Sympathizing With Shylock At The End Of Act 4 in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

Sympathizing With Shylock At The End Of Act 4 in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

Throughout The Merchant of Venice the extent to which the reader

sympathises with Shylock is constantly adjusted, formed by the most

recent facts and circumstances learned of. After only a few words the

impression given of Shylock is one of a sly, cunning, suspicious man;

he openly admits (to the reader/viewer) that he hates Antonio 'for he

is a Christian.' We then learn of possible justification for this view

and yet Shylock still agrees to lend him the all of the requested

money. After this, Shylock loses a servant (to a Christian) then loses

much of his money with his only daughter (again to a Christian), but

again there is evidence of possible justification. He learns of the

unlikelihood of his owed money being repaid by Antonio and people

continue to mock Shylock for his losses, so he seeks his revenge,

condemning Antonio to death. He claims religious justification and

that he is simply following the 'example' set to him by Christians.

Before anything else, Shylock is a Jew in a predominantly Christian

city. Members of the two faiths dislike each other (largely due to

historical disagreement), and at this time in history it is hardly

surprising that the Christians take advantage of their numerical

supremacy. In the street they openly mistreat Shylock by spitting and

swearing at him because there is nothing to stop them. It is quite

possible that he would have been spat upon and sworn at whatever his

status and personality, and would certainly have been disliked by the

vast majority of Christians. Today this is obviously considered very

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...ems like nothing will stop him from

killing Antonio. He claims that if it were a Christian seeking revenge

on a Jew he would do exactly the same, so he is only following a

Christian's example. This may be true, but there still seems no

justification in killing a man for not paying back a debt.

Shylock has gone too far in trying to avenge his servant, his

daughter, his money and his dignity, so by the end of Act 4 more

incomprehension than sympathy is felt towards Shylock. However,

Shakespeare has created a character for whom the reader/viewer's

feelings swing from one extreme to the other throughout the play, but

whose actions nearly always have some justification, however

questionable it may be. You cannot help but wonder if things might

have been different for Shylock and Antonio in a predominantly Jewish

city.