Question

Shylock Briter aspect

Answer 1

The Aspects of Shylock in Shakespeare's 'The Merchant of Venice'

There are many aspects of Shylock; in Shakespeare’s ‘The Merchant of 
Venice’ he is seen in many different forms. In Medieval Venice Shylock 
the Jewish banker is persuaded to lend three thousand ducats to 
Antonio a Venetian merchant who had cursed and ridiculed Shylock for 
years. The condition for the loan is that if Antonio did not pay back 
the three thousand ducats he would forfeit, ‘a pound of flesh, to by 
him cut off nearest the merchant’s heart.’ Through the course of the 
play Shylock is portrayed in many different ways. Shylock tends to fit 
the villainous type: he has no wife, no friends and later on in the 
play he loses his money and his daughter.

Shylock is continuously presented as the enemy. He comes between many 
lovers: Bassanio and Portia, Jessica and Lorenzo and the friendship 
between Antonio and Bassanio. The only love Shylock seems to have is 
for money: ‘I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels 
in her ear: would she were hearsed at my foot, and the ducats in her 
coffin.’ Shylock shows lack of compassion and loyalty to his daughter. 
Shylock shows immense intolerance for Christians and this increases 
when his daughter runs away to marry Lorenzo a friend of Antonio’s. 
This produces a motive, and provokes Shylock and makes him more set on 
defeating Antonio.

You can sympathise with shylock’s cruel temperament and unmerciful 
nature, as he has been excluded from Christian society and mocked for 
his religion. He is continuously scolded and ridiculed by the not so 
perfect idealists, ‘hie thee, gentle Jew. The Hebrew will turn 
Christian, he grows kind’. He seems in modern day terms an average 
person, money seeking and focused on bringing people down, one would 
think that Shylock is ideal for modern society and that he suited for 
a co-operate company. Although in Venetian society he is recognised as 
a Jew through the work he does. He seems quite successful in that he 
has gained money through hard work and he is cunning in his approach 
to the bond. His attitude towards it is one in which he will not be 
humiliated, ‘to buy this favour, I extend this friendship. If he will 
take it, so; if not adieu.’ Antonio then accepts Shylocks bond through 
the intension of extending a false friendship.

The Christians are continuously represented as the ‘perfection’. When 
the Christians cease to withhold this image and Shylock starts to over 
power the Christians, they start to unravel and reveal themselves. The 
audience sees Bassanio fall apart when he hears the news of Antonio: 
‘I freely told you all the wealth I had ran through my veins: I was a 
gentleman. And then I told you true, and yet dear lady, rating myself 
at nothing, you shall see how much I have braggart.’