Uncompleted- the Merchant of Venice Text Response Essay

In the play ‘The Merchant of Venice’, there are several characters who behave in villainous ways but Shylock is the most villainous character out of all of them. Do you agree?
Throughout ‘The Merchant of Venice’ there are many examples of villainous acts performed by the characters. Although the character of Shylock may perhaps stand out in the mind of the reader, these acts are not solely limited to him individually. shylock cannot be considered the only villain in the play, for he shoulders much undeserved ridicule for his religion
Shylock cannot be considered the most villainous character in this play, for he shoulders much undeserved ridicule for his religion. Nearly every character in Shakespeare’s famous play behaves in malevolent or unjust ways at one point in the story, whether it is predominantly as selfishness, cruelty, or vindictiveness. But does this pronounce them villains? Whilst Shylock is portrayed as a villain in more than one aspect, does this not warrant that Portia, being unjustly biased and unlawful, also be given the title of villain? Should not Shylock’s daughter Jessica be labelled a villain for her deceptive and larcenist actions and Antonio for his bigotry and obstinacy? And what of Bassanio; does he not selfishly and irresponsibly borrow money from Antonio, unable to afford to repay him, in order to further his personal wants? Each of these characters exhibits wanton villainous behaviour, with some performing more acts than others. They execute deceptive and vengeful acts in different forms, with most also being prejudiced in one way or another. Shylock could well be the ‘supposed’ villain of Shakespeare’s play, for he is Antonio’s enemy, and Antonio, being quite obviously the plays most prominent and most famous character, is quite possibly made out to be the main character of the play, rather than Bassanio, or even Shylock himself. The title page of the first quarto of ‘The Merchant of Venice’; ‘the moſt excellent Hiſtorie of the Merchant of Venice. VVith the extreame crueltie of Shylocke the Iewe towards the ſayd Merchant, in cutting a iuſt pound of his fleſh: and the obtayning of Portia by the choyſe of three cheſts’ appears to state that the Jew, Shylock, performs deeds of cruelty unbefitting to Antonio, who appears to be the ‘Merchant of Venice’. But, although this seems to dub Shylock as the villain, perhaps delving deeper into the deceptions of the other characters may help us to determine if this is truly the case, or if instead this is just how Shylock was portrayed by Shakespeare and is acting in response to others and their misdeeds.
Shakespeare’s famous play ‘The Merchant of Venice’ embodies many characters that perform acts of deception. Whilst Shylock comes across as an important villainous character due to his repeatedly taking advantage of people in vulnerable economic situations and making a handsome living in this way, he is also presented as a villain simply because Antonio, the character the play is primely based around, is a Christian, therefore Shylock, being a Jew and nemesis to him, is labelled a villain right from the early pages. But this does not seem to be a fair earning of the title ‘villain’ on Shylock’s part. Shylock himself does not outwardly present the amount of deception as other characters. For example Portia; ‘When we are both accoutred like young men, I’ll prove the prettier of the two, and wear my dagger with the braver grace, and speak between the change of man and boy with a reed voice, and turn two mincing steps into a manly stride, and speak of frays like a fine bragging youth’ (Act 3, Scene 4, Lines 63-69). This quote shows us that Portia persuades her maid Nerissa to help her deceive an entire courtroom of persons, in order to save her husband’s dearest friend Antonio. While her dressing up as a male doctor of the law and deceiving the court ‘that they shall think we are accomplished’ (Act 3, Scene 4, Line 61) in order to save another’s life may be decreed as just, Portia disobeyed the law and the entire moral of the court system of fair judgement. But apart from saving another’s life, Portia also deceives her husband Bassanio, asking his wedding ring after he begs her to ‘take some remembrance of us as a tribute’ (Act 4, Scene 1, Line 421). Portia tells her unknowing husband ‘and for your love I’ll take this ring from you. Do not draw back your hand; I’ll take no more, and you in love shall not deny me this’ (Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 426-428), in order to test Bassanio’s love and devotion. This test of Portia’s may have been an ingenious way to test Bassanio, but Portia truly insisted, and when on the brink of keeping the ring, Antonio insisted he part with it, where Bassanio, unable to refuse his friend, gave up his ring to Balthazar, the disguised Portia. Apart from Portia, Shylock’s very own daughter, Jessica, performs deceitful acts. The stealing of ‘a diamond gone cost me two thousand ducats’ (Act 3, Scene 1, Lines 79-80), ‘two thousand ducats in that, and other precious, precious jewels’ (Act 3, Scene 1, Lines 82-83) and also a ring, ‘it was my turquoise; I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor’, show us that Jessica revered Lorenzo above the bonds of her father, and above the ties of blood. Jessica spent the money on trifling and wasteful possessions, with