Draft of the English Literature project :

Topic One: Shylock is a victim in the play Merchant of

Venice
Introduction
Jews in 16th-century England practiced their religion secretly,
and many of those raised in the Jewish faith either converted to
Christianity or pretended to have done so. James Shapiro
considers Elizabethan prejudices and paranoia about Jews,
putting Shakespeare's Shylock in context.
There weren’t many Jews in Elizabethan England. At most a
couple of hundred could be counted among the thousands of
strangers living in late 16th-century London.
Anti-Semitic prejudice ran deep in England. Conventional
wisdom held that Jews who refused to convert to Christianity
were delaying the salvation of mankind. In the medieval period
many Christians also believed that Jews killed Christian children
as part of their religious practice, and this rumor persisted
during Shakespeare’s lifetime.
Perhaps the most widespread stereotype of Jews that survived
in Shakespeare’s time related to usury, the practice of lending
money at interest. In many parts of Europe, Christians were
legally forbidden from collecting interest. Though not legally
barred from the practice, Jews who did charge interest on loans
came to be seen as greedy and devious.
Shakespeare addressed this stereotype in The Merchant of
Venice, a play that has proven ambivalent for many audiences
through the centuries. Shakespeare’s depiction of the Jewish
moneylender Shylock has struck many as anti-Semitic.

Other’s attitude towards Shylock

Some of the character traits of Shylock shown to the audience

are “hatred of Christians, pride in Jewish identity, caution,
calculation, cunning, inflexible will” and money-centeredness.
He is marked as different by peculiar speech habits which
include the use of “special Jewish vocabulary”, as well as simply
unusual expressions and idioms
Shakespeare also made Shylock “pointedly anti-Christian”, for
example by having him mock at the New Testament. It is made
clear to the audience repeatedly that Shylock feels revulsion for
the Christians “Shylock’s attitudes are very peculiar.” He is full
of contradictions and inconsistencies and shows a somewhat
strange behavior.
The most important reasons why Shylock is hated and isolated
are firstly, that he is a Jew and secondly, that he lends money
for gain. His being a Jew “is an offense in itself” in the eyes of
the Christians. He is considered as faithless and as a villain. The
remark “The Hebrew will turn Christian, he grows kind.”
implicates that only Christians are considered as kind, Jews not.
In the eyes of the Christians, Shylock is a highly “threatening
figure” who “seeks to possess and devour”. They don’t even
consider him as a human being, but “systematically refuse to
accept him as a human being equal with themselves”.
He is called and referred to as dog several times and also
treated like one by them. The Christians “spurn him with their
feet, spit on him. To them he is a cur, a wolf. In general, the
Christians identify themselves “with the good” and Shylock
“with the bad”. He is even connected with the devil (“the very
devil/ incarnation”, “the/ devil himself”. Furthermore, he is
portrayed as cruel and murderous.
Antonio admits calling him “a misbeliever and a cut-throat dog
and spitting on him; he says he would do so again”. In addition
to that, all characters, except Jessica, refer to him as “the Jew”
instead of his name, often combined with derogatory
adjectives.
By this, the Christians set him apart from themselves and are
“letting him know that his personal identity is of no account”.
When the characters in the play talk about him they name
exclusively negative characteristics and all of them stick
together against him. He is “the complete outsider”. They even
taunt him when he loses his daughter.

