Shylock is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice (c. 1600). A Venetian Jewish moneylender, Shylock is the play's principal villain. His defeat and conversion to Christianity form the climax of the story. Shylock's characterisation is composed of stereotypes, for instance greediness and vengefulness, although there were no legally practising Jews who lived in England during Shakespeare's time. Jews were expelled from the country in 1290 by Edward I in the Edict of Expulsion; this was not reversed until the mid-17th century (the Cromwell Era). Source: Wikipedia (en)