Many Theatrical Producers are Uncomfortable about Staging "The Merchant of Venice" because of suggestions that it Portrays Jews Unfairly, How would You Defend the play Against Anti-Semitism?

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Many  Theatrical  Producers  are  Uncomfortable  about  Staging “The  Merchant  of  Venice”  because  of  suggestions  that  it  Portrays  Jews  Unfairly,  How  would  You  Defend  the  play  Against  Anti-Semitism?

Jews first began to arrive in England in the Middle Ages to escape persecution from the Normans in France. They were allowed to remain in England by Henry I in return for a large percentage of their profits from either trade or money lending. Since the amount of money they owed the king was so high they found that in order to gain a healthy profit themselves, very high interest rates needed to be charged on the money lent out. However Jews were not welcomed by the Christian population as they did not agree with their religion or their professions. Also Christians believed that that it was the Jews who were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. However in 1254 while under the reign of King Edward I, Jews who refused to convert or conform to Christianity were ordered out of England. They could not return to England until late in the seventeenth century. Now attitudes towards Jews have become very different. Ever since World War 2 and the Holocaust, people feel very sympathetic towards Jews, since for many it is still a very sensitive issue.

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In the play “The Merchant of Venice” Shylock is portrayed as one of these Jews who lends money with extremely high interest rates and he is despised by almost all of Venice for being a villainous Jew with no feelings for anybody but himself.

Throughout the play we are made to think of Shylock as being cold, unbending, and evil, therefore possibly making the play seem anti-Semitic. The first example of this is when Shylock speaks to the audience about Antonio, aside from both him and Bassanio.

“I hate him for he is a Christian,
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