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 …show more content…
I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes?” (III.i.53-58). He is making it clear that Antonio has committed multiple acts of cruelty against Shylock merely because of his religion. Shylock goes on to portray that Jews are exactly like Christians except in their beliefs, and that there is no justified reason for their contempt for Jewish people. Although he is a usurer, which is considered an undignified position for anyone to be in, as a Jew, Shylock is the target of a great amount of derision. In Wheeler’s truthful depiction of the play, he states, “Above all, [Shylock] is a Jew. In his most famous speech he asserts the fundamental humanity of his nation, but the Christians persist in calling him ‘the Jew’ and the laws of Venice make him an alien.” Conversely, Portia is a well respected Christian woman living in the nearby city of Belmont. As a Christian, she is not discriminated against because of her religion and she enjoys many rights and privileges that Shylock and the Jewish people do not. Merely the fact that she is Christian allows her more freedom than Shylock could ever dream to achieve. She, not unlike the rest of the Christian people, believe that they have the right to judge Jews and others that they deem are beneath them. For instance, when Morocco, a player in Portia’s “marriage lottery”, leaves after picking the wrong casket, Portia says, “A gentle riddance! Draw
The victimization of Shylock for being a Jew makes the reader sympathize with him and for the fact that he is Jewish. It lends an understanding as to how Shylock cultivated a hate for Christians and his justification in doing so. In contrast, Shakespeare makes no mention of Shylock’s past and uses his Judaism as the sole means for his distinctive torment of Antonio.
The Merchant of Venice is a play set in a very male and Christian dominated society where other religions and women rights weren’t very well accepted by the community. However Portia, a rich woman who had previously been controlled by men, triumphs as she manipulates tricks and saves the lives of the men.
As many of the Venetians “[are] Christian” (MV 1.3.39), Shylock is subjected to religious discrimination because he “[is] a Jew” (3.1.54). This is significant because Shylock is forced to face a number of abuses at the Venetian elite. For this reason alone, Shylock is “spit on” (1.3.123) and “called [a] dog” (3.1.125) just because of the religious beliefs he adheres to conflicts with the beliefs of the Venetian elite. Where Shylock is constantly “laughed at” (3.1.51) and “mocked at” (3.1.51) by Antonio, a member of the accepted Venetian elite, for being a religious outsider, this indicates that the Venetians view Shylock and, by extension, the entire Jewish religion as an embodiment of the devil. As the Venetian elite believe Shylock is “an evil soul producing holy witness / Is like a villain with a smiling cheek” (1.3.97-98) that disrupts the accepted religion in Venice, this demonstrates that a religion difference is justifiable reason to discriminate Shylock. The extreme instances of unfair treatment that Shylock withstands from the Venetians because of his religious beliefs denotes him — like Othello — as an outsider in Venice. The dualities of acceptance extends only to those individuals who do not threaten the scarcity of that which the Venetian elite hold most dear to them: purity and Christianity. As Othello and Shylock both threaten these aspects, the illusion of acceptance bestowed upon them by the Venetian elite shatters and leads to the harsh discrimination and denotation as outsiders in Venice. Incidentally, where the Venetian elite believe that Othello and Shylock are outsiders for their racial and religious identities, Othello and Shylock sustain this belief by depicting themselves as the stereotypes that are associated with them,
Throughout history prejudice and stereotyping have been present, "The Merchant of Venice" written by William Shakespeare is no exception. The play deals with the pressing issue of prejudice in 16th century Venice against the Jews. In the story one Jew in particular is shown to be the center of attention for the anti-Semitic actions. Shylock, the Jew, is a money lender who decides to help out a man that has done him wrong in the past. It is easy to understand that during the era the Jewish population was treated with cruelty and disrespect. In the play, themes of prejudice, injustice, and mercy are developed. By understanding the themes the reader is able to understand in some way how the social realm Venice
The Merchant of Venice features a Jewish character that is abused and slandered by nearly every character in the play. Throughout the play the behavior of these characters seems justified. In this way, The Merchant of Venice appears to be an anti-Semitic play. However, The Merchant of Venice contains several key instances, which can be portrayed in a way that criticizes anti-Semitism. The first instance occurs in Act 1, scene 3 when the audience realizes that Shylock has every right to be extremely angry with Antonio. The second instance occurs when Shylock breaks out of his one-dimensional character form in Act 3, scene 1 in an extremely powerful speech that attacks the
Antonio was a typical narrow minded christian when it came to religion; however, he was so true and passionate about his friends he was willing to risk his life to help his friend in need. Antonio, a christian, strongly abhors and is very abrasive towards Shylock, a jew: “You call me misbeliever, cutthroat dog, And set upon my Jewish gaberdine,... You, that did void your rheum upon my beard, And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur” (1.3.121-128). Within this quote Shylock is talking to Antonio and telling him after he has called him a dirty dog, spit on his beard and Jewish clothes, and kicked him he wants to ask to loan money from him. This shows that Antonio is very narrow minded because the main reason he mistreats Shylock is because he is a Jew. In addition, this shows that he is very abrasive when it comes to Shylock because he has done so many terrible things to him over a period of time and hasn’t felt sorry or bad once for what he has done and how he as treated him. In addition, although, Antonio is very narrow minded when it comes to religion he is willing to risk his life to help a friend in need. Bassanio, one of Antonio’s friends had asked Shylock to put a loan under his name to wow his dream girl, and Antonio ends up sealing a bond risking his life for Bassanio: “Expressed in the condition, let the forfeit Be nominated for an equal pound Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken In what part of your body pleaseth me….” (1.3.160-163). Within this quote Shylock
