This character sketch will be on Shylock, describing his physical and personality traits. Shylock is an older, Jewish money lender who has one daughter named Jessica. Shylock is introduced into the novel when Antonio’s friend, Gratiano needs money in order to impress a girl. Antonio at the time does not have any money and sends Gratiano to Shylock to borrow money from him. Shylock does not like Antonio because of past experiences where Antonio made fun of him publically. This leads to an interesting bond that Antonio must agree to in order for Gratiano to get money.
Shylock has many different character traits such as vengeful and his greed which will be displayed in this character sketch. His vengefulness is shown mainly towards two people in this play. Antonio being the greater of the two. He seeks revenge on Antonio because of how Antonio has treated Shylock in the past. One example of his vengefulness is when he said this to himself on page 15 “If I can catch him once upon the hip, I will feed the fat the ancient grudge I bear him. ” Not only does this prove that Shylock dislikes Antonio, it also proves that he holds grudges that aren’t usually solved without revenge.
The other person that Shylock wants revenge from is his daughter Jessica. When Jessica and Lorenzo fall in love they decide they are going to elope. They do this the night that Shylock goes out for dinner when he goes Jessica steals some of his money and his dead wife’s ring. This made Shylock furious and he said, “ She is damned for it. ”(page 44) Shylock seems to go after anyone that crosses his path, it is for good reason though being a Jew in Venician society. In a way you may feel sorry for him until you realize how greedy this man is. Shylock has a strong Shylock isn’t exactly a character that wins your respect throughout the book.
He does this with his obsession with money and his hatred for Antonio one of the more liked characters in the book. In the end of the play Shylock does not get his bond and Antonio gets away free. Shylock even has to pay a fine of half his money and he has to become a Christian. Now in the world this seems to be a ridiculous and horrible price to pay. What do you gain by making a person give up there religion. In Shakespeare’s time this might have been acceptable but now it is just silly. It makes the reader feel sorry for Shylock in the end, because he has to give up the last thing he cares about.