Shylock portrayed as a villian

Christians are superior to Jews." Such was the attitude of the Elizabethan audiences. This audience saw Shylock as the villain, because, according to them, evil was an inherent trait of a Jew. In order to make all the negative traits of Shylock the Jew more apparent, Shakespeare created a contrast. Antonio, who is meant to contrast Shylock, is used to make the Jew's flaws more obvious to the Elizabethans. When Shylock and Antonio meet, their …

…estate, because the Jew attempted to kill him. The reason why these two endings had to be contrasted is to show their importance. The failure of the Jew alone would not have been enough, but the victory of the Christian was written in order to show the two eventual endpoints for the religions. The Elizabethans were comforted, thinking that although the Jews were successful now, they, too, would fall and the Christians would ultimately succeed.