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... y, he wants Antonio to suffer for disrespecting Shylock's authority. This really enforces the fact that Shylock is a ruthless scoundrel. The two women enter the courtroom with a message that the doctor Balthasar (Portia) has being sent to replace the original doctor, Bellario. Portia begins her case with a plea for mercy, she begs him to forfeit the bond and accept three times the amount. Shylock refuses, as he wants to take his revenge on the Christians who have criticized him because he is a Jew.
Again, this shows his ruthless, cold side; he has no remorse. Portia asks to have a surgeon by his side, just in case Antonio bleeds to death. Portia then reads the bond and discovers that Shylock is only allowed to take one pound of Antonio's flesh. She tells him that he can take his pound of flesh on the condition that he takes exactly one pound of flesh and only flesh. No blood shall be shed.
Now we know that this is near enough impossible, to cut a part of someones body, and to have no blood spillages, and how can he cut exactly one pound of flesh? Of course he is going to go over the limit or below the limit, no one is that accurate. Shylock is forced to forfeit the bond; if he does go outside the conditions then he too will be punished. Since he forfeited the bond, but threatened the life on a Venetian, Shylock was forced to give up his money, half to Antonio the other half to the general state. Antonio takes pity on the Jew and declines his half of the money, he tells the court that Shylock can keep his money, but on the condition that he change into Christianity and leaves his money to his daughter on his death. The Jew painfully agrees.
So he has now lost it all. He started out as a character that, near enough, had it all. Riches, a stable business, good daughter, but then some reality kicked in, and knocked him off his floating cloud. His daughter runs away, with a Christian, and steals money from him, and that precious ring that Shylock said he would never give away for all the riches in the world. The men, who were Antonio, Bassanio and Gratiano, gratefully thank doctor Balthasar, Portia, and her clerk, Nerissa; they offer them anything they desire. Portia and Nerissa both ask for Bassanio's and Gratiano's rings.
Reluctantly they hand it to them, as it was a present from their wives who told them never to lose it. Portia and Nerissa return home, soon after Bassanio, Antonio, and Gratiano return with the good news. Portia and Nerissa demand to know what happened to the rings, the men apologize and explain the situation. Portia and Nerissa show them the rings and explain that they were the two doctors. So they found out that the two male lawyers were Portia and her assistant Nerissa. Shylock is content to go along with this atrocious attack on Antonio after Portia declares it legal and that he can indeed take his pound of flesh.
He is so ready to do this, but Portia casually tells him that, You can not spill not one jot of blood. When Shylock hears this he just thinks thats just silly talk. He takes no notice, but Portia then claims, by his bond that it has to be an EXACT pound of flesh. No blood? Perfect in weight? How can he make sure that he does not go over?
Portia says that if he were to take a pound of flesh but go over, Shylock will be executed on the spot. All the while when Portia was agreeing with Shylock, he was making remarks such as O, learned Judge Oh, such smart Judge. He loved the gloating. Of course, now that the judge has turned against him, the Christians are doing the same to him; instead they are doing it in a sarcastic tone. You could say that the turning point of this play is when Portia says the three words tarry a little.
This relates to the fact that if he does go ahead with the bond and ignores this small print he will have half of his land and goods taken from him. So with this in mind, Shylock says, Then I will have my principal, meaning he wants his original three thousand ducats. Portia disallows the three thousand ducats as Shylock refused it in open court. So Shylock cannot believe this.
The duke is sitting there, and says that he is an alien, meaning that he was not Christian (not the little green dudes), and if he tried to take the life of a natural born Christian, he would be executed. Things just keep getting worse for old Shylock. The Duke is not full of evil, he is merciful, unlike Shylock, and says to him that he can live but only on the conditions which Antonio sets. Antonio wants to make him a true Christian and that half of his goods go to Antonio and half to his daughter Jessica. Shylock is stripped of everything; his money, his lands and goods, even his religion. He, essentially, has nothing left, this making him a victim of this play.
So, with all this in mind, is Shylock represented as a victim or a villain? Well, whether Shylock is a victim or a villain depends not only on the texts words but also on the audience. They have a big role in saying whether he is a victim or not. Elizabethans were culturally biased towards Christians.
They probably hated anyone who was not pure Christian, especially Jews. Even when things happen to Shylock that would make us feel sorry, it would not have even the slightest effect on the Elizabethans. Being a comedy, there has to be a villain with typical villain values. Shylock's role keeps bouncing back from Villain to Victim. He is a villain when in court, when he gets his knife ready, A Sentence, Come Prepare! this showing his cold, ruthless side.
But before he even enters the court scene, he is victimized. He is referred to as the Jew. The Christians call him bloody, cold, ravenous, which, of course, isnt a good thing to say although it does speak the truth about most of his actions. The punishment itself leaves Shylock as a helpless victim. It leaves him stripped of his most prized possessions, including something that most do not lose, his religion. You could say Antonio saves Shylock in a couple of ways.
By making him Christian he promises him eternal salvation which is something Christians believe in also it allows him to be a part of society. Thats what the Elizabethans would think, but our modern multi-cultural view is no. He is not getting saved, he has to convert against his will, he does not want to. My answer, I think Shylock is victimized so much more than what he does to be a villain. So, I think Shakespeare is trying to make him a villain, but wants him to make him suffer for his misdeeds, something that does not happen often in comedies.
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