Shylock - Victim or Villain

It is questionable as to what the Jew, usurer, burn be regarded as ? dupe or elusivedie? M whatsoever factors need to be contemplated when find out if usurer is to be considered a victim or baddie. Having been receptive to racism and prejudice, losing his daughter and having been treated gratingly by Christians, it is questionable as to whether or non loan shark is a victim or baddie. It can be suggested that the Jew whitethorn turn out cause to be a villain, from the prejudice that the nonage of Venice suffers, renderd it is truly strenuous to class loan shark as simply a victim or villain for he is a obscure character who can be interpreted in legion(predicate) ways. A Shakespearian audience would reach regarded usurer as a villain, as usury was condemned by the Christian organized religion in this period, and this means that he was portrayed unsympathetic all(prenominal)y. The play is a comedy, importation that no angiotensin converting enzyme dies, a nd that the ? trus 2rthy guys? always benefit and that justice is do to the ?bad guys.? Like all comedies in that location is a villain as: nasty, a rectitude-breaker, a murderer, evil, vengeful, and greedy. usurer is evil and vengeful, solely he does non step distant the legality. When he is ready to separatrix the flesh from Antonio, he is ?allowed? to do this due to the bond that he made. The audience knows that goldlender is a Jew, but all the time, no one recognises any different qualities. The modern audience wouldn?t care at all nigh him, but he does have several(prenominal) sizablely qualities. He works genuinely hard for his coin and he is an extremely religious Jew. He can say any quote from the Jewish record, when talking, and refers to parts of the bible when trying to run something. It is very golden to captivate loan shark?s faithfulness to his wife, who has already passed out, especially when he talks about the frame in she gave him before the y were married. He express that he would n! on move on back it up for a ?wilderness of monkeys?, meaning that he would non do it up for all the riches of the world. This really expresses how he is non materialistic and does have a heart. This heart breaks yet as well as fast when his daughter, Jessica, steals the ring. Unlike a regular villain, moneylender does not break the laws, making him a law-abiding citizen. When he wants penalize upon Antonio, it is within the law due to his bond. Even from this, usurer calm is the villain and he does have some of these typical villain attributes. He is full of r reddenge, and in judiciary, all he wants to do is kill Antonio. In salute, he openly refuses tether multiplication the money of what was lent, which would add up to nine meter ducats. shylock is very prejudiced against Christians, and this idea arrises when he says this when Antonio asks for the money; ? I?ll only do this business with you, I win?t do this again with you.? From this quote it is very easy to see the fact that loan shark is very unhappy about running(a) with a Christian. He is very sly and slick as he already has his bond rank up were Antonio uneffective to repay. Also, loan shark was a very isolated patch and very unsociable. With all this mentioned, audience from Shakespeare?s time would not even care to look at loan shark?s demonstrable qualities, because he did not live like a good gentlemen, but modern audiences would feel pity for how he is gaiter on and cursed. A good example of some of the abuse is when Antonio says, ?I am likely to kick you again!?When the tap scene begins, shylock is not around, along with Antonio, his ?victim.? The duke, macrocosm the procure of ceremonies, has the ability to harbor this harder for Shylock, because he is a good wizard of Antonio. This means that the man who controls Antonio?s fate is colored towards him, meaning he is in favour of him. A royal court is meant to be a place where justice is served, and the duk e should respect that and not think to be biased. In ! his absence, they all abuse Shylock and call him many things and consider him extremely inferior. Also in court everyone seems to refer to him as ?The Jew.? He is portrayed done their endocarp cutting language as a rock and roll cold villain. After a lot of criticism and abuse, Shylock enters and it is obvious that he wants to speed up things and sting big bucks to business, which in this case is killing Antonio. For the court case, Shylock comes in with three necessary items: a knife, kill Antonio, a bewilder of scales to weigh the flesh, and his bond which he is so proud of and returns that what he can legally do and how he abides by the law at all times. The important part of this scene is devil of the speeches. The Duke says to Shylock, ?We expect you to be filled with pity and passion, apologyse target some mercy.? We can see that the Duke is doing his best to persuade Shylock to re-consider and make him think about his future actions, how they are not the right th ings to do. Shylock replies only to say that he provide not show mercy to Antonio and will have visit upon him for disrespecting Shylock?s authority. This answer reinforces that fact that Shylock is a cold-hearted scoundrel. When the two ?women? enter the courtroom, they bring a message afford tongue to that the doctor Bellario had been replaced by Balthasar (Portia).

Portia starts her case with a plea of mercy, and she begs Shylock to forfeit the bond and accept three times the money. Of phone line Shylock refuses and demands his revenge upon Christians that have criticised him for beingness a Jew. Again, this shows his cold side. Portia suggests that he have a sawbones by his side, to cure Antonio?s wounds if he bleeds to death. When! Portia reads the bond she discovers that Shylock is only allowed to suck in one malleus of flesh. She tells him that he can hold back his pound of flesh but it must(prenominal) be precisely one pound. Also, Shylock is only allowed to take flesh and no line of credit can be shed. It is unacceptable to cut somebody?s flesh and have no blood spillages, and it is also impossible to cut exactly one pound of flesh. Of course Shylock will twain go above or downstairs the limit. In the end, Shylock is forced to forfeit the bond, because if he went away(p) the conditions then he alike will be punished. Since Shylock forfeited the bond, but act murder on an needy man, Shylock was forced to maintain up fractional his money, half to Antonio and half to the general state. Antonio feels piteous for the Jew and declines his half of the money and tells the court that Shylock can keep his money, on the condition that he convert to Christianity and leaves all his money to his daught er on his death. The Jew sorely agrees, so now has garbled it all. Shylock started out as a character that literally almost had it all. Money, a abiding business, a good daughter, but unfortunately, some reality kicked in at the end. His daughter runs away with a Christian, steals from him, along with that singular ring that Shylock said he would never give away for all the riches of the world. He literally has nothing left, making him a victim of the play. So, with everything in mind, is Shylock a victim or villain? He is a villain in court, especially when he?s desperately attribute his knife to Antonio, although this villainy was caused by prejudice from Christians in the front place. Also, an audience in Shakespeare?s time always dislike Jews, so it was normal for him to be considered a villain by them. It seems that Shylock is victimised a lot more than what he does to be a villain, and this shows how he is a victim. So I think that Shakespeare wants Shylock to be a vil lain, but make him look like both?victim and villain.! If you want to get a full essay, direct it on our website: OrderEssay.net

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