My English teacher asked us this and it kept me thinking. Is Shylock a villain because of his attitude towards Christians or a victim because he lost his daughter and lost in court?
5 years ago Report Abuse CATHORIO
Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
Hi flow interesting question.
But I have one for you???
Which is the greater love, Shylock's love for his daughter or his love of money???
Often, The character Shylock, in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice,is portrayed as a beastly monstrosity, with a lust for Antonio's life. Through a more careful examination it can be determined that Shylock was an upstanding member of his community, who endured abuse, forgave easily, and upheld the customs and law.
Shylock endured much of Antonio's abuse, overt a long period of time.
This can be seen by the sheer volume of disgraces he has bore. A good example is in Act 3 Scene 1, beginning with line 52:
"He hath disgraced me half a million, laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies..."
-Shylock
Shylock had such a magnanimous spirit, that he even offered Antonio, who had abused him terribly, a loan, free of interest. Shylock was willing to loan money to one who totally ruined him in public, on terms that were nicer than his normal business terms.This kind, forgiving heart can be seen in Act 1 Scene 3 beginning with line 148:
"Why, look how you storm ! I would be friends with you and have your love, forget the names that you have stained me with, supply your present needs and take no doit of usance for my moneys, and you'll not hear me! This is kind I offer."
-Shylock
Often, this quote from Act 3 Scene 1 line 83,
"Why, there, there, there, there! A diamond gone cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfurt! The curse never fell upon our nation till now, I never felt it till now. Two thousand ducats in that and other precious,, jewels! I would my daughter were dead at my foot and the jewels in her ear;" portraying Shylocks' treatment of his daughter, after she ran away, is manipulated to make Shylock seem beastly. But, within the Jewish culture and the time period, his response was appropriate. After his daughter ran away, she was, for all intents and purposes, disowned. Thus, the theft of his jewels reduced her to the level of a thief, and so she deserved to be punished.
Shylock is also an honest, law abiding citizen of Venice, before the very end. His great respect for law and order are shown in the following quotes from Act 4 Scene
Line 104: "I stand for judgment"
Line 213: "I crave the law"
Line 257: "O Noble judge!"
Shylock the Jew, through a careful examination of The Merchant of Venice, is found to be an enduring, magnanimous, forgiving, and law abiding citizen of Venice. As opposed to his typical role as the wicked blood thirsty villain.
I hope this is of some help.
Cathori
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Shylock, the hated Jew, makes his living through the practice of usury and uses deception when Antonio asks to borrow money from him. Shylock agrees to lend Antonio three hundred ducats if Antonio is willing to sign a bond that would allow Shylock to have "an equal pound of [his] fair flesh"(I, iii, 145-146). He expresses the bond "in a merry sport"(I, iii, 141) and uses this bond to also show that "[he] would be friends with [Antonio], and have [his] love"(I, iii, 134). Though Shylock's description of the conditions in the bond makes it seem as if Shylock does not mean harm, his intentions are to harm and humiliate Antonio. Antonio says that "[he] neither lend[s] nor borrow[s] by talking nor by giving of excess"(I, iii, 57-58) and is willing to do that for his dear friend, Bassanio. At first, Antonio is not blinded Shylock's friendly pretence, aware that Shylock "is like a villain with a smiling face [and] a goodly apple rotten at the heart"(I, iii, 96-97). However, in the end Antonio accepts the terms of the bond. The cruel use of deception from Shylock is to help fulfill his intention of revenge against Antonio.…
- 871 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Shylock makes a greater impact than any other character, despite the fact that he only appears in 3 scenes of the play. This is due to him being the most complex character with his personality interpreted in many different ways. In the original script, we first meet Shylock in Act 1Scene 3, where he is discussing the agreement to loan 3000 ducats to Bassanio in forfeit of a pound of his flesh. Within this scene there is a stark contrast between Shakespeare’s representation of Shylock and Radford’s film portrayal of the multi-faceted character, Shylock.…
