for this naïve, misguided soul driven to revenge by mindless persecution.
I am going to explore both sides of Shylock’s diverse character then come to a conclusion as to whether he is a victim or a villain.
In the very first scene Shylock features in (Act 1 scene 3) Shakespeare presents his as a victim of the society he lives in. Shakespeare gives the audience an insight into the effect such habitual abuse has on Shylock. We see this when Shylock and Antonio decide to do business with each other despite the enmity between them, in this scene Shakespeare provides a vivid account of the type of racist verbal abuse Shylock suffers throughout the play, for example when Antonio calls him names such as, ‘an evil soul’, ‘goodly apple rotten at the heart’ and ‘dog Jew’. Shylock no longer wants to be humiliated in this way and becomes driven to revenge by a thirst to get even within the law.
Shylock’s daughter, Jessica would have been expected to be loyal to her father and withhold their Jewish religion. Shylock’s very strict treatment of his daughter was not uncommon for these times, we see the same situation with Portia, the wealthy heiress of Belmont who is forced to adhere to the will of her father and can not marry a husband her own choice.
Jessica appears to detest living in her fathers house ‘Our house is hell’ this shows that although they are very rich, she does not enjoy living in a house that is bleak and lonely, and once Launcelot has left she feels her life will be hell living alone with her father. Shylock does not appear to treat Jessica very well ‘ what Jessica! – What sleep, and snore, and red apparel out. Why Jessica, I say!’ This shows that he is a very short-tempered man and does not think it is wrong to shout and order his daughter about the whole time. He also appears to be very over protective of her ‘Clamber not onto the casements then, Nor thrust your head into the public street’, weather this is because he is worried about someone coming in to steel his jewels or weather he is genuinely concerned about his daughters welfare we do not know. However, I do not think this reason justifies her treatment of him.
In Solanio’s report of Shylock’s behaviour when he finds out his daughter and his jewels are missing there is a lot of evidence to suggest that Shylock is more concerned about his money than his daughter, ‘of double ducats, stolen from me by my daughter! And jewels, two stones, two rich and precious stones’. In Shylock’s whole speech he only mentions Jessica a few times and when he does he never calls her by her name only ‘my daughter’, this suggests that they were never very close which maybe the reason he is more upset about his riches which will effect his life more directly. He also only refers to Jessica after mentioning his jewels, ‘my ducats, and my daughter’, ‘O my ducats! Oh my daughter. This is most likely because he is so angry about how Jessica has humiliated him and how his life has so suddenly fallen to pieces.
In my opinion Shylocks reaction in act 3 scene 1, does not justify Jessica’s actions in anyway. His daughter has disgraced him and his religion beyond all expectations, so the fact that he would like ‘my daughter dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear’ is not surprising considering his character. The thing that mattered most to him in his life was his money. This was not only because he was greedy it also represented how hard he had fought against prejudice all his life to get this far, and for it all to be taken from him in an instance by his deceitful daughter must have been completely demoralising.
Shylock had the right to be angry with his daughter by the way she treated him. I also believe his obsession with his riches to be understandable, he has slaved away all his life to make a living out of one of the most degrading jobs in Venetian society, only to be humiliated and driven to revenge by the cruel theft of a lifetime’s worth of savings by his disloyal daughter.
I think the audience would feel sympathy for Shylock considering the state of his affairs; his daughter has taken his money, which will be very hard to retrieve, and she has also dishonoured their religion. He evidently has no other friends apart from Tubal, so is now alone in the world. His image has gone from being a sadistic and crafty moneymaker to a lonely humiliated Jew.
His status in society has been lowered yet more as he is ridiculed for who he is and laughed at for his disloyal daughter.
I think this scene does make Shylock seem more victimised as we see the effect Jessica’s crime has had on Shylock and the sheer devastation she has caused. I think Shakespeare does not show us the actual scene where Shylock discovers his daughter and his money missing, as it would make the audience feel too much sympathy for Shylock, which Shakespeare does not want as it would not fit the typical seventeenth century stereotype of a Jew the audience in those times would recognise.
It suggests that he no longer even wants the gold because he is so furious at Jessica ‘would she were hearsed at my foot and the ducats in her coffin’ It is also to do with the fact that she has run off with a Christian depriving her father of the proud moment when he would be able to hand her over to a suitable husband. This quote also shows the extent to which she has dishonoured him by what she has done, making his life a futile and wasted one.
I think Jessica’s selling of her mother’s ring for a monkey really highlights the extent of grief she has caused Shylock, ‘a ring that he had off your daughter for a monkey’. She knew how much it meant to her father and selling it for a monkey ridicules this by making it worthless.
We even start to feel sympathy for Shylock as we know by this quote that he must have treasured it, ‘I had it off Leah when I was a bachelor. I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys.’ This has a big impact on weather Shylock is a victim or villain as it humanises him so he is no longer just a one-dimensional villain.
There is a certain amount of Irony in the fact that his ‘Christian ducats’ are now returning to a Christian through Jessica. Life has become even harder for Shylock because through status you gain power, now Jessica has taken all his money he has the lowest status it is possible to have in Venetian society.
