Nature and Nurture

[This is a paper on Shylock from the Merchant of Venice]
Shylock: More than Money

In William Shakespeare’s dark comedy, Merchants of Venice, the character Shylock can be interpreted many different ways. Some feel he is the enemy, or villain of the play and deserves to be an outcast and not be befriended by anyone. Others feel sympathy for Shylock due to the blatant anti-Semitism the Christians show him and the situation he is put in at the end. That is when half of all his wealth is seized and he is forced to convert to Christianity. Shylock is persecuted by everyone around him and then has to cope with the pain of losing his daughter and living alone, but at the same time his greed tears him between worrying about his daughter and missing the money she took with her. The treatment Shylock receives from his countrymen and his hatred towards Lorenzo for taking Jessica and his money away, drive him to not accept the offer of three times his initial money loaned, but instead demand a pound of Antonio’s flesh.
Throughout the course of this play, Shylock is mocked, ridiculed, and disrespected by all the Christians. In most of his interactions with others he is referred to as “Jew,” instead of his name. When Antonio requests a loan from Shylock, Shylock shows his mischievous anger towards all the ridiculing he receives from the Christians when he taunts Bassanio and Antonio with the loan.
“Many a time and oft In the Rialto you have rated me…Still have I borne it with a patient shrug (for suff’rance is the badge of all our tribe). You call me misbeliever, cutthroat dog… Well then, it now appears you need my help…What should I say to you? Should I not say ‘Hath a dog money? Is it possible a cur can lend three thousand ducets?’ Or shall I bend low…and whisp’ring humblness, Say this: “Fair sir, you spet on me on Wednesday last; you spurred me such a day; another time you called me ‘dog’; and for these courtesies I’ll lend you such money?” (1.3. 148-152).
Shylock is playing with the two men’s minds. He wants them to feel apologetic for the harsh words they said to Shylock before, even though he plans on giving him the loan. His religion is constantly persecuted; never once is he not treated as an outcast, and this helped build up a strong resentment for Christianity.
Jessica abandons her father taking his some of his money with her, all for the love of Lorenzo. When Shylock realizes that his daughter is gone, he has trouble deciding which he misses more- his daughter or his money- but as soon as Tubal tells him of how his money is being spent in Genoa he is clearly upset.
“Two thousand ducats in that, and other precious jewels! I would my daughter were dead at my feet and the jewels in her ear; would she were hearsed at my foot and the ducats in her coffin…The thief gone with so much, and so much to find the thief, and no satisfaction, no revenge.” (3.1.).
Shylock is very upset about his money being taken away from him. He refers to his own daughter as a “thief.” All his life Shylock has been an enemy to his Christian countrymen. Due to his religion, he has had to fight for respect and been mistreated by all of the average anti-Semitic citizens. With this background, his daughter and much of his wealth is stolen away from him by a Christian. This is a major defeat for both Shylock and his Jewish religion, so with his hopes down he turns to anger. His hatred for Lorenzo runs deep now, but he has no way of getting revenge. This anger will drive Shylock to do horrid things.
Shylock’s anger towards the Christians persecuting his Jewish faith, along with his unredeemed anger for Lorenzo, have him seeking vengeance on Antonio’s flesh during the trial. Shylock is given a more than comparable offer to make up for Antonio’s breaking of the bond, but his need for revenge on others forces him to turn this offer down. He responds to the offer of three times the bond: “An oath, an oath! I have an oath in heaven!…By my soul I swear there is no power in the tongue of man to alter me. I stay here by my bond.” (Act 4, scene 1). Shylock proceeds to discuss from where he will take the pound of flesh and sharpens his knife. Shylock’s choice to turn down the offer of three times the bond money is very out of character for him. Up to this point he is portrayed as nothing more then a greedy merchant. He can barely decide on whether he cares for his daughter as much as he cares for his money. The only emotional outbursts from Shylock have to do with money and how it affects him. The fact that Shylock refuses to take the nine thousand ducets offered by Bassanio shows that his anger is now more important than his immense greed. It is all of his pent up anger towards the Christian faith and Lorenzo, the thief. Portia then manipulates the law to say that Shylock can not shed any blood or take anything but one exact pound of flesh or else he will be killed. These are of course impossible tasks for someone living at this time and completely trump Shylocks anger. He has no more words of hatred because he has lost all his leverage. Furthermore, Shylock is forced to convert to Christianity, the sole religion that he has hated. This makes the book take a dark, serious turn. Before the trial, Shylocks antics were rather comical, but now that his distress is shown, feelings of sadness and sympathy overshadow that comedy.
Shylock slowly mounts anger towards Christians and Lorenzo, specifically, but eventually is persecuted and forced into losing half of the fortune he had left and converting from Judaism to Christianity. He likely could have left the trial with three times his initial loan and his religion by his side, but he had so much hatred that he stayed and demanded a pound of a Christians flesh. The Merchants of Venice was filled with Anti-Semitism and it was all focused on the character of Shylock. It is controversial on whether Shylock was right at the end to want Antonio’s flesh, and whether or not he deserved it for the years of persecution he had received; but either way Shylock initial bond had risen to more than merely money, it had risen to long awaited revenge on a judgmental, and cruel religion.

Authors Afterward:
I took a night to revise a few key places in this paper. I think I have a lot more work to do and hope I can receive this paper back by next Tuesday so I can get it peer edited that day and revise it more. I did not touch the conclusion because I’d like to put some more time into that than the time I have now. I plan on revising this one more time.