Theme Of Racism In The Merchant Of Venice

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Racism, an all too common idea in today 's time is accurately portrayed by Shakespeare in his work, “The Merchant of Venice” which discusses the endeavors of a Venetian merchant who at one point requires a loan and thus brings about a passage dealing with which displays racism even in the times of Shakespeare: He has disgraced me and insulted me half a million times; laughed at my losses, joked about my gains, insulted my religion, crossed my deals, cooled my friends, heated my enemies. And what 's his reason? I am a Jew. Doesn’t a Jew have eyes? Doesn’t a Jew have hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions, fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled …show more content…

It causes discrimination due to the fact that it causes tensions to build when people refuse to associate and interact with each other based on irrational thoughts. It is a common fear that can be accurately described by citing the red scare in the 1900’s. This event in the domestic community caused discrimination and isolation of other cultures based on unrealistic information. Similarly, in recent times, stereotypes that existed towards those of German descent in the era of the red scare now exist and are posed on those of African American culture. As a result, Xenophobia is an intense area in which prejudice …show more content…

Racial bias in jury selection is ridiculous – qualified black jurors are illegally turned away as much as 80 percent of the time in the jury selection process. They get much harsher sentences – black people are 38 percent more likely to be sentenced to death than white people for the same crimes. Whites and blacks represent about half of murder victims from year to year, but 77 percent of people who are executed killed a white person, while only 13 percent of death row executions represent those who killed a black person.

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