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Main page This article is about the literary character. For other uses, see Shylock (disambiguation).
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Shylock is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice (c.
Help 1600). A Venetian Jewish moneylender, Shylock is the play's principal antagonist. His defeat
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and conversion to Christianity form the climax of the story.
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Recent changes Shylock's characterisation is composed of stereotypes, for instance greediness and
Upload file vengefulness, although there were no practising Jews who lived in England during
Shakespearean England. Jews were expelled from the country in 1290 by Edward I in the
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Edict of Expulsion; this was not reversed until the Cromwell Era.
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Related changes Contents [hide] Shylock After the Trial by John Gilbert
Special pages (late 19th century)
1 Name
Permanent link
Page information 2 In the play
Cite this page 3 Historical background
Wikidata item 4 Portrayal
4.1 Shylock on stage
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5 Other representations
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 Printable version 5.1 Notable portrayals
6 Shylock and antisemitism
In other projects
6.1 Antisemitic reading
Wikimedia Commons
6.2 Sympathetic reading
Languages 6.3 Influence on antisemitism

Español 7 See also

‫ﻓﺎرﺳﯽ‬ 8 References
Français 9 Bibliography
Italiano 10 Further reading
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11 External links
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Name
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Shylock is not a Jewish name. However, some scholars believe it probably derives from the biblical name Shalah, which is ‫( שלח‬Šélah)̣ in
Hebrew. Shalah is the grandson of Shem and the father of Eber, biblical progenitor of Hebrew peoples. All the names of Jewish
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characters in the play derive from minor figures listed in genealogies in the Book of Genesis. It is possible that Shakespeare originally
intended the name to be pronounced with a short "i", as rather than a long one. In this scenario, the modern pronunciation would have
changed because the standard spelling with a "y" signifies to readers a long 'i' pronunciation.[1] Other scholars emphasise that, although
the name echoes some Hebrew names, "Shylock" was a common sixteenth-century English name that would have been familiar to
Shakespeare's fellow Londoners, and the name is notable for its Saxon origin, meaning "white-haired". The Shylocks of sixteenth-century
London included "goldsmiths, mercers, and, most visibly of all, scriveners",[2] according to prominent scholar Stephen Orgel, a Stanford
professor who serves (with A. R. Braunmuller) as general editor of The Pelican Shakespeare series from Penguin.

Gordon Clark mentions another possibility. At the time, the prefix shy- meant "of questionable character, disreputable, shady" (as in the
modern shyster), while shy-cock was slang for "a wary or cowardly person." Michael Lok was governor of the Cathay Company
(chartered 1577),[3] which financed Martin Frobisher's disastrous voyage of 1578; he carried back 1,350 tons of "gold ore" which turned
out to be worthless hornblende.[4] The venture, therefore, entirely failed, and in January 1579 he had to petition the Privy Council for relief
and assistance. In June 1581 he was again petitioning the Privy Council, from the Fleet Prison, condemned at the suit of William Borough
to pay for a ship bought for Frobisher's last voyage, though he claimed the debt was not his; he was also bound for a larger debt of the
Cathay Company. In 1614–15 he was still being sued for a debt for stores supplied to Frobisher's ships. Calling an untrustworthy
businessman "shy Lok" would be an easily understood reference to Elizabethans.[5]

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 In the play
Shylock is a Jew who lends money to his Christian rival Antonio, setting the security at a pound of Antonio's flesh. When a bankrupt
Antonio defaults on the loan, Shylock demands the pound of flesh. This decision is fuelled by his sense of revenge, for Antonio had
previously insulted, physically assaulted and spat on him in the Rialto (stock exchange of Venice) dozens of times, defiled the "sacred"
Jewish religion and had also inflicted massive financial losses on him. Meanwhile, Shylock's daughter, Jessica, falls in love with Antonio's
friend Lorenzo and converts to Christianity, leaves Shylock's house and steals vast riches from him, which add to Shylock's rage and
harden his resolve for revenge. In the end – due to the efforts of Antonio's well-wisher, Portia – Shylock is charged with attempted murder
of a Christian, carrying a possible death penalty, and Antonio is freed without punishment. Shylock is then ordered to surrender half of his
wealth and property to the state and the other half to Antonio. However, as an act of "mercy", Antonio modifies the verdict, asking Shylock
to hand over only one-half of his wealth – to him (Antonio) for his own as well as Lorenzo's need – provided that he keeps two promises.
First, Shylock has to sign an agreement bequeathing all his remaining property to Lorenzo and Jessica, which is to become effective after
his demise, and second, he is to immediately convert to Christianity. Shylock is forced to agree to these terms, and he exits citing illness.

