Treatment of Shylock by the Christians in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

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Treatment of Shylock by the Christians in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

Two thousand years ago Jews were known as Hebrews or Israelites and

lived in Israel. At the time their land was occupied by Romans who

tried to crush the Jewish faith and culture. Due to this, Jewish

people fled Israel to make new lives and Jewish communities in other

countries. In these communities Jews were known for their intelligence

and business sense which led to them being mistrusted and resented.

This was especially the case in Christian terms; where anti-Semitic

feelings were very strong. This is shown in a Merchant of Venice by

Shylock who constantly suffers verbal abuse and gives a vivid account

of Antonio’s racist bullying. Shylock is also shown in the play to be

a villain and could be seen as a miserly money lender who delights in

the prospect of cutting a pound of flesh from the noble merchant who

has exposed his corrupt ways and also as a father who cares more for

his money than his daughter. In this essay I am going to show how

Shylock was treated by the Christians and whether his reactions were

justified.

In Act 1, Scene 3 Shakespeare clearly shows the audience how Bassanio

and Antonio are abusive towards Shylock. Antonio is abusive to Shylock

in front of others and refers to him as ‘an evil soul’ and ‘the devil’

when asking for the loan. Shylock reacts to this by keeping Antonio

and Bassanio waiting for an answer and seems to ignore their insults.

‘Three thousand ducats is a good round sum’. Shylock also says how he

and other Jews have been mistreated in the past. ‘For sufferance is

the badge of our tribe. You call me misbelie...

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... not always justified as he can be quite rude but sometimes his

responses to abuse is respectable as he isn’t rude to Salerio and

Solanio when they taunt him and show prejudice to him which shows a

kinder more decent side to him which is perhaps just an image he

presents which would show how cunning he is. His decision to follow up

his bond with Antonio when he couldn’t pay back the money back fired

on him in the end and his cruelty to not let him off ended him up in

trouble and losing him everything which is perhaps the message

Shakespeare is trying to give in the play. I think the play is

anti-semitic in my opinion, as Christians throughout show lack of

respect to Shylock, at times for his religion. Shakespeare also gives

Shylock a bad image and attitude for most of the play which is perhaps

a little anti-semitic.

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