An Analysis of Shakespeare’s Intentions on the Shylock as a Devil Jew
The Merchant of Venice is written by William Shakespeare in 1598. William Shakespeare based his play on a culture clash between Jews and Christians, in a city in Italy; Venice. Venice was very well known for its vast trade links in its city alone and had merchants traveling to other countries by sea. Because of Venice was so popular it attracted a great number of foreigners which would expand its cities ethnicities and eventually create a clash between different cultures. Venice was also popular for its beautiful people and its magnificent city. Venetians would therefore spend a lot of there riches on glamorous fashion for themselves and for their servants.
Venice also had other types of professions; one known quite well to all Venetians was ‘Usury’. Usury is a profession of lending money and charging the borrower interest till he or she pays all of the loaned money back. This is where Venetians would turn to if they had run out of money. Almost all Usurers would have not been a Christian, because the holy Bible forbids Christians from lending money with interest. Jews were hated by Christians for a number of reasons, one is because there involvement with usury was and still is against the Bible. The second big reason is that Jews denied Jesus as being God’s son and therefore caused his crucifixion. This hatred against Jews caused a separation between both cultures and pushed the Jewish communities into ghettos. The Christian Venetians also modified Venice’s laws to suit themselves and rule against foreigners.
