Shylock Victim or Villain?
By Pritesh Dave 10M
The Merchant of Venice is a very racially controversial play. This is because the plays main story is about racism towards Jews. In the days of Shakespeare, many of the people were anti-Semitic. The Jews were just starting to migrate to England and the racism towards them was motivated by their success. The Christians believed that the Jews were “aliens” and they shouldn’t be involved in the Christian was of life. Also, the Jews in Britain were extremely successful, some more than the Christians. They were allowed to lend money and charge interest, as it was not forbidden by the Jewish religion like it is for Christianity.
During the 16th Century, many plays were written which involved Jews. The Jews played a “stock character”. They were normally villains or a comic character. The Christians who would play the Jews in the play would dress up in traditional Jewish costume and would speak in an exaggerated accent. This would instantly indicate that this character was the villain or the comic character. The audience would boo and jeer at this character. At the end of his play this character would be made a fool out of and would lose most or everything important to him/her. For example, the Jew would die, the Jew would lose his daughter or wife, he would have his money and land taken or he would be forced to change religion. They were heavily persecuted in these plays would also give the audience a bad view on Jews. This expanded the amount of racism towards Jews.
I feel that Shylock was a Villain, as although he was heavily persecuted throughout the play he should have had more mercy towards Antonio. I think that Shakespeare had no choice but to make him a Villain because of the audience of the time. Although Shylock portrayed as a villain in this play Shakespeare was trying to send a message to the anti-Semitic audience. This is mainly on Act 3 scene 1 when Shylock says, “If you prick us do we not bleed”. Shakespeare is trying to say that Jews are human too.
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Peer Reviews
Here's what a star student thought of this essay
Quality of writing
The candidates writing is coherent and easy to read, plus they have used a good range vocabulary. In addition there are few if any spelling or grammatical errors. Though they have failed to mention any of linguistic techniques used within the play, such as metaphors and similes, this is something that needs to be discussed in order to achieve a higher grade at this level of qualification.
Level of analysis
In general the candidates analysis is of a reasonable standard, but there are times in which they use quotations to retell sections of the play, this needs to be avoided. You should discuss what the characters are thinking or feeling and use quotations in a way that they support your ideas and opinions. Additionally the candidate provides a great deal of background information concerning the way in which Jewish people were treated at the time this play was written, this additional information adds depth to the essay and is interesting to read. Finally the candidate concludes this essay with a personal response to Shylock as character, which is something you should try to include. However you also need to summarise your key ideas and make sure that your clearly answer the set question. You want to try and leave the reader with a good impression.
Response to question
The candidates introduction contains some interesting factual information clearly gained from independent research, this is interesting to read and shows the candidates interest in the play. However the candidates introductory paragraph is lacking several important factors. An introduction should state any questions you intend to answer, in this case is Shylock a villain or a victim? It should also include a brief summary of any topics you plan to discuss and this case it would be appropriate to give an outline of Shylock’s character.
