The Merchant of Venice Essays

In his comedic play, The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare introduces a negative treatment and attitude toward Jews in Venice. In the play, a young man named Bassanio asks his friend Antonio—a Venetian merchant—for a loan to court a wealthy heiress, Portia, in the city of Belmont. Antonio is unable to loan him money because he oversees ships that are overseas. Instead, they both seek a loan from a moneylender, Shylock, who is Jewish. Shylock is hesitant at first, but agrees to a bond. If the

2016 The Problem of Choice in The Merchant of Venice The Merchant of Venice written by William Shakespeare is classified as a comedy. However, some people hold controversial issues about the genre of this play because there are various interpretations of the play by different point of views. The reason why this play has been a subject of controversy is because the play includes confliction between Jews and Christians, law and mercy, love and friendship, merchant and usurer and all of which contains

In the author’s notes of the graphic novel of The Merchant of Venice, Gareth Hinds begins his sentiments by stating “The Merchant of Venice is a controversial play” (Hinds, 2008, p. 69). My thoughts upon reading this first sentence, and I read it before reading the play, was simply ‘why?’. As I continued reading Hinds’ introduction paragraph of his notes, the most influential word that jumped off the page was anti-Semitism. Being a Jewish individual myself, this word struck home immediately, and

When we were little we were taught the Merchant of Venice in school. What I could grasp from the Christian version imparted to us was ' a cruel Jew wanted to harm a Christian gentleman and his subjugation to justice by Portia 's wits. ' Thus for me justice was served. However now reading it again my previous presumptions have been replaced with questions. The 'Jew ' is the question; why did the Jew did what he did?, what made him the spited Jew, Shylock?. I plan to dive deeper into the making

In Merchant of Venice, a romantic comedy written by Shakespeare, Shylock, a man of Jewish faith, is portrayed as the villain and obstacle of the tale. Many have argued that the play was written as an anti-Semitic piece of work because of the portrayal of Shylock. Anti-Semitism is the hatred, prejudice or discrimination of Jews in all aspects of their lives, and this treatment is clearly seen being thrown onto Shylock by one of the main protagonists, Antonio. One must ask the question now, if the

The Merchant of Venice, is one of Shakespeare's most well known plays, but also one of the most controversial because some people think that it it anti-semitic. The Merchant of Venice is anti-semitic because you can see how poorly they treat Shylock, you don’t see any Christians being treated this poorly, the Jews are very much segregated out, and the courtroom is full of Christians voting to help Antonio, but no Jews there for Shylock. Throughout the play, Shylock and all the other Jews, get treated

Both William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta employ anti-semitic stereotypes to portray their main Jewish characters, Shylock and Barabas. Both of these characters embody exaggerated and stereotyped Jewish characteristics that directly juxtapose with the traits of their Christian foils. Through the comparison of these two religious depictions, these negative portrayals of Jewish characters can bring out either the positive or negative elements in Christianity

‘The Merchant of Venice’ written by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) and ‘The Jew of Malta’ written by Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) were both written during a period when anti-semitism was prevalent in England. Anti Semitism is the intense dislike for and prejudice against Jewish people. The Jews were considered a despised race and were deeply resented by the Christians. They bore the plaque of disgrace and hostility. As a Jew, Shylock too faced such discrimination. Although the genre of both these

Thrift and Exposing Shylock By utilizing alternate definitions of thrift, beyond the common meaning of “frugality [or] saving[s]” (OED), a reader of The Merchant of Venice can examine the motivations and flaws of the infamous, enigmatic character Shylock. Two arcane definitions of thrift will guide our exploration: prosperity (OED); and, earning and acquired wealth (OED). The three occurrences of the word thrift in the play reveal different facets of Shylock; but when examined further, the use of

