Is Antonio or Shylock morally worse?

Answer 1

This is a tricky question and not one with a simple answer. Savvy directors will try to negotiate the grey area which does not show either as totally good or bad. Antonio has no real reason to treat Shylock badly, but he does. He treats him with contempt and insults him. He undermines Shylock's business by lending money to people without charging interest, but this is not done to hurt Shylock, rather out of conviction of the rightness of the action. At the same time, Antonio is supported by and his actions endorsed by those with power in Venice, the same people who have ensured that the only way that Shylock can make money is to lend money on interest (since by law Jews were extremely limited in the businesses they could run.) So although Antonio's actions are not particularly reprehensible, he has less of an excuse for them, and is a willing part of the society which keeps the Jewish people down. This is seen when he takes part in the court's attack on Shylock, forcing his conversion and taking his money and giving it to the worthless Lorenzo. At this point, Antonio is despicable. As well, he and everyone else think it is just fine to break your promises, as Antonio does to Shylock and as he encourages Bassanio to do in the matter of his wedding ring. Shylock, on the other hand, does have a justification for what he does. He is the victim of constant abuse and is restricted by society as to what job he may do. But he vents all of his hatred and frustration on one man, Antonio, who, if not innocent, is neither the most Anti-Semitic of the characters in the play (compare Salario or Graziano) Plotting someone's death is a very serious matter, and is clearly much more than Antonio deserves. Shylock is condemned for being inflexible, but this revenge was bought and paid for, and Antonio willingly agreed to it. There is no reason for Shylock to relent, unless he accepts that his revenge is excessive. But it is all the revenge he is likely to get, and he doesn't even get that much. In the end, it is he and not Antonio that suffers, as he finds that he cannot fight city hall--the prevailing society will take care of its own in the end. Audiences in Shakespeare's day would recognize Shylock as one of those minor characters in comedies who, because of their moral failings, end up getting dumped on. The audience is invited to think "He deserved it for being so merciless", just as Malvolio deserved his punishment for being a prig, Falstaff deserved his punishment for being a rogue, and Lucio deserved his for being a liar and a slanderer. But it does seem to modern eyes that Shylock's punishment is excessive, just as Lucio's is too mild. But then Antonio, like Angelo, gets off scot-free, so we see that justice is not something we should expect from a Shakespeare play, even a comedy.