Evil can be defined as something or someone who is profoundly immoral and malevolent. In the Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare portrays Shylock as the antagonist who embodies pure evil. The evil he represents is the main reason that Shakespeare characterizes him as a Jew; Jews, in that time period, were viewed as the children of the Devil, the crucifiers of Jesus, and rejecters of Christianity. Shakespeare is skilled at making each important character have real characteristics and act like a rational person. Therefore, he had to describe Shylock’s evil doings from a logical and justifiable point of view. Shakespeare allowed his readers to understand why Shylock has such hatred that would make him even consider murder; his evil must have some incentive and that incentive is the foul that is done to him. Shylock is not an animal and does not lose control or humanness without reason, rather he was mistreated first and as a result he returned the wrong doings on a greater level. What makes Shylock a villain is the fact that his revenge far outweighs that initial evil that was done to him. The concept of evil for evil is a significant theme in the play, and in order to understand Shylock’s vengefulness one must understands the initial evil as well. Some may think that the discrimination aimed as shylock is justified, as he is a greedy businessman. However, the discrimination toward him caused him a great amount of suffering until he began to loathe all Christians. The three forms of evil done to him were the hatred from Antonio, harassment from Christian Venetians, and the marriage of his daughter to a Christian. Shylock’s hate for Antonio originated from Antonio’s constant sermons that denounce Shylock in public about his wrong and sinful ways of performing business and lending money. Shylock also recognized Antonio’s anti-Semitism by calling him an enemy of God and trying to convert Shylock to Christianity. Along with his anti-Sem