Jarrod Zammit William Shakespeare’s tragicomedy The Merchant of Venice highlights the flaws in and destructive potential of religious discrimination. It emphasises to its audience how religious prejudice can initiate, heighten and justify discrimination through the Christian attitude towards Jews, and shows the erroneous discriminatory stereotyping being perpetuated by powerful individuals such as the Duke. The harm of religious discrimination is conveyed through Shylock’s protestations to segregation

his daughter’s husband or he has to die. In The Merchant of Venice we see that the cycle never stops, it is a constant switch between the two characters and their position as the victim or the culprit. This tells us that the Venetian society is not consistent in their laws, because what counts for a Christian does not count for a Jew. It is not right to kill or harm a Christian but it is alright to harm a Jew and this contributes to this perpetuating cycle. In another play from Shakespeare, Othello

Is Shylock a Villain or a Victim? In the Merchant of Venice Shylock is a Jewish man that has constantly been teased and discarded because of his religion by the christian men around him. He has been looked at as an underclass man because of his religion. In the Merchant of Venice Antonio, a highly respected christian businessman has made a deal with Shylock and Shylock has taken the opportunity of Antonio being in his need of a loan to use it to his advantage. Shylock made a deal to where if the

In Act I. iii of William Shakespeare’s comedy, The Merchant of Venice, the readers first encounter of our “villain”: Shylock. Shylock, a moneylender is asked by Bassiano to lend him money, he refuses Bassiano brings his fellow friend Antonio. Act I. iii focuses on the negotiation of “three thousand ducats” to be able to lend the money to Bassiano. One might imagine, Shylock feels disrespected by the mockery of Antonio’s “need for help” as just before he “spet upon” his “jewish gaberdine”(I. iii 122)

Act 3 Scene 1 This scene shows the many sides to Shylock’s character, and the many factors which contributed to shaping his character and personality. Shylock is portrayed in this scene as a very calculative person who is full of hatred. Shylock does not only feel hate towards Antonio and the Christians in his society in general, he also says that he values his money over his daughter. A brief mention of his ring given to him by his wife also shows a softer side of him. However, he might have turned

To what extent is Shylock portrayed as a villain in Act 1 Scene 3? In the play Merchant of Venice, Shylock in Elizabethan times portrayed as a stereotypical comical villain with a orange beard, wig and a Jewish man who is only worried about money. However over time, the word villain has a different meaning to the modern audience, and Shylock is portrayed in a more positive and sympathetic settings as the divide between the two religions: Christians and Jews, has become smaller. Act three Scene

only marry for money and they value that more than their wives. Money is the number one priority for someone who is in debt, such as Bassanio and their only way of getting out of that debt is marrying someone who is wealthy like Portia. In The Merchant of Venice, one literary technique that Shakespeare uses is conflict. For example, when Lorenzo

PORTIA: A pound of this merchant’s flesh is yours. SHYLOCK: What a righteous judge! PORTIA: And you have to his chest. SHYLOCK: get ready. PORTIA: But wait There’s something else. This contract doesn’t give you any blood at all. So take your penalty of a pound of flesh shed one drop of Christian blood GRATIANO: smart a smart judge! SHYLOCK: Is that the law? PORTIA: You asked for justice, so rest assured you’ll get more justice. GRATIAN: what a wise judge! SHYLOCK: I’ll take their offer

for his death and this came to mind, that she had every right to hate him because he was part of the war and part of the misery that landed on her kid sister and every other kid. During my research I found this cycle in some novels. In The Merchant of Venice and Othello by Shakespeare the cycle never stops, it is a consistent cycle between Jews and Christians. In Haper

in The Merchant of Venice Women during 16th century had no individual freedom. Despite the fact that a single woman ruled England at the time of Shakespeare, the Elizabethan society was patriarchal. Women were considered the weaker gender and always in need of being protected. Wealthy woman were highly educated but they had no right to have professions while poor women sometimes would turn to prostitution or become servants to survive. The book The Merchant of Venice was settled in Venice because

forced onto someone to isolate or weaken them. Stereotypes are integrated into all forms of literature and can be important to the progression of the plot. This is true in William Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice. Shylock, a Jewish money lender in the play, has been ridiculed by a Christian merchant, Antonio, and his friends for years. Antonio, in need of three thousand ducats, decides to go to Shylock for a loan and the two agree on a pound of Antonio’s flesh as a bond. Unable to pay his debts