Although Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is considered a comedy, cruelty runs rampant throughout the entire text of the play. Most of the characters exhibit some form of cruel behavior toward one another, including Lancelot who is cruel to his father Gobbio when he runs into him on the street. He engages the old man in belittling wordplay because his father has very poor eyesight and cannot tell that he is speaking to his son. Everyone is cruel to Shylock; in fact, he is viewed as the outsider and often referred to as the devil. Shylock is the Jewish moneylender who makes a huge profit by lending money with exorbitant interest rates to the Christian population of Venice. I will not touch on the theme of racism and prejudice in the play, but it is common knowledge that Jews were not seen in a positive light in Elizabethan England at the time when Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice. Shylock hates the merchant Antonio in particular, for Antonio lends money to his fellow Christians without charging any interest on the loans. Thus he takes away from Shylock's livelihood.
             I am going to center my discussion of the theme of cruelty to two of the characters in the play-Shylock and Portia. Although both characters are guilty of egregious and cruel acts, Portia's cruel acts against Shylock are seen as more acceptable for a couple of reasons. One reason is that Portia is motivated by her love for Bassanio, and another reason is that Shylock is Jewish, and heartless in his own right. Therefore, it is more socially acceptable to be cruel to him. "Love makes the difference between Portia's scheming and Shylock's, between his litigation and hers, between his exercise of power and hers" (Hobson, 201).
             At the beginning of the play, we find Portia lamenting about the situation her deceased father has created for her. "By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is aweary of this great world...But this reason is not in the fashion to c...