In this essay his presentation of victim and villain will be explored as throughout the play his progression into a villain is evident. The Merchant Of Venice was written by poet and playwright William Shakespeare in the 16th century. This play was set in Venice, a Christian city with Jewish residents. The play is about Shylock; a Jewish moneylender, trying to make a living and surviving in a city that despises and alienates him. This is because it is known at that time, Christians and Jews disliked one another, there was much prejudice against Jews because of their religion.
The Merchant of Venice: The Dehumanizing Effects of Ignorance One cannot look at the dehumanizing effects when one does not play a role in the ignorant undertaking. In William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, the author writes about ignorance in a way that dehumanizes the people of Venice. Firstly, Shylock-a Jewish resident in Venice dehumanizes Antonio as an act of revenge and ignorance. Secondly, Antonio-a resident in Venice, shows ignorance towards the Jewish community which makes Antonio racist towards the Jews. Lastly, the Portia-the beautiful women looking for a Sutter, shows ignorance towards the men who so badly want her love.
During the 1600’s Jews were extremely disliked and according to Peter Gintro were ‘usurious, cunning, malevolent and potentially murderous’. A stereotype of the Jewish community originated from medieval and again is ironically attributes we see surrounding Shylock. One way Shakespeare reinforces and challenges contemporary attitudes to cultural outsiders is through Othello’s character. Othello is a Moor and Shakespeare presents him in a way which would suggest that he is humble around the other characters and aware of the fact that his cultural differences cripple him in
Bryce DeShetler Mrs. Poole English IV Honors 27 October 27 2010 “Madness in great ones must not unwatched go.” This is quote by Claudius in the play Hamlet. Some critics view hamlet as clever, and disguising his madness to carry out his revenge. Hamlet’s madness was not because he was insane but because he was angry. Hamlet was angry with all the people that betrayed and played him. With all the enraged anger at Gertrude, his mother, marrying the murderer of his father, the murderer of his father, Claudius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern spying on him, and Ophelia not conversing with him.
Explore to what extent Shylock’s discrimination is caused by his religion or his attitude In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, the Jewish character Shylock is discriminated against due to both his religion and his attitude towards the other characters. His Jewish beliefs contrast greatly with the Christian, Venetian society he lives in, thus he is regarded an outsider and is discriminated against. However Shylock makes no effort to socialise with the other characters despite his and their religion, and he ensures his daughter Jessica acts in the same way as himself. Shylock’s religious beliefs define him as a character. In stage directions he is referred to as “Shylock the Jew” or on other occasions simply “The Jew”.
The racism is shown a lot in the play when Iago refers to Othello as 'the moor' an example of this is in act one scene one line 40. This shows how he doesn’t like him because of his ethnicity and is jealous that someone like Othello has a higher status than himself. Another sign of Iago's jealousy is shown when he is talking about how he doesn’t want to work for Othello, Act one scene one line 35, 'Tis the curse of service…' this shows how he does not want to work for Othello and dislikes it. He could be jealous here as he may want to be in Othello's position and believes that someone like himself shouldn’t be working for Othello. In the same paragraph he is saying how he is being forced/ transformed to love Othello, 'I in any just term am affined to love the Moor.'
The play The Merchant of Venice revolves around one of its most complex and compelling characters- Shylock. Many times we saw shylock actually becoming the victim of Christian prejudice while other times show him as the villain. He is one of the few Jews in the play and feels the wrath of the Christians simply because he is a Jew. Shylock, however, does not endure these insults and misdemeanour by them; he also indulges in the narrow-minded acts. He offers a bit of reverse psychology only to “better the instruction”.
The title character, Barabas the Jew, is a complex character likely to provoke mixed reactions from the audience. The image of a Jew, in this play, being a greedy usurer was a common image in the English theatre. For a modern audience, however, the visible stereotyping of Jews, with its accompanying images of the destructive force of anti-Semitism, often offends the audience. Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice is much like ‘The Jew of Malta’. Bassanio is in love with the rich heiress Portia and wants to travel to Belmont to woo her.
Shylock - Sinner or Sinned Against “Shylock the Jew “has he sinned or has he been sinned against? Shylock has been teased, mocked, spat on and kicked in public by the “Christians” of Venice. The line “Spet on my Jewish gabardine” tells us that they spat on Shylocks traditional Jewish clothes, which shows disrespect to the Jewish culture by putting their saliva on the religious clothes of Judaism. “You call me misbeliever”, The Christians think that they and the Christian god are above the Jews and their god in terms of religion because he believes in Judaism and not in Christianity the so they call them misbeliever because he doesn’t follow Christianity. “You call me cut throat dog” the Christians mock him in the business place, shylock is made a fool by fellow workers.
Waiting for Godot has been criticized for decades as boring and uneventful as well as a masterpiece and an enigma. People often view it as a mystery; a play with a hidden but profound message. Waiting for Godot has been paralleled with various wars, theological beliefs and existentialism. While an argument can be presented for any and all of these interpretations, Waiting for Godot in its entirety opposes the ideals of the second World War. However, while traditionally most people support one side or the other in war times, this play shows that Beckett not only had clear issues with the Nazis, but with the Jews as well.