Shakespeares Presentation of Shylock in The Merchant of...

Shakespeares Presentation of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice In every play or story, you need a villain, someone you can hate - in Cinderella you have the evil stepmother, in Harry Potter you have Lord Voldermort, and in the Merchant of Venice you have Shylock. In this scene, I see Shylock not as the comical buffoon or villain but as the outsider. The scene opens with a conversation between Basanio and Shylock. Basanio wants to borrow three thousand ducats from Shylock for three months, but Shylock is reluctant. Antonio is then introduced into the conversation, and Shylock takes more interest in the proposition. Eventually, Shylock agrees to lend the money to Basanio, interest free, on one†¦show more content†¦He is especially bitter during his speech when he lets us know what Antonio had done to him in the past week. He is most calm and pleasant at the start of the scene, when he is thinking over Basanios request. As the scene goes on, he is reminded of what happened to him in the past and you can sense the bitterness in his voice. By the end of the scene you can get the impression that he is ready to kill Antonio. This is when he draws up the bond. Shylocks character develops with the scene from being, at the start, an innocent and vulnerable man who we (in modern times) feel sorry for, although the Elizabethans would have seen him as an evil murderous Jew; whilst we feel sorry for him, the Elizabethan audience would have hissed at Shylock and praised Antonio for what he did to Shylock. His character develops slowly until he becomes a bitter, hateful man until at the end of the scene the change in his character is more apparent. Shakespeares presentation of Shylocks character has not been typical of the way he is presented in the play as a whole until this point. It is only from the point in his speech where Shylock recollects Antonios wrongs that his character changes into the dangerous and obsessive villain that is typical of the rest of the play, although Shylock sees himself as the tragic hero. People are most likely to feelShow MoreRelated Shakespeares Presentation of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice831 Words   |  4 PagesShakespeares Presentation of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice This essay is an analysis of how the character of Shylock, in the play The Merchant of Venice, is presented to the audience, by Shakespeare, in different ways. The riveting play shows the best and worst aspects of human nature and contains one of Shakespeares most reviled, complex and compelling characters. 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