This is a great question. You are right in identifying a
disparity between how Shylock views himself and how others view him. For me, you need to
analyse Act I scene 3 to be able to grasp this difference. This is the scene where
Bassanio and then Antonio go to Shylock to negotiate the terms of the loan, and Shylock
makes clear in an aside his hatred of Antonio, but more than that: he establishes his
position as a victimised and wronged Jew who has suffered racial prejudice from people
such as Antonio for centuries:
If I can catch him once upon the
hip,
I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear
him.
He hates our sacred nation, and he
rails,
Even there where merchants most do
congregate,
One me, my bragains, and my well-won
thrift,
Which he calls interest. Cursed be my
tribe
If I forgive
him!
Shylock here pledges
himself to revenge against Antonio, choosing him as a representative of the wrongs that
he and his "tribe" have suffered. He appoints himself as the Jew responsible for gaining
this revenge.
Note, however, that to Antonio, Shylock is a
character akin to the devil. Following Shylock's allusion to the trick of Jacob in
taking the good herd from his father in law Laban, Antonio
responds:
Mark you this,
Bassanio,
The devil can cite Scripture for his
purpose.
An evil soul producing holy
witness
Is like a villain with a smiling
cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the
ehart.
O, what a goodly outside falsehood
hath!
To Antonio, therefore,
as to other characters, Shylock represents the worst of Jewish miserliness and
acquisitiveness. He is a "Devil" in that he twists scripture to his purpose and is a
hypocrite as he presents one face only to be a villain
underneath.
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