"The Merchant Of Venice": Shylock Is An Ambivalent Portrait

Throughout ‘The Merchant of Venice’, Shylock is a character with a strong impact on the audience. The response of the audience changes throughout the play, varying from pity to dislike. His Jewish background and persecution provide a case for the audience liking the character and giving him pity, whereas his obsessions with money and his desire to kill Antonio gives the audience a bad impression. The influence he has on the audience has varied over the years, from the Elizabethan times when he first appeared, who saw persecution of Jews everyday, to the modern audience who will dislike characters who are prejudiced.

Shylock first appears in Act 1 Scene 1. For the audience, first impressions are vital. His first line when Bassanio offers him the bond is ‘Three Thousand ducats – well’ (Act 1 Scene 3 Line 1). To any audience this gives the impression that he is very concerned about money, especially when he repeats ‘three thousand ducats’ throughout the scene. Throughout the scene, there is a repetition of the word ‘three’, e.

g. ‘three thousand ducats’, ‘three months’, ‘three thousand ducats for three months’ etc.

This repletion not only emphasises Shylock’s obsession with money (as he is still pondering over the bond) but also shows how numerically Shylock thinks. The obsession with money is a key part of his character and the first thing that the audience noticed. Shakespeare himself was interested in money and usances himself, he invested much of his money into his theatre, and his knowledge of that subject is reflected in Shylock’s character We also learn from this scene the intelligence of Shylock.

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As soon as Bassanio propositions him, he considers the offer in his mind, and realises how he can get revenge on Antonio, e. . ‘Antonio shall become bound – well’ (line 5). Later on in the scene, Shylock shows his intelligence once again, when he tries to be friendly to Antonio to try and make him sign the bond, e. g. ‘I would be friends with you, and have your love’ (Line 133). Shylock is a shrewd businessman. He is careful not to lend money out to people who he doesn’t know, or people that he knows will not pay him back, e. g. ‘My meaning in saying that he is a good man, is to have you understand that he is sufficient’ (Lines 13-14).

He disguises his sinister bond as a joke in hoping to persuade Antonio to seal the bond, when he does he knows that he can kill Antonio if he does not repay him. Shylock stalls with Bassanio not giving him a definite answer until Antonio arrives, this is because he wants to see Antonio and talk to him about his sinister bond. His stalling also gives him time to think his plan through. Shylock, being an orthodox Jew has considerable knowledge of the Bible. In this scene he uses his knowledge to benefit himself. He tells Antonio the story of Uncle Laban’s sheep and Jacob to justify why he should collect Interest.

His interpretation of the story is completely different from the Antonio’s. Antonio believes that he twists the story to benefit himself. Antonio detests Shylock, he considers him ‘ a dog’, and he does not agree with Shylock charging interest, i. e. ‘An evil soul producing holy witness is like a villain with a smiling cheek, a goodly apple rotten at the heart. ‘ Also ‘In the Rialto you have rated me about my moneys and my usances. Still I have borne it with a patient shrug’ (Shylock). Much of an Elizabethan audience would have agreed with Antonio on this, as the majority of them would have been Christians.

I hate him for he is a Christian’ illustrates the point that Shylock does not like any Christians. He hates Antonio especially, owing to the persecution he has received from him, e. g. ‘You call me misbeliever, cut throat dog, and spit upon my Jewish gaberdine. ‘ ‘Fair sir, you spit on me Wednesday last, you spurned me such a day, another time you called me a dog, and for these courtesies I’ll lend you thus much moneys? ‘ Shylock has obviously been persecuted due to his Jewish heritage, and this would make the modern audience feel sorry for him.

Due to the amount of persecution he has received, Shylock often attracts our sympathies so much that the reader often thinks of how he suffers outside of the play. This shows how deep his suffering must be. Most of the Elizabethan audience would be accustomed to seeing this sort of persecution, but still may not feel that it is right. As a result of his persecution, Shylock hates all Christians, although he obviously has knowledge of the Christian bible, as the Old Testament is part of the Jewish scriptures, e. g. ‘to smell pork, to eat of the habitation which your prophet the Nazarite conjured the devil into’.

Shylock also considers Antonio ‘a fawning publican’; he compares him to a Jewish tax collector. Antonio also lends out money, but does not charge interest, which annoys Shylock, e. g. ‘If you repay me not on such a day, in such a place, such sum or sums as are expressed in the condition, let the forfeit be nominated for an equal pound of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken in which part of the body pleaseth me. ‘ This shows that Shylock seeks revenge, and in some ways gives the audience the impression that he is evil.

In fact he is partially breaking the Ten Commandments, (Thou Shalt not Kill, which he would do if Antonio forfeits his bond. ) Antonio is one of the main persecutors of Shylock, but it may not be because of his Jewish heritage that Antonio persecutes him. In the opening scene, Antonio tells us that he is sad and does not know why. When his friend Bassanio asks him to get the bond from Shylock, he has no hesitance about risking his life for it. This, and his general actions to Bassanio might suggest that he is actually in love with Bassanio, but he cannot do anything about it, especially with Portia around.

This would explain the intensity of their relationship, and why Antonio is depressed. As a result, Antonio takes it out on Shylock, someone he knows he can get away with persecuting. The Elizabethan audience would consider Shylock a typical Jew. Jews were expelled from the country in 1290, and when many returned in the fifteen hundreds, they only had a limited number of jobs that they could do. Many decided to lend money for interest, as they were allowed to, and Christians were not. As this was all they could do, many had to be very money-tight; to make sure they never lost any money.

Jews were always persecuted; many of the Christians hated them for it was them who killed Jesus Christ. Therefore, so far Shylock would appear to be a typical Jewish moneylender, whom many of them would not particularly like due to his money lending and their hate of Christians. As The Merchant of Venice was written in 1596-1597, much of the first audiences would have been aware of the recent execution of another Jew, Rodrigo Lopez in 1594. For many years he was well respected as the Queen’s physician until the Earl of Essex ruined him.

He was hanged for treason. Lopez may have had a strong influence on Shakespeare’s writing about Jews, e. g. how a prominent man can be ruined because of his Jewish heritage. In Act 2 Scene 1, Jessica, Shylock’s daughter says ‘our house is hell’, showing the audience that she perhaps considers him a bad father and a bad man. His servant, Launcelot Gobbo also considers him ‘a devil’. The people that Shylock sees most often have said negative things about him, so the audience will judge that he is not that a nice person.

In Act 2 Scene 5, Shylock is on his way to a supper with the Christians. He is only going to annoy them; this shows the audience that he is not considerate. Shylock says ‘I did dream of money bags tonight’ which shows how much he cares about his money. He also ensures that his house and daughter are safe from those ‘Christian Fools’, before he leaves e. g. ‘Lock up my doors, and when you hear the drum and the vile squealing of the wry-necked fife, clamber not you up to the casements then, not thrust your head into the street to gaze on Christian fools’.

He is very concerned about his money, but even more he is worried about his daughter seeing Christians, as he considers the Jews a tribe, and they need to marry within the tribe to keep it going, so he feels that she should marry a Jew, not a Christian. At the end of Act 2 Scene 6, Jessica not only leaves her father, but also takes many of his ducats with her and Lorenzo. Any audience would now give pity to Shylock as he has lost a daughter and a considerable sum of money. Jessica’s last line before leaving is ‘Farewell, and if my fortune be not crossed, I have a father, you a daughter lost. The audience would not only give pity, but also perhaps see Shylock as a poor father, more concerned about the welfare of the Jewish culture than the happiness of his daughter. In Scene 8, Salerio and Solanio discuss Shylock.

We yet again see the Christian persecution of Shylock, i. e. ‘Villain Jew’, which would influence the audience. Solanio also overheard Shylock earlier on, after he discovered the desertification of his daughter, e. g. ‘My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter! Fled with a Christian! O my Christian Ducats! From this it appears that Shylock is just as upset about his daughter’s betrayal as he is of the loss of his money, which again emphasises his obsession with money, and makes the audience think that he is not that caring of his daughter. He is so angry with her, he says ‘she is dammed for it’, but he still persists that she is completely different from the Christians ‘there is more difference between thy flesh and hers than Jet and ivory’. He still considers her a Jew who should not see Christians. The audience might see that he has a right to seek revenge after what Jessica did to her.

In Act 3 Scene 1, we see Shylock giving reasons for why he should collect the forfeit if it is required, e. g. ‘If it feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me and hindered me half a million. ‘ To the audience it would appear that Shylock is just bloodthirsty and cruel. An audience from an Elizabethan era would no doubt think that Jews were cruel anyway, as this was the prejudice that was around at the time. There were untrue stories of Jews being cruel, and of course stories from the bible such as King Herod (a Jew) killing all the babies in Bethlehem under two years.

Certainly Jews have been played as cruel villains in other plays, such as Barabas, in The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe, who was based upon Joseph, Duke of Naxos (who was not a Jew). So many of the audience would already assume that Shylock was cruel and bloodthirsty. The Jews are described as ‘the cursed race’ in this story. Shakespeare was without a doubt influenced by Marlowe’s play; Barabas, the Jew has a daughter who turns Christian during the play, so it is obvious that Shylock and Jessica were adapted from this play.

Shylock’s speech about the forfeit in this scene begins with ‘To bait Fish with’, after Salerio’s question ‘if he forfeit, thou wilt not take his flesh, what’s that good for? ‘ Shylock’s response to this question shows again that he is quick-witted and can retort to any comments he does not approve of. In Shylock’s speech we hear again of his persecution, for example ‘He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies, and what’s his reason? I am a Jew.

Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? ‘ An audience would feel sorry Shylock at this point and perhaps agree that it is fair for him to collect his forfeit. Shylock points out that ‘If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why revenge. ‘ Shylock points out that if he were a Christian and Antonio were a Jew, no one would have a problem with him collecting his forfeit. He illustrates the division between the rights of the Christians and the rights of the Jews.

