What was shylock's evil plan?

Answer 1

Shylock's evil plan was to lend Antonio 3000 ducats (quite a lot of money) interest-free, the only condition being that it had to be paid in full on a certain day. Does this sound evil? It shouldn't.

Ah, but the catch is, if Antonio doesn't repay on that day, Shylock can kill him. In truly evil fashion, Shylock tells Antonio all about this clause and gets him to agree to it before the money is lent. Well, if you think about it, that's not very evil is it?

If you think Shylock is exploiting Antonio's being in a desperate financial condition to foist an unfair contract on him, think again. Antonio does not need the money. He's borrowing it for a friend, who doesn't really need it either, but wants to impress a girl and has blown all of his own cash.

After Antonio has agreed to mortgage his heart for the loan, almost everybody in the play thinks he should be let off when it proves that he was overconfident and couldn't make good on his promise. But Shylock didn't want to do that because a deal's a deal, and Antonio, like most of the Christians in Venice, is an Anti-Semitic schmuck who spits on Jews like Shylock, and calls him names and tries to undercut his business. Shylock didn't have much hope at getting back at any Christians, not even Antonio who in all probability would have paid up in the required time, but here a chance presents itself that enables Shylock to legally get revenge on one of them.

Ah, but he is foiled by the truly evil plan in this play. Shylock, like anyone else, should be entitled to a fair legal hearing in front of an impartial judge to enforce his rights. Portia, the wife of Bassanio, Antonio's best friend, falsely impersonates a lawyer and cons the Duke into making her the judge hearing this particular case. So much for having an impartial judge. She then not only denies Shylock's suit on a loophole, but also says that he is not entitled to get his money back. What is more, she makes up a law which says that Jewish people are not allowed access to the courts in Venice to enforce their rights (if doing so imperils the life of a Christian) on punishment of death. If Shylock was evil for conniving at Antonio's death, how much worse is Portia's conniving at Shylock's? Antonio got a benefit from Shylock, for which he refuses to pay the price. Shylock gets no benefit from this transaction whatsoever, and yet is forced to pay heavily for it. Antonio agreed that he could legally be put to death if he broke his promise. Shylock made no such agreement. Antonio was totally free from compulsion when he agreed to mortgage his body parts. Shylock is threatened with death and robbed of his property and his immortal soul.

It is Portia who has the evil plan.

Answer 2

Shylock's plan was to lend money to Antonio with a condition that if Antonio failed to repay, Shylock could legally kill him. There was only a very remote chance of this happening, but it was the only way he could get revenge on Antonio.

As plans go, this is much less evil than Hamlet's plan to get revenge on Claudius, and not in the same universe of evil as Titus's plan for revenge on Tamora. After all, the odds are that Antonio will repay and nothing will happen. If the worst happens, at least Antonio agreed to it in the first place with his eyes wide open. Hamlet didn't go up to his uncle and say, "Look, uncle, will you agree that under certain circumstances it is OK for me to kill you?"

The only thing about Shylock's revenge that makes it worse than the revenges planned by these other Shakespearean characters is that it seems disproportionate to Antonio's offence. Antonio spit on him, insulted him and tried to undercut his business. It's not like Antonio killed Shylock's father, or raped and mutilated Jessica.