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...and human evil

The Merchant of Venice

Plot:

It's not a coincidence that the story is set in Venice, in fact it is the city of merchants based on economy's power. The "Merchant of Venice" shows us the double human nature, who glorifies love and tolerance, but at the same time tries to destroy the other for private gain. So, we are at the same time good and evil, there aren't only victim or attackers, that's the reason why