ICSE Class 10 Answered

You can work on the following points:

Shakespeare often portrays characters with psychological complexity. One such character, Shylock, is portrayed as a villainous figure in the play 'The Merchant of Venice'. But for various audience he is a tragic character acting villainously, victimised, as most Jews were at that time and driven to revenge because of the treatment he receives. The Christian society, for centuries, inflicted insult and outrage on the Jews race; shylock, thus, becomes a victim of racism.

Shylock is shamed and hurt when his daughter elopes with Lorenzo, a Christian and takes away a large amount of his wealth and the turquoise ring given to him by an old love Leah. His human emotions and tenderness is quite revealed here. But his concern for the material wealth than his child is kind of offbeat. Even his own servant Lancelot describes him as, "The Jew is the very devil incarnation,".

such shows of human feeling or emotion are under numerous, and he seems more concerned with his material wealth, than his own offspring. It was probably this attitude that frustrated his daughter and made her determined to escape him. Even his own servant Lancelot describes him as, "The Jew is the very devil incarnation,"

Shylock's pain and hurt is revealed when he narrates the list of Antonio's cruelties against him. We also feel sorry for him when we says, "Fed… the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means… as a Christian is….". The saddest among all was when he openly asks, "If you prick us do we not bleed?".

Towards the end of the play, things looked bleak for Shylock. He is forced to renounce his own religion as punishment and convert to Christianity. Too  much is weighted against him and the contempt for him reaches its climax in the trial. He is taken to pieces under an avalanche of penalties He is reduced as a person. Shylock may die with money but his reputation has been torn to shreds. The quality of mercy amongst the Christians the absence of which they berated Shylock for is absent amongst them as well.

Shylock is a good man undone by a tragic flaw and his inability to control his rage against an overwhelmingly powerful society which will never recognize his generosity and accept him.

Through Shylock, Shakespeare explores the way in which the line between the oppressed and the oppressor can become blurred.