Judas Iscariot's Allusion Without Reading The Gospels

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Reading the gospels also helped me understand the relationships between certain characters through the understanding of the religious allusions they use. For example, in Act 1, scene i, lines 1-10, Bassanio says “Wherein my time, something too prodigal, Hath left me gaged,” Without reading the gospels, I would only have seen the line “something too prodigal” as meaning too extravagant. However, after reading Luke 1511-, I can appreciate the allusion to the parable of the prodigal son. This parable tells the story of a prodigal son who left home and squandered all he had. After he realised his mistake, he went back to his father’s farm to ask for forgiveness and find a job there. His father not only forgave him but also held a great feast in…show more content…
In the gospels, there are two instances of betrayal. One is that of Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus’ twelve disciples, betraying Jesus. This can be found in Matthew 614-15, “Then one of the Twelve- the one called Judas Iscariot- went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” The other instance of betrayal is Peter’s (another disciple) denial of knowing Jesus. This can be found in Mark 1466-7. Here, for fear of facing prosecution for being one of Jesus’ disciples, Peter denied knowing Jesus three times. This can be compared to Jessica’s “betrayal” of Shylock in the play. For example, in Act , scene iii, lines 16-17, she says, “Alack, what heinous sin is it in me To be ashamed to be my father’s child!” and later, she goes on to elope with Lorenzo, along with a great deal of her father’s money and jewels. The difference between this “betrayal” of Shylock and the betrayal of Judas and Peter in the gospel is that in Jessica’s case, she is not entirely at fault as it is her father’s bitter, gloomy and life-denying spirit that causes her to run away. The contrast between these two different kinds of betrayal helped me to understand the feelings of Jessica to have to betray her father and that she is not completely in the

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