【正文】 tention, Shylock is a rich Jewish usurer. Thanks to his money, he gets the chance to debate with the Christians in court. How about other Jews? They are poor and are likely to suffer more and severer discriminations and illtreatments. If it is right to say Shylock revenges for private grudge, it’s more reasonable to say he takes revenge both for himself and his nation. In ActⅠ Scene 3, he says in his heart that he will not let off Antonio easily, or else his nation will never have its emancipation day. In Act Ⅲ Scene 1, when asked the usage of a pound of flesh by Salerio, Shylock replies with a passionate speech: “ Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, ans, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, Hurt with the same weapons, Subject to the same disease, Healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrongs a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, What should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge (Shakespeare, 1998, p. 84). ” The paragraph exactly is his inner voice. He is strongly against racial discrimination and is indignant at the unfair treatment the Jews receive. We can see that he is eager for equality and national freedom. III. Causes of His Complex Character Evil is a factor remains latent in the human nature, which will only be brought out by a certain environmental or historical condition (Yu Fengao, 1995, p. 37). Shylock definitely is not a born monster。 he is a creation of times. As is mention above, his cruelty, slyness and animosity are caused by the characteristics of that age. 9 Religious Factors In this edy, Antonio and Shylock resent each other. The reason, to a large extent, is that one believes in the Christianity and the other believes in Judaism. The conflict between the two religious generated long before. According to the Bible, the Jews were God’s chosen people, but the Jew Judas betrayed Jesus. Thus the roman church widely publicized that the Jews were spurned by God. The Christian regarded the Jews as evildoers. The Jew obeys the Old Testament. However, the Christians believe in the New Testament. Due to different beliefs, the Jews were constantly persecuted by the Christians. They were often be cruelly punished by fines, imprisonment, torture and execution. These punishments would not stop, unless they changed their beliefs and converted to the Christianity. That’s why Antonio insults Shylock publicly as ―misbeliever, cutthroat dog‖ and spits on his Jewish gabardine. Surely, Shylock as a faithful Judaist can’t tolerate Antonio’s insult on him and his religion. Therefore, Shylock hates Antonio so much and bees so vicious as to want to kill him. Economic Factors At that time, it’s very hard for the Jews to make a living. Economically, the Jews were refrained from running business and looking for jobs, worse still, their property often was confiscated unreasonably. European countries legally prohibited the Jews from owning estate. In the 16th century, many aristocrats did not adjusted themselves to the petitive economic situations, because of the inflation of prices and the development of trading classes. However, They still lived a lavish life, regardless of money they spent, which leaded them to fall into deep debt. Besides, Moneylending prevailed. In late Medieval Ages, mercial capital increased in very European countries, Jews again were excluded in the trade and financial sectors. Furthermore, European rulers extorted and looted Jew’s wealth by a variety of means, such as heavy taxation, regulation on employment, unreasonable fines and confiscation of property. Therefore, Jews were left with very few means of making a living. In the Christian’s view, usury was an ignominious and immoral job. So the Jews finally got a precious opportunity to make a living by engaging in such a job. And these socalled aristocrats became the prey of the mean and cruel usurers. So we can say that people’s despised attitude towards Shylock is the same with their attitudes towards usurers generally. Learning this, it is not surprising that Shylock cares money so much. In that society, money 10 is a Jew’s only talisman. The fact that Antonio lends others without interest means cutting off Shylock’s resources of funds. Thus, Shylock wants to kill him. Political Factors At that time, land was regarded as a divine property and the real source of wealth. Only the aristocrat and feudal landlord were entitled to own land. Living in a Christian munity, the Christians would not allow Shylock, a Jew and a religious alien to own any land (Liang Chunlan, 2021, p. 186). In that society, people’s position was mainly judged by the ownership of land. While Jews were not permitted to own any land, thus they couldn’t get any political guarantee. They cannot enter into the administrative departments nor take part in any military affairs. What’s more, Jews were regarded as evildoers and often became the target on which every European ruler transferred to human contractions. What is worse, Jews were not viewed as citizens, were considered as outsiders. All the Jews have to show their Jewish identity by wearing red hats, which distinguish them from other habitants. They can not live as they like, but have to live in the designated area. In some places, to obtain the right of living, the Jew even had to hand in head taxes (Jing Lingjie, p. 5). Based on above analysis, there is no surprise that Shylock cares so much about money. Because in that world, the Jew suffered various oppression, discrimination and persecut