Given the extensive history of Jews in England, which Shakespeare's audiences would have been fully aware of, Shakespeare's character of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice does not expect to gain much sympathy. There would have been no Jews in his audiences to sympathize with Shylock's oppression. However, Shakespeare manages to create pity for Shylock while also villainizing him. It is a known fact that Jews could only sustain a living through usury, and when this job title is stripped from Shylock, there is nowhere else he can turn. Because of this, Shakespeare creates pity for Shylock, as the entire courtroom turns against him. However, this pity is tempered by the fact that Shylock was about to take a pound of flesh from Antonio, for no reason other then the fact that he wanted revenge. .
Shylock gains pity merely from the fact that he is a Jew in Elizabethan England. He is continually chastised in public by people who admit that they have nothing against him except for his religion. Antonio acknowledges that he has often spit at and verbally abused Shylock when he has seen him in public. However, when he needs money, he then turns to Shylock, who agrees even though he admits to not caring for Antonio either. Shylock's only available job occupation as a Jew is that of a usury. Therefore, despite the fact that he does not like Antonio and Bassanio, he has no choice but to lend them money, because it is his only way to sustain himself. To garner this pity, the audience must be fully aware of the oppression that Shylock has endured during his lifetime, merely because of his religion, and no reflection on his character. In the courtroom, Shylock has no allies. The entire room literally has to be held back. Shylock stands alone, asking only for the law to be upheld. His famous speech "If you prick us, do we not bleed?.
