How could I interpret this poem?

-It's Shylock's Soliloquy by Shakespeare.



Shylock's Soliloquy



To bait fish withal:



If it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge.

He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million;

Laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains,

Scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains,

Cooled my friends, heated mine enemies;

And what's his reason?

I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes?

Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses,

affections, passions?



Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject

To the same diseases, healed by the same means,

Warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer,

As a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?

If you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die?

And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that.

If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge.

If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example?

Why, revenge. The villany youteach me, I will execute,

And it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.



I am a little confused. I don't know how to interpret a poem properly.Shylock explains his reason for revenge. It is a lesson he learned by noting the actions of others on him. He learned the cruel message well and will have his pound of flesh.