Shylock A Victim Analysis

We agree that Shylock is more a villain than a victim. Shylock is a villain because he has evil intentions towards Antonio. In an aside, shylock displayed his hatred for Antonio when he said “If I catch him once upon the hip, I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.” This means that shylock’s hatred for Antonio has reached such a point that he desires to harm Antonio in some way. The phrase “feed fat” suggests that if he can find some way to get the upper hand of Antonio, He will use it to harm him in all possible ways. This is so that he can satisfy the ‘’Ancient grudge I bear him’’. The evil intentions he has towards Antonio proves that shylock is a villain. In addition, when Tubal told him about Antonio’s ships being wrecked at sea,
Jessica took the ring that was given to Shylock by his late wife, and traded it for a monkey after she ran away with Lorenzo. Shylock displays his love and feelings towards the ring by saying “Thou torturest me, Tubal. I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor. I would not given it for a wilderness of monkey.” The word “torturest” shows that Shylock feels deep agony and pain at Jessica’s actions. For shylock to feel great agony at the losing of his ring, he must have loved his wife dearly and actually valued the turquoise ring a lot because it is given by his dead wife whom he loves. She gave him the ring when they got married and it is considered as a symbol of her love towards Shylock. Therefore, Shylock is unhappy that his daughter regards his ring as worthless as a monkey. Shylock suffers from the actions of his daughter, hence, he is also a
In his speech to Antonio when Antonio wanted to borrow three thousand ducats, he said “You call me misbeliever. cut throat dog. And spit upon my Jewish garbardine.’’ Antonio calls Shylock a ’misbeliever’ and ‘cut throat dog’. This shows that Antonio thinks that Shylock believes in the wrong faith and the wrong god. The word “spit” highlightes Antonio’s contempt towards Shylock as a Jew and treats him in a very disrespectful manner. The fact that Shylock suffers from religious discrimination as a jew, proves that he is a victims. Antonio is not the only one for discriminates Shylock for being a jew. The society which is mostly Christians, degrade and ostracize the Jews because of the different ways of life and beliefs. This is shown in the court room scene, where the outcome of the hearing seems unfavorable towards Shylock. The Duke also tries to defend Antonio and ask Shylock to "forgive a moiety of the principal". However, when Shylock is undone by Portia's interpretation of the law, none of them show "mercy" to the losses he suffers. He loses "one half of his good" to the state and "The other half" to Lorenzo and Jessica upon his death and most significantly he loses his religion. The Christians pretends to be fair by stating that "the Jew shall have all justice". However, for the state of Venice to take away one's religion unwillingly and be christened shows that the