Shylock, a character in the play The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, is a character with many emotions. Throughout the story, Shylock is bitter towards all the other characters. However, this malice and hatred is not unworthy, the other characters ridicule him for no good reason. Shylock puts himself in a position where he can be the antagonist and protagonist of the situation throughout the story. By putting himself in this position, he causes even more trouble for the other characters, especially Antonio and Bassanio, than before. Shylock's goal is not for himself to succeed but for everyone else around him to bring about their own demise. Shylock presents himself as both the antagonist and the protagonist by making people react to his very selfish actions, which ultimately causes his downfall. Shylock, without even realizing what he is doing, makes himself the antagonist and protagonist using his wealth. He is the savior of the whole play when he grants Bassanio a loan of three thousand ducats so that he can have the opportunity to marry the beautiful Princess Portia. The agreement men reach if the debt is not repaid is "let the forfeit be named for an equal pound of your fair flesh" (Shakespeare, I, iii,). At this point, Shylock is in control of almost all of the key characters in the play, except Portia. Although Antonio and Bassanio don't like the deal because they are almost sure Antonio won't pay, they have no choice in agreeing to these terms. Additionally, at the end of the play, Shylock controls all of the main characters while they are in the courthouse. He plans to kill Antonio if Antonio's friends make the slightest mistake... middle of paper... leaving the Christians alone. When Shylock overcomplicates things, he ruins his chances of success by being selfish. Despite being the character prone to the most internal and external problems, Shylock does not improve any of his bad situations for himself. At first, Shylock could have tried to befriend the Christians, but instead he retaliates against their comments and they end up in a sort of religious war. Then, when Shylock loses his daughter Jessica, he doesn't try to find her but wants her to go to hell for the pain she caused him. He has many opportunities to make the most of the situations presented to him, but, Shylock being the self-centered man that he is, he gets hurt in a poorly thought out plan for his own benefit. The reason why Shylock becomes the sad, lonely old man that he is cannot be blamed on anyone but himself..