After this influential speech, much of the audience might agree with Shylock about his view of equality among Christians and Jews. The majority of an Elizabethan audience would still probably consider him evil due to the prejudice of the time. Shylock’s image of being bloodthirsty reappears later on in the scene when his friend Tubal informs him of Antonio’s loss, and Shylock’s response is ‘I thank God, I thank God. Is it true, is it true? ‘ ‘I thank thee good Tubal, good news, good news! Ha, ha! ‘ These lines would suggest that Shylock is cruel as he is so desperate for a chance to take the forfeit of off Antonio.

This scene is the first scene in which we see another Jew, and at the end of the scene there is a reference to the local Synagogue. This tells everyone that the Jewish community has been well established, so this might a reason for the audience to feel less sorry for Shylock. Also the Jews must also have quite a bit of money if they have built their own Synagogue. In Act Three, Scene Three, Antonio has been arrested for not repaying the bond and is making one last plea to Shylock. Shylock is obsessed with revenge on his Christian persecutor, and will not forgive him or even listen to what Antonio has to say.

All he wants is his bond, e. g. ‘(Antonio) I pray thee hear me speak. (Shylock) I’ll have my bond. I will not hear thee speak. I’ll have my bond, and therefore speak no more’. This scene once again emphasises to the audience the amount of murderous hatred that Shylock has, and also how difficult it is to change the law. Act Four Scene 1 sees the Duke of Venice’s first appearance. A good friend of Antonio’s, he describes Shylock as ‘an inhuman wretch’. Once again, the audience will be influenced by the feelings of another character. The rest of the characters see Shylock as an evil devil as he enters the courtroom.

Much of the audience would not approve of him wanting to kill Antonio. Shylock retaliates to the remarks that he should not collect his bond, with his quick wittedness in the forms of another speech, in which he compares Antonio to a pig. In Antonio’s speech, he is still being racist against Shylock, saying ‘a Jewish Heart’; he does not once call him a man, always a Jew. Bassanio offers him six thousand ducats for the bond, but Shylock refuses. From what we already know about how greedy Shylock is about money, this seems very strange, showing how desperate he is to kill Antonio.

Shylock gets more and more aggravated waiting for his bond to become legal, again showing how deep his wounds are from Antonio. Shylock calls Portia ‘ Daniel’, referring to the Old Testament, where Daniel was a wise Judge. This again illustrates this knowledge of the bible, and how he considers this justice. Shylock shows no mercy and no forgiveness, which are two basic elements of Christianity; many of Antonio’s Christian friends expected Shylock to forgive Antonio. Shylock makes several powerful speeches throughout the play, the only character other than Portia to do so.

He wins battles of words against Antonio many times, e. g. ‘Signior Antonio, many a time and oft in the Rialto you have rated me about my money and my usances. Still I have borne it with a patient shrug … ‘ (Act One Scene Three). Also in Act Three Scene 1, ‘To bait fish withal. If it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me… ‘. These speeches show that Shylock is quick witted, able to retaliate with words and quite intelligent. The Merchant of Venice could be more described as a romantic comedy than a tragedy. Therefore you would perhaps not expect not to see an evil villain in it.

The audience may not be expecting an evil character, so may not consider him a villain, but more of a victim. In many plays, especially ones which have Jews featured, there was an evil character (e. g. The Jew of Malta), so, the audience would be accustomed to this, so may picture Shylock as that evil character. Throughout the play, Shylock is compared to both Antonio and Portia. Whereas Antonio is seen simply as a typical example of mankind (who goes through different stages of emotions), and Portia as Wisdom, Shylock is seen for a lot of the time as the Devil.

Throughout the play, there are numerous references to Shylock and the Devil, e. . ‘The devil can cite scripture for his own purposes’ (Act One, Scene Three), ‘The Jew is the very devil incarnation’ (Act Two Scene Two), ‘lest the devil cross my prayer, for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew. ‘ (Act Three Scene One) Shylock’s response to Portia turning the case against him in Act Four Scene One is ‘My deeds upon my head’. This recalls the time when the Jews called for the execution of Christ, so this line again shows that he is a Christian hater. All of these references indicate to the audience that Shylock is similar to the devil, so many of them will accept his persecution and consider him a villain.

This would have been the case especially in the Elizabethan era when all Jews were considered cruel. Throughout the years, Shylock has changed, in the way the actor portrays him and in the way the audience sees him. Up until the eighteenth century, he would have been seen as a slightly comical character, whose purpose is to be mocked. He then changed into the villain of the play, in one portrayal he was so sinister, grotesque and so ferocious a villain that after King George II watched it, he is reported to have had a sleepless night. He then was more portrayed as an injured man, followed by an outrageous father.

Today a modern audience sees him as a persecuted man, who seeks revenge on those who wrong him. We also see him as a typical Jew, wanting to preserve his culture. Some people even consider him an Old Testament Prophet. In conclusion, Shylock appears to the audience as a tragic villain, a man who is obsessed with money, revenge on people who wrong him. There is a lot of emphasis on comparing him to the devil, which much of the audience would agree with. His persecution by the Christians gives him some pity but his humbling end leaves the impression of a broken man.