Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice frequently confronts its audience with the jarring dissonance between stated ideals and actual behaviour, a phenomenon most overtly manifested in the play’s pervasive hypocrisy and the stark construction of ‘otherness.’ While the Christian characters espouse mercy, justice, and charity, their actions often betray these virtues, particularly when directed towards Shylock, the Jewish moneylender. This essay will argue that the play uses the figure of Shylock to expose the hypocrisies inherent in Venetian society, while simultaneously demonstrating how the concept of ‘otherness’ is weaponised to justify prejudice and exclusion, revealing a society that is morally compromised despite its self-proclaimed righteousness.
The most potent source of hypocrisy in the play lies in the Christian characters’ pronouncements on mercy and their subsequent lack thereof. Portia, in her famed speech in the courtroom scene (Act IV, Scene I), extols mercy as a divine attribute, stating, "The quality of mercy is not strain'd, / It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven / Upon the place beneath." Yet, her own actions immediately following this eloquent plea are anything but merciful. She manipulates the law to strip Shylock of his wealth and his very religion, demanding he convert to Christianity. This is not mercy but a cruel, religiously motivated punishment. Similarly, Duke Antonio, the titular merchant, whose own debts and reliance on Shylock’s money are well-established, openly abuses Shylock. He admits to spitting on Shylock and calling him "cur" on multiple occasions, stating, "I am as like to call thee so again, / To spit on thee again, to spurn thee too." This behaviour is entirely at odds with any genuine Christian teaching of neighbourly love. The audience is left to question the sincerity of their professed faith when it coexists so readily with such uncharitable conduct.
The theme of ‘otherness’ is inextricably linked to the play’s exploration of hypocrisy, particularly in the portrayal of Shylock. He is consistently marked as fundamentally different from the Venetians, not just by his religion but by his profession as a moneylender, which was heavily stigmatised in Elizabethan England. His famous line, "Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?" (Act III, Scene I) is a powerful indictment of this othering. Shylock is arguing for his shared humanity, yet the very need to make such a plea highlights how effectively Venetian society has already stripped him of it. He is reduced to a stereotype, a villainous Jew whose sole motivation is greed and revenge. This othering allows the Christians to justify their mistreatment of him. His desire for a pound of flesh, while brutal, is presented as an extension of the injustice he has suffered. His bond is a legal contract, but it is Shylock’s Jewishness that makes his pursuit of it seem monstrous and outside the bounds of civilised behaviour, even as the Venetians bend the law to condemn him.
Furthermore, the play subtly implicates Antonio himself in the creation of this otherness. While he is presented as the victim of Shylock’s vengeful suit, his own behaviour has been deeply prejudiced and cruel. His financial precariousness, with ships lost at sea, could be seen as a consequence of his own speculative ventures rather than a sign of divine favour. The Christians’ ultimate triumph over Shylock, which involves his forced conversion and forfeiture of wealth, is presented as a victory for Venetian justice and Christian virtue. However, the audience is left with a disturbing ambiguity. The forced conversion, in particular, feels less like redemption and more like a final act of cultural annihilation, a desire to erase the ‘other’ by absorbing them into the dominant culture. This resolution, far from reinforcing the moral superiority of the Christians, instead underscores their deep-seated intolerance and the hypocritical application of their values.
In conclusion, The Merchant of Venice offers a complex and often uncomfortable examination of hypocrisy and the construction of ‘otherness.’ Through the character of Shylock, Shakespeare exposes the moral inconsistencies of Venetian society, where claims of mercy and charity are undermined by prejudice and exclusion. The play does not simply present a villainous Jew and virtuous Christians; rather, it reveals a society that uses the concept of ‘otherness’ to maintain its own sense of righteousness while perpetrating acts of profound injustice. The triumph of the Christian characters, particularly Portia and the Duke, is therefore tainted, leaving the audience to question who truly embodies virtue and who is trapped within the confines of their own self-deception and prejudice.