Historical background
In Shakespeare's time, no Jews had been legally present in England for several hundred years (since the Edict of Expulsion in 1290).
However, stereotypes of Jews as money lenders remained from the Middle Ages. Historically, money lending had been a fairly common
occupation among Jews, in part because Christians were not permitted to practise usury, then considered to mean charging interest of
any kind on loans, and Jews were excluded from other fields of work.[6] At the same time, most Christian kings forbade Jews to own land
for farming or to serve in the government, and craft guilds usually refused to admit Jews as artisans.[7] Thus money lending was one of
the few occupations still open to Jews.

Hyam Maccoby argues that the play is based on medieval morality plays, exemplum, in which the Virgin Mary (here represented by
Portia) argues for the forgiveness of human souls, as against the implacable accusations of the Devil (Shylock).[8]

Portrayal
Shylock on stage
Jacob Adler and others report that the tradition of playing Shylock sympathetically began in the first half of the 19th century with Edmund
Kean.[9] Previously the role had been played "by a comedian as a repulsive clown or, alternatively, as a monster of unrelieved evil".
Kean's Shylock established his reputation as an actor.[10]

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 Since Kean's time, many other actors who have played the role have chosen a sympathetic
approach to the character. Edwin Booth was a notable exception, playing him as a simple villain,
although his father Junius Brutus Booth had portrayed the character sympathetically. Henry
Irving's portrayal of an aristocratic, proud Shylock (first seen at the Lyceum in 1879, with Portia
played by Ellen Terry) has been called "the summit of his career".[11] Jacob Adler was the most
notable of the early 20th century actors in this role, speaking in Yiddish in an otherwise English-
language production.[12]

Kean and Irving presented a Shylock justified in wanting his revenge. Adler's Shylock evolved
over the years he played the role, first as a stock Shakespearean villain, then as a man whose
better nature was overcome by a desire for revenge, and finally as a man who operated not from
revenge but from pride. In a 1902 interview with Theater magazine, Adler pointed out that
Shylock is a wealthy man, "rich enough to forgo the interest on three thousand ducats" and that
Antonio is "far from the chivalrous gentleman he is made to appear. He has insulted the Jew and
spat on him, yet he comes with hypocritical politeness to borrow money of him." Shylock's fatal
flaw is to depend on the law, but "would he not walk out of that courtroom head erect, the very
Henry Irving as Shylock in a late
apotheosis of defiant hatred and scorn?"[13]
19th century performance
Some modern productions explore the justification of Shylock's thirst for vengeance. For
instance, in the 2004 film adaptation directed by Michael Radford and starring Al Pacino as
Shylock, the film begins with text and a montage of how the Jewish community is abused by the Christian population of the city. One of
the last shots of the film also highlights that, as a convert, Shylock would have been cast out of the Jewish community in Venice, no
longer allowed to live in the ghetto. But he would likely not have been fully accepted by the Christians, as they would remember his
Jewish birth. Another interpretation of Shylock and a vision of how "must he be acted" appears at the conclusion of the autobiography of
Alexander Granach, a noted Jewish stage and film actor in Weimar Germany (and later in Hollywood and on Broadway).[14]

Other representations
St. John Ervine's play The Lady of Belmont (1924) is a sequel to The Merchant of Venice where the characters meet again some years
later. All of the marriages that ended The Merchant of Venice are unhappy, Antonio is an obsessive bore reminiscing about his escape
from death, but Shylock, freed from religious prejudice, is richer than before and a close friend and confidante of the Doge.

