Shylock, in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, is a complicated and confusing character. Over the years, people have debated whether to pity or hate him. Across the room, people supported their opinions saying that he wanted to kill Antonio, so how can anyone pity him? Some say his behavior was the result of anti-Semitism. It was. Some people have wicked hearts of their own choosing, but others have that wickedness forced upon them. Shylock is an example of a tragic character who turns bad because of the anti-Semitism circulating around him and, as a human, he reacts negatively to this. At the beginning of the play he only wanted to take revenge on the Christians for their insults, but after that it became more personal, which is why he did not want to pity Antonio and looked like an animal. “Signor Antonio, on several occasions and often, in the Rialto, you have evaluated me on my money and my habits: I have always borne it with a patient shrug of the shoulders, because tolerance is the badge of all our tribe. You call me a disbeliever, a cut-throat dog, and you spit on my Jewish gaberdine, and ...