Merchant Of Venice

The Merchant of Venice

I see Shakespeare's play as a anti-Semitic tradition which was a trend. English society in the Elizabethan era was undeniably anti-Semitic. English Jews had been expelled in the Middle Ages and were not permitted to return until the rule of Oliver Cromwell. Jews were presented on the Elizabethan stage in hideous people, with hooked noses and bright red wigs. The play was sometimes known as The Jew of Venice in its day. One interpretation of the play's structure is that Shakespeare meant to contrast the mercy of the main Christian characters with the vengefulness of a Jew, who lacks the religious grace to comprehend mercy. Similarly, it is possible that Shakespeare meant Shylock's forced conversion to Christianity to be a happy ending for the character, as it 'redeems' Shylock both from his unbelief and his specific sin of wanting to kill Antonio. It would be more than likely that anti-Semitic beliefs were displayed in this play by Shakespeare because that is what the majority of his audience was.

Christianity, forgiveness comes easily, generally at any time, to those who truly repent; this repentance comes about primarily through Jesus, and does not involve any specific ritual. In Judaism, Jews who seek to atone for their sins are called to a deep reckoning and soul searching, of which confession, though of paramount importance, is but one aspect. Shylock is the most moral character in the play. Antonio as a repressed homosexual was immoral by the standards of the day. Bassanio as a prodigal who does no work except capitalize on his looks and live off of other people, and who ends up with Portia, who, at the end, realizes that Bassanio only ever wanted her money despite all his charms; and Jessica as an ungrateful daughter who steals her father's possessions and runs away to marry Lorenzo, a hypocrite. In the play the Christian lives are bad and Shylock does