merchant of venice essay

INTRODUCTION PARAGRAPH 

In this introduction I will discuss whether the play is anti-semetic. The  word anti-semetic  means discrimination towards the Jewish communities. It relates to the play because the Christians are discriminatory towards the Jews.The Jews only had a limited of space and were restricted to leaving that place. The word for that is ghetto; in these times it was called the Jewish ghetto. This means that place only belonged to them and it wasn’t a very nice place to live and people there as well.

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The Christians gets everything what they want because the Jews lend them money. When Shylock was speaking to Antonio in act 1 scene 3 he was using powerful words to show that the jews are the same as a Christian. Jessica (Shylock’s daughter) ran away to marry Lorenzo and used up all of her father’s money and after turned into a Christian. Shylock found out she ran away and he was crying for his money rather than his daughter. So it shows that Shylock cares more about his money than his family.

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The court are anti semetic because when the duke was speaking to Antonio he insulted Shylock saying he was uncapable of pity and a stony adversary and a inhuman wretch. Uncapable of pity means Shylock won’t show pity/animals, stony adversay means cold hearted, inhuman wretch means Christians thinks the jews are like animals. It shows that the court are bias because they think that jews are way different than Christians. The Christians have no sympathy for the jews because they think it is right to abuse them. The reason why Christians are so anti semetic towards jews is because throughout Europe during the 16th century is was because that was how they were brought up by their there society and there church which they thought that they were lying demons and evil people.

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When Lorenzo insulted Shylock telling Jessica (Shylock’s daughter) that if her father ever makes it to heaven it is because Jessica converted from being a jew to a christian and the quote is “If e’er the jew her father come to heaven, it will be for his gentle daughter’s sake: And never dare misfortune cross her foot, Unless she do it under this excuse, That she is issue to a faithless Jew”. In the merchant of venice Shylock is called a devil or the devil eight times. Shylock says to Antonio in act 1 scene 3  that “I would be friends with you and have your love” but at this point he is being hypocritical because is that he doesn’t want to admit his feelings.

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This is going to relate to the merchant of venice but i am going to show you how it was during hitlers time. Adolf Hitler did not get his ideas on his own he got them from Shakespeares and other people that hated the jews. So Adolf Hitler during the world war 2 started a thing called the holocaust, when he hated the jews. Instead of saying the jews were a religion he said they were a race like a black race and a white race. Adolf said that instead of them being a human they were the devil and they are eternal jew calling them names like hungry for money, filthy and dirty. He put all the jews in concentration camps and left them dying from starvation and they were carrying contagious diseases that couldn’t be stopped because there was no doctors there to help and do to overworking. So it even proved that when Shylock lost his daughter he was crying for his money and during Adolf Hitlers time they were named hungry for money filthy, dirty.

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Launcelot in the second act was debating if he should get a new employer the problem with that is that he was working for Shylock. Launcelot was thinking to him self, “Certainly the jew is the very devil incarnation” (act 2 scene 2 line 240) then he decided to run away from Shylock rather than continuing working for him. After Launcelot found his father he said this to him,”I am a jew if i serve the jew any longer” (act 2 scene 2 line 104). Before accepting the new job Antonio was discussing about Launcelot’s father being blind and that he reminded himself that Bassanio was much poorer than Shylock, but Launcelot would much rather work for a Christian than a Jew.

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So in my opinion the Merchant of venice is anti-semetic becuase the way they speak to Shylock and the jobs that they can only do which is being a moneylender. They think as them as devils, Shylock’s daughter changing religions whilst they are not allowed to sleep with a Christian and not aloud to eat with a Christian and they also can’t love a Christian as well, spitting on Shylock and burning there turah. So in general from my point of veiw the merchant of venice is anti-semetic.