Shylock: villain or victim? In this essay, I will examine the question of whether Shylock is a villain or a victim, and then answer it with my own opinion. To do this, I intend to examine the following, Shylock and the Persecution of the Jews, focusing on the courtroom scene and the formation of the bond scene. persecuted even before 1500 in Spain, Rome, France, the Middle East, Western Europe and Austria. They suffered exile, torture, conversion, were massacred and even saw their land Israel taken by the Turks. The Plot --------- The plot of this story, ~The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare, is as follows; Bassino, a noble Venetian gentleman, has spent all his money. He wishes to amend his fortune to marry Portia, a wealthy heiress, who lives in Belmont. He asks his friend Antonio (the merchant of Venice) to help him by lending him 3000 ducats. However, all of Antonio's money is tied up in ships trading around the world, so he can only offer to use his good reputation to borrow money for Bassino. Antonio and Bassino approach Shylock, a rich Jew, who agrees to lend the amount but makes Antonio sign a known bond. as, "the pound of flesh", which states that if Antonio does not repay Shylock in three months, Shylock has the right to cut off a pound of flesh from Antonio. Until he thought of bail, Shylock was unwilling to lend money because he is a Christian who does not believe in usury. It is the equivalent today of a money loan with interest. As a result, he will not make any money by lending to Antonio. Shortly afterward, Shylock's daughter Jessica fled with most of her money and a Christian Lorenzo, aided by Bassino's friends. Shylock is devastated and hates Christians even more. This scene shows the evil side of Shylock because when he finds out that his daughter and her money are missing, he is more concerned about his fate.