Moreover, Shylock harbors resentment toward Antonio because Antonio has personally rescued a number of debtors from Shylock's bonds. The reader learns this when Antonio says, "I oft delivered from his forfeitures; Many that have made moan to me" (3. 3. 23-4). Shylock sums up the basis for his hatred of Antonio in the line before the famous "hath not a Jew eyes": "He hath disgraced me, and hind'red me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies and what's his reason? I am a Jew" (3. 1. 49-54 qtd. in Lippman 2). .
Shakespeare later mitigates Shylock's murderous antipathy toward Antonio in particular and Christians in general by showing the difficulty of being a Jew in a Christian society. Living in such a society, Shylock has very little to boost his morale. When a person lives in a world where they are singled out and constantly ridiculed for something as simple as religion, that person would need something to keep him or her going day after day. When Jessica runs away from home the reader realizes that Shylock's most trusted prop has failed him. He places absolute confidence in his daughter, and she fails him by running away. Money is also something Shylock places great value in, he also shows this love of money when he cries out for his ducats as well as his daughter. The reader also senses this when Tubal tells Shylock that Jessica has traded one of his rings for a monkey. Shylock's lamentation for his lost turquoise ring "of Leah when I was a bachelor" shows the readers that indeed he does have sentimentality in him, and he wouldn't have parted with that ring "for a wilderness of monkeys"(3. 1. 110-113). Here Shakespeare shows a small glimmer of humanity to a character seen as inhuman up to this point. However, the reader's sympathy for Shylock does not reach its height until the famous speech:.
I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew .
