Review of The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare Shakespeare wrote the Merchant of Venice, it is one of Shakespeare's
less known plays because the original manuscripts were lost but the
play did re-surface in the 1600s. In Shakespeare's time there was only
one Jew in England, he name was Rodrigo Lopez. He was the Queen's
Physician and was only half Jew. He was tried and executed.
Shakespeare probably never met a Jew so he may have got his attitudes
towards Jews from his experiences of them; he may also have got ideas
and inspiration from the one other play about Jews at the time called
`The Jew of Malta'. Christopher Marlowe who was a contempary of
Shakespeare wrote it. Marlowe was stabbed to death in a pub.
This play was a controversial play when it was written and it still is
now. It was controversial in Shakespeare's time because Jew's were not
well liked and this is supported by the fact that the only Jew in
England was executed. This play is arguably even more controversial
now because we live in a post-holocaust world. The holocaust changed
people's views towards Jews because they were treated like sub-humans
and they were massacred by the millions.
The genre of this play is hard to decide because in Shakespeare's time
it would have been a comedy because people would have wanted to see
Shylock lose everything because he was a Jew but now it is more of a
tragedy because our attitudes towards to Jews have changed. The
Merchant of V...
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...h kept the audience guessing all the time, he also used a
different dramatic devices to build the tension which worked. The
tension worked because it kept the audience guessing about what would
happen next. Also it helped to put across Shakespeare's views and
perspective on Elizabethan society.
I think the play has relevance to the modern audience because it shows
a change in attitudes over time and it also shows how one event like
the holocaust can completely change our attitudes and women today can
see how lucky they are to live in a society which respects their
opinions and lets them speak their minds. There are also lessons to be
learnt such as not to make bonds that you cannot fill and that if you
behave maliciously towards people it will catch up with you, they will
treat you in the same way if the tables turn.
“It is a wise father that knows his own child,” said shakespeare in the sixteen hundreds. These words directly resemble both The Merchant of Venice and Night by Elie Weizel in their father son relationship. Portia and her late father, Jessica and Shylock as well as Elie and his father Shlomo. All of the fathers in the stories try hard to build up the person to be the best version of himself, but do not always succeed.
still a common view of Jews is for them to be penny pinching, both in
Marriages everywhere have their troubles, yet everyone is able to relate to other couples problems. By looking at A Delicate Balance and The Merchant of Venice we will see their perspective on how marriages have changed over time of the martial relationship. After getting an overview of these books we will then apply it to present day and see if anything really has changed. The marriages I’ll be analyzing is Bessanio and Portia from The Merchant of Venice and Tobia ad Agnes from A Delicate Balance. By examining Bessanio’s behavior towards Portia and Tobia’s toward Agnes, we can see how the role of the husband has changed from emotional support and conversations to the development of the wives having bigger roles.
Then there is the innocent and rich “Antonio” (Merchant), who is a Christian, and is a complete Anti-Semitec. Antonio’s character is wrong, he hates Jews, he loves being regarded as rich, and would do anything to make Shylock’s life a misery. Antonio hates Jews; this is proved in Act 1 Scene 3 where Antonio says, “The Hebrew will turn Christian, he grows kind”, this is blatant racism shown against the Jews. The story progresses, a new character is introduced, Portia.
say, “If I can catch once upon the hip I will feed fat the ancient
as the play starts and as Shylock is introduced as a Jew it is certain
The Merchant of Venice is a play set in a very male and Christian dominated society where other religions and women rights weren’t very well accepted by the community. However Portia, a rich woman who had previously been controlled by men, triumphs as she manipulates tricks and saves the lives of the men.
William Shakespeare attained literary immortality through his exposition of the many qualities of human nature in his works. One such work, The Merchant of Venice, revolves around the very human trait of deception. Fakes and frauds have been persistent throughout history, even to this day. Evidence of deception is all around us, whether it is in the products we purchase or the sales clerks' false smile as one debates the purchase of the illusory merchandise. We are engulfed by phonies, pretenders, and cheaters. Although most often associated with a heart of malice, imposture varies in its motives as much as it's practitioners, demonstrated in The Merchant of Venice by the obdurate characters of Shylock and Portia.
Shakespeare, William. "The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice." The Signet Classic Shakespeare. Ed. Alvin Kernan. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1998.
torture at the time. "Let me choose, for as I am, I live upon the
We are left with the impression that Shylock is highly intelligent and extremely good at his job using all the information he has at his disposal. disposal before agreeing to loan money. He is true to his religion. faith in spite of all the racist abuse he has received. Perhaps Because of this abuse, he is bitter and anxious to avenge himself for past wrongs, real or imagined.
Being a Jew in Christian dominated Venice, Shylock is persecuted by society. He is the victim of popular Christian prejudice, which scorns his religion and restricts his means of employment. He is left with no choice but to be a moneylender and earn his money from collecting interest. To the Christians, collecting interest was against their teaching. This is one of the reasons for the Christians hatred.
Shylock says, You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog, And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine, [.] Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last, You spurn me such a day; another time You call me dog; and for these courtesies I lend you thus much money.
In "The Merchant Of Venice." English Literary Renaissance 34.3 (2004): 286-305. Shakespeare, William, Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine. The Merchant of Venice. New York: Washington Square, 1992.
Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice. 1967. Ed. W. Moelwyn Merchant. The New Penguin Shakespeare. London: Penguin Books, 1996.