no heed that the ring she wore of Shylock’s and so easily traded for a monkey, meant so much to him, for it was a gift from her mother. Jessica’s deception and subsequent betrayal cut deeper than she realised, with Shylock feeling heartbreak and agony over losing his daughter forevermore and the taking of his things by his daughter in order to escape with Lorenzo and betray her religion. In response to this, Shylock’s attitude towards life changed. Without the responsibility of his daughters care, Shylock was free to do as he would without the need to worry about her safety. After the loss of Jessica, Shylock would have been in a very unstable mind frame; feeling confusion over the stealing of his possessions, and feeling hurt and anger over the ease at which Jessica was able to leave him behind for love. This in turn lead to Shylock refusing to put up with the mockery and snide derogatory taunts from Antonio and like Christians, so he set his mind to ending it. Many take Shylock’s actions as vengeful behaviour, and as being unnecessary and cruel, but when constantly faced with ridicule and maltreatment, can you really blame him? The character Shylock seems to be portrayed as the villain in ‘The Merchant of Venice’ mainly due to his vengeful actions. Possibly the most famous quote of the play, the ‘Pound of Flesh’, quoted by Shylock, brings forth the image of a man seeking to cause wanton harm to his nemesis. But as the saying goes, never judge a book by its cover, for appearances are not everything. Perhaps Shylock is vengeful upon Christians, for they are the ones who have scorned him all his life. Perhaps he does not deserve to live his life being called a ‘misbeliever, cut throat dog’, and have Christians ‘spit upon’ his ‘Jewish gabardine’ (Act 1, Scene 3, Lines 108-109). Or perhaps Shylock was overwhelmed by the maliciousness of the individuals he was forced to interact with, and by the pain of losing his daughter Jessica, that he felt as an outsider would; unwelcome and alienated by a prejudiced society. All of these factors would be constantly weighing down upon Shylock, and although he seems an unreasonable and selfish individual, in actual fact we are quite unable to tell if he is or no, for there is no evidence duly naming him so. Shylock delves to take ‘a weight of carrion flesh’ (Act 4, Scene 1, Line 41) from a man he suspects will not be able to repay him simply because it is his ‘humour’ to do so (Act 4, Scene 1, Line 43), but also because he seems to feel that it is time Antonio gets what he gives. But although Shylock is vengeful, it was only in one case, whereas characters such as Portia execute this more than once. Portia acts in vengeance throughout a major portion of Act 4. She had no right to back Shylock into a corner and strip him of everything but his flesh, for saving Antonio’s life should have been fair. Instead, after Portia says ‘this bond doth give thee here no jot of blood; The words expressly are “a pound of flesh:” Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh; but, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed one drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate unto the state of Venice’ (Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 305-311), she had not the need to amplify Shylock’s discomfiture when she was at liberty to be content with Shylock’s acceptance of 3000 ducats. After securing Antonio’s life, Portia had no just cause to wantonly seek out Shylock’s, and after failing at this, seeking to take away everything he could call his own when she said; ‘The law hath yet another hold on you. 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 his goods; the other half comes to the privy coffer of the state; and the offender's life lies in the mercy of the duke only, 'gainst all other voice. In which predicament, I say, thou stand'st: for it appears by manifest proceeding, that, indirectly, and directly too, thou hast contriv'd against the very life of the defendant; and thou hast incurr'd the danger formerly by me rehears'd. Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the duke’ (Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 360-375). It turned out to be Antonio who said; ‘So please my lord the duke and all the court to quit the fine for one half of his goods, I am content; so he will let me have the other half in use, to render it, upon his death, unto the gentleman that lately stole his daughter: two things provided more, that, for this favour, he presently become a Christian; the other, that he do record a gift, here in the court, of all he dies possess'd, unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter’ (Act 4, Scene1, Lines 379-389). Antonio knows the reasoning behind Shylock’s intense hatred of him, and has finally understood that Shylock does not deserve to have everything he owns ripped from him, when he has already suffered much. But Antonio, although sparing Shylock from death, as Gratiano states, ‘beg that though mayst have leave to hang thyself! And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state, thou hast not left the value of a cord; therefore thou must be hanged at the state’s charge’ (Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 363-366), he also knew full well how deeply Shylock despises Christians, but still asked for him to become one, and unfortunately for Shylock, he could not refuse once the judge agreed to this proposal. But Portia is vengeful not only towards Shylock, but she is also vengeful towards her own husband Bassanio. When returned to Portia’s mansion after Bassanio was forced to give up his wedding ring to ‘Balthazar’, Portia told Bassanio ‘by heaven, I will ne’er come in your bed until I see the ring!’ (Act 5, Scene 1, Lines 190-191), but although this was done in humour, it was still a form of ‘pay-back’ unto Bassanio for giving away his ring. There is one other character in the play who acts in, not quite vengeful behaviour, but rather vindictively nonetheless. Jessica was extremely ill disposed towards her father Shylock, for he would not allow her to be with her lover Lorenzo, for he is a Christian. Although Jessica would have never been able to perform a Jew-Christian wedding, she says she is ‘ashamed to be my father’s child! But though I am a daughter to his blood, I am not to his manners’ (Act 2, Scene 3, Lines 17-19), and vows to Lorenzo to ‘become a Christian and thy loving wife!’ (Act 2, Scene 3, Line 21). Jessica has no immediate or important need to steal from her father, Shylock, but in any case she does, showing us that she was not inclined to leave without performing an act which showed Shylock exactly how badly disposed she was towards him, and that she truly believes that her father has ‘a daughter, lost’ (Act 2, Scene 5, Line 56). Jessica does not seem to understand the prejudice between Shylock and Christians, for she has expectations which she expects to have people comply to, but in her naivety she doesn’t realise how badly her betrayal hurts her father, she just see’s her change in religion as a small price to pay to be with her love, and in that sense, she is quite clear minded and free of the prejudices which religion brings.
‘The Merchant of Venice’ is a play filled with themes, with possibly the main theme being prejudice. The play embodies much rivalry between the religions of Judaism and Christianity. Shylock, being unfortunately a Jew in a city filled with Christians, is alienated by his society and undergoes much ridicule. Although Shylock may seem derogatory towards Christians, he is only acting towards them the way they act towards him. As a Jew, Shylock would have grown up being constantly ridiculed for his religion and personal beliefs, whereas every Christian he is surrounded by, has grown up feeling as if they belonged and feeling mutually aloof to Jew’s. By right of morality, Shylock does not deserve the harshness he receives, but deserves to be treated with equality. Shylock himself quotes that; ‘to bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. 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 eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with 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, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in 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. The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction’ (Act 3, Scene 1, Lines 50-69). This quote details that Shylock believes that he is being treated unjustly, and entails that Christians punish Jews for wrongdoing, but when wronged themselves, Jews’ can do naught. Shylock expresses that Jew’s and Christians are the same, but for their beliefs; they eat the same food, feel the same emotions, and are warmed and cooled by the same seasons. He says that both Christians and Jew’s are human, and neither are immortal or physically more important than one other, so why should Jew’s be treated like vermin? Throughout the novel, Shylock receives snide, prejudiced, and cruel words off the Christian tongue. Antonio looks down upon him from the very beginning of the play, calling him a ‘misbeliever, cut throat dog’, and spits upon his ‘Jewish gabardine’ (Act 1, Scene 3, Lines 108-109). But not only does Shylock have to bear the weight of Christian sleight, but he also has to bear his daughters rejection. Jessica quotes to Launcelot ‘Alack what a heinous sin is it in me to be asham’d to be my father’s child!’ (Act 2, Scene 3, Lines 16-17), showing to us that she does not agree to his manners, and acts in a way that seems to scream out her innocence in thinking that her father is simply rejecting of all Christians in general. But the thing that comes to mind foremost is that Antonio knows the reason for Shylock’s hatred. ‘Let him alone; I’ll follow him no more with bootless prayers. He seeks my life. His reason well I know: I oft delivered from his forfeitures many that have at times made moan to me. Therefore he hates me’ (Act 3, Scene 3, Lines 19-24) proves to us that although Antonio knows Shylock’s reasoning behind the menacing actions he wants performed upon Antonio, he still stands back and lets others mock Shylock, and lets the judge strip Shylock of much, all the while knowing he deserved what Shylock wanted from him. In retrospect, others such as Bassanio have lived their lives being taught the negativity of Jews. Bassanio is prejudiced towards Shylock in a different way to Antonio. Although both were born and raised in a society taught to be aloof and superior to Jews, Antonio knows what he is doing is not morally correct but continues to do so, while Bassanio does not even think otherwise to poking jests at one. Bassanio quotes ‘ Should not the knowledge that you’re harming another, yet still continuing to do so, be labelled villainy?
