Notes from class.
- Answer the question directly
- Summarise your essay
- Add your personal view
In “The Merchant of Venice”, Shylock is presented as both a sympathetic and an unsympathetic character. His treatment by the Christians is terrible, but he himself is just as cruel to them. Considering the dominant anti-semitic attitudes of the time, it seems understandable that Shylock would want to have revenge, and while it may be distasteful, it is certainly understandable.