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Merchant of Venice Essay
Many people are villainous in the way they act, and their
villainous acts may be rooted in the desire to destroy others, or in the
hopes of elevating themselves. Many people may only act "villainous" in
reaction to the way they have been treated in the past. Shylock the Jew is
the villain or antagonist in the play The Merchant of Venice. Shylock
mistreats Antonio the Christian, his daughter, Jessica and Launcelot.
The first person Shylock mistreats, is Launcelot. He mistreats this
servant by complaining behind Launcelot's back of his laziness. Shylock
says,
"The patch is kind enough, but a huge feeder,
Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day
More than the wildcat. Drones hive not with me..
..His borrowed purse." 1
Shylock also acts villainous towards Launcelot by acting belligerent
towards him.
"Who bids thee call? I do not bid thee call." 2
Shylock mistreats this man because of his poverty, and because Launcelot is
socially beneath him. You also start to wonder about how fair Shylock is,
when Launcelot is deciding whether or not to leave him.
Shylock also mistreats his own daughter, Jessica. He mistreats her
by keeping her as a captive in her own house, not letting her out, and not
letting her hear the Christian music around her. He orders her to:
"Lock up my doors; and when you hear the drum...
..But stop my house's ears-I mean casements.
Let not the sound of shallow fopp'ry enter
My sober house." 3
Jessica considers her home to be hell, and she calls Launcelot, a "merry
little devil". She even states that her father is Satan. Shylock also
mistreats his own daughter, by not loving her enough, even to the point
where he complains about all of the money he's spending in a search to find
her.
"Why, there, there, there, there! A diamond gone
cost me two thousand ducats in Frankford! The curse..
..ill luck stirring but what lights o' my shoulders; no sighs
but o' my breathing; no tears but o' my shedding."4
Salerio makes the audience wonder about Shylock, when he raves about when
Shylock was calling out, "Oh my ducats, my daughter, my ducats, my
daughter.." This makes you wonder which he misses the most. This proves
that he mistreats, even his own daughter. He values his money more than his
own blood.
Shylock mistreats Antonio. He does so by talking behind Antonio's
back, and he reveals his hatred of Antonio, when he says,
"How like a fawning publican he looks!
I hate him for he is a Christian;
But more for that...Cursed be my tribe
If I forgive him!" 5
Shylock feels justified in exacting revenge for all the ills Antonio causes
him. He then draws up an unbelievable bond. He blames Antonio for all of
his problems, even his race's problems are blamed on people like Antonio,
and he feels Christians have persecuted his race when he says,
"To bait fish withal. If it will feed nothing else, it will
feed my revenge...The villainy you teach me will execute, and it shall go
hard but I will better the instruction." 6
He shows that he will copy the example of Christians. Shylock becomes the
true villain when he atkes Antonio to court. These actions prove that
Antonio is mistreated by Shylock, the villain.
Shylock is the villain of The Merchant of Venice. He mistreats too
many people, and then asks for mercy in a court. Shylock is mad for revenge
towards all Christians, especially Antonio. He is such a villain that even
his daughter and servant are eager to escape him. Villains are oftenly
antagonists in story plots and normally are a threat to the main character.
Villains normally have motives behind their evil doings.
Endnotes:
1. Shakespeare, William. Merchant of Venice. (Washington Square Press, New
York, 1957) p. 30
2. Ibid p. 29
3. Ibid p. 30
4. Ibid p. 46
5. Ibid p. 13
6. Ibid p. 44
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