For viewers of the play at the time shylock would’ve been a character to dislike and to laugh at the misfortune of, on the other hand the character of tom Robinson that harper lee creates could’ve been seen as the villain of the novel by someone from a time when racism was accepted, he is obviously seen as a victim and a character to support. The difference between the two texts is that while both treatments of the characters of Shylock and Tom Robinson would be seen as wrong from a modern perspective lee created the character to challenge the behaviour and highlight problems with communities blinded by prejudice whereas Shakespeare created shylock in order to laugh at and further demonise Jewish
For viewers of the play at the time shylock would’ve been a character to dislike and to laugh at the misfortune of, on the other hand the character of tom Robinson that harper lee creates could’ve been seen as the villain of the novel by someone from a time when racism was accepted, he is obviously seen as a victim and a character to support. The difference between the two texts is that while both treatments of the characters of Shylock and Tom Robinson would be seen as wrong from a modern perspective lee created the character to challenge the behaviour and highlight problems with communities blinded by prejudice whereas Shakespeare created shylock in order to laugh at and further demonise Jewish