Shylock’s Vengeful Mentality in The Merchant of Venice

【Abstract】：William Shakespeare （1564-1616） was an outstanding English thinker， writer， dramatist and poet during the Renaissance. The Merchant of Venice was one of the four comedies written by William Shakespeare， and the protagonist Shylock was a marginalized character in Christian society. Starting from the historical background of the creation of The Merchant of Venice， it is not difficult to find that it profoundly criticized the racial discrimination. Criticism of racial discrimination in The Merchant of Venice not only highly reflected in the hero Shylock， but also reflected in the oppositions between Shylock and Antonio. Through the description of Shylock's multiple roles， it is observed that for a long time， Shylock had been considered as a greedy， cunning， stingy and cruel villain， but in fact， as a Jew， he suffered from the inhuman treatment， which made him reluctantly become a victim of racial discrimination and religious persecution， eventually making him down to the path of revenge.

【Key words】： The Merchant of Venice; Shylock; racial discrimination; religious persecution; vengeful mentality

I.Introduction

In the traditional comments， the topic of The Merchant of Venice had been discussed by numerous critics including Marx， for it reflected the contradictions between the commercial capital and usury capital. As a representative of the old usury capital， Shylock was of course a model of mercenary， greedy cold-blooded and selfish. Some critics thought that \"Shylock was a famous tragic image\" （Prager 4）. Other critics said that \"Generally speaking， Shylock was a mercenary， selfish， and catty businessman， but he also had complicated characteristics\" （Tong 241）.

II.Social Background of The Merchant of Venice

As is well-known， Britain is a developed country which still occupies very important status in the world today. Then it is extremely necessary to refer to the history of the development of capitalism in the UK， especially in the 16th century. Interestingly， the life accumulation and poesy of this period when Shakespeare lived in， inherited the past and worked for the later， namely， the social background had an important influence on his drama creation.

III.The Multiple Roles of Shylock

A.As a Merchant

As a usurer， venality was Shylock's nature and instinct， for accumulating money was his highest pursuit and greatest joys. According to this， He had a complete theory and cited allusions， using Jacob's precedent in Bible to defend his usury behavior： “The skillful shepherd pilled me certain wands， and in the doing of the deed of kind. He stuck them up before the fulsome ewes.” （Shakespeare 17） So what he prayed all day long was to make his own money like ewe born interest quickly. When it came to money or interest， he was particularly sensitive， and his brain turned extremely fast.

B.As a Hero

In The Merchant of Venice， Shylock's survival road was often broken by Antonio， combining with the traditional ethnic grievances， which made Shylock unwilling to use money to solve those disputes. Generations of squeezed hatred made him kill Antonio. The external pressure reinforced Shylock's national feelings and personal self-esteem： as a Jew， national bitterness was tough to deal with; as a usurer， income was blocked or delayed， double enmities made Shylock grasp every opportunity to revenge， eventually making him onto the road of extreme revenge-- crazy revenge to Antonio.

IV.The Reasons of Shylock’s Vengeful Mentality

Shylock’s vengeful mentality resulted from three aspects： the harmed dignity of the individual， the harmed decent family， and the harmed national sentiment.

A.The Harmed Dignity of the Individual

Shylock was a usurer bourgeoisie， making large sums of money was his only purpose. Rejecting twice even three times the loan repayment but sticking to a pound of flesh cutting from the chest of the merchant Antonio was just for Antonio lending money to people not receiving interest， which affected Shylock's usury industry. Thus he wanted to revenge， making Antonio die. As a result his usury could be unimpeded， thus collecting more wealth. “The contradictions between Antonio and Shylock fundamentally were economic conflict of interest， but also mixed with ethnic and religious conflicts.” （Shang 84） This kind of damage often took place in his daily life.

B.The Harmed National Sentiment

Shylock was a Jew， but this smart and brave race had not got the recognition of the so-called polite aristocrat for ages. In the play Shylock was against Antonio just because he insulted Jews and Shylock's religion. Antonio even called Shylock a dog just for Shylock was not a Christian but a Jew. According to the researches， it is easy to understand that Shylock's revenge to Antonio was actually a kind of protest， objecting to the religious constraints the whole Jew being outraged by injustice. For long-term in racial oppression of the Jewish people， Shylock was a hero for he dared to stand up under the oppression. As a Jew living in Venice， Shylock had a very low social status in the ethos of racial discrimination. He had long been living in an insulted and damaged life. Therefore poor Shylock had to submit to humiliation and shrugged his shoulders at best to show his careless.

Conclusion

As one of the four misers in the European literature， in addition to be a loan shark， Shylock was as well as a Jew， who was persecuted deeply by the society at that time. He not only had greedy characteristics， but also had strong thoughts of vengeance. On the one hand， he was disgusting， on the other hand， his sufferings made people pitiful. Although the novel was a comedy， it contains historical tragedy. Therefore， we could not define Shylock simply on the surface of his preference. He was a Jewish businessman with rich contents and history.