- 838 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Shakespeare utilizes Shylock’s character as an antagonist to Antonio to demonstrate how dehumanization happens to both the perpetrator and the victim. This commentary begins in the first scene of the play, when Antonio asks Shylock to lend money for Bassanio’s journey to impress Portia. Even before he meets Antonio, Shylock remarks “how like a fawning publican he looks!/[Shylock] hates him for he is a Christian” and that he “will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him./ He hates our sacred nation” (1.3.36-43). Because of the history of resentment between Christians and Jews, Shylock’s comment shows that “feeding the fat” to the “ancient grudge” against Antonio is seemingly “normal”, and that he is unwilling to stop fueling this “ancient grudge” between religions. Antonio contributes this same of idea of sticking to status quo when Shylock mentions how “[Antonio] calls [him] a misbeliever, cut-throat dog” (1.3.106-107). After Shylock lists these atrocities and is bewildered on how Antonio still “needs [his] help”, Antonio makes it clear that he is “as like to call thee so again/To spit on thee again, to spurn thee too” (1.3.107, 125-126). Shakespeare makes an interesting choice to use the word “spurn”. One may think that it is easily replaceable with “hate”. However, Shakespeare uses the word to show that Antonio does not…
- 1530 Words
- 7 Pages
Better Essays -
In the ‘Merchant of Venice’ Shakespeare makes it very difficult for us to define who is the victim and who is the villain as certain characters, such as Shylock reveal many personalities and therefore portray elements of both the victim and the villain.…
- 270 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
In the play ‘The Merchant of Venice’, there are several characters who behave in villainous ways but Shylock is the most villainous character out of all of them. Do you agree?…
- 3954 Words
- 16 Pages
Good Essays -
lastly, Shylock is crafty and shrewd. When discussing the forfeiture of the bond, Shylock says "let the forfeiture be nominated for an equal pound of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken in what part of the body pleaseth me." Shylock suggests the forfeiture of the bond playfully, whereas it is actually using the law on his side to execute a plan to murder Antonio.…
- 435 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
It would seem that Shylock cares for money more than anything else. Yet in an often forgotten moment when Shylock finds out his daughter traded his wife's ring for a monkey he cares only for its sentimental value. "Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal: it was my turquoise; / I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor: / I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys".…
- 6143 Words
- 25 Pages
Good Essays -
Shylock isn't a character for whom we can feel much sympathy for because he always seems to be thinking about himself and his money rather than other people around him. Through most of the play he seems selfish, and it seems in some parts of the play as though he doesn't care about his daughter. He also has a very strict religion, which also sometimes makes him seem as an uptight character.…
- 1668 Words
- 7 Pages
Good Essays -
When Shylock is introduced, it is made clear that he is a Jewish man in a volatile situation. Shylock has loaned money to Antonio, a Christian, and states, "He hath disgraced me...and what's his reason? I am a Jew” (3.1.323). He comes across as bold without shame, rudely self-assertive, and cruel. He appears to be the obvious antagonist and villain in the play. Shylock contends that the good Christian, Antonio, has “disgraced” and “hindered” him, laughed at his financial windfalls and that if Antonio cannot pay his debt, he would take a pound of his flesh instead. He is seemingly filled with vengeance when he declares to the messenger from Venice, Salerio, “To bait fish withal. If it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge” (3.1.323). He obviously has no use for a pound of Antonio’s flesh, but he’s callous and flippant enough to suggest that he’d just use it for bait which leads me to believe he’d…
- 739 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The main conflicts among the characters in the stories were between Antonio and Shylock, and Abigail and the Proctors. In The Merchant of Venice characters that were impacted by lies, gossip, rumours were Antonio and Shylock. Antonio owes Shylock 3000 ducats by a certain time, or Shylock will be able to cut a pound of Antonio's flesh. In the play Salerio and Solanio discuss about how Antonio’s ships have rumoured to sink at sea.”Why, yet it lives there unchecked that Antonio hath a ship of rich lading wrecked on the narrow seas” .With that rumour Shylock is now able to get the revenge he was destined to receive, which made his and Antonio’s relationship even worse.…
- 429 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
