The Merchant Of Venice Shylock Essay

It depends on his portrayal as to how much an audience has sympathy for his position and character as to how much he is judged at the end of the play.He is certainly left at the end of the play with very little to his name, although at least he is able to keep his property until his death. We apologize for any inconvenience, and thank you for your visiting.

Unlike them, on the other hand, Shylock is heavily invested in material gain.

However, Shylock is agonized over his loss of money, reportedly running through the streets lamenting for them.

One of the major Merchant of Venice themes being love versus money, we do see some materialistic views in the apparently ‘good’ characters too.

Even though Bassanio and Portia grow to love each other, it was not the case of pure love initially.

This main theme drives the plot and moves the play forward, influencing the action of the central characters.

Other themes include greed, the cyclic increase of hatred, mercy, prejudice and the opposites- playing versus perception.Hence, we can conclude that Shylock’s resentment is much deeper rooted than his monetary greed.Equally complicated is the case of the Christian characters of The Merchant of Venice.Must Jessica convert to Christianity in order to be accepted by Lorenzo and his friends? That the Christian characters are considered the goodies in this narrative and the Jewish character the baddy of the piece, suggests some judgment against being Jewish.However, Shylock is permitted to give as good as he gets against Christianity and is able to level similar insults as he receives.Bassanio’s main motivation in asking her hand in marriage was due to his humungous debt, and that he needed Portia’s money to clear it.After taking money from Antonio, Bassanio insists that this act of lending him money was an investment on Antonio’s part.On the surface level, the major difference between Shylock the Jew and the Christian characters of the play is their level of compassion.On one hand, the Christians value the importance of human relationships over their business contacts.Shylock refuses to eat with the Christians: Yes, to smell pork, to eat of the habitation which your prophet the Nazerite conjured the devil into!I will buy with you, sell with you, talk to you, walk with you, and so following, but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you. A modern audience would surely consider his religion to be of no consequence in terms of his status as a villain, he could be considered a reprehensible character who also happens to be a Jewish man.