Shylock Essays

  • Is Shylock A Villain In The Merchant Of Venice

    1652 Words  | 7 Pages

    written by Shakespeare, Shylock, a man of Jewish faith, is portrayed as the villain and obstacle of the tale. Many have argued that the play was written as an anti-Semitic piece of work because of the portrayal of Shylock. Anti-Semitism is the hatred, prejudice or discrimination of Jews in all aspects of their lives, and this treatment is clearly seen being thrown onto Shylock by one of the main protagonists, Antonio. One must ask the question now, if the role of Shylock is simply to be the villain

  • Essay On The Character Of Shylock In 'The Merchant Of Venice'

    986 Words  | 4 Pages

    Act 3 Scene 1 This scene shows the many sides to Shylock’s character, and the many factors which contributed to shaping his character and personality. Shylock is portrayed in this scene as a very calculative person who is full of hatred. Shylock does not only feel hate towards Antonio and the Christians in his society in general, he also says that he values his money over his daughter. A brief mention of his ring given to him by his wife also shows a softer side of him. However, he might have turned

  • How Is Shylock Presented In The Crucible

    502 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shylock is stating that Jessica is a greedy eater and that she is very lazy. C. Shylock is a hypocrite. 1. In his speech “Hath Not a Jew” Shylock expresses the idea of equality. He states that Jews and Christians are both humans and they should be treated the same. 2. However, in Act 1, Scene 3, Shylock said, “I hate him for he is a Christian” Shylock is clearly contradicting himself. And this would have caused an uproar since the Elizabethan audiences were Christians, causing them

  • The Cruelty Of Shylock In Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice

    740 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Act I. iii of William Shakespeare’s comedy, The Merchant of Venice, the readers first encounter of our “villain”: Shylock. Shylock, a moneylender is asked by Bassiano to lend him money, he refuses Bassiano brings his fellow friend Antonio. Act I. iii focuses on the negotiation of “three thousand ducats” to be able to lend the money to Bassiano. One might imagine, Shylock feels disrespected by the mockery of Antonio’s “need for help” as just before he “spet upon” his “jewish gaberdine”(I. iii 122)

  • The Merchant Of Venice: Is Shylock A Villain Or A Victim?

    1003 Words  | 5 Pages

    Is Shylock a Villain or a Victim? In the Merchant of Venice Shylock is a Jewish man that has constantly been teased and discarded because of his religion by the christian men around him. He has been looked at as an underclass man because of his religion. In the Merchant of Venice Antonio, a highly respected christian businessman has made a deal with Shylock and Shylock has taken the opportunity of Antonio being in his need of a loan to use it to his advantage. Shylock made a deal to where if the

  • Essay On How Shylock Portrayed As A Villain In Merchant Of Venice

    768 Words  | 4 Pages

    To what extent is Shylock portrayed as a villain in Act 1 Scene 3? In the play Merchant of Venice, Shylock in Elizabethan times portrayed as a stereotypical comical villain with a orange beard, wig and a Jewish man who is only worried about money. However over time, the word villain has a different meaning to the modern audience, and Shylock is portrayed in a more positive and sympathetic settings as the divide between the two religions: Christians and Jews, has become smaller. Act three Scene

  • How To Read The Merchant Of Venice

    1109 Words  | 5 Pages

    When Shylock is first introduced, his first words are “Three thousand ducats; well” (1.3.326). First impressions are everything, and the first impression the audience receives of Shylock is that he is money driven. The Elizabethan audience would have recognized Shylock as a Jew immediately because of the red hat that was required to be worn by all Jews. As Shylock’s introductory scene

  • Merchant Of Venice Choice Analysis

    1673 Words  | 7 Pages

    subject of controversy is because the play includes confliction between Jews and Christians, law and mercy, love and friendship, merchant and usurer and all of which contains social issues. Besides, there are different interpretations of the character Shylock which can influence the atmosphere of the play. To understand the play, considering social issue is important

  • Examples Of Anti-Semitism In Shakespeare's Plays

    1038 Words  | 5 Pages

    sense that Shylock is unsure which loss is greater to him, that of his jewels or his daughter, stating “I would my daughter/ were dead at my foot and the jewels in her ear!/ Would she were hearsed at my foot and the ducats/ in her coffin” (III.i.75-78). It also goes without saying that the thirst that Shylock has for revenge on Antonio when he cannot pay back the loan in time is extreme. By exaggerating and building up the story in such a way where Shakespeare can make it seem that Shylock is going

  • Villain Jew Tension Essay

    494 Words  | 2 Pages

    than “villain Jew” Solanio also calls them“dog Jew”, these terms show total disrespect to the Jewish race (2.8.4, 4). In addition, Shylock also doesn’t like the Christians and his daughter fled with Lorenzo. For instance, Shylock ran down the streets shouting “My daughter, O my ducats, O my daughter! Fled with a Christian! O my Christian ducats!”(2.8.15-6). The way Shylock says this sounds like it 's the fault of the Christians for losing his ducats and his daughter’s elopement. Both the Christians

