William Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice

Nikki Vietz Ms. Seibel Honors English 12 1 May 2015 Was Shakespeare Prejudice? The premise of William Shakespeare comedy, The Merchant of Venice, is the hostile relationship between Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, and Antonio, a Christian trader. The two gentlemen have a deep history of hatred due to personal injuries and Antonio’s refusal to collect interest on loans. This hatred comes to a climax when Antonio’s friend, Bassanio wishes to borrow three thousands ducats from Antonio so he can travel to Belmont and win over the beautiful Portia. Lacking money to loan Bassanio, Antonio borrows the money from Shylock. Knowing that his ships will be arriving in port within three months, Antonio agrees to part with a pound of flesh if he fails to repay the loan within the three months. Throughout The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare shows his prejudices against Jews, women, and racial minorities. Many would argue that Shakespeare was not prejudice. He just wanted to make his plays more entertaining for the audience, so he purpos efully depicted people’s flaws through comedy. But, deep down Shakespeare was not prejudice. He saw everybody as equal. This is shown in the speech Shylock gave to Salerio: 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 weapon, subject to the same dis-/eases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled/ by the same winter and summer, as aShow MoreRelatedWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice Essay1624 Words   |  7 PagesWilliam Shakespeare s comedy The Merchant of Venice uses contrasting religions to draw out major themes through the ethnic divides that are exemplified. The play expresses the extreme cultural divide between the Jews and Christians through a legal contract between two men. The rivalry between the two men, Shylock and Antonio is clear from the beginning of the play and only intensifies as it continues on. Modern day readers most likely take away a s lightly different message from the play than whatRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice1320 Words   |  6 Pagesghetto, and were treated as inferior to the rest of the city. William Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice exhibits the prejudicial attitudes of his era. Antonio, a Christian merchant, makes a deal with Shylock, a Jewish moneylender. Shylock uses it as an opportunity to exact revenge by demanding a pound of Antonio’s flesh if he does not meet his end of the bargain. By pitting the majority of his characters against Shylock, Shakespeare portrays Shylock in a way that discriminates against all JewsRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice2269 Words   |  10 PagesSamantha Hansen ENG 314 Brother Brugger 12.15.14 The Question of Shylock It is hard to read The Merchant of Venice without finding at least one character to sympathize with. The unforgettable villain Shylock as well as Portia, Shakespeare’s first and one of his most famous heroines are arguably some of this plays most beloved characters. But, is Shylock really the villain? Or is he a victim of circumstance? Shylock’s insistence for a pound of flesh has made him one of literatures most memorableRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice1970 Words   |  8 Pagesthe titles are reflective of the protagonists featured within. For example, the famous titles of Julius Caesar and Hamlet tell the tragedies of those respective characters. However, when it comes to William Shakespeare’s fourteenth play, The Merchant of Venice, it can be argued that Antonio, the merchant, is not who the play is about. In fact, there is not just one character, but instead multiple that fit the description of the protagonist. The main plot, or rather p lots, of the play revolve aroundRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice1315 Words   |  6 PagesIn The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare the play is based upon the hierarchy between Christian men and Jewish men. A character by the name of Bassanio borrows money from his friend Antonio, and Antonio borrows the money from Shylock to give to Bassanio. Eventually, Antonio cannot pay the money back because his ships have supposedly sunk. Therefore, he comes close to death because he signed a bond with Shylock stating that Shylock would get a pound of his flesh if the bond was not repaidRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice1532 Words   |  7 Pagesuseless dialogue can make readers skip over what seems like a false beginning to a good story. But think about this: what if those seemingly lengthy, extra, useless words were actually important? For example, the opening 115 lines of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice are provide minimal support to the story at first glance. In these lines, Antonio and his friends are discussing the dynamics of happiness and sadness in order to find the root of Antonio’s sad mood. This portion of the play givesRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Merchant Of Venice988 Words   |  4 PagesAs I finished reading Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare, I realized that the struggle of the play gyrates around whether justice is truly served and is morality advocated or manipulated by those in authority. The struggle between the principles of justice have caused many readers to question the interaction between the definition of morality and justice. The bond that causes readers to take a closer look throughout the play originates from Shylock’s desire for vengeance and Antonio’s desireRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice1532 Words   |  7 Pagesfundamentalist Americans. The ills of money-lending from the Eastern perspective have been fodder for Western literature for centuries, replete with illustrations that mirror the differences and similarities in East-West cultural norms. In William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, money-lending has gone awry. In Act I, Scene iii, the Italian Antonio seeks to borrow 3,000 ducats from the Jewish Shylock, and Shylock intends to charge him interest, which is against Jewish economic-religious principles (BateRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice Essay1275 Words   |  6 PagesShakespeare’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 Unit ed States during 2007-2009. Shakespeare’s Venice, like the New York of his time - and theRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice2059 Words   |  9 Pagesin The Merchant of Venice resembles a folktale known as â€Å"A Pound of Flesh† (325). Artese supports his supposition with background context and parallels between the two story lines. Literary versions of the pound of flesh story circulated during the sixteenth century and were collected since the nineteenth century because of the plot’s longevity and populairity Shakespeare would have been familiar with pound of flesh stories (326). Human commodification is a central issue in both The Merchant of Venice