Act 3 Scene 1
In act 3 scene 1 Shylock finds out that Antonio’s ships have been wrecked again, and say’s he’ll end up bankrupt and swears to collect his bond. Salerio doesn’t understand what an old man is going to do with a pound of flesh. Shylock replies “if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge”. He is determined to teach him a lesson. Tubal (Shylocks friend) can’t find Jessica and Shylock finds out his daughter Jessica has robbed his jewellery and traded it for a monkey. He goes mad and wishes her dead. “I would my daughter be dead at my foot. I shall never see my gold again”. This tells us that Shylock cares more about money and himself than his own daughter. At this stage I believe that he is a villain.
Solanio and Salarnio discuss Shylock, Solanio says “Let me say amen bedtimes the lest the devil cross my prayer, for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew”. This sounds like he is comparing Shylock to a devil. The effect that Shakespeare would have wanted to have created would have been to make the audience feel sorry for him yet again. Or they might have even agreed with Solanio and see Shylock as a villain. I think Shakespeare would have quite confused the audience in a way but was doing this because he wanted them to see the play in more depth. I think the audience would have started to dislike Shylock and see him as a villain. Shylock’s speech on “Hath not a Jew eyes” is basically about Shylock comparing Jews with Christians. He says “If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh?” He also says “Revenge if a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example.” I think that Shylock is trying to say is that if a Christian does wrong by a Jew, what should his revenge back, be? As if he’s questioning his revenge on Antonio. I think he concludes by saying people show him how to be bad but he wants to show them how to be really bad, (revenge). This would make the audience realise that Shylock isn’t all that evil and has a good point. They might even start to feel sorry for him, or some might just be confused by now. In this scene Shakespeare gives the Jewish Shylock a voice and a chance to defend himself and criticise the Christians behaviour towards Jews by when Shylock talks about Jews having the same rights as a Christian. Shylock defends himself by concluding that he will “execute” and “revenge”. In this scene I think Shylock is portrayed as a villain because he wishes his daughter dead. On the other hand he would have also made the audience realise that Shylock had a nicer side to him, than what people expected, and he could defend himself well.
Act 4 Scene 1
The climax is in act 4 Scene 1. This is when Portia disguised as a man of the law and steps in, in Antonio’s behalf. She sets up a trap for Shylock, as she knows how much he loves his money. Bassanio offers the law clerk three thousand ducats due to Shylock, but Shylock refuses it. At this point in the play I believe that Shylock is a villain because he seems to just want to get out of the court as soon as he has got the money and makes remarks about the pound of flesh again. He says “The pound of flesh which I demand of him is dearly bought, tis mine, and I will have it”. Shylock repeatedly refuses to relinquish the bond even when he is offered of money to do so. This changes our opinion of Shylock because usually he would of grabbed the money. But I think the reason why he doesn’t accept it is because he knows if he keeps turning the offers down Antonio will keep raising the price. Or he may just want to get revenge. In the scene the other characters of the play show a lot of hatred to him which would probably make the audience feel sorry for him. Shylock is defeated at the last moment and humiliated by Portia and other Venetians, when he is made to beg for mercy. Portia then goes on to add more pain to Shylock's already suffering psyche. She tells him that as he has turned down the offers of the monies on Antonio's head that he must now perform the forfeiture. This leaves Shylock scorn and he is unable to escape the closed gate that he led himself into. Antonio is also now entitled to set Shylock the rules; one of them includes Shylock having to become a Christian. He also must give a gift of half of his possessions to his son in law, Lorenzo, and his daughter, Jessica. I think to him being a Christian is worse than loosing all his money. Shylock is devastated when he hears this and feels as though all his dreams have been shattered.
Directing a scene (Act 4 Scene 1)
If I was to direct this scene on a stage I would have a traditional setting, and courtroom, I would make them look traditional because even nowadays that’s how they look. Shylock would be dressed in a suit looking very important and rich, it would make it clear to the audience that he likes to look better than everyone else and that he’s the main character of the play. The lighting would be dim and reddish, this would make the scene seem evil and dangerous. The props would be suitcases and lots of bundles of money. The audience would be on the edge of their seats, waiting for the verdict. They’d be worried in case, Shylock won and sneering at him, as he tries his best to do so. The audience would be whispering to each other, talking about Shylock. Shylock would look quite confident and have a smirk on his face, while Bassanio and Antonio gives him a look of filth. As Shylock would feel like he’s won already and Bassanio and Antonio would be getting quite worried.
Conclusion
In my opinion I think that Shylock is a villain. My reasons for my decision are because in Act 3 Scene 1 Shylock says things which are really selfish and disgusted me. Like when he says “I would my daughter be dead at my foot. I shall never see my gold again”. This to me says everything about him, he wishes his daughter dead, and seems to only care about his Jewellery and money. I think Shylock is a very selfish and cold hearted man. Although he seems to be an evil and horrible man, at times I did actually feel quite sorry for him. Like in Act 1 scene 3 when he gets called a “cut- throat dog”. The way he defended himself was quite interesting, it reminded me of the speech that Martin Luther King did. About black people being the same as white people. Shylock was trying to say that he (a Jew) was the same as all the Christians who lived in Venice. I think this is the kind of image that Shakespeare was trying to create, how there was tension with Christians and Jews in this era. I think he may have had mixed feelings on Jews and that’s why he made Shylock such a complicated character to understand. I think the aim of the play was to actually decide if Shylock was a victim or a villain.
