SHYLOCK – VICTIM OR VILLIAN?

The topic of Shylock, the antagonist of the play ‘Merchant of Venice’ is always a point of controversy. He is a complex and memorable character who cannot be grouped as purely evil. He plays both the role of a villain and that of a human who suffers from the loss of the three most important things in his life: his daughter, money and religion. He has been wronged throughout the play and thus, longs for revenge. His cruelty and bloodthirsty acts of revenge may make him seem like a villain but there is a human element to him that we cannot ignore. He arouses sympathy at some points in the play and at other points, hatred. Shylock was a Jewish moneylender and was persecuted for his religion. Anti-sematic Antonio hated Shylock since he was a Jew and a moneylender. In the Elizabethan era charging interest on money was frowned upon and all the Christian traders portray shylock and a cruel money minded man. They treat him unfairly, abuse him in the Rialto about his profession, call him a misbeliever, spurn him like one spurns a dog and spit on his gaberdine. So, when Antonio comes to ask him for a loan, Shylock tricks him into agreeing to a bond that states that if Antonio does not pay back the money by the due date, Shylock is entitled to 1 pound of flesh from his body. Antonio was over confident and accepted the bond’ believing that he would be able to pay it back, and if he couldn’t, shylock would not actually go through the bond. Even while asking for a favour, Antonio still treats shylock badly and belittles him for no reason except him being a Jew. Shylocks hatred towards Christian grows when his own daughter, Jessica runs away with a Christian and steals his money too. This, to a point could be considered Shylocks fault as he would never have accepted Jessica and Lorenzo’s marriage and was not a good father, but Jessica did not even try appealing to him and betrayed him. In the end Antonio is unable to pay the money by the due date as his ships have been wrecked. Shylock shows no mercy and takes Antonio to court demanding justice. He does not show any mercy despite the pleas of the duke, Bassanio and Portia (famous mercy plea) He justifies his reason for going through with the bond in an extremely powerful speech which is one of the main reasons he cannot be termed as purely evil. He says Antonio has laughed at his losses, thwarted his bargains, turned his friends against him and thwarted him half a million. His only reason for doing this was that Shylock was a Jew. Shylock says that Jews too are human. They too have eyes, hands and organs. They are affected by the same things a Christian is. If you prick them, they too will bleed. He goes onto say that if you wrong a Christian, they will seek revenge. The same way, a Jew too will learn from a Christian and seek revenge. This speech of his introduces his side of the story and we sympathise strongly with him. While trying to take someone’s life may be extreme, he too has been wronged a countless amount of times and this was the only way he could get justice. In the end of the play, we see that despite seeing Shylocks point of view in the courtroom, the Christians are still unfair to him. They claim to be merciful by sparing his life, but they take away his livelihood and religion. Religion means everything to shylock and in taking away his religion, they might as well take away his life. They think Shylock should be grateful to them for sparing his life, but what they have done may in fact be worse than death. the play ends on a happy note for everyone but shylock and we cannot help but feel sorry for him. It was not his fault he was born a Jew and was persecuted so much, for if he was not provoked, he might not have gone to such lengths for revenge. Shylock has a pivotal role in this play. He is the antagonist. He is the villain who meets his downfall in the end, but he is a complex character whose character development is such that one sympathises with him and does not call him purely evil. There is reasoning behind his actions and it is not completely his fault as he was tormented for no reason besides his religion. He can be viewed as morally ambiguous as one might argue that revenge when wronged is a basic human reaction. Shylock may have taken it to an extreme, but he was justified to a point. Antonio agreed to the conditions of the bond knowing how much Shylock hated him, and is partly to blame as well. Shakespeare softens the depth of shylocks malice by adding a human element to him and providing a way for the audience to sympathise with him. It is up to the readers to decide for themselves whether Shylock was a victim or villain. He adds complexity to the play and leaves readers with food for thought.