The Complexities of Evil: The Evolution of Shakespearean Villains in Titus Andronicus and The Merchant of Venice Courtney Murdoch College

A common trope found in most Shakespeare plays is that of using a character from a racial or ethnic minority as a villainous scapegoat. In his time, Shakespeare’s audiences would have been primarily white Christians, and thus any character in his plays who fell outside of these parameters made for an easily targeted “other”. By analyzing the plays Titus Andronicus and The Merchant of Venice, it becomes apparent that Shakespeare made no attempts to move away from this negative portrayal of members of minority groups, however his representation of them did improve. Shakespeare’s earliest villains such as Aaron in Titus Andronicus are two-dimensional characters who are inarguably underserving of sympathy and show virtually no signs of humanity. Later in his writing career, we see examples of far more complex villains such as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice who has clear motivation behind his actions, and has distinct moments of humanity which earns him audience sympathy. Though Shakespeare’s villains continued to be primarily members of minority groups who were easy targets to direct hatred towards, he made them much more complex in their motivations, humanity, and ability to be sympathized with.

In the first half of Titus...