Abuse of Jew as Usurer
Usury is the lending of money at interest. In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock's status as a usurer is
never in doubt because his first line in the play defines him as such. Shylock is first seen pondering
the amount of a loan: "Three thousand ducats, well" (I,ii,1)
Shylock's rival, Antonio, hates Shylock because of Shylock's Judaism and for his business practice
which depends upon usury. Shylock notes these aspects of the enmity of Antonio for him:
"He hates our sacred nation, and he rails
Even there where merchants do most congregate
On me, my bargains, and my well won thrift,
Which he calls interest" (I,iii,48-51)
For his part, Antonio both verbally and physically abuses Shylock:
"Signior Antonio, many time and oft
In the Rialto you have rated me
About the monies and my usances.
Still I have borne it with a patient shrug
(For suff'rance is the badge of our tribe).
You call me a mis-believer, cut-throat dog,
And spet on my Jewish gaberdine . . .
You that did void your rheum upon my beard,
And foot me as you would spurn a stranger cur
Over your threshold" (I,iii,106-119)
It is important to note here that Antonio does not deny Shylock's version of events. Antonio freely
owns the abuse he has heaped upon Shylock and responds to Shylock's complaints with threats of
renewed violence. Antonio swears that:
"I am as like to call thee so again, / To spet on thee, to spurn thee too" (I,iii,130-31)
Antonio acknowledges the animosity between himself and Shylock, but reverses the tables and argues
that Shylock resents Antonio because Antonio also lends money, but does so without charging any
interest. Moreover, Antonio has saved many of Shylock debtors from defaulting on their loans and
thus preventing Shylock from collecting his interest:
Shylock seeks my life; his reasons I well know:
I oft delivered from his forfeitures
Many that have at times made moan to me;
Therefore he hates me (III,ii,21-24)
Antonio consequently appears as a charitable Christian who lends money freely, in contrast to the
miserly and extortionist Shylock, who preys upon the hardship of others in order to further increase
his own material wealth. The Christian virtue of lending money without interest is positioned, by
Antonio, at the basis of Shylock's hatred of Antonio. But what is significant about Antonio's
argument is how it undermines the justice of Shylock's hatred; because Shylock hates Antonio for
what is an essentially Christian virtue, Shylock attacks not only a good Christian man of good
Christian virtue but also, by extension, Christianity in general. Shylock's hatred thus has no ground
in the Christian social and religious context of the play, not to mention wider Elizabethan society.
The perception created by Antonio's argument is that Shylock hates someone for their following a
Christian virtue, which implies that Shylock is against Christianity, and by extension, of the devil's
party.