The Demonization of the Jew

This page outlines how Shylock is explicitly demonized through the rhetoric of the play. This demonization proceeds by three distinct stages: 1) Shylock is stripped of his name; 2) Shylock is reduced to something other than human; 3) Shylock is equated with the devil.

Shylock Stripped of his Name

Throughout the entirety of The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is referred to by name only three times; in the trial scene, the Duke twice identifies Shylock by name, and Portia does so once. In the course of the rest of the play, Shylock is most often referred to simply as "the Jew".

That title of "the Jew" is often modified with colorful and derogatory adjectives, such as "dog Jew" (II,viii,14) and "currish Jew" (IV,i,292).

Shylock Reduced to Something other than Human

In many cases, even the simple title "Jew" is stripped away, and Shylock is no longer a man, but an animal: Gratiano curses Shylock with "O, be thou damned, inexecrable dog!" (IV,i,128) whose "currish spirit govern'd a wolf" (IV,i,133-34) and whose "desires are wolvish, bloody, starved, and ravenous" (IV,i,137-38).

When Shylock is not an animal or man, he becomes "a stony adversary, inhuman wretch" (IV,i,4-5).

These labels that are applied to Shylock effectively strip him of his humanity, and his religious identity. He become reduced to something less than human: something other than human. Given this tendency to see Shylock as something unhuman, it should come as no surprise that he is also explicitly demonized in the rhetoric of the play.

Shylock Explicitly Equated with the Devil

In (II,ii,24-28), Launcelot Gobbo identifies Shylock as "a kind of devil", "the devil himself", and "the very devil incarnation". Shylock's daughter, Jessica, identifies Shylock's house as "hell" (II,iii,2). Solanio identifies Shylock as "the devil . . . in the likeness of a Jew" (III,i,19-21) and Bassanio echoes this sentiment by identifying Shylock as a "cruel devil" (IV,i,217). Antonio further cements the association between Shylock and the devil by noting how Shylock's arguments remind him how "The devil can cite scripture for his purpose" (I,iii,97-100).

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This explicit demonization of Shylock cannot but be significant in light of the historical outline we looked at earlier in The History of the Jews. The images of Jews as blood-thirsty murderers of Jesus who snatch innocent Christian children for slaughter in bizarre Passover rituals seems to provide a potent back-drop for the demonic appellations that are heaped upon Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.

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