Term 3 Week 5 (Blogging Assignment)

In the play The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is potrayed as the main antagonist of the story. From the text iteslf, it is difficult to define what kind a character Shylock is, on one hand he is seen as a victim as racial discrimination and on the other he is seen as a vengeful person who is completely heartless. As such, I can only assume that Shakespeare's intention was to make the audience watching his play show more emphathy towards Jews but still stay true to the general sentiments towards the Jews then which were generally negative.

In one sense, he is potrayed as a victim of racial discrimination which can easily be supported by the racial remarks made by the characters such as Antonio and Bassanio:"The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart:
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!"
These were quotes based in the scene where Bassanio attempts to borrow money from Shylock to fund his courtship of Portia. We can see that despite them requesting for a favour from Shylock, they nonetheless still criticize him. From this point of view, Shylock is represented as a victim of racial discrimination and undergoes all these criticism simply because he is a Jew. As such he should deserve our emphathy.

However, this sense of emphathy soon evaporates as he later manipulates Antonio into signing a bond that would allow Shylock to cut off one pound of flesh from Antonio if he fails to return the money on time which Antonio ultimately fails to do so in the end. Also, towards the end, Shylock turns from a man with feelings suffering from all of these injustice to an unfeeling man who remains hell-bent on taking revenge. Our emphathy towards him changes to a sense of anger when he cries for justice and refuses to show mercy to Antonio. As quoted:" My deeds upon my head!
I crave the law,
The penalty and forfeit of my bond."
As shown from this quote his seems to have lost his humanity and wants to kill Antonio there and then.

In conclusion, I feel that Shakespeare's intention was to raise awareness of the feelings of Jews during his era but at the same time not make it too obvious to keep in line with the norm of his time