Merchant of Venice

Shylock: Villain or Victim The Merchant Of Venice is the story about a merchant by the name of Antonio who borrows money from a Jewish moneylender by the name of Shylock, in order to fund his best friend Bassanio’s romantic ambitions. The majority of the residents of Venice during the time this story was written were Christians, just like Antonio. At the same time there was a considerable amount of hatred toward those who were not Christians. Antonio needed money quickly and he had no other choice then to borrow money from Shylock. Jewish moneylenders made profit from charging interests. Since the Jews were very successful with their business, Christians were resentful towards Jews. Christians were prejudice because they didn’t want Jews to become wealthy. This shows Shylock being victimized in the play, as all Jews were back in the sixteenth century, even thought Shylock is not a very nice individual. As an audience we see Shylock in two different ways, as a villain and as a victim, whereas in the play most of the other characters just see him as a villain the whole time. In this essay I am going to explore if Shylock is a victim or a villain. Throughout the play Shylock is presented as a victim. One major way that we see Shylock victimized in this play is during the first scene in act three. During the scene he tells the audience about the abuse he has suffered from Christians in general and from Antonio in particular. "I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions – fed with the same food, hurt by the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die, and if you wrong us hall we not revenge” (III.i.48-55). It makes us know that Shylock is greatly affected by the discrimination that he suffers. He is saying that Jews are just like Christians and tries to justify his revenge on Antonio, portraying himself as a victim of discrimination and makes us pity him. The speech carries on by pointing out the similarities between Christians and Jews; he asks lots of rhetorical questions which show that the only difference between Christians and Jews is religion. Shylocks' very articulate speech wins us over, his audience, and allows him to sink to their level: he wills, he vows and his behavior is just as malicious as theirs has been. At first, we sympathize with the Jew, whose right to fair and decent treatment has been neglected by the Christians, that he must remind them that he has “hands, organs, dimensions, senses” similar to theirs. Then Shylock’s next pledge to behave as badly as they have: “The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction,” this shows us that Shylock is coming back worse then he has ever been before. Even thought we understand his motivation, I don't believe we can excuse the endless continuation of such villainy. In the courtroom, Shylock loses everything that he had, including his religion, as he was forced to convert to Christianity. It was the worst punishment for him, because religion was important to him, and he hated Christians. He may have spared his life, but asking him to convert is as good as asking him to die. The laws at that time were mostly in favors of the Christians, the Jews had little right to anything. They could not claim inalienable citizenship in any country, causing Shylock to be in the wrong, "It is enacted in the laws of Venice, if it be proved against an alien that by direct or indirect attempts he seek the life of any citizen, the party `gainst the which he doth contrive shall seize one half of his goods, the other half comes to the privy coffer of the state"(IV.i.559-565). It seems as if the punishment he received was meted not according to his crime, but according to his religion, and that makes it even more unfair, portraying him as the victim. Also, Portia and the other Christians asked for mercy from him, and when he lost his case, they did not think about rendering him mercy, but instead give him harsh punishments. In spite of all this he is presented as a big victim in the trial scene when he is made to give all his money to Lorenzo and Jessica when he dies and even worse he is made to turn into a Christian. In the 16th century this wouldn't have been a big thing and the audience wouldn't have cared and probably would have liked the fact that he had to change to a Christian as they didn't like Jews. Yet nowadays it is seen as a terrible punishment. If he didn't obey the court he would be executed. Also during the trial scene the only way he is referred to is as 'The Jew' and this makes him seem like a victim because he has had his rights taken away from him just because he is a Jew. He has a name but they still call him the Jew not Shylock. Which is wrong and unjust. “The function of the villain in a romantic comedy is to impede the hero’s pursuit of the heroine, either through direct opposition or by pursuing independently some course of action which coincidentally puts barriers between them . . . It is a slight function, and the conventional villain is a slight figure. Initially Shylock is well within the tradition: a father who opposes his daughter’s marriage; an old man who condemns as folly the high spirits of youth; an alien; a man whose rigid character makes him inflexible in the face of the need for change; on whose countinghouse morality is shown up as sterile in the ace of the felt vitality of the friends and lovers” (Siemon 436). During the play Shylock is also presented as a villain, Shakespeare makes Shylock look like a villain, just by making him a Jew and having him only one friend which made him look like he isn't a very nice person. Also his only friend Tubal never says how nice he is or anything positive about Shylock. At the beginning of the play the first thing Shylock says is: "Three thousand ducats"(I.3.1). This could be seen in two ways, him making a living in one of the few occupations open to him as he is a Jew at the time or that he is just a greedy, cold materialistic man. I personally think the cold greedy description fits him best. He also rejects his own family; he makes his daughter stay in the house and won't let her out. So as a consequence of him being such a harsh father to live with she runs away, and when Shylock finds out she and his money is gone, he screams in rage, "O my daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter" Fled with a Christian! O my Christian ducats”(II.8.16-17)! This shows he hates Christians and that his money is more important to him than his daughter. He also says he wishes his daughter was dead, which a loving father does not say, only a villain can wish a thing like that. Shakespeare has structured the play in such a way that he can make Shylock change the mood of people, just by what he has said he is going to do, For example in Act 3 Scene 7 everyone is happy, even the servants, then they hear the news about what Shylock is going to do to Antonio and their happiness changes to sadness. This is a cruel thing to do which makes you believe he is a villain.