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 Arnold Wesker's play The Merchant (1976) is a reimagining of Shakespeare's story.[15] In this retelling, Shylock and Antonio are friends
and share a disdain for the crass antisemitism of the Christian community's laws.[16]

The award-winning monologue Shylock (1996) by Canadian playwright Mark Leiren-Young, focuses on a Jewish actor named Jon
Davies, who is featured as Shylock in a production of The Merchant of Venice.[17] Jon addresses his audience at a "talk back" session,
after the play is closed abruptly due to controversy over the play's alleged antisemitism. Davies is portrayed both in and out of character,
presenting and stripping down the layers between character and actor. Composed in one 80-minute act, it premiered at Bard on the
Beach on 5 August 1996, where it was directed by John Juliani and starred popular Canadian radio host, David Berner. Its American
debut was in 1998 at Philadelphia's Walnut Street Theatre where it was directed by Deborah Block, starred William Leach and was
"Barrymore Recommended". It has since been produced at theatres, Shakespeare Festivals and Fringes throughout Canada and the US
(including the San Diego Repertory Theatre where it was staged opposite a controversial production of The Merchant of Venice), was
translated for a production in Denmark and has been staged twice by the original actor, Berner, in Venice.

Notable portrayals
Notable actors who have portrayed Shylock include Richard Burbage in the 16th century, Charles
Macklin in 1741, Edmund Kean in 1814, William Charles Macready in 1840, Edwin Booth in
1861, Henry Irving in 1880, George Arliss in 1928, and John Gielgud in 1937. Under Nazi rule in
1943, the Vienna Burgtheater presented a notoriously extreme production of The Merchant of
Venice with Werner Krauss as an evil Shylock.

After World War II, productions were sometimes featured on TV and in film as well as on stage,
such as Laurence Olivier at the Royal National Theatre in 1972 and on TV in 1973, and Patrick
Stewart in 1965 at the Theatre Royal, Bristol and 1978. In addition, Stewart developed a one-
man show Shylock: Shakespeare's Alien and produced it while acting in the role in 1987 and
2001. Al Pacino acted as Shylock in a 2004 feature film version as well as in Central Park in
2010. F. Murray Abraham played this character at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2006. In
2015 and 2016, David Serero played Shylock in New York at the Center for Jewish History.[18]
Jonathan Pryce played the role in the Globe theatre in the summer of 2015. This was followed by
a touring production in 2016. Pryce's daughter performs the role of Jessica (Shylock's daughter)
1911 Italian-French film.
in the production.

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 Shylock and antisemitism
Since Shakespeare's time, the character's name has become a synonym for loan shark, and as a
verb to shylock means to lend money at exorbitant rates. In addition, the phrase "pound of flesh"
has also entered the lexicon as slang for a particularly onerous or unpleasant obligation.

Antisemitic reading
English society in the Elizabethan era has been described as antisemitic.[19]

It was not until the twelfth century that in northern Europe (England, Germany, and
France), a region until then peripheral but at this point expanding fast, a form of
Judeophobia developed that was considerably more violent because of a new
dimension of imagined behaviors, including accusations that Jews engaged in ritual
murder, profanation of the host, and the poisoning of wells. With the prejudices of the
day against Jews, atheists and non-Christians in general, Jews found it hard to fit in
with society. Some say that these attitudes provided the foundations of anti-semitism in
Shylock and Jessica by Maurycy
the 20th century.
Gottlieb

English Jews had been expelled in 1290; Jews were not allowed to settle in the country until the
rule of Oliver Cromwell. In the 16th and early 17th centuries, Jews were often presented on the Elizabethan stage in hideous caricature,
with hooked noses and bright red wigs. They were usually depicted as avaricious usurers; an example is Christopher Marlowe's play The
Jew of Malta, which features a comically wicked Jewish villain called Barabas. They were usually characterised as evil, deceptive, and
greedy.

