The Presentation of Shylock in The Merchant Of Venice by William Shakespeare

The Presentation of Shylock in The Merchant Of Venice by William Shakespeare

When Shakespeare wrote ‘The Merchant Of Venice’ there was a suggestion

that he was competing with a very popular play ‘The Jew Of Malta’

written in 1589 by Christopher Marlowe. This play treats the Jew as

an evil villain and a wicked ogre. Shakespeare is not entirely free

from the idea that all usurers were Jews and therefore all Jews were

evil, but he does also allow us to see Shylock as a human being who

has himself been wronged.

Only Jews who had converted to Christianity were allowed to live in

England in Shakespeare’s day. Jews who practised their own religion

were banned from England in 1290, so Shakespeare’s audience would have

thought that Shylock got off very lightly when he is made to change

his religion at the end of the play, therefore it is a lot easier for

a modern day audience to sympathise with Shylock.

In ‘The Merchant Of Venice’ Shakespeare does show us a human side to

Shylock: This is shown in the first scene that we are introduced to

shylock, act 1 scene 3. At the start of the scene shylock is

considering Antonio’s circumstances and credit rating and already

seems confident that he will lend Antonio the money.

However this is before he meets Antonio, he then has a short aside in

which he tells the audience about how much he hates Antonio, he says

“I hate him for he is a Christian. But more, for that in low

simplicity he lends out money gratis.” Shylock clearly hates Antonio,

but he still seems willing to do the deal. However he then says a

speech about how Antonio has mistreated him in the past all because he

is a Jew, and this is the first time that we really feel for Shylock

and we see him as a human being, rather than an ogre, “you call me

misbeliever, cut-throat dog, and spit upon my Jewish gaberdine.”

In this scene, shylock even tries to be nice to Antonio and make for