Shylock and Antonio in essays

Shylock and Antonio in essays One of the main themes of The Merchant of Venice is Good verses Evil. By incorporating characters into this theme, the two I see as most fitting are Antonio, representing good, friendship and honesty and Shylock as Antonios enemy, represents evil and dishonesty. Therefore the character of whom I most admire is Antonio, as he stands for all that is good. As much as I admire Antonio, I dislike Shylock, who has no mercy for those around him and would probably exact a harsh revenge even on his best of friends. We first meet Shylock in (Act I (scene iii)) where Bassanio seeks out Shylock for a loan in Antonios name, it is the first we hear of the Jews hatred for Antonio, I hate him for he is a Christian. (Act I (scene iii) ) This shows the reasons for Shylocks hatred towards Antonio, both financially and religiously. Any chance he can get, he will destroy Antonios life and fortune. This is proved by what he says later on in Act I scene iii, If I can once catch him upon the hip, I will feed fat the grudge against him. While the bond is being decided Shylock hides his hate for Antonio and instead misleads him to believe their differences have been forgotten and that friendship has shone through. This is to entrap Antonio in order to hold him into a bond, which most certainly will end up feeding Shylocks revenge even more. If Antonio defaults then Shylock is to take a pound of Antonios flesh, Taken in what part of your body pleaseth me. (Act I (scene iii)) We know Antonio thinks of Shylock as a friend by what he says in (Act I (scene iii)), The Hebrew will turn Christian, he grows kind. However, this friendship is dependent on him changing religion. There can be no possibility of compatibility if he remains Jewish. For the rest of Act I and II we hear little of Shy...