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Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice Essay, Is Shylock a Victim or Villain? Grade a

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Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice Essay, Is Shylock a Victim or Villain? Grade a
In The Merchant of Venice how does Shakespeare present both Shylock as both victim and villain? Throughout the play, ‘The Merchant of Venice’, Shylock reveals many personalities; therefore making him such an emotionally complex and detailed character that shows elements of being both a victim and villain; and to come to my decision to whether Shylock is either of the two, other characters language towards him and his reactions will perceive different ideas from different era’s in time to determine my answer. The first time Shylock is introduced into the play is in Act 1 Scene 3 where Antonio is to lend Bassanio 3,000 ducats to allow him to meet his love, Portia, in Belmont. However Antonio’s money is tied up at sea; which is why Shylock is asked to borrow money for him. The first sign of Shylock liking money is when talking to Bassanio about the bond. Also in this era Jews were to make profit when lending out money and Shylock saw this as a perfect opportunity to do so now. Shylock always seems a step ahead of everyone throughout the play as he knows correctly where Antonio’s money is tied up, while talking to Bassanio about Antonio he states: “he hath an argosy bound to Tripolis, another to the Indies; I understand moreover upon the Rialto, he hath a third at Mexico, a fourth at England and other ventures...”.This tells us that Shylock can be a greedy person as he seems to know pretty much everything about the bond. Furthermore as Shylock is a very intelligent man; his ideas that Antonio’s boats may not make it back within 3 months gives him an incentive to carry on with the deal. He knows that if he is to accept the bond, he has a very good chance of making a profit, and with different problems such as: “land-thieves and water-thieves” as he knows about in this time, he will go about this bond with confidence and the bound that he has put on Antonio that he truly wants, and one he will get. During the play there is a lot of evidence showing how Shylock is
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