Shylock The Merchant Of Venice Essay

Shylock on the other hand started out as a comedic kill-joy, but eventually Shylocks becomes a tragic figure by the end of the play. Shylock is first deemed to be a greedy Jew, hater of Christians and the devil and he very well may be when his demands one pund of Antonio’s flesh as the interest for not paying back three thousand ducants in time, simply because he “hates him for he is a Christian” and because Antonio “lends out money gratis, and brings down/ The rate of usance here with us in Venice” (1.3.38-40). Basically, Antonio is bad business for merchants like Shylock and a pound of his flesh would “feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him” (1.3.43). This solidifies Shylocks greedy nature, or how Shylock “embodies the evil side of the power of money” (Barber 190). Shylock is then the perfect kill-joy, or villain, in the play because he is so different from the Venetians, who are generous and kind Christians. Yet, in that way Shylock also acts as the irony of the Venetians. Where the Venetians have mercy and kindness that Shylock lacks, Shylock hold value that the Venetians do no see. Compared to Antonio, Shylock is actually a smart …show more content…
Comparing Shylock and Malvolio expulsion from the stage, it would be more appropriate to say that Shylock’s expulsion does not fit the carnival pattern. This is because Shylock was sinned against more than he was sinning and the comedy, The Merchant of Venice, puzzling. Overall, Malvolio does represent the puritanical targets of the holiday festivities because as mentioned above, he has not been sinned more than he was sinning. Shylock on the other hand suffers much more than can be justified in a carnival atmosphere, and instead it can be argued that the Venetians who send him to his fate where the kill-joys themselves in