At the time when Shakespeare wrote the play, The Merchant Of Venice, people's feelings and views towards other races and societies would have been very different to the views in the world we live in today. People would not have been politically correct and they would not have been ashamed of the fact that they were prejudice. A good example of this is when the Moroccan prince talks to Portia for the first time and with the very first thing he says, "Mislike me not for my complexion", he is trying to excuse the fact that he is black and apologising for it. This shows us how people felt about people who were different from themselves. The hatred between Jews and Christians had been there for hundreds of years and as he was writing for his audience he probably chose a Jewish character because English people hated the Jews. "I hate him for he is a Christian", this outlines perfectly the feelings between Jews and Christians at the time. Shylock and Jessica are the only two Jewish characters in the play but they are both very important characters and are an integral part of the play. Anti-Semitism is not the most important theme of the play and it i

Obviously there is clear evidence that the characters do not hate Shylock simply because he is Jewish, there is evidence that he is an evil person and that he is only concerned about his money. Shakespeare does give Shylock a chance to justify his actions and the way he behaves in Act 3 Scene 1 when he gives his sympathetic plea to the audience, "hath a Jew not eyes?", the purpose of this speech, however, is only to justify himself and his reasons for wanting to kill Antonio. He does this by talking about how Jews are people too and that he has been abused for years because he is a Jew.

sn't what the play is about. The main theme of the play is the hatred between Antonio and Shylock and the fact Antonio is a Christian and Shylock a Jew helps this along.

He is saying that he does not care about the money anymore; all he wants is his bond, a pound of Antonio's flesh. Bassanio pleads with him but he is intent on taking his bond, and with it Antonio's life.

There is also some anti-semitism shown towards Jessica although it is very subtle and it is not of malicious intent like some of the things that are said to Shylock. The first evidence of this is when Launcelot says goodbye to her in act 2 scene 3, "Most beautiful pagan. Most sweet Jew", he says the word pagan as if her or her religion are ungodly and once again we see the use of the word Jew and he is saying that she is beautiful and sweet, for a Jew, this could be taken as an insult. Her lover Lorenzo also makes subtle remarks about her religion, "a gentle and no Jew", this is a play on words, gentle and gentile, and he says it as if no Jewish people could be nice and that all gentiles are, which proves the feeling of anti-semitism that runs throughout the play. Later on in the play there is also another incident where Launcelot and Lorenzo tease Jessica about her Jewish nationality.

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Approximate Word count = 1481
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)