What makes a villain? When introduced in films, the antagonist is often given tell-tale, gloomy music and shadowed lighting. They scowl and sneer and laugh in derision, and we know they are the opposition. In William Shakespeare’s plays, the villains often introduce themselves as such, stating their macabre intentions or hateful jealousies. From a psychological point of view, their thoughts are simple enough to understand. Occasionally, however, The Bard introduced characters so complex, they could be analyzed in many different ways. In The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, it may not be very hard to guess who the antagonist is, but the reason for his role as villain becomes muddled by distracting, humorous dialogue, strong lead protagonists, and conflicting statements about religion and social status. Shylock is one of the most complex villains in all of Shakespeare’s plays, even to the point of confusion among the best scholars (Smith). This is because Shylock takes on some of the most intricate human characteristics, and he represents those negative traits that make a villain more than just a plot point. Looking into his psyche is a pleasure for those who prefer the psychoanalytic lens, especially because that particular method of analysis “attempts to explain the hows and whys of human nature” (Bressler 124). By taking a close look at Shylock’s character through this lens, his motives can be broken into three more or less simple categories every person identifies with: discrimination, revenge, and greed.…
- 2062 Words
- 9 Pages
Better Essays -
What makes a villain a villain? Some people might say that it is maniacal laughter and a personal vendetta against the protagonist in a story; others may say that it is just someone who is evil. It is actually much more complex than that and no one really stops to think about what makes that villain truly interesting. Villainy can usually be summed up under five main categories; powerful, intelligent, immoral, determined and wounded. A villain must be powerful, in that he or she has a way of making situations and people bend to his or her will; intelligent, though not specifically an evil super-genius. He or she must in some way be immoral; not necessarily sociopathic, but he or she must be willing to violate their morals to either get what is wanted, or in order to achieve what is perceived as “the greater good”. A villain must be determined, or willing to do almost anything in order to attain his or her goals; determination is a key aspect in creating a “proper” villain. Finally, a villain must be wounded: not necessarily physically, but emotionally. This supports the idea that no one is born evil; rather, villains are made that way by circumstances or events in their lives. Villains who are multidimensional and exhibit all five components to their character are by their very complexity, interesting. “King Lear” exhibits three villains: Goneril, Regan and Edmund, who portray many of the main characteristics of villains. Although all three are quite villainous, Edmund is definitely the most interesting of them.…
- 2111 Words
- 9 Pages
Powerful Essays -
In a series of articles called Observer, first published in 1785, British playwright Richard Cumberland created a character named Abraham Abrahams who is quoted as saying, "I verily believe the odious character of Shylock has brought little less persecution upon us, poor scattered sons of Abraham, than the Inquisition itself."[18] Cumberland later wrote a successful play, The Jew (1794), in which his title character, Sheva, is portrayed sympathetically, as both a kindhearted and generous man. This was the first known attempt by a dramatist to reverse the negative stereotype that Shylock personified.[19]…
- 1521 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Shylock suffers from religious persecution, which plays an important part in the play. Antonio has reviled and despised this Jew, even humiliating him publicly because of his money lending and usury. Shylock believes that his profiteering is not a sin. This is contrary to the Christian belief, held by Antonio, that money should be lent for charity and not for profit. By his profession and his religion, Shylock is marked as the alien in a happy and fun- loving Venetian society. His alienation causes his bitterness and his humiliation makes him seek revenge. Antonio becomes the target of that revenge, and Shylock uses the letter of the law to try and exact a pound of flesh from his enemy. His strict interpretation of the law backfires on him, and he winds up losing his wealth and barely saving his life. Although he appears in only five scenes, Shylock is a very powerful personality, whose love of money has destroyed any natural human…
- 320 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Shylock can be called a tragic hero because he is undone by a tragic flaw in the end. Being a Jew, Shylock is already shown to be “evil” to Christians.…
- 605 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays