What makes a villain? How do you define villainy? Villains may have a desire to kill, to steal, or to cause suffering. To define a villain is not done by just evaluating their actions but by looking at the circumstances and their intentions. In "The Merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare, Shylock is the obvious villain showing cruel and cold-hearted traits. But besides Shylock, there are many other characters that on many occasions show cruelty, in particular Antonio. A villain is someone who causes pain on anther, someone who has unreasonable purpose for it, and someone who is not willing to change their actions. Both Shylock and Antonio possess these traits and this shows that there is more than one villain in "The Merchant of Venice."

A villain is someone who causes pain on another intentionally. Shylock has not caused Antonio trouble or pain before he claims the...