Good And Evil In Shylock

8 Pages 1936 Words

While attempting a successful character analysis of Shylock, one must decide if he is ultimately good or bad. After careful reading and rereading of this play, some readers may still moat still not feel comfortable giving him a definite label of either good or bad, victim or villain. If a reader is set on giving Shylock a clear-cut label, he will be giving himself quite a challenge. Readers may find aspects of both good and bad in Shylock’s character. While he looks worse in some situations then he does in others, even when he appears to be at his worst, readers can find justification for his actions and sympathize with his character. However, readers must be careful not to overlook some of his bad characteristics that may have been avoided despite the situation. In the end, one cannot make a definite judgment on the character of Shylock. He seems incapable of being consistently good or bad. He mistreats people, but they mistreat him as well. He shows contempt for people of a different, but they do irreversible damage to his life as well. He demands the flesh of another man, but the other man steals his flesh and blood in a veil of deception. He shows little mercy, but no mercy is shown to him. So, how does one properly analyze a man who, throughout the play, is reduced to the status of less than a man? The answer is carefully, showing both the good and the bad aspects of his character. One must argue for and against Shylock’s integrity throughout the progress of the play.
Throughout the play, Shylock repetitively mistreats three characters. First, there is Launcelot, his disloyal servant. Launcelot claims, “[…] I am famished in his service” (II. i. 94). Launcelot begs to leave the service of the ‘Jew’ and become a servant to Bassanio. Shylock also mistreats his own daughter, Jessica. He orders her around, showing little care for her happiness, appearing to be an inattentive father. On one hand, Shyloc...