Shylock does not get on with many of the characters in the play even his servant leaves him to work for someone else. There is some competition between Shylock and Antonio because Antonio because Antonio is lending money to people, like Shylock, but doesn't charge them interest, Shylock believes Antonio is jeopardizing Shylock's job. Shylock tells the audience how much he hates Antonio when he is invited to a party."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” (I.3.36-39). This makes Shylock seem like a villain because he is insulting Antonio behind his back and by that time in the play we have seen Antonio only being kind and we take Antonio's side. Shakespeare makes Shylock seem like a villain at the end of Act 3 Scene 1 just by the language he uses because he has Shylock using many words from the semantic field of death and ill-work. Most of the characters in the play really dislike Shylock and he dislikes them also. Lots of the other characters say things about him behind his back and Shylock also says things about the others behind their backs. Most of the things he says make him look like a villain because they aren't kind things whereas when the other characters say things about him he seems like a victim. When Shylock says his speech about hating Antonio he seems like a villain because he isn't being kind about Antonio who is a respectable merchant who the audience likes at the time of the play. Also, his servant Lancelot didn't want to work for him anymore and went to work for Bassanio instead, he tells him that Shylock has been a rude and unkind master." To be brief, the very truth is that the Jew, having done me wrong . . . "(II.2.116-17). The way Lancelot speaks about Shylock makes him seem even more like a villain. The trial scene itself shows how Shylock can be seen as both villain and victim at the same time. At the beginning of the trial scene Shylock is presented as villain however the end presents him as a victim. The trial is Shylock's only chance for justice, but the court is very one sided from the minute Shylock is ordered in by the judge "Go, on and call the Jew into the court"(IV.1.15). This clearly shows us that the judge is biased against Jews and Shylock even before it starts, and this influences the court. I believe that it also changes people into beliving that Shylock is somewhat of a victim again because Shylock is already having an unfair trial. Then, during the trial scene Shylock loses the audience's sympathy by what he says and by sharpening his knife on the sole of his shoe. The insults that are thrown at him and the pleas from the other characters don't even stop him from putting the knife near Antonio's chest ready to take a pound of his flesh, and when the sentence is given against Antonio he repeats the words of the bond slowly and with great pleasure. "Ay, his breast. So says the bond-dot hit not, noble judge? “Nearest his heart”; those are the very words"(IV.1.259-61). When he is ready to cut into Antonio's flesh, Portia stops him, because there is a flaw in the bond. "The bond doth give thee here no jot of blood. The words expressly are “A pound of flesh"”(IV.1.314-315). This scene in the play makes the audience realize he is in a trap because if Shylock enters Antonio's skin blood would definitely come out. He is then offered the money but he wouldn't take it, which turns him back into a villain because the only thing he wants is Antonio's flesh. However the tables are then turned because the law states that anyone who attempts to kill someone must be punished. Shylock's punishment is having his possessions confiscated. Also Antonio makes two conditions: firstly Shylock must become a Christian and secondly he must make a will leaving all of his possessions to Jessica and Lorenzo. Then at the end he has lost all his confidence, feels sorry himself and realizes that he has been defeated and finally tell that audience that he is content. When you realize he has lost everything even his religion, he then becomes a victim and gains a lot of sympathy. The extreme nature of the punishment shocks us and you feel really sorry for him, but then again at the same time its pretty easy to realize that he got what he deserved for playing with the life of Antonio as he did; which in my mind, turns him right back into a villain. “The most painful question of all, for us, is to wonder whether the play assumes for its own dramatic purposes a Christian point of view, however much it sees a genuine and understandable motive in Shylock’s desire for revenge. The problem of divided sympathies is exacerbated because Shylock’s structural function in the play is essentially that of the villain in a love comedy. His remorseless pursuit of Antonio darkens the mood of the lay, and his overthrow signals the providential triumph of love and friendship, even thought that triumph is not without its undercurrent of wry melancholy” (Bevington 74). I absolutely agree with Bevington because I see Sylock as a villain. I believe that the character of Shylock is very strategically placed in the novel as well as the Christian points of view, which play out very well together and create great arguments, which make for a great and entertaining play and storyline. By the end of the play the audience in the 16th century would have been quite happy as the character they didn't like had been defeated and been made to change to a Christian. The audience in the 16th century would have believed Shylock is a villain. However the audience nowadays would be glad that Shylock had been punished for being a really rude and unkind person, but believe that making him change his religion as well as having all of his possessions takes off him is going to far. Making him change his religion is a big thing now. Shylock has really bad manners, he is rude and only thinks about money, however he is treated really badly just because he is a Jew, which is unfair and unjust. Therefore, Shylock’s can be seen as both a victim and a villain, depending on your own personal opinions.

Works Cited
Luxon, Thomas. "A Second Daniel: The Jew and the "True Jew" in The Merchant of Venice." Early Modern Literary Studies. Dartmouth College, Jan. 1999. Web. 4 Dec. 2010. .

Shakespeare, William, and David M. Bevington. "The Merchant of Venice." The Necessary Shakespeare. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2005. 74. Print.

Shakespeare, William. "The Merchant of Venice." The Merchant of Venice. Ed. Leah S. Marcus. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005. 3-75. Print.

Siemon, James E. "The Canker Within: Some Observations on the Role of the Villain in Three Shakespearean Comedies." Shakespeare Quarterly 23.4 (1972): 435-43. JSTOR. Web. 5 Dec. 2010. .