He might act the villain, but can he be blamed? Portia cannot tolerate the thought of marrying someone with a dark complexion. In other words, by making the Jew look a little less bad, and the Christians look a little less good, Shakespeare is leveling the moral playing field — which is perhaps what the play hints at when Portia, upon entering the courtroom, seems unable to tell the difference between the Christian and his opponent.
Now, with all of this in mind, is it accurate to label The Merchant of Venice an anti-Semitic play? But then Shakespeare subverts those conventions. But if you read [the play] as Shakespeare wrote it, he also had no problem making Shylock an object of ridicule. If anything, it means we study them more intently. You might as well go live on the moon. Despite its negativity towards Judaism, Heschel thinks Merchant is one of the most important pieces of literature from Western Civilization.
The lead casket is in fact the correct one. Indeed, a Jewish villain turns out to deserve our sympathy. His Christian opponents turn out to deserve our skepticism. The people watching the play would hate those who were trying to close down the theatres, so they would hate killjoys like Shylock. Shylock has no loving family as they have left him; this further serves to distance the audience from him.
Shakespeare continues the theme that Shylock is a miser and tight fisted. Act 2 Scene 5 Line I dream of money bags tonight. On the other hand Shylock refuses the offer of money.
Shylock justifies his actions by taking the forfeit of his bond. The Merchant of Venice is like other Shakespeare plays in structure, in that it has five acts and has varied plots which is one of the reasons its such a popular play. The play is set in two cities, Venice and Belmont. Belmont is a fictitious city created by Shakespeare to create a contrast to the hard life in Venice.
Where as Venice is a more masculine city where there are Dukes and Lords who control the laws and there is also lots of violence and hate, this creates a contrast to Belmont. When Portia goes to Venice she has to dress up to be clever and beat Shylock at his own game. This adds to the feeling that Shylock is a villain and highlights the violence of Venice. Shakespeare uses prose and poetic language through the play. Prose is used for the characters of lesser importance whereas important characters, such as lords speak in poetic language.
Shylock speaks in a mixture of prose and poetic language this is for poetic effect. When Shylock is a victim he speaks in poetic language. However when he is a villain he speaks in prose. This helps to create a different side to the character and creates dramatic effect in the scene. Accessed November 12, Essay, Pages 7 words. Get quality help now. Recent essay samples. Avoid submitting plagiarized assignments. Not Finding What You Need? Copying content is not allowed on this website.
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We'll not send you spam or irrelevant messages. Please indicate where to send you the sample. As opposed to his anti-Semitic nemesis and fellow businessman, Antonio, Shylock charges interest on his loans. In this play, The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is the victim, because he is mistreated. Shylock is a combination of both victim and villain in The Merchant of Venice.
He is a victim of discrimination and mistreated by Antonio and his daughter, Jessica. Antonio borrows the money for his friend Bassanio, who needs it to court the wealthy Portia. How does to Duke expect Shylock to conduct himself in regard to the demand of a pound of flesh? Answer: The Duke thinks that Shylock will exempt Antonio from the penalty of a pound of flesh. He will also remit a part of the principal amount of the loan of three thousand ducats.
Why is Shylock stripped of his possessions? Because he tried to murder or harm a christian. He doubles his money and Antonio does not lose one pound of flesh, and half of the money goes to Jessica.
Shylock does not receive a fair trial. The Duke, who acts as judge, shows immediate bias when he describes Shylock. I sympathise with Shylock after the court case because he loses everyone he loved and everything that he worked for. First he was unable to receive his bond because the whole court conspired against him. He was then ordered to convert to a Christian so he lost his identity.
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