The Aspects of Shylock in Shakespeare's 'The Merchant of Venice'

The Aspects of Shylock in Shakespeare's 'The Merchant of Venice'

There are many aspects of Shylock; in Shakespeare’s ‘The Merchant of

Venice’ he is seen in many different forms. In Medieval Venice Shylock

the Jewish banker is persuaded to lend three thousand ducats to

Antonio a Venetian merchant who had cursed and ridiculed Shylock for

years. The condition for the loan is that if Antonio did not pay back

the three thousand ducats he would forfeit, ‘a pound of flesh, to by

him cut off nearest the merchant’s heart.’ Through the course of the

play Shylock is portrayed in many different ways. Shylock tends to fit

the villainous type: he has no wife, no friends and later on in the

play he loses his money and his daughter.

Shylock is continuously presented as the enemy. He comes between many

lovers: Bassanio and Portia, Jessica and Lorenzo and the friendship

between Antonio and Bassanio. The only love Shylock seems to have is

for money: ‘I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels

in her ear: would she were hearsed at my foot, and the ducats in her

coffin.’ Shylock shows lack of compassion and loyalty to his daughter.

Shylock shows immense intolerance for Christians and this increases

when his daughter runs away to marry Lorenzo a friend of Antonio’s.

This produces a motive, and provokes Shylock and makes him more set on

defeating Antonio.

You can sympathise with shylock’s cruel temperament and unmerciful

nature, as he has been excluded from Christian society and mocked for

his religion. He is continuously scolded and ridiculed by the not so

perfect idealists, ‘hie thee, gentle Jew. The Hebrew will turn

Christian, he g...

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...ght to real life,

the audience sees the characters develop and watch as they all start

to feel hate, sorrow, fear and anguish. At the beginning Antonio and

Portia are very self pitying. Antonio appears very pathetic when he

says, ‘In sooth I know not why I am so sad,’ he seems attention

seeking. Portia overemotional about her life, ‘by my troth, Nerissa,

my little body is aweary of this great world.’ This is again attention

seeking.

In ‘the Merchant of Venice’ Shakespeare is continuously creating

falsehoods between the characters. He also creates bonds and barriers

between friends and lovers. By doing so he keeps the audience in

ravelled in the play. Shakespeare portrays Shylock excellently and

develops his character to be a hateable and disposable character,

whilst making it easy for the audience to sympathise.