‘I Am Not Well’: The Unjust Punishment of Shylock in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice Summer Jade Dolan College

In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, the character of Shylock begins the play with firm control over his daughter, his money, and his Jewish religion. Yet by the play’s conclusion, he is daughterless, has lost half of his wealth, and has been forced to convert to Christianity. This eventual diminishment of Shylock would traditionally satisfy the need of both audiences and the conventional comic pattern to see the ‘blocking character’ of the piece receive a fair punishment for the problems they have caused throughout. However, as will be argued in this essay, audiences of The Merchant of Venice don’t fully receive this sense of satisfaction, because the punishment given to Shylock is unjust both legally and morally for three reasons: a corrupt judicial system, anti-Semitic ideology, and application of ‘the golden rule’.

The first point of consideration in studying the nature of Shylock’s punishment is the legal semantics surrounding his claim for a pound of Antonio’s flesh. In studying this, it’s important to note that Antonio enters into the agreement of forfeiture consensually and without coercion, even despite Bassanio’s urging him against the severity of the forfeit, (‘You shall not seal to such a bond for me/ I’ll...