During the 1600s in Venice and in other places, Jews were required to wear a red hat at all times in public to ensure that they were easily
identified. If they did not comply with this rule, they could face the death penalty. In Venice, Jews had to live in a ghetto protected by
Christians which was probably for their own safety. The Jews were expected to pay their guards.[20]

Shakespeare's play reflected the antisemitic tradition. The title page of the Quarto indicates that the play was sometimes known as The
Jew of Venice in its day, which suggests that it was seen as similar to Marlowe's The Jew of Malta. One interpretation of the play's
structure is that Shakespeare meant to contrast the mercy of the main Christian characters with the vengeful Shylock, who lacks the
religious grace to comprehend mercy. Similarly, it is possible that Shakespeare meant Shylock's forced conversion to Christianity to be a

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 "happy ending" for the character, as it 'redeems' Shylock both from his unbelief and his specific sin of wanting to kill Antonio. This reading
of the play would certainly fit with the antisemitic trends present in Elizabethan England.

Sympathetic reading
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Many modern readers and audiences have read the play as a plea for tolerance, with Shylock as
a sympathetic character. Shylock's 'trial' at the end of the play is a mockery of justice, with Portia
acting as a judge when she has no real right to do so. Shakespeare does not question Shylock's
intentions, but that the very people who berated Shylock for being dishonest have resorted to
trickery in order to win. Shakespeare gives Shylock one of his most eloquent speeches:

Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses,
affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to
the same diseases, heal'd by the same means, warm'd and cool'd by the same
winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle
us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we
not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew
wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what
should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you
teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction. Shylock and Portia (1835) by
Thomas Sully
— Act III, scene I

Alexander Granach, who played Shylock in Germany in the 1920s, writes,

[H]ow does it happen that Shylock's defense becomes an accusation? ... The answer must be a perfectly simple one. God and
Shakespeare did not create beings of paper, they gave them flesh and blood! Even if the poet did not know Shylock and did not
like him, the justice of his genius took the part of his black obstacle [Shylock, the obstacle to the plans of the young lovers] and,
out of its prodigal and endless wealth, gave Shylock human greatness and spiritual strength and a great loneliness—things that

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 turn Antonio's gay, singing, sponging, money-borrowing, girl-stealing, marriage-contriving circle into petty idlers and sneak
thieves.[21]

Influence on antisemitism
Antisemites have used the play to support their views throughout its history. The 1619 edition has
a subtitle of "With the Extreme Cruelty of Shylock the Jew ..." The Nazis used Shylock for their
propaganda.[22] Shortly after Kristallnacht in 1938, the German radio had broadcast a production
of The Merchant of Venice to reinforce stereotypes. Productions of the play followed in Lübeck
(1938), Berlin (1940), and elsewhere within Nazi-occupied territory.[23]

The depiction of Jews in the literature of England and other English-speaking countries
throughout the centuries was influenced by the Shylock character and similar stereotypes. With
slight variations much of English literature up until the 20th century depicts the Jew as "a monied,
cruel, lecherous, avaricious outsider tolerated only because of his golden hoard".[24]

See also
History of the Jews in Venice
Venetian Ghetto

References
Front cover of The Kingdom of
1. ^ Halio, Jay L. (1994). The Merchant of Venice. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. 23. Shylock (1917), an antisemitic
2. ^ quoted from Shylock is Shakespeare by Kenneth Gross, 2006, University of Chicago Press. pamphlet authored by Australian MP
3. ^ Coote, Charles Henry. "Frobisher Martin" – via Wikisource. Frank Anstey

4. ^ Robert Steven Ruby (12 June 2001). Unknown Shore: The Lost History of England's Arctic
Colony . Henry Holt and Company. p. 257]. ISBN 978-0-8050-5215-2.
5. ^ Clark, Gordon (31 August 2015). Shylock: As Banker, Bondholder, Corruptionist, Conspirator .
Bibliolife DBA of Bibilio Bazaar II LLC. ISBN 9781340673031 – via Google Books.
6. ^ Ferguson 2009, p. 36.
7. ^ Baron, Salo, Kahan, Arcadius; et al., Economic History of the Jews, Nachum Gross (Ed.),
Schocken Books, 1975, p. 257

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 8. ^ Maccoby, Hyam (2006). Antisemitism and Modernity: Innovation and Continuity . London:
Routledge. pp. 86 –90. ISBN 9780415311731.
9. ^ Adler erroneously dates this from 1847 (at which time Kean was already dead); the Cambridge
Student Guide to The Merchant of Venice dates Kean's performance to a more likely 1814.
10. ^ Adler 1999, 341.
11. ^ Wells and Dobson, p. 290.
12. ^ Adler 1999, 342–44.
13. ^ Adler 1999, 344–350
14. ^ Granach 1945; 2010, 275–279.
15. ^ Chan, Sewell (13 April 2016). "Arnold Wesker, 83, Writer of Working-Class Dramas, Dies" . The
New York Times. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
16. ^ Billington, Michael (13 April 2016). "Arnold Wesker: the radical bard of working Britain" . The
Guardian. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
17. ^ Charlesbois, Gaetan. "Shylock". Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia. 18 June 2010. Retrieved 19
January 2013
18. ^ BWW News Desk. "David Serero to Star in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE at the Center for Jewish
History This June" . BroadwayWorld.com.
19. ^ Burrin, Philipe (2005). Nazi Anti-Semitism: From Prejudice to Holocaust. New York City: The New
Press. p. 17. ISBN 1-56584-969-8.
20. ^ "Venice, Italy Jewish History Tour – Jewish Virtual Library" . jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
21. ^ Granach 1945, 2010: 276–77
22. ^ Gross, John (4 April 1993). "THEATER; Shylock and Nazi Propaganda" . The New York Times.
ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 22 February 2016.
23. ^ Lecture by James Shapiro: "Shakespeare and the Jews"
24. ^ Mirsky, David. "The Fictive Jew in the Literature of England 1890–1920". Samuel K. Mirsky
Memorial Volume.

Bibliography
Adler, Jacob, A Life on the Stage: A Memoir, translated and with commentary by Lulla Rosenfeld, Knopf, New York, 1999, ISBN 0-
679-41351-0.
Ferguson, Niall (2009). The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World . New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 9780143116172.

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 Granach, Alexander, "There Goes an Actor," tr. Willard Trask, Doubleday, Doran, Garden City, NY, 1945. Also Granach, Alexander,
"From the Shtetl to the Stage: The Odyssey of a Wandering Actor," with new Introduction by Herbert S., Lewis, Transaction
Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4128-1347-1.
Smith, Rob: Cambridge Student Guide to The Merchant of Venice. ISBN 0-521-00816-6.

Further reading
Bronstein, Herbert (1969). "Shakespeare, the Jews, and The Merchant of Venice". Shakespeare Quarterly. Folger Shakespeare
Library. 20 (1): 3–10. doi:10.2307/2868968 . eISSN 1538-3555 . ISSN 0037-3222 . JSTOR 2868968 .
John Gross, Shylock: A Legend and Its Legacy. Touchstone: 1994. ISBN 0-671-88386-0.
Kenneth Gross, Shylock Is Shakespeare. University of Chicago Press: 2006. ISBN 0-226-30977-0.
S.L. Lee, "The Original of Shylock," The Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. CCXLVI, January/June 1880.
James Shapiro, Shakespeare and the Jews. Columbia University Press: 1997. ISBN 0-231-10345-X.
Joseph Shatzmiller, Shylock Reconsidered: Jews, Moneylending, and Medieval Society. University of California Press: 1990. ISBN 0-
520-06635-9.
Martin Yaffe, Shylock and the Jewish Question. Johns Hopkins University Press: 1997. ISBN 0-8018-5648-5.

External links
Patrick Stewart illustrates approaches to the Shylock character on Shakespeare Teaching Look up shylock in
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