Shylock in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

Shylock in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice "Shylock is a two dimensional villain who does not deserve our

sympathy"

The above statement makes two main assumptions about Shylock. One is

that Shylock is a two-dimensional villain, a man who is a

stereotypical, one-sided man with no true motive for his actions. This

assumption also implies that Shylock is extremely superficial, an

supposition that we strongly disagree. The second assumption is that

Shylock does not deserve our sympathy as although he is not

superficial, what he has done has outweighed all senses of morality.

In this, we agree to a certain extent only.

Pertaining to the first assumption, Shylock is not a one-sided,

superficial villain but has actually two sides: one of a comic villain

that invokes our dislike, and the other as the helpless victim of the

Christians. Most of the time, Shakespeare portrays Shylock as cruel

and mean, the most striking example being Shylock's reaction after his

discovery of Jessica's eloping with an enemy and the theft of his

belongings. His seemingly pure hatred of his daughter can be seen from

`"I would my daughter were dead at my foot and the jewels in her ear!"

Act 3, Scene 1. This portrayal of a Jew for Christians and readers to

rightfully ridicule and hate is further emphasized when Shylock

laments about his money along with his daughter, as can be seen from

`My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter! Fled with a Christian! O my

Christian ducats! Justice! The law! My duca...

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...ind, generous and follows

the Christian faith, Shylock's interpretation is one who has enough

money such that if the bond is forfeit, he would earn much in return.

This further emphasizes Shylock as a money-loving villain, who views

wealth above some of the more important parts of life.

Thus, pertaining to the second assumption, while Shylock deserves

sympathy as he is a victim of racism and marginalisation, his

unfounded and unneeded crimes must also be taken against him, and he

does not deserve too much pity.

Concluding this essay, we firmly believe that Shylock is a

three-dimensional character capable of deep emotions with more than

one side to him, and deserves pity as the victim of the

marginalisation by the Christians but not too much as he too committed

unspoken crimes that the Christians did not commit.