Shylock a character from The Merchant of Venice

Shylock (Background for a character in The Merchant of Venice)

I am a Jew and live with the other Jews on an isle more or less in the middle of Venice, where a foundry once was.  It was established  before I was born, to segregate the Jews from the rest of Venice.  We Jews must be there every night when the gates are locked.  I go to the main part of Venice every day because that is where I do business.

I was born here in 1543 to Joachim and Rebecca.  Because we are Jews, our family names are not usually used.  I am commonly known only by the name Shylock.  I am 53 years old this year.  I’ve spent my whole life here in greater Venice and people know me, although not many outside of the temple know me very well.

I have no brothers nor sisters and my parents are gone.  My home life was good as I grew up.  My mother was a typical doting Jewish mother and my parents made sure I understood from whence I came and that I not have any expectations that were beyond the possibility of a Jew in Italy at this time.

“I have a daughter, sir, named” Jessica.  Her mother is no longer with us and I raised her as best I could.  She has different values than mine and she has romantic intentions with a young Christian man about town.  She has been a constant source of irritation to me and now I think she has made off with a great deal of my money to be with her lover.  

I don’t really care if she ever comes back but I would like to have the money returned to me.  Women, after my wife, and romance is of no interest to me.  My desires lay with the more tangible, gold.

I have a circle of friends with whom I socialize, converse, and discuss the situations that come up in our everyday lives.  These are all Jews and we belong to the same temple.  We have an influence on each other that we probably don’t even recognize because our discussions are intellectually stimulating and even sometimes loud.

As Jews, we are prohibited from doing work using tools of any kind so I learned the basics of money lending from my father and continue to do that now.  I know the Christians are forbidden to lend money but they do.  They say they provide this service or that instead of saying they charge interest but, in fact, they are lending each other money at interest all the time.  These transactions are usually for large amounts of money, for building or ship construction or major trade expansion.  

My lending is usually for lesser amounts to those who are not connected to the big families here.  Because the loans I make have a higher risk of failure to repay, I usually charge a higher amount of interest.

My days are spent in the square around San Marco cathedral where people seek me out to make loans or repay loans that are due.  I don’t have many friends among the goya but those needing money find me by word-of-mouth when they need me.  I am known to be fair and reasonable but don’t default on a loan from me because I have people who will see to it that you understand how serious it is to repay the loan.

When Bassanio came to me for a loan, I didn’t want to give it to him because first of all I didn’t like him very much and secondly, it was more risky than I usually like.  He asked Antonio, a friend of his, to guarantee the loan.  I didn’t know either of them well enough but they pleaded with me.

I recognized them as being arrogant young men who thought they were better than me, or anyone else for that matter.  As a matter of fact, Antonio has expressed opinions of Jews that are salacious. So to teach them a lesson in respect, I exacted a special form of collateral.  I would make the loan but if it wasn’t repaid Antonio would have to give me a pound of his flesh.  That ought to teach him a little respect.

Now I am faced with a default situation.  We will have to see how it plays out but I am stressing that I want my pound of flesh.  That these young upstarts can be so disrespectful to me and mine has to be taken into account as we settle this debt of honor.