Shylock in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

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Shylock in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

My critical essay is on Shylock, who is one of the main characters in

the play, "The Merchant of Venice," which was written by one of the

most famous playwrights of all time, William Shakespeare. In this

essay I intend to prove that Shylock was the villain of this play and

although there may have been moments where he appeared to be a victim,

he was a cruel and evil villain. He was an unforgiving character who

was scheming to get his own way throughout the whole play.

At the start of the play we see Shylock grudgingly lending Antonio

money-3000 ducats. Even though he does not like Antonio he lends him

the money with the agreement that if Antonio should not be able to pay

him back, within the time given, Shylock will take a pound of his

flesh. During the play Shylock's daughter Jessica runs away from him

taking all of his money and some of his jewels with her. Shylock is

very angry that she has run away and taken his belongings but I think

the worst bit for him is knowing that the man she ran away with is a

Christian. He is not upset long though, as he soon finds out that

Antonio's ships have come into trouble and he won't be able to pay

back the loan. He takes him to court to argue his case, he says all he

wants is justice as Antonio has broken his bond and this is the

punishment they agreed to. It is a close case and right up until the

end it looks as though Shylock might just win but at the very last

moment Portia, posing as the lawyer, catches him out, and he is

charged with attempted murder.

I think that from Shylock's very first scene of the play you can see

clues to his scheming and conniving nature. In it we see Shylock

trying to work out whether or not to give Antonio the money. You can

see him trying to decide whether it is worth his while, trying to

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