The Merchant of Venice - The Protagonist
Who was the real protagonist of The
Merchant of Venice? Was it Antonio or Shylock? Some may say that Shylock is the
antagonist because Antonio’s the protagonist. But who is the real merchant of Venice? Throughout the movie, the parts
that really stick out to me was the hardships and struggles that Shylock had to
go through because he was disliked and a Jew. Also, from my observation, Shylock’s
character was more interesting than Antonio’s character just because he had to
go through more hardships and he felt more emotions. Perhaps pain just makes a
character more interesting.
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| Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, 2004 |
In the story, Shylock is a merchant and he is a
Jew, so he charged interest. Bassanio borrows money from him through Antonio’s
credit and they created a bond, which stated 3000 ducats from three months, and
if he couldn’t pay it off, he’d have to give a pound of flesh from the part of
his body that’s near Antonio’s heart. As the story progresses, a bunch of
unfortunate events happen to Shylock. For example, his daughter Jessica takes
away ALL of his money leaving him with basically nothing. Antonio’s ships get
lost at sea, meaning he is unable to pay him back the ducats, which leaves him
with no money once again.
So in my opinion, I think that Shylock
would be suited as the protagonist, even though he may be viewed and portrayed
as the villain in the story. I think that his hardships and the amount of money
that he loses contributes to how strong his character is.
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