Shylock - A Villian or a Tragic figure?
Adapted from my Grade-10 school assignment
Shylock, the ill-fated, bloodthirsty money lender from Shakespeare's 'Merchant of Venice' is portrayed as a sympathetic, tragic and pitiful character as well as an inhumane, inexorable and tyrannical monster.
The story of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice revolves around Antonio, the merchant who is being referred to in the title. Antonio borrows a sum of three thousand ducats from Shylock, a Jewish moneylender for his friend Bassanio. Bassanio needs the money to win the hand of Portia, an affluent heiress who resides in Belmont. Antonio had borrowed the loan by pawning a pound flesh from his own body as collateral security. When he fails to repay the loan, Portia swoops in during his trial and makes a compelling case against Shylock. She achieves this by resorting to nitpicking at legal loopholes which results in Shylock being forced to convert to Christianity in order to retain a fraction of his fortune. (Brandon Ambrosino), (sparknotes.com)
A critique
In the initial scenes of the play, Shylock is introduced as the antagonist of the play as he maliciously demands a pound of flesh from Antonio if he were to default his loan. Even though it is established that Antonio has abused Shylock for his practice of usury, spat on his Jewish gaberdine and called him a 'cutthroat dog'. These slurs and abuses seem trivial and are somewhat rendered moot when we are made aware of the cruel conditions of Shylock's bond.
However, when we take into account the factors that contributed to Shylock's rage, envy and contempt, we are neither shocked nor surprised at the barbaric conditions of the bond. We are suddenly made aware of the anti-Semitism, Christian bigotry and xenophobia. Shylock's actions are not justified, but they are understood.
Harold Bloom, a renowned literary critic, writes that "One would have to be blind, deaf and dumb to not recognize that Shakespeare's grand, equivocal comedy The Merchant of Venice, is nevertheless a profoundly anti-Semitic work". (smithsonianmag.com)
The play stereotypically represents Shylock as a greedy, money-minded Jew who is mocked and belittled for his beliefs. Contradictorily, his own daughter elopes with a Christian and sells his deceased wife's ring in exchange of a monkey. Shylock's daughter then converts to Christianity despite the sufferings of her father at the hands of the religious majority. In the end, Shylock loses half his wealth and his freedom of religion. (greenontheinside.net)
The Merchant of Venice was also perceived to be a favorite of Germany during the rise of Nazism which signifies Shakespeare's tragic impact on future generations. Shakespeare's intentions of being explicitly anti-Semitic is questionable, as in the Elizabethan time period, knowledge of Judaism and intolerance were absent as Jews were persecuted from England in 1920. Hence, Shakespeare's intent of portraying Shylock would most likely be derived from the stereotypes and fabrications perpetuated by the people of England from Shakespeare's time.
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Hence we can confirm that Shakespeare was bound to include undertones of anti-Semitism and 'The Merchant of Venice' is in no way sympathetic to Jews which is why Shylock is portrayed primarily as a villain.
However, in the play, Shylock has been given the most impactful speech where we are shocked at our own misdemeanor of siding with the supposed protagonist (Antonio). In these lines, the tables are turned and there is stark shift in our attitude which remains with us throughout the play.
Also, what one must take note of is the sheer hypocrisy and self contradiction of the supposedly 'self-righteous' Christians in the play. They uphold the scripture which require them to 'love their enemies'. But Antonio spits on Shylock's Jewish gaberdine, Gratiano (one of Antonio's friends) go so far as to refer to Shylock as the devil who made his way into his mother's womb and he is frequently referred to as an 'inexecrable dog', 'misbeliever', and someone who possesses the soul of a wolf.
Another instance of their 'un-Christian behavior' is when they initially beg for mercy (which they reckon Shylock is devoid of) and then, they themselves deny that mercy to Shylock at the end of the trial scene.
Portia, the quick-witted fiancé' of Bassanio is hardly noble or righteous. She rambles on about justice, liberty, equality and humanitarian values when defending Antonio but she herself pleads a compelling case against Shylock by resorting to nitpicking and trickery, which the protagonists in the play accused Shylock of. However, Portia's behavior can be excused as she herself clarifies the fact that it is easier for her to teach twenty people to follow her beliefs than to be one of those twenty people (Brandon Ambrosino)
In addition to the previous instances, according to recent beliefs, forced conversion is a sin. hence, the 'justice' served to Antonio was inhumane and unfair to Shylock. Merely seizing half his fortune was excessive but stripping him of his dignity, freedom and choice of continuing his bloodline as a Jew was extremely contradictory to their supposed Christian values. (greenontheinside.net)
One could argue that Shakespeare was liberal and just in his approach: he made the Jews look more sympathetic and the Christians more hypocritical which is exhibited in the instance where Portia questions the identity of Antonio and Shylock in the cort scene ("which is the merchant here and which the Jew"
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Nevertheless, if Shakespeare's aim was to portray Jews in an unbiased light, he would have done so in a more explicit, straightforward manner instead of beating around the bush and hinting at the fact that a Jew could be a good person.
Be that as it may, Shakespeare was intentionally or inadvertently created the paradoxical and polar character of Shylock. We don't know if Shakespeare was subtly challenging the predominant beliefs of the Elizabethan time period or if he was merely submitting to the rampant stereotypes which were circulated during his time.
At the end of the play, Shylock's downfall is gut-wrenching, stirring and catastrophic and leaves us with a bitter aftertaste. Shylock's harsh means of revenge is still seen as bloodthirsty but in the view of an unbiased reader, is a justified action.
Therefore Shylock is primarily a tragic figure as opposed to the villainous introduction he is given. His treacherous means of revenge is reasonable and insignificant in comparison to the hypocrisy exhibited by the supposed protagonists of the play.
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References:-
smithsonianmag.com
greenontheinside.net
sparknotes.com
Images sourced from https://www.shakespearenj.org/ history.com
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