The Merchant of Venice: Shylock and Jews

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The Merchant of Venice

The character Shylock was a stereotypical Jew of his time, and as Jews were generally unpopular, the audience would have been automatically prejudiced against him. In Shakespeare’s time, Jews were not treated well at all.  This was because they were a minority group, as they had been previously banned from the country by Edward I unless they were willing to become a Christian. But, in large European cities, like Venice there was a large Jewish population. As these cities relied on trade, the authorities encouraged Jews to become moneylenders. This was because the Christian law, which forbade money lending for profit, did not apply to them. Moneylenders were not popular, because up until 1571 it had been illegal to receive interest on lent money, and even after that, although legal (it became vital for trade), it was considered a sin. Many moneylenders charged high rates of interest, even though the legal rate was 10 percent, as people were willing to pay more, and some became very rich. Before Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice, his friend, the playwright Marlowe wrote a play about a Jew, which became very successful. This may have influenced Shakespeare to write a play on a similar theme. Also, in 1594 the Jewish doctor, Roderico Lopez, supposedly tried to kill Queen Elizabeth. Even though he was probably innocent, he was charged guilty and was executed. Because this case was much talked about, the dislike of Jews was a present issue and the audience would have been able to relate to the play and understand how the Christian characters in the play would treat Shylock.

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One of the main themes of the play is hatred and revenge. Because of their religious beliefs, Shylock and the Christians hate each other and during the play both groups seek revenge on one another. But, only the Christians succeed, as they were at an advantage because Shylock was the only Jew and they were able to find a loophole in the law, which was in favour of the Christians.

When Shylock seeks revenge on Antonio, it is based on hatred;

“… a lodged hate and certain loathing

I bear Antonio,”. He has many reasons to dislike Antonio. One ...

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