In The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare reflects the historic and cultural time period by expressing anti-semitic views in portraying Shylock. At the beginning of the play Shylock offers Antonio a loan for three thousand ducats in three months or Shylock will cut off a pound of Antonio’s flesh. As the play advances, the readers learn that Antonio’s ship has sunk and he will be forced to forfeit the loan. They also learn that the pound of flesh Shylock wants is his heart. At this point readers are viewing Shylock as a cruel and immoral Jew. As the readers continue to read, Shakespeare interrupts that the reason Shylock is being cruel and unjust is the because of the inequitable life he suffered being a Jew in a christian society. Being
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare portrays Shylock as a victim throughout the play, but as he seeks revenge towards the Christians and everyone who has done him wrong, Shylock defends himself with some villainous behaviour. To a modern audience, the discrimination and suffering Shylock experiences, place him as a victim. Throughout the play, Shylock, a Jewish money lender, is perceived as a greedy and miserly man due to his Jewish culture. In Shakespeare's time, exploitation of Jews was common; particularly in Venice as it was an anti-Semitic city. However, Jews thought of themselves as victims of harassment and oppression. Shylock has been discriminated against, but nevertheless seeks revenge on people who have done him wrong which displays another side to Shylock. Therefore, Shylock is viewed as a victim and a villain, but more of a victim because of the abuse he has suffered.
saying 'The pound of flesh which I demand of him' (Act 4 Scene 1 line
The dueling religious ideologies seen in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice serve as the cornerstones not only of the character’s arguments during the trial at the end of the play, but of the definitions of the character’s own self-perceptions. Shylock, the play’s “villain” and the most prominent of the play’s three Jewish characters, employs his religious identity in defining his conception of masculinity, connecting his perception of what it means to be “male” with his profession, which he is allowed to practice due to the tenants of his Jewish faith. This economically defined perception of his own masculinity becomes Shylock’s undoing, as the play shows the slow decline of his economic fortune, which comes to represent a kind of
The Merchant of Venice was created between 1596 and 1598, it was published as a comic, romantic, tragic in 1600. The play has many struggles in it but the main ones are Bassanio's quest to marry Portia and his attempt to free Antonio from Shylock's deal. The idea that Shakespeare's representation of Shylock is unquestionably Anti-Semitic will be impacted in this essay because thought this book Shakespeare portrayed Shylock as Anti-Semitic.
Discrimination is a real and distressing problem that occurred in Shakespeare’s time and in the contemporary Canadian society. In the play The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare, Shylock is victimized because of his Jewish heritage. This is evident in Shylock’s speech in Act 3 Scene 1.
Sympathy is not gained through religion, but rather through authentic and respectable character. The Merchant of Venice by renowned playwright William Shakespeare is in itself a story about religion and religious tensions; however, one’s religion is not what defines them. One’s character does, and in the Merchant of Venice we encounter two characters, Antonio and Shylock, who share similarities throughout the play, but are overall different people with different morals. On one hand there is Antonio, a sad, christian merchant and a dear friend, while on the other hand there is Shylock, a hostile Jewish moneylender, who like Antonio is struck with great loss. Both exhibit mercilessness, for different reasons, and both suffer loss, with different reactions. Overall, the similarities between Antonio and Shyock make us sympathize with Antonio, the man with the more sincere character.
There are two ways of portraying Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, one is the wolfish, murderous bloodthirsty “dog Jew” and the other is the noble, suffering, dignified member of a persecuted race. Antonio, the nominal hero and his Christian friends scorned Shylock. They have laughed at his daughter Jessica’s desertion, they have spit upon him in the street, and they have done so without shame. Shylock’s degradation does not touch them as they understand it because as they see it he is different from them. He is merely a Jew, an alien, a stranger, a “dog Jew”, is one of
William Shakespeare’s comedic play, The Merchant of Venice, contains racial undertones that identify the popular medieval English attitudes towards Moors. Many racial critiques of the play analyzes Shylock, a major character, and the anti-semitic mistreatment of him that we witness throughout the play’s entirety. However, looking at the Prince of Morocco and Launcelot’s pregnant Moor lover, uncovers the play’s subtle racism towards the Moor race. There is a presence of passive bigotry that readers witness through the interaction or introduction with these two minor characters. It is seen with the Prince of Morocco’s dealings with Portia, as well as, through Launcelot and Lorenzo’s brief discussion of the pregnant Moor lover. The mistreatment of black minor characters in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice permits insight into not only race relations in medieval England, but also their involvement in the African slave trade.