Jews were actually barred from most other professions. In other words, the Christians basically forced Shylock to work in a profession that the Christians then condemned as immoral.
Prejudice in itself is a form of villainy.
The play of ‘The Merchant of Venice’, by William Shakespeare, is a play surrounded by many differing opinions. Some of our modern audiences find it extremist for its prejudice towards Jews, while others find it a book filled with romanticism and determination. The play itself, lest we forget, was originally written in Elizabethan times, the earliest of the three superb comedies written by Shakespeare. On a fifteenth century stage, it would have been Portia who appeared the main element of the play, rather than Antonio or Shylock, who take the leading roles today. Unlike the modern times we are in, in Elizabethan times, there was no one direct character to out shine the others, there was an equal mix. While Shylock is not what you would call a villain, he is certainly portrayed as an anti-hero. The people in Elizabethan times would have found Shylock to be a miser and usurer, and because they were for the most part Christians, they would have found no fault against the treatment of the Jew Shylock. Our world’s attitudes have changed greatly over time, and what we perceive to be harsh and wrong in our fair-mindedness, were just the way things happened in Shakespeare’s era. The common beliefs, prejudices, and superstitions in the fifteenth century are apparent in ‘The Merchant of Venice’, for Shakespeare wrote the play in a way that appealed to their feelings at the time, while making the humorous play into a fairytale that swept the audience along on tides of poetic romance and kept the audience awed in fascination of the deeds performed by the characters. A universal plea for those who suffer persecution. “eat/ with you, drink with you, nor pray with you.” ( I.iii/ ll. 33-34),
Any character analysis of Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice” should note his tendency for selfish behavior and thinking. Shylock is also a man who is unreasonable and self-thinking, demanding, as one of the important quotes in "The Merchant of Venice" goes, Because he is the villain of this play, justice can only be served if Shakespeare's Shylock is punished in a manner that is congruent with his violations of social norms and laws. At the same time, though, his punishment is problematic for it seems to mimic the very crime of which Shylock is really being accused, and that crime is absolutism. By insisting that Shylock must be punished in the way that he is in 'The Merchant of Venice", Shakespeare raises doubts about the purity of Christian love and mercy, which certainly creates implications for the very notions of both punishment and villainy. Shylock is a man who is hardly likeable in all aspects throughout "The Merchant of Venice". Already a marginalized member of Venetian society because he is a Jew and occupies the stereotypical profession of the money-grubbing guarantor, Shylock ensures that his peers and the audience will not like him because of his unreasonableness and unwillingness to let go of his tendencies to be greedy, even in a situation that seems to warrant mercy and pity. In several instances in "The Merchant of Venice" he takes a perverse pleasure in what he refers to in one of the important quotes from "The Merchant of Venice" by Shakespeare, “a merry sport” of exacting “an equal pound/Of…fair flesh to be cut off and taken/In what part of [the] body pleaseth me” as the terms of a loan agreement (I.iii.151-146), terms which he refuses to justify.
At the same time, though, the reader, when performing even a basic character analysis of Shylock, can feel a curious compassion for this character, who is so clearly disliked. Although he has imposed isolation on himself by declaring that he will not one begins to understand why he has withdrawn from social life when he makes his moving speech in Act III, in which it is asked by Shylock who is the victim of racism, “Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?” (III.i.54). The reader begins to understand how Shylock has never been understood because no one has ever seen him for anything other than his Jewishness. Again, this complicates the reader’s relationship with his character and the subsequent punishment he receives because although he is not likable, one cannot help but sympathize with his plight as an outcast.
It is Shylock himself who teaches the reader and his own peers the most about Christian love and mercy in "The Merchant of Venice". As he continues his Act III speech, he muses about the similarities between Jews and Christians in one of the meaningful quotes, saying, and then confronts his Christian accusers and judges with three profound questions that invoke these themes in "Merchant of Venice": The cycle of strange violence that Shylock has set into motion will not end once his punishment has been meted out to him, as he goes on to warn in the remainder of the speech. Rather than learn this lesson—namely, that revenge in the guise of justice will never result in anything other than more revenge—Shylock receives his punishment. Years later, we see the same kinds of issues played out in society, proving that we have learned little about what Shakespeare hoped to teach us through Shylock.