Casting directors book merchant of venice
Shylock – In the novel Shylock is portrayed as a greedy Jewish Money lender. He is the father to Jessica and the enemy to Antonio. In act two it is clear that money is very important to Shylock. When Shylock hears about Jessica’s elopement it seems to be that Shylock is more interested in the money that Jessica stole, than the fact that his daughter Jessica is now gone and may never come back. Although Shylock seems to be a victim to anti Semitism it is often hard to pity him because he comes off as a very rude person. He is “mean” to his servant and therefore his servant chooses to leave to go work for Bassanio. Shylock often comes off as the “villain” hated by many not only because he is a Jew but because he takes interest. He is a smart man, yes that I would give him but he takes advantage of those who are in defenseless economic situations. Shylock is the type of person who believes that the best form of punishment is revenge, “to bait fish withal.” As seen in the novel, if the bond will not be paid then a “pound of flesh will be taken from Antonio.” It may also seem easy to almost have compassion for a character like Shylock who simply faces anti Semitism because of his race. In his famous speech “Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands?” We begin to understand that Shylock was always looked down upon merely because he was a Jew. Shylock is considered both a minor character and a major character. I feel as though Shakespeare had created the character Shylock in order to show how a man could be brilliantly realized as an epitome of selfishness.
If I had to choose an actor to play the part of Shylock I would choose Robin Williams. I feel like he would be the right person to represent Shylock. His performance in Mrs. Doubtfire was outstanding; he portrayed the old woman in a way that was so believable. Robin has been in many featured films portraying many different personalities and in every film he nailed it to...