  • Prejudice And Discrimination In Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice

    727 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shylock sardonically monologues how he was named ‘misbeliever [and] cut-throat dog’, conveying his inner fury at the insult through his bluntness and displaying a natural reaction to discrimination. Contemporarily, many Muslims unrelated to ISIS’s terror

  • The Controversy In Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice

    357 Words  | 2 Pages

    anti-semitic. The Merchant of Venice is anti-semitic because you can see how poorly they treat Shylock, you don’t see any Christians being treated this poorly, the Jews are very much segregated out, and the courtroom is full of Christians voting to help Antonio, but no Jews there for Shylock. Throughout the play, Shylock and all the other Jews, get treated extremely poorly. In all of the scenes Shylock is in, he is getting spat at, called names, talked down to. Even when he is making the deal with

  • A Comparison Of The Merchant Of Venice And Barabas

    1062 Words  | 5 Pages

    prejudice against Jewish people. The Jews were considered a despised race and were deeply resented by the Christians. They bore the plaque of disgrace and hostility. As a Jew, Shylock too faced such discrimination. Although the genre of both these plays is so different, characters that are strikingly similar dominate both plays. Shylock from ‘The Merchant of Venice’ and Barabas from ‘The Jew of Malta’ are both wealthy, money minded, materialistic Jews. In The Bible, Barabas was a Jewish murderer and

  • Discrimination In Merchant Of Venice

    1216 Words  | 5 Pages

    money because he oversees ships that are overseas. Instead, they both seek a loan from a moneylender, Shylock, who is Jewish. Shylock is hesitant at first, but agrees to a bond. If the loan isn’t paid back, Shylock may take a pound of Antonio’s flesh for his loss. Bassanio proves that he’s worthy to Portia, but finds out that Antonio’s ships were lost, therefore, Antonio forfeit his bond to Shylock. During the trial, Portia and

  • Merchant Of Venice Thrift Analysis

    1181 Words  | 5 Pages

    Thrift and Exposing Shylock By utilizing alternate definitions of thrift, beyond the common meaning of “frugality [or] saving[s]” (OED), a reader of The Merchant of Venice can examine the motivations and flaws of the infamous, enigmatic character Shylock. Two arcane definitions of thrift will guide our exploration: prosperity (OED); and, earning and acquired wealth (OED). The three occurrences of the word thrift in the play reveal different facets of Shylock; but when examined further, the use of

  • The Merchant Of Venice Foil Essay

    1173 Words  | 5 Pages

    Both William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta employ anti-semitic stereotypes to portray their main Jewish characters, Shylock and Barabas. Both of these characters embody exaggerated and stereotyped Jewish characteristics that directly juxtapose with the traits of their Christian foils. Through the comparison of these two religious depictions, these negative portrayals of Jewish characters can bring out either the positive or negative elements in Christianity

  • Gender Differences In Elie Wiesel's 'The Merchant Of Venice'

    337 Words  | 2 Pages

    of this merchant’s flesh is yours. SHYLOCK: What a righteous judge! PORTIA: And you have to his chest. SHYLOCK: get ready. PORTIA: But wait There’s something else. This contract doesn’t give you any blood at all. So take your penalty of a pound of flesh shed one drop of Christian blood GRATIANO: smart a smart judge! SHYLOCK: Is that the law? PORTIA: You asked for justice, so rest assured you’ll get more justice. GRATIAN: what a wise judge! SHYLOCK: I’ll take their offer. Pay me three

  • Monologue Of Portia Research Paper

    283 Words  | 2 Pages

    For today has been gifted me a rather overwhelming and peculiar experience and obtention my own woman and my ring. With the doury I receive, my debts to shylock shall be no more. A debt free man I will soon be. How perplexed I am, for I am so sad. Am I Portia's beloved? Me in contrast to a Morrocan prince? Me to a duke? I am Bassanio, the merchant with a mediocre job depending on his boat's return, could I really be of such upper echelon? For I do not correspond to such prominence. All misery aside

  • Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Arnold Friend Character Analysis

    871 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Where are you Going, Where have you Been” by Joyce Carol Oates is a short story that tells of the horrors that are possible when a child is rebellious and secretive. The story’s action begins when the main character, Connie, secretly visits a restaurant when she said she was in the movies, here she sees a man and he waves at her. Later, the same man shows up to her house when her family isn’t home and is trying to convince her to ‘go for a ride’ with him, and the reader learns his name is Arnold

  • Speech About Friendship

    755 Words  | 4 Pages

    How To Spot Fake Friendships Mark Twain, the renowned humorist, once said,” Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life”. And only a nincompoop would disagree to the same. Through the centuries, the mankind has evolved, yet the definition of friendship hasn’t changed. Allegiance ,candor ,love; friendships still work on these conditions. Melodramatic motion pictures, Pop songs, Prominent personalities, everyone have had their fair share of opinion on friendship. What