Shylock – the hero of W. Shakespeare’s comedy The Merchant of Venice – is a Jewish pawnbroker. Shylock lends money to the merchant Antonio on the security of a pound of meat from his chest and seeks to execute an agreement concluded between them in court. Plays about Jews were very popular with the English public in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. In introducing the Jew as the protagonist of his comedy, Shakespeare followed an already-established stage tradition.
Shylock plays the role of a comic villain in the play’s structure. Shylock is stingy, greedy, overly frugal, and opposes any fun. Shylock’s life philosophy is material wealth, which he uses as a form of pressure and power on other characters. One of the dominants of his character is his love for his daughter, Jessica. Other characters in the play have the right to consider Shylock cruel and merciless; even his own daughter betrays him. Thus, the whole course of the plot presents Shylock as a humiliated and impoverished man who is deprived of everything except his right to revenge.
To understand the image of Shylock and his role in the development of the plot, the monologue of the third act is of key importance: “I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?” (The Merchant of Venice, Act 3 Scene 1, 37). This monologue can be interpreted in different ways: on the one hand, it denotes the single nature of each person. On the other hand, it is absurd since the audience of the Globe did not perceive the stage character as a living person. Shylock’s stance as a villain is controversial, with Shylock sticking to his word. However, Shylock is offered three times the money back and still demands his pound of meat; this moves him into the realm of meanness. It depends on his image, how much the audience sympathizes with his position and character, and how much he is evaluated at the end of the play.
Work Cited
Shakespeare, W. (1750). The Merchant of Venice. J. and P. Knapton, S. Birt, T. Longman, H. Lintot, C. Hitch.