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Religion in merchant of venice
The presentation of Shylock and Antonio as conflicting characters in The Merchant of Venice
How is shylock presented in the merchant of venice
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Recommended: Religion in merchant of venice
Sympathizing With Shylock At The End Of Act 4 in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice
Throughout The Merchant of Venice the extent to which the reader
sympathises with Shylock is constantly adjusted, formed by the most
recent facts and circumstances learned of. After only a few words the
impression given of Shylock is one of a sly, cunning, suspicious man;
he openly admits (to the reader/viewer) that he hates Antonio 'for he
is a Christian.' We then learn of possible justification for this view
and yet Shylock still agrees to lend him the all of the requested
money. After this, Shylock loses a servant (to a Christian) then loses
much of his money with his only daughter (again to a Christian), but
again there is evidence of possible justification. He learns of the
unlikelihood of his owed money being repaid by Antonio and people
continue to mock Shylock for his losses, so he seeks his revenge,
condemning Antonio to death. He claims religious justification and
that he is simply following the 'example' set to him by Christians.
Before anything else, Shylock is a Jew in a predominantly Christian
city. Members of the two faiths dislike each other (largely due to
historical disagreement), and at this time in history it is hardly
surprising that the Christians take advantage of their numerical
supremacy. In the street they openly mistreat Shylock by spitting and
swearing at him because there is nothing to stop them. It is quite
possible that he would have been spat upon and sworn at whatever his
status and personality, and would certainly have been disliked by the
vast majority of Christians. Today this is obviously considered very
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...ems like nothing will stop him from
killing Antonio. He claims that if it were a Christian seeking revenge
on a Jew he would do exactly the same, so he is only following a
Christian's example. This may be true, but there still seems no
justification in killing a man for not paying back a debt.
Shylock has gone too far in trying to avenge his servant, his
daughter, his money and his dignity, so by the end of Act 4 more
incomprehension than sympathy is felt towards Shylock. However,
Shakespeare has created a character for whom the reader/viewer's
feelings swing from one extreme to the other throughout the play, but
whose actions nearly always have some justification, however
questionable it may be. You cannot help but wonder if things might
have been different for Shylock and Antonio in a predominantly Jewish
city.
In Susan Pharr's "The Common Elements of Oppression", she defines "the other" as the outcast of society, the ones who stand up for what they believe in, no matter how `against the grain' it may be, the ones who try the hardest to earn acceptance, yet never receive it. In Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice", Shylock, the `villain' is portrayed as the other simply because of his faith, because he is Jewish in a predominantly Christian society.
so is the will of a living daughter curbed by the will of a dead
In this play Shakespeare achieves the near impossible because for most of Shylock’s scenes, one can have as many as three interpretations for its meaning and as displayed by the title, the reader has to decide for themselves as to how they will interpret Shakespeare’s descriptions. During the play we find that the odds are stacked against Shylock. My opinion on this is that Shakespeare did not want to be seen as a pro-Jew or siding with the “enemy” so he gave in and sided with the majority of his prospective audience’s beliefs and views on Jews. Personally I do believe that Shylock is in fact a mixture of both an ogre and a human because I have to give my interpretations according to the text as it is the subject of my piece.
‘villain’; he is a complex mix of both. In the first part of the play,
Then there is the innocent and rich “Antonio” (Merchant), who is a Christian, and is a complete Anti-Semitec. Antonio’s character is wrong, he hates Jews, he loves being regarded as rich, and would do anything to make Shylock’s life a misery. Antonio hates Jews; this is proved in Act 1 Scene 3 where Antonio says, “The Hebrew will turn Christian, he grows kind”, this is blatant racism shown against the Jews. The story progresses, a new character is introduced, Portia.
This is shown by 'If it be proved against an alien' (Act 4 Scene 1
receives. So it would not be fair to say that he was totally evil as
Shylock is one of the main characters in the play. He is a Jew who is
hate him for he is a Christian” this is not a valid reason to hate
to make a Jewish man the villain as it would be for us to make a Nazi the
This can be seen in two ways: as a man making a living at one of the
... only reason why he really wanted the bond was to get an upper hand on
Another way Antonio and Shylock are different is their religion based social status: Antonio is a Christian and Shylock is a Jew.
The first theme is that religious intolerance and prejudice play destructive roles in the book. Even to this day, there is racism and prejudice in schools about race and religion. Antonio, as a true Christian, has often condemned moneylenders. He knows that since the early twelfth century, Christians are forbidden by the Church to lend money for profit. Shylock, as a Jew, does not consider his money-lending and overwhelming interest to be a sin in any manner. In fact, he considers his earnings through money lending as the gift of God. He appeals to and quotes the Scriptures in defense of his profession. Shylock and the other Jewish moneylenders are essential to the prosperity of the merchant community, but they are also outcasts as human beings and as Jews. Shylock often shows his dislike to the Christians; “I hate him for he is a Christian”, (Act I, Sc. III, L. 38). The Christians ridicule and hate the Jewish moneylende...
It is difficult to say if Shylock is a complete villain or a victim, as his character is complex and ambiguous. However, it is difficult to view Shylock as anything other than a devious, bloodthirsty and heartless villain in the majority of the play. There are a few points in the story where he can be viewed as victimised, as most Jews were at that time, but Shakespeare has purposely portrayed Shylock as a stereotypical Jew, greedy, and obsessed with money. Shylock has been written to be very inflated and exaggerated. Even when Shylock makes his first appearance in the play, his first words are “Three thousand ducats,” Act 1, Scene 3.