english merchant of venice essay

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Shylock- Victim or Villain?

A pound of flesh, to be by him cut offnearest the merchant's heart . Shylocks character has

caused many discussions and arguments, predominately the old age argument whether he is a

victim or villain. He has many different features which support both sides of the argument. In

my opinion there is enough evidence either way to make Shylock an ambiguous character,

therefore I am going to argue the evidence for both sides:

I am sorry for thee An inhuman wretch incapable of pity

This is said by the duke in the court scene to Antonio before Shylock enters. This shows that

even in a court, in which is meant to be equal for both sides, they are more sympathetic

towards a Christian than a Jew. This is just one of many examples of the prejudice and constant

abuse suffered by Shylock throughout the play. This maybe perhaps why he came up with the

bond in the first place, to release all his anger-and two taunt Antonio- you may say this is still

extreme and sadistic, but then why did Antonio agree with it in the first place?

Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs,dimensions if you prick us do we not

bleed?

This speech by Shylock really shows the prejudice he is receiving, He is trying to tell the

Christians that they are the same, not matter what their religion or nationality, because it is

plain to see that the Christians regard them as another species altogether.

This is not helped by the fact that Jessica, Shylocks daughter, runs away with a Christian,

Lorenzo-and steals all his ducats. At this point Shylock has lost almost everything apart from his

bond, this is probably another reason why he was so passionate about fulfilling the bond.

"cooled my friend and heated mine enemies"

Here, Shylock is showing that his entire society suffers from Christian prejudice, not just him,

compared to the rest of this speech, in this part Shylock seems angry.

³If it be proved against an alien«

seek the life of any citizen,The party 'gainst the which he doth contrive,

Shall seize one half his goods´

This is said by Portia to Shylock after Portia has made it almost impossible for him to fulfill his

bond. The way the Venetian law calls anyone outside of Venice an alienis complete racism. This

doesnt even make sense, as Shylock wasnt seeking Antonios life, he wanted to cause him pain



yes, but not to seek his life. In this situation, Antonio takes advantage of Shylock, he asks him to

give up all his has ever lived for- he tells him to become a Christian.

On the other hand, there is also lots of evidence to show him as a villain.

I hate him for he is a Christian

Though throughout the play there are countless examples of the Christians being

prejudice against the Jews, but this quote shows that Shylock hates the Christians as well. It

seems as if Shylock is trying to deceive the Christians-make them feel sorry for him, and use it to

his advantage. This obviously didnt work as the Christians simply keep abusing him. He is also

Prejudice towards the Christians, when Antonio invites him to dinner, he is completely

ungrateful and expects them to feed him pork. As shown in the following quote:

"Yes, to smell pork; to eat of the habitation which your prophet the Nazarite conjured the

devil into"

I would my daughter dead at my foot and the jewels in her ear

This is more evidence of Shylocks villainy- this is Shylock saying he would rather have his

daughter dead at his feet, and have his money she and her husband took. Though it is

understandable that he is angry and wants his money, how could anyone wish death upon theirown daughter? Even after having all of his money stolen, he would take the money from

Bassanio, but no, he continues to attempt to take his pound of flesh. This surely shows that

Shylock has some sort of sadistic nature?

One would think, due to the period of time The Merchant of Venice was written in, that

Shylock would almost certainly have been portrayed as a villain. Anti-Semitism was very much

part of 16th

century England. Shakespeare would have purposefully portrayed Shylock as a

victim. The merchant of Venice was written as a comedy so Shylock might have been made a

villain for comic purposes. Though to us he may seem a very ambiguous character, he would

have almost certainly have been thought as the villain of the play to people of the 16th

century.

Though we can't be sure, it is certainly plausible that Shakespeare simply made Shylock a villain,and it was a complete coincidence that he had any features of a victim. Of course Shakespeare

could have purposefully made Shylock an ambiguous character.

And so, after looking at all the evidence, I conclude it is obvious to see that no matter how hard

we look at it, Shylock is an ambiguous character. It is interesting to see that many different films

and plays of The Merchant of Venice usually portray Shylocks character as either a victim or a

villain, very rarely as an ambiguous character This is probably because it is much easier to



portray a character as either a victim or a villain, and that many of the lines in the play can be

made to make him villain like or victim like. The way the actor plays the character is also

vital to his portrayal. But as far as the original play is concerned, Shylock the Jew is definitely an

ambiguous character.

Daniel Nolan

Word count: 902

english merchant of venice essay

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