Shylock’s attitude towards :

Money :
When Solanio mimics Shylock’s anguished cries of “My
daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter!” in Act 2, Scene 8, his
lines suggest one of the principal motifs of this intriguing script:
Money may placate the flesh, but only love can enrich and
satisfy our souls. Part of a rich fabric of themes and images in
the play, this central truth is immediately apparent in the
preoccupation with finance displayed throughout the script.
The usual view of Shylock's attitude about money is a view
unfavorable to Shylock. He is said to obsessed with money and
unloving to his daughter, placing his wealth in jewels and
ducats very far above her.
PORTIA:
In Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice the father-
daughter relationship between Shylock and Jessica is something
that is never clearly expressed in the entire play. In fact, the
conversation between Jessica and Shylock has been rather
scanty. But Jessica’s speech before other characters like
Launcelot sheds some more light on this.
Jessica seems to have respect and gratitude for her father. She
speaks mildly with him. And when Launcelot was leaving his
service, she expressed her concern for Shylock. But even then,
she utters that the house has become a hell due to her father.
I am sorry thou wilt leave my father so.
Our house is hell,
Apparently surprising, Jessica is seen to be ashamed of being
born to Shylock. She is feeling a kind of guilty for not being true
to her father and her religion.
Alack, what heinous sin is it in me
To be ashamed to be my father’s child.
She is more ashamed of her father’s ill-manners and
stubbornness rather than he being a Jew. Interestingly, her
father does not know all these and thinks her to be a very
obedient daughter.
But though I am a daughter to his blood,
I am not to his manners.

Antonio
Shylock despises Antonio with a passion. He says as much
throughout the play. When he observes him at the beginning,
he says the following in an aside:

How like a fawning publican he looks!

I hate him for he is a Christian,
But more for that in low simplicity
He lends out money gratis and brings down
The rate of usance here with us in Venice.
In this extract, his loathing is pertinent. He hates Antonio
because he is a Christian. He also hates him since he lends out
money without charging interest, compromising Shylock's own
money-lending practice, for he charges interest. By lending
without interest, Antonio brings down the interest rate which
Shylock charges for loans, thus affecting his income. Shylock
swears that if he should get Antonio at a disadvantage, he will
use it to carry through an age old grudge that he holds against
him. Shylock is resentful of the fact that Antonio hates Jews and
that he consistently criticizes his money-lending practice. He
feels that his people would be cursed if he should ever forgive
Antonio for his persistent censure.

Shylock’s reference to common humanity

The speech is presented when Shylock enters in Act III, Scene I

and crosses paths with Salerio and Solanio. They are concerned
about their good friend Antonio, question Shylock about the
pound of flesh. Shylock’s following speech denotes his lack of
sympathy towards Antonio’s current situation and how he now
has to provide a pound of flesh to Shylock.
Along with this, the speech provides a further understanding to
the deep rooted history of Shylocks mistreatment by Antonio
and other Christians. Shylock’s speech of his past
mistreatments by others, stirs resentment in Shylock and
further fuels his need to seek out revenge. Overall, Shylocks’
mistreatment by others creates a character that has been
victimized and mistreated by others. Shylock being portrayed as
a victim helps provide an understanding to
his need for revenge. Aside from being portrayed as a victim,
Shylock provides the connotation that not much difference
exists between Christians and Jews, and both are equal as
human beings.
He does this comparison order to further add to the
justification that he is in his every right for revenge just as a
person of Christian faith. While the conflict between Antonio
and Shylock is a major part of the play, it can be interpreted as
representing the greater conflict between Jews and Christians.

CONCLUSION

Shylock is one of the main characters in William Shakespeare's

The Merchant of Venice, a Jewish merchant living in a
predominantly Christian environment. As the merchant, he
exemplifies many negative character traits that we abhor in
others and in ourselves: greed, jealousy and vengeance.
Shylock's life revolves around money. In fact, he has a
reputation for charging too much interest on loans.
Just because Shylock has acted on revenge as most of us do, it
doesnt make him a villain. He is simply just a victim to human
emotions. Shylock begins to seem a like a victim as well as a
villain, and his fate seems excessively harsh. In addition to the
abuse Antonio and other Christians routinely subject him to,
Shylock lost his beloved wife, Leah. His daughter, Jessica, runs
away from home with money and jewels she’s stolen from him,
including a ring Leah gave him before she died. Therefore, with
such thoughts Shylock is neither a villain nor a Jew.