Shylock

Shylock is the main antagonist of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. He is a rich Jewish money lender, who hates Antonio, the main protagonist of the play.

Biography
Shylock is a rich Jewish money lender, who hates Antonio, the main character of the play. Due to Shylock being a Jew and Antonio a Christian, Antonio has shown his hatred for Shylock in the past by spitting on him and treating him horribly due to him being a Jew, as Jews were hated by Christians at the time. Bassanio, Antonio's closest friend, wishes for Shylock to pay Antonio money and despite having a severe hatred for Antonio, Shylock agrees. However, should Antonio fail to pay him back, Shylock will extract a pound of flesh from Antonio's body, which will kill him.

Shylock ends up getting more aggressive which leads to him losing his daughter (then wanting her dead) and unmerciful and obsessed with revenge. But he's defeated when Portia, the woman whom Bassanio in in love with, dresses herself up as a lawyer and brings up that Shylock is forbidden to spill the blood of a Christian. Therefore Shylock is now accused of planning to cause harm to a Christian. He is forgiven on the condition that he converts to Christianity. Forced to accept, Shylock leaves the court, a broken man.