Shylock’s Character from The Merchant of Venice

Q3. Describe Shylock’s character.

Ans. Shylock is one of the most important characters of the play ‘The Merchant of Venice’. He has been created by William Shakespeare with several negative points. All these points make him a villain in this play. He is a cruel, cunning, hypocrite, greedy and revengeful person.

He is a very cruel money lender of Venice. He charges (takes) a very high rate of interest for the loans he gives to the people of Venice. On the other hand, Antonio does not take any interest from people on the money he gives to the people of Venice. This is the root cause of Shylock’s hatred and dislike for Antonio. He thinks that Antonio has caused a great loss to his business. So he wants to kill Antonio by taking one pound of flesh from Antonio’s body.

In the Trial scene, Shylock evil-mindedness becomes clear to all. All including the duke of Venice request him to forgive Antonio by taking money. He is offered several times more than 3000 ducats, but he is adamant on taking one pound of Antonio’s flesh. This shows his cruelty.

Shylock can do anything for money. He charges high interest from the people. When his daughter Jessica flees with Lorenzo by taking diamonds and ducats, he cries more for money and very less for his daughter. He says:  ‘….I would my daughter dead at my foot and the jewels in her ear!...’ Even his daughter does not love her father. She does not like his diabolic nature. She thanks God that she has not inherited any evil form her father. She calls her house a hell. She feels ashamed of being Shylock’s daughter.

Shylock is not only greedy for money but he is cunning and hypocrite also. He very cunningly gets the dangerous bond signed by Antonio. He calls it just a joke, a formality. But in the heart of hearts he feels happy to catch Antonio in a death trap.

He is a hypocrite person. He shows that he endures misbehaviour and maltreatment done to him by Christians. But he also hates them very much. He does not like his daughter to marry a Christian boy. He advises her not to open window and see the Christian procession that would pass through their street.

His daughter, Jessica, does not like her father. She does not want to live with him. She calls her house a hell. She feels ashamed of being Shylock’s daughter. She feels happy that she has not inherited even a single feature from her father’s personality.

But some critics defend Shylock. One of them is Hudson. In his opinion, Shylock’s character is ‘essentially tragic’. It is also said that Shylock is ‘more sinned against than sinning.’ It is true that he has several negative features in his character. But the punishment given to him is harsher than he deserves. No matter, all of his property has been confiscated and his life has been spared. But he has been converted to a Christian. That is quite wrong.

To conclude, we may say that Shakespeare created Shylock’s character as a villain in this play. He created him in the social and religious background that prevailed in society at that time. If we see Shylock in the modern perspective, in spite of his defects, he has been given unduly harsh treatment by the Christians of that time.