Shakespeare's Bias on Religon in The Merchant of Venice

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In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice there is a palpable hatred between the Jewish moneylender Shylock and the privileged prodigal Christians Bassanio, Lorenzo, Antonio, Gratiano and Portia. History shows that Jews have long been persecuted and despised for not accepting Christianity, Islam or other religions of the majority as their own. Yet choice of religion is not the cause for the two cultures abhorrence. Their detestation is much more deep-rooted; it stems from their antithetical cultural beliefs. Shakespeare depicts lifestyles; morals and values that completely oppose each other, the very natures of his Christian characters cancel Shylock’s defining characteristics. The closed-off, cautious, restrained, simple, lonely man is thrust into the social, extravagant, spendthrift world of Christianity. Disliked as much for his skinflint profession and bare life style as he is for his religion, he is a stranger in a society that contradicts everything he feels and believes.

As the play progresses towards the end it becomes clear that Shylock’s selfish, narrow and mechanical values are unfit and unworthy to live by. Eventually Shakespeare has Portia destroy Shylock, thus indicating Christianity as the superior lifestyle. Yet it is not out of anti-Semitism that Shakespeare strips Shylock of his principles, rather it is a conclusion on how life should be lived. Although the Christians in The Merchant of Venice are far from perfect, with their hypocrisy of mercy and extreme materialism, their life is still preferable to the stingy, antisocial, void of emotional connection alternative.

Before Shylock even enters the play, Shakespeare hints at the intolerance of the Christian society through his protagonist Portia. As Por...

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...s. Portia expounds extensively on the Christian ideal of mercy, saying, “It is an attribute to God himself,” but ironically exercises none in dolling out Shylock’s punishment; forcing him to convert to Christianity and seizing half his wealth, the Christians show him no pity. True to form, Shakespeare depicts his characters with all their human flaws; they make mistakes. Nevertheless it is the Christians whom he places hope for the future in. Their values and ideals are good and they strive to achieve them. Belmont’s paradise, both unattainable and perfect, represents the harmony and order that they endeavor to. Shylock’s ideals leave one with nothing to live for, while the Christians celebrate and appreciate life and are content.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice. Ed. Lawrence Danson. New York: Pearson Education, 2005. Print.

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