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Some Useful Essays
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Shylock in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice
The question frequently asked after reading The Merchant of Venice is:
is Shylock a victim or a villain? The best way to investigate this
question is to explore the text of the play to find out what
Shakespeare wanted us to believe.

Life for the Jews in the Elizabethan period was often very hard. In
England Jews were viewed with distaste, suspected of a number of
heinous crimes such as child murder. They were also distrusted by
Christians for the rejection of Christ as the Messiah and because they
did not lend money gratis. Many Christians were financially beholden
to the Jews.

Roderigo Lopez was a Jew of Portuguese decent, who fled to England in
1559 where he worked as a physician. His practice grew, and in time he
was appointed physician to the Queen of England. But the Earl of Essex
found what he believed to be evidence that Lopez had accepted a bribe
from the King of Spain to poison Queen Elizabeth. It is true that
Lopez had underhand dealings with Spanish spies, but it is to this day
unproven if Lopez ever intended any harm towards the Queen. However,
he was found guilty and in 1996 he was hung, drawn and quartered for a
crime he probably was never going to commit. The Merchant of Venice
was written two years later in 1596, and the treatment of Shylock is
similar to that of Lopez. Shylock is shunned by the Christians and
treated as an outcast. Possibly, Shakespeare wrote this play as the
Lopez case was fresh in people’s minds, and he knew that a play about
a detested Jew would be of great interest.

In Italy, where The Merchant of Venice is set, the Jews were being
greatly prejudiced against; they were being expelled from the country,
they were made to wear demoralising items such as ‘badges of shame’
and Jewish synagogues were turned into Christian churches. They were
made to wear cloaks, caps or badges which indicated that they were
beneath the Christians, and they were condemned to live in just one
part of the city, the Ghettos, which were often of bad condition. The
only place they were allowed to commune with Christians was on the
Rialto where they could do business. The Rialto is where we first meet
Shylock.

Many people say that Shakespeare drew ambiguous characters, and that
Shylock is neither a victim nor a villain. In fact Shakespeare’s
characters are very fairly created, nobody is entirely evil, none
entirely good, which makes for greater realism. Shakespeare seems to
deliberately try to make it hard for the audience to decide if Shylock
is a victim or a villain, as he does with all the characters. For
example, Antonio appears to be the perfect Christian, but is
un-Christian towards Shylock. Bassanio is more feckless, but he learns
through his mistakes. When Shakespeare first brings Shylock onto the
stage he shows us someone who, at first sight, appears to be a
stereotypical Jewish character: vengeful and grasping. Shylock’s
assertion that Antonio is a ‘good’ man refers not to Antonio’s moral
standing, but to his financial standing, and Shylock later says of
Antonio:

“How like a fawning publican he looks.

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.”



This makes Shylock seem to be an unpleasant character who dislikes
Antonio just because he is a Christian and has different moral views,
but Shakespeare later shows us that Antonio’s treatment of Shylock is
just as bad, for he hates Shylock for exactly the same reason; that he
is of a different religion: ‘…he hath disgrac’d me, and hinder’d me
half a million,” Shylock says of Antonio, “laugh’d at my losses,
mock’d at my gains, scorned my Nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my
friends, heated mine enemies, and what’s his reason? I am a Jew.”
=========================



When Shylock justifies usury by quoting from the Bible, Antonio also
says Shylock is like a devil citing scripture for his own purpose, “An
evil soul producing holy witness…” and “a villain with a smiling
cheek. A goodly apple rotten at the heart’. Shylock reminds Antonio of
the names he has called him in the past: a ‘misbeliever’ a ‘cut-throat
dog’ and ‘all for use of that which is mine own’. In other words
Antonio hates Shylock for loaning him and others money. Shakespeare
makes the injustice which Shylock feels clear later in the speech:
===========================


“What should I say to you? Should I not say,
========================

Hath a dog money? Is it possible


A cur can lend three thousand ducats? or
----------------------------------------

Shall I bend low, and in a bondman’s key

With bated breath, and whisp’ring humbleness

Say this: Fair sir, you spet on me on Wednesday last;

You spurn’d me such a day; another time

You call’d me dog: and for these courtesies

I’ll lend you thus much moneys.”

This speech shows that Shylock feels, rightly so, that Antonio’s
treatment of him is unjust; Antonio treats him very badly, but then
expects him to lend him money.

Another factor which induces sympathy towards Shylock is the scene in
which Shylock talks about the ring his partner Leah gave him, ‘it was
my turkis, I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor: I would not have
given it for a wilderness of monkeys.’ However, Bassanio the Christian
gives away the ring Portia gave him without too much regret, and this
shows that Shylock is definitely not lacking in emotion or love, and
in comparison shows Bassanio in a poor light.

In the courtroom Bassanio also says to Antonio:

“…life itself, my wife, and all the world,

Are not with me esteem’d above thy life.”

Shylock finds the Christian view on marriage shocking, as he feels
that husbands should give all to their wives, and love them more than
anybody else:

“These be the Christian husbands: I have a daughter,

Would any of the stock of Barrabas

Had been her husband, rather than a Christian.”

This tells us that perhaps Shylock has higher morals than Bassanio,
and indeed though the lead casket stated that Bassanio should ‘give
and hazard all he hath’, Bassanio is putting his friend in front of
his wife which is challenging the vows he has recently made.

One of the most important scenes in The Merchant of Venice is the
court scene, as this reveals a lot about Shylock and the other key
characters. The overwhelming feeling is that Shylock wants justice. He
lives in a community of Christians, who shun him at every opportunity
and treat him like a dog. Maybe Shylock does act villainously and
inhumanely by demanding a pound of flesh, but that could be because
he’s been victimised for so many years. Shylock wants justice for
justice sake, even though he knows all he will ever gain is his moral
victory: “…if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge…”.
There seems to be great bitterness in this speech, as is
understandable; Bassanio might say that Antonio is the best of men,
but although Antonio treats Bassanio with kindness and friendship, he
treats Shylock quite the opposite. Shylock goes on to say:

“The pound of flesh which I demand of him

Is dearly bought, ‘tis mine, and I will have it.

If you deny me: fie upon your Law

There is no force in the decrees of Venice;

I stand for judgement, answer. Shall I have it?”

So Shylock is after justice, a justice which has been denied him and
his kind for a long time.



When Portia enters the court disguised as Balthasar, one of the first
things she says is, “Which is the Merchant here? and which is the
Jew?” Shakespeare has put that comment in for a reason; he might be
saying that neither is better than the other, and in the laws of
equality they are both the same.
====================

During the court scene Portia makes an important speech:

“The quality of mercy is not strain’d…

It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes,

‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest…

It is an attribute to God himself…”

At face value, Portia is saying that Shylock should be merciful
towards Antonio, and release him from the bond, but Shakespeare is
also trying to put across a message that all mankind should be
merciful and accept mercy, and that nobody is entirely good or evil
but a combination of both.

In conclusion I feel that Shylock is more a victim than a villain,
although he does have a lot of unpleasant qualities. However, he seems
to be emotional and has a strong sense of morality, as is shown when
he talks about Leah and his views on marriage. The audience feels
sympathy for Shylock because it appears everybody is against him, even
his own daughter. Nothing seems to go right for him. In Shylock,
Shakespeare has created a character who is a villain in appearance but
a victim at heart.

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