As a villain, he is depicted as a money-hungry fool who does not care for his own daughter, but instead the money that she stole. Shylock's cruelty towards Antonio in blatantly shown in that he constantly wants the pound of Antonio's flesh, nothing else. Despite the judge's(Portia) offers to pardon Antonio, Shylock constantly persisted, and ended up losing everything. He was asked three times to give up wanting Antonio's flesh, but three times he refused. This showed his intent to kill Antonio to the most severe extent, and described Shylock as a cold, greedy and revengeful person.
However, Shylock was also a victim in the play. Throughout the course of the entire play, Shylock was constantly mocked and called a "cut-throat dog" and "misbeliever", and was looked down upon by the Christians like Antonio. Antonio strongly opposed Shylock's means of earning a living by lending money with interest, and despised him for it too. However, Antonio did not see that Shylock's only way of earning himself a living was through money-lending because Venice at the time was strongly prejudice against the Jews. Almost everyone in the play, from Antonio to the Duke, mocked him and spit on his religion, despising his beliefs over Christianity. To make matters worse, his own daughter eloped with one of those that hated him. How much more suffering could Shylock take? During the trial, Shylock was overcome by revenge for what the entire Christian community had done to him, and in the end lost everything he had. The judge(Portia) made it even so that all his possesions were to go to those he had been trying to persecute, the people who he had hated to the core. His religion was converted to that of the people he had hated his whole life, causing Shylock to become one of them.
In conclusion, Shylock despite being villainous in some ways, was portrayed as a victim of prejudism.
No comments:
Post a Comment