Was Shylock A Victim Or A Villain - 1719 Words

The late sixteenth century play ËÅ"The Merchant of Venice, one of Shakespeares more popular comedies, is one that is portraying various peoples lives throughout Venice and Belmont. During the course of the play there is a concentration of thoughts and emotions towards the character Shylock, a Jewish usurer, this is the very character that we shall be concentrating the question in the title on. In most scenes the character Shylock has to deal with a lot of racial discrimination, which has at modern times become unacceptable to most people. Elizabethan society was largely anti-Semitic and as such the audience would have been unsympathetic towards his character. In addition to their anti-Semitic ways they also had a strong dislike of†¦show more content†¦This speech would seem to be so drastic as Shylock is being put through a very hard time seeing as his own daughter has run of with a Christian by the name of Lorenzo, this has outraged Shylock not only because of the fact tha t she is seeing a Christian but because she has also stolen money from him when she left; Of double ducats , stoln from me by my daughter (Act: 2 Scene: 8 Line: 19) We learn about Shylocks losses in this scene being of his daughter and of his money, but we do not learn it from Shylock we get it from Solanio, and in a lot of scenes we actually get to build up a picture of his character when he is not present in the scene. In scene one of the third act Shylock learns from, Tubal, a fellow Jewish businessman that Antonios fleet has suffered ill fortune at sea. Tubal also tells Shylock that one of the sailors had a ring of Jessica, which she swapped for a monkey; One of them showed me a ring that he had of your daughter for a monkey. (Act:3 Scene:1 Lines:112-3) Upon this point we learn that Shylock may have once been a passionate man and perhaps he even still is as he quotes that the ring was given to him by his wife now thought to be dead. Shylock says that he would not have parted wit h the ring for a wilderness of monkeys; Out upon her Thou torturest me, Tubal: it was my turquoise; I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor: I would not have given it for a wildernessShow MoreRelatedThe Merchant of Venice1028 Words   |  5 PagesSociety tends to define people as being either victims or villains due to the actions, beliefs and decisions present in their lives. In the Merchant of Venice, this separation between those good and evil is existent in the Venetian community, especially for the character of Shylock. 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