Shylock in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

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Shylock in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

One of the most interesting and thought provoking characters in the

Merchant of Venice is Shylock. Throughout his five scenes in the play

he is looked down upon, betrayed, deserted, punished and humiliated by

Christian society, his daughter and all those that will eventually

need his money. His faith and his way of making a living are the

Christians' only justification for this treatment, yet even in his

alienation he is still, as we see later, constitute to Venetian Law.

Shylock's first appearance in the Merchant of Venice is in Act 1 Scene

3, where Bassanio is talking about Antonio taking out a loan on his

behalf. Shylock seems jovial in this first scene, before the

Christians start to heap insults upon him. I believe that this scene

may contain the only true indicator of Shylock's true demeanour, i.e.

an agreeable businessman. This view is unfortunately shattered by the

arrival of Antonio and his good credit rating.

Shylock hates Antonio, not only on principle, as the Christians hate

him, but also due to Antonio's own money lending activities and this,

his cardinal sin, of charging no interest. As Shylock says, "I hate

him for he is a Christian; but more, for in low simplicity he lends

out money gratis, and brings down the rate of usance here with us in

Venice."

Even now, you can recognise Shylock's hatred, firstly upon principle

of religion, and secondly hatred on behalf of his business, which may

be the most important thing to Shylock apart from his beloved

religion. The burden of his race gives Shylock both a sense of

righteous indignation and an overwhelming sense of ...

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... he ever want to marry Portia? By the end of

the play, I had almost forgotten that the only reason was because he

wanted a steady source of income without the hassle of working. I

believe that Bassanio may have been just as devious as Shylock. He

worked out that by showing his greed to Portia during the test, would

spell the end of the relationship. Portia could even have been in it

for greed. If not for money, then maybe different collateral, lust for

Bassanio could be interpreted as greed, could it not?

If you think about it, all the characters are driven by greed when you

get down to it. As I stated earlier, Shylock's race had little or

nothing to do with the outcome of the play. If he had been a Christian

moneylender, the same would have happened. In the end, the saying is

true: money is the root of all evil.

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