Shakespeare A to Z | Shylock
Shylock, the Jewish moneylender in The Merchant of Venice, is one of Shakespeare’s most controversial characters. Over the years, he has been portrayed as a comic scoundrel, a bloodthirsty villain, and a tragic victim—sometimes all three at once. These conflicting interpretations reflect the history behind this complex figure.
Shakespeare based Shylock on the miser, a stock character from medieval* literature. Although the miser was traditionally a comical villain, the playwright made his character more human by giving him sympathetic qualities. When Shylock first appears in...
[The entire page is 491 words long]