How Shylock is Presented in The Merchant of Venice Essay

A group of Crusaders, led by Count Emicho, carried out a series of massacres of Jews in various towns in the Rhineland in 1096. This caused widespread outrage and causing a major crisis in Jewish-Christian relations. When Jerusalem fell to the crusaders hundreds of men, women, and children were slaughtered. (History.com)

A play that is filled with Jewish slurs, anti-Semitic remarks, and no justice for the main Jewish character is, in theory, seen as despicable. After the Holocaust, all Jewish slurs and stereotypes, like calling someone “dog Jew” or thinking Jews only care about money, have been exiled from moral society. This even applies to pieces of art that were produced pre-Holocaust. However, William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is not only read, but taught in schools across the nation. The Merchant of Venice provides the tale of Bassanio and Antonio who take out a loan from the Jewish merchant Shylock. Throughout the play’s insanity, each and every one of the non-Jewish characters waste no time to harass Shylock about his religious

When the Jews would move from place to place in order to avoid the

The actions against Jews first began with Constantine, after Christianity was officially accepted as a religion in the fourth century, with heavy penalties for those who “visited a pagan temple or converted to Judaism.”6 Through history, they were again faced with injustices through the punishment of mixed Jewish-Christian marriages

he is: "The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard

Shylock is a character famously known as being the antagonist of Shakespeare’s play merchant of Venice. In this play, Shakespeare portrayal of Shylock the moneylender is one of anti-Semitic stereotype. Shylock is depicted as a typical bloodthirsty Jew who lives a life void of any depth or meaning. His sole purpose for living seems to be to amass wealth and vengeance as seen from his adamant claim for his “pound of flesh”. Despite Shakespeare’s attempts to humanize Shylock at points in the story, it appears that his primary focus is to steer the audience against Shylock, painting him as being a cruel, bitter and inaffable figure. It is clear that in both Shakespeare’s merchant of Venice and Grace Tiffany’s Turquoise Ring, Shylock exposes

and around 25,000 Jewish natives, manhandled or were slaughtered in this little time since Hiter

Bernard Lewis writes chapter 1 and he discusses the history of Anti-Semitism. The term anti-Semitism was actually first used in in 1879. However, distrust of the Jews has been around for a very long time. However, hatred for the Jews was originally for religious reasons. It is a recent trend that the belief that Jews were an inferior race compared to Anglo-Saxons. In some books they were described as “monkeys” because they were considered

Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is so alike to our financially afflicted world. The rules of law and commerce are subject to deceptive manipulation, fear of "the other" overwhelms respect for a common humanity, duplicity is the norm, sexuality is a vehicle for ambition, and money drives and wraps almost every action. It is a classic tale that includes important details of the financial crisis in the United States during 2007-2009. Shakespeare’s Venice, like the New York of his time - and the financial capitals of ours - is a city based on borrowing, on market speculation and greed masquerading as wealth and sophistication. Behind the curtains of the practice of lending and borrowing money in Shakespeare’s play lay the transition to capitalism: the rise of banking system; the scarcity for credit in developing industrial enterprises; and the growing dispute of default facing both aristocratic landlords and, above all, small, independent early entrepreneurs on trading ventures. Even though almost 600 years apart from each other, both Shakespeare’s tale and the financial crisis in the United States during 2007-2009 have a similar financial dilemma, each has its unique Shylock, Bassanio and Antonio- people who were responsible for causing the meltdown of their days.

Stereotypes for every different religion, ethnicity, culture, and gender exist among the minds of the human race. These typecasts have ruled this world for as long as there has been diversity among people. In Shakespeare’s comedic tragedy, The Merchant of Venice, one prejudice is very central to the theme. The play is dominantly set in Venice, one of the most liberal cities of the Renaissance era. In this place and time period, anti-Semitism is very much in force. The Jewish people are discriminated against and treated terribly by the Christians living in Venice. Shylock, a wealthy Jew, is mercilessly spurned many times by men like Antonio, a Venetian merchant. In contrast to this blind hatred is the longing and lust associated with

The Merchant of Venus, is a play written by William Shakespeare and is a majority of the time remembered for its scene with Shylock and Antonio. As intricate as the play wove itself, the word that seemed to occur a majority of the time “bonds”, had multiple meanings occurring throughout the play. Oxford English Dictionary (OED) tells us that Bonds can mean the bondage of a marriage, the ways of which a thing is bound or tied down, agreement or engagement binding to him of which who makes it, and a deed, by which binds himself, his heirs, executors, or assigns to pay a certain sum of money. In this play, we see a strong connection between bonds and goods reoccurring from start to finish. The term “bond”, is

and jewels with her, seems to be a the subject of a sub plot written

In the play the ‘Merchant of Venice’ by William Shakespeare the antagonist Shylock is both the victim and the villain. Shylock is a Jewish moneylender and is initially portrayed as anger filled and bloodthirsty but as the play continues we begin to see him as more human and his emotions become more evident. As the antagonist, Shylock is a fearful adversary to Antonio, the protagonist. But as good begins to win over evil, Shylock is crushed and we see evidence of his mortality in his grief. Shylock changes significantly though out the course of the play and he is formed into a too complex character to be labeled just victim or villain.

did this through Shylock. In Act 3 Scene 3, Shylock tells of how he is

The Merchant Of Venice is structured partly on the contrast between idealistic and realistic opinions about society and relationships. The play tells us mercy is preferable to revenge. Shylock chose revenge over mercy against Antonio and how his choices affected him. The Court of Venice begging mercy of Shylock. Finally, Portia forgiving Bassanio for giving away his wedding band.