Shylock: A Ruthless Villain or a Persecuted Victim.

The merchant of Venice is a drama and romantic play, by William Shakespeare. Regarding the test for the suitors and the final part of the book, the author is inspired by a fourteenth-century Italian novel of Giovanni Fiorentino, called “Il Giannetto”, (Bullough, 1957). The merchant of Venice is believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. It is contained on the First Folio, in the contents of Comedies, sharing certain aspects with others plays. That one traditionally ends with the positive return to order expected from the genre, it also has some characteristics of a tragedy, in particular with regard to the punishment and the oppression that are suffered to Shylock Jew. The peculiarity is the title of this book, “The Merchant of Venice”, in fact, it refers to the character Antonio, and not Shylock, a moneylender, which has a pivotal role in this play. One possible reason is that by calling “The Merchant of Venice”, Shakespeare wanted to focus the attention of the readers, on the

In ‘The Merchant of Venice’ Shylock is very strong minded and is singled out of the play because he is a mean Jew that charges interest. Shylock is very stubborn and determined to keep to his bond; a pound of flesh of Antonio.

Shakespeare engages a modern audience through the character Shylock. Shylock in The Merchant of Venice is the antagonist of the play and is subject to sequences of misfortune, much to the delight of the Elizabethan audience. However, in a modern context we show slight feelings of sympathy towards him as a result of today’s ideologies. Upon meeting Shylock we see that his religious standing puts him in an isolated position against the Venetian society. A line is recited

Almost every story involves a conflict between hero and villain. In some stories, there is a plot twist where the hero is also the villain—but in Hamlet, there are no heroes and many villains. In Hamlet, every character has lied, kept secrets or is seeking revenge that leads to a tragic ending at every corner, but what we fail to see is who the true villain is. Looking at the character of Hamlet throughout the play, it is easier to spot his many dishonorable actions than his few honorable ones.

Shylock is a character famously known as being the antagonist of Shakespeare’s play merchant of Venice. In this play, Shakespeare portrayal of Shylock the moneylender is one of anti-Semitic stereotype. Shylock is depicted as a typical bloodthirsty Jew who lives a life void of any depth or meaning. His sole purpose for living seems to be to amass wealth and vengeance as seen from his adamant claim for his “pound of flesh”. Despite Shakespeare’s attempts to humanize Shylock at points in the story, it appears that his primary focus is to steer the audience against Shylock, painting him as being a cruel, bitter and inaffable figure. It is clear that in both Shakespeare’s merchant of Venice and Grace Tiffany’s Turquoise Ring, Shylock exposes

“There is no doubt that Shylock is a cunning and vengeful man, but nothing can justify the treatment he receives at the hands of the Christians.”

In a book or play, it is usually very easy to distinguish who the victim is and who the villain is. The villain usually causes all the problems in the story line and the victim is the one who suffers in result of the villain’s actions. In the play The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, we examine the life of Shylock as a victim. It is seen through three main events in the play. Shylock is ridiculed by his community and his family, he is betrayed by his daughter and the community he lives in, and he is forced to lose all his wealth.

Antonio’s flesh; “ Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken in what

Villains play a very important role in every literary work. Whether they exist as people, circumstances, or even nature, their purpose is to provide a problem to be solved by the “good guys”. Without villains, no piece of literature would be worth reading. Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello are master villains. Both antagonists are fuelled by thoughts of revenge, and rely heavily on deception and manipulation to get what they want.

In every confrontation with Shylock, the other characters attack him with insults that make him appear even viler than his cruel demeanor portrays. There is a common trend throughout the play of demonizing Shylock. In Act 1, scene 2, Antonio counters a legitimate argument that Shylock makes to support his usurping by stating that "the devil can cite scripture for his purpose!" (1, 3, 107) In Act 2, scene 2, Lancelet Gobbo identifies Shylock as "a kind of devil", "the devil himself", and "the very devil incarnation." (2, 2, 24-28) Solanio identifies Shylock as "the devil . . . in the likeness of a Jew" (3, 1, 20-22) and Bassanio identifies Shylock the same way, as "cruel devil." (4, 1, 225) This repeated characterization is certainly driven hard into the minds of the audience

Shylock can be seen as a victim of anti-Semitism and discrimination. He has long suffered at the hands of the Christians, who seize any opportunity to torment him. Shylock has been spat upon merely because he is Jewish and has been called nasty names such as "cutthroat dog". This dehumanising language demonstrates how poorly the Christian society views Jews as being outsiders and filthy people who do not belong to the world. Shylock has also been called ‘Jew’ twenty-two times and ‘Shylock’ only six times in the play. Shakespeare helped maintain the anti-Semitic meanings of the term

William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is a perplexing story of dark humor, race, religion, identity, love, and justice. Generally, most people understand The Merchant of Venice as a comedy about a bitter and outcasted Jewish moneylender named Shylock who seeks revenge against a Christian merchant who has failed to pay his loan back. However, there are many different perspectives on whether The Merchant of Venice is a comedy or a tragedy depending on one’s views on the difference between race and religion. If one views the story as a comedy, it is a dark comedy full of many problems, especially the controversial subject matter of anti-Semitic attitudes of its Christian characters. If one views it as a tragedy, it is a tragedy that concludes with majority of its characters in a “happy ending”—that is if one agrees that Jessica’s decision of love over betraying her father and giving up her Jewish identity is indeed a happy ending.

Shakespeare still had to please the crowd with the insults and anti-Semitic feelings the people loved. He did this by adding flaws to the characters that they are now known for. Shakespeare gave Shylock his deep hatred for Antonio and all Christians, shown constantly by Shylock himself as he rants how Antonio constantly wrongs him. Another flaw in Shylock's morals is seen in his "Hath not a Jew eyes" speech. There he believes he has the right for revenge when a Christian wrongs him, saying, "If a Jew wrongs a Christians, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrongs a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge." (III, i, 63-66). Antonio too shows flaws, both through Shylock's stories of Antonio's persecution and through the insults he offers Shylock throughout the play. In the courtroom scene, Antonio tells Bassanio he might as well go stand on the beach and tell the waves to stop their endless beat upon the shores than try to get the Jew to change his mind. He also jokes that Shylock is turning into a Christian with his kindness to lend Antonio the 3,000 ducats, saying "The Hebrew will turn Christian: he grows kind." (I, iii, 170). Not only does this add the necessary conflicts for humor that the audience wants, but it provides the backbone for the story, showing the background of the

In the play the ‘Merchant of Venice’ by William Shakespeare the antagonist Shylock is both the victim and the villain. Shylock is a Jewish moneylender and is initially portrayed as anger filled and bloodthirsty but as the play continues we begin to see him as more human and his emotions become more evident. As the antagonist, Shylock is a fearful adversary to Antonio, the protagonist. But as good begins to win over evil, Shylock is crushed and we see evidence of his mortality in his grief. Shylock changes significantly though out the course of the play and he is formed into a too complex character to be labeled just victim or villain.

Shakespeare characterised Shylock in such way that he highlights the inequalities of him, them being ungrateful, vengeful, and religious intolerance. As each is explored Shylock is directed towards a harmful act to deem his vengeance upon his greatest rival, Antonio. Shakespeare’s idea in the play tells us mercy is preferable to revenge. In Act 1, Scene 3