Who was Shylock in "The Merchant of Venice"? Why was he hated in Venice?

anika22,

In Shakespeare's comedy "The Merchant of Venice," the character of Shylock is a Jewish moneylender who lends money to Antonio, a Christian requiring a bond of "a pound of Antonio's flesh." When Antonio goes bankrupt, Antonio defaults on the loan, and Shylock demands his pound of flesh in a court of law, as revenge for Antonio having previously insulted him. At the same time, Shylock's daughter Jessica, elopes with Antonio's friend Lorenzo and becomes a Christian, further adding to Shylock's anger and resentment.

Issues that dealt with Jews and Judaism were very controversial during the Renaissance Period because Edward I had them expelled in 1290 but Oliver Cromwell allowed Jews to return in 1656. Jews had to practice Judaism in secret between those years.

In one of the most famous soliloquies in the English language, Shylock explains that Jews are just like "everyone else" when he says:

I am a Jew. 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, do we not revenge? If we are like you in the
rest, we will resemble you in that. (iii.1.58-68)