Shylock in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice Essay -- Merch

Shylock in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice One of the most interesting and thought provoking characters in the Merchant of Venice is Shylock. Throughout his five scenes in the play he is looked down upon, betrayed, deserted, punished and humiliated by Christian society, his daughter and all those that will eventually need his money. His faith and his way of making a living are the Christians' only justification for this treatment, yet even in his alienation he is still, as we see later, constitute to Venetian Law. Shylock's first appearance in the Merchant of Venice is in Act 1 Scene 3, where Bassanio is talking about Antonio taking out a loan on his behalf. Shylock seems jovial in this first scene, before the Christians start to heap insults upon him. I believe that this scene may contain the only true indicator of Shylock's true demeanour, i.e. an agreeable businessman. This view is unfortunately shattered by the arrival of Antonio and his good credit rating. Shylock hates Antonio, not only on principle, as the Christians hate him, but also due to Antonio's own money lending activities and this, his cardinal sin, of charging no interest. As Shylock says, "I hate him for he is a Christian; but more, for in low simplicity he lends out money gratis, and brings down the rate of usance here with us in Venice." Even now, you can recognise Shylock's hatred, firstly upon principle of religion, and secondly hatred on behalf of his business, which may be the most important thing to Shylock apart from his beloved religion. The burden of his race gives Shylock both a sense of righteous indignation and an overwhelming sense of ... ... he ever want to marry Portia? By the end of the play, I had almost forgotten that the only reason was because he wanted a steady source of income without the hassle of working. I believe that Bassanio may have been just as devious as Shylock. He worked out that by showing his greed to Portia during the test, would spell the end of the relationship. Portia could even have been in it for greed. If not for money, then maybe different collateral, lust for Bassanio could be interpreted as greed, could it not? If you think about it, all the characters are driven by greed when you get down to it. As I stated earlier, Shylock's race had little or nothing to do with the outcome of the play. If he had been a Christian moneylender, the same would have happened. In the end, the saying is true: money is the root of all evil.