Different Forms of Prejudice Present in The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
Different types of people, affected by their own views can define
prejudice in many different ways. The Collins Concise Dictionary
definition of prejudice is "an opinion formed beforehand, especially
an unfavourable one based on inadequate facts." Another definition is
"intolerance of or dislike for people of a specific race, religion,
etc." From this, it is obvious that prejudice, although often a
negative occurrence, can also be positive. Throughout The Merchant,
there are many forms of prejudice among a variety of characters,
because of race, gender or religion.
The most blatant form of prejudice within the play is the religious
prejudice between the Jews and the Christians. In Shakespeare's time,
the Elizabethan era, a Jew would have been considered an atheist.
Anyone who did not conform to the beliefs in the Protestant God was
considered an atheist, particularly Jews. There were also many beliefs
about Jews that were simply myths, and therefore created prejudice
throughout the globe against Jews. Jews had very few ways of earning a
living, which may be why Shylock said "you take my house… you take my
life" (VI.I.371-2), when all his money was to be taken from him. The
Anti-Semitism in this particular play may have stemmed from the Jewish
execution of Roderigo Lopez, the Queen's physician, a few years
previously. The rage against the Jews that began then lasted for a
long period before settling down many years later. However, it was not
only Jews who were discriminated against; all foreigners were
generally viewed as being suspicious and dist...
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...ce as it did on myself, it would have
discouraged prior judgement, particularly on Jews.
There is often great debate about the audience for whom Shakespeare
truly wrote his plays. Was it for the Elizabethan audience we imagine,
and were the plays shown on a stage with no scenery? Or was it for
people throughout all ages, genders and races, to teach them about
discrimination, and how wrong it may be? Did William Shakespeare
intend his plays to be seen by millions of people in many different
forms, adapted and changed to suit different races and ages? The
prejudices shown in The Merchant of Venice had been present for many
years before Shakespeare's time, and will be present for many years in
the future. This play can be used to demonstrate to us where we go
wrong, and how we discriminate against many people every day.
The possibility of water and fire being equal to each other is nearly impossible, but it’s not. In, “Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare, a man, Benedick, and a woman, Beatrice, had a love hate relationship. This caused tension in the play. In the beginning, they couldn’t stand each other, but by the end, they loved each other.
Firstly, Othello’s race and the racism around him ruined his marriage with Desdemona. Othello and Desdemona was a good couple, but you know what they say, all good things must come to an end. Almost everybody had a problem with their relationship. In that time, interracial relationships and marriage wasn’t allowed. While Brabantio was sleeping, Iago and Roderigo woke him up out of his sleep saying that Othello was having sex with his daughter Desdemona at that very moment. Brabantio didn’t believe them at first, but when he found out that they were telling the truth and his white daughter was with “the Moor” Othello, he didn’t take it lightly. He couldn’t believe that she would want to be with someone like Othello. He said that Othello must’ve used some type of magic to get Desdemona to fall in love with him. At that time it had to be a miracle for a black person to be with a white person, it was unheard of. Then he started calling Othello a Moor to his face and orders his guards to get him.
Anti-Semitism and the desecration of the Jewish population have been in existence for nearly five thousand years. In the Elizabethan era, a question of anti-Semitism invariably arises. In William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, we find that one of the characters is the embodiment and expression of anti-Semitic attitude that is pervasive in Elizabethan society. "Anti-Semitism was an intricate part in Shakespeare's years. Jews were considered vile and scorned upon. Shakespeare presents Judaism as an 'unchangeable trait'" (Bloom 37). Shakespeare's age based their anti-Semitism on religious grounds because the Elizabethans inherited the fiction, fabricated by the early Church, that the Jews murdered Christ and were therefore in league with the devil and were actively working to subvert spread of Christianity. The religious grounds of this anti-Semitism means that if a Jew converted to Christianity, as Shylock is forced to do in The Merchant of Venice, then all will be forgiven as the repentant Jew is embraced by the arms of the all merciful Christian God of love. In fact, some Christian believed--as do some fundamentalist sects today--that the coming of the Kingdom of God was aided by converting the Jews to Christianity. Anti-Semitism in Shakespeare's time is portrayed in his masterpiece The Merchant of Venice.
Plays at this time were a representation of life. People, at this time, did not have modern visual luxuries upon which to garner entertainment. Plays, as well as playwrights, were supposed to bring life to the people and life to the story,
In both of Shakespeare’s plays, "Othello" and "The Merchant of Venice", there are several instances in which the non-white and non-Christian characters are marginalized and are often the victims of prejudice and outright racism. This occurs in both "Merchant of Venice" and "Othello" particularly through the use and power of language and terms of reference. What is most fascinating about this seeming racism and bias against these characters, Othello and Shylock, is that they aren’t represented in either text as completely fitting the villainous or negative stereotypes other characters wish to put them in. Both Othello and Shylock are presented as sympathetic to varying degrees and although they posses several character flaws that some of the white and Christian characters wish to attribute to their race (Jewish as greedy and heartless and Moors as savage and barbarous) Shakespeare does not completely rely on these stereotypes to draw his characters of these two men. Although Shylock is indeed money-hungry, greedy, and oftentimes heartless, he is still portrayed sympathetically at points and his faults are not shown to be something associated with his race. Othello, most notably at the end of the play commits a savage act, but throughout the rest of the text, he is shown to be mild-mannered and exceptionally “civilized” as a general and aristocrat. This softening allows the characters to be represented as more rounded, but the fact still remains that racial bias and outright racism and prejudice are present in both texts.
Racism in William Shakespeare's Othello. The play, Othello, is certainly, in part, the tragedy of racism. Examples of racism are common throughout the dialogue. This racism is directed toward Othello, a brave soldier from Africa and currently the supreme commander of the Venetian army.
Response to Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice by a Modern Audience Since the time of Shakespeare, The play “Merchant of Venice” has had a dramatic effect on the modern audience today. In the 16th century, Jews were completely disliked, & Jews were not allowed to live in England unless they had converted to Christianity. = == ==
The Theme of Prejudice in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. In The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, there are two main characters. themes, prejudice, and loyalty. Prejudice is the more evident theme.
Committing deceptive deeds not only hurt others, but also the ones who deceive. The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare, is a romantic-comedy play about a Christian merchant named Antonio who agrees to a bond that a Jewish moneylender named Shylock, his enemy, creates to help his best friend Bassanio see Portia, an heiress whom he is in love with. Shylock warns Antonio that if he forfeits the bond, by not repaying him three thousand ducats, he must allow him to remove a pound of his flesh. Throughout the play, deceptive behaviour causes the moral values of individuals to decline. First, this is seen through wealth as it pertains to the desire to have what is valuable. Second, moral values decline when people deceive the family members that they encounter. Finally, deceiving others through love leads to a decline of moral values. In the play, The Merchant of Venice, deception, as seen through wealth, family encounters, and love, causes the moral
Stereotypes are a fixed image of all members of a culture, group, or race usually based on limited and inaccurate information resulted from the minimal contact with this stereotyped groups. stereotypes have many forms; people are stereotyped according to their religion, race, ethnicity, age, gender, coulor, or national origins. This kind of intolerance is focused on the easily observable characteristics of groups of people. In general, stereotypes reduce individuals to a rigid and inflexible image that doesn't account for the multi-dimensional nature of human beings. One example of stereotypes is the categorization of the Jews in Elizabethan era. In fact, Elizabethan era was an age of prejudice, discrimination, and religious persecution particularly against minorities. Jewish people were one of those minorities who was suffering and struggling for survival. This racist attitude was rife not only in England but also across Europe. "Christians tended to see the Jews as an alien people whose repudiation of the Christ had condemned them to a perpetual migration. Jews were denied citizenship and its rights in much of Europe and forced to wear distinctive clothing to identify themselves in public (the yellow star, or badges of shame). There were forced expulsions of the Jews from several regions across Europe." (1). Jews were even believed to worship the devil.
torture at the time. "Let me choose, for as I am, I live upon the
The theater was one of the primary forms of entertainment in Elizabethan England, as anyone, rich or poor could attend the plays.The rich would sit in boxes or galleries, while the poorer people would have to stand for the entirety of the play (Haigh). The poor would stand in front of the stage which would normally be raised about 4 to 6 feet and the theater could hold on average 3,000 people (Trumbull). The rich however usually watched plays in indoor private theaters, but sometimes would watch the plays in the outdoor public ones. Performances ...
Anti-Semitism in "The Merchant of Venice" Throughout the play, "The Merchant of Venice" William Shakespeare portrays anti-Semitism through many of his characters. Audiences today may interpret the play to be offensive, where as people of Shakespeare’s time would have accepted the play as part of everyday life. The majority of London’s population at the time was anti-Semitic because there were very few Jews living there.
Justice in The Tempest and Merchant of Venice & nbsp; In both Merchant of Venice and The Tempest, Shakespeare proposes ideas of justice and mercy that hold true in both plays. In order to see if the actions taken were just and/or merciful, definitions of these words must be set up. If we were to assume that Shakespeare's definition of mercy was what Portia espoused in Act Four, Scene One, specifically lines 205 - 206, the definition of mercy must be viewed in a biblical sense. Thus, in order to judge if something is merciful, one must look to see if it fulfills the qualifications of mercy in the New Testament. However, the idea of justice is quite different, for my definition of justice, I will turn to Charles Mill's definition, for, in the plays it applies the most.
Shakespeare's Portrayal of Female Characters in The Merchant of Venice and Henry V. Shakespeare's presentation and portrayal of his female characters in The Merchant of Venice and Henry V follows a typical pattern that is present in all of the Shakespearean plays that I have read so far. When looking closely at the fate of his female characters, this pattern becomes even more evident as it repeats itself no matter how different the plays are. For instance, Henry V and The Merchant of Venice are different in every respect. The female characters not only come from different backgrounds, they also have very different personalities. However, as different as these plays and their characters are, the female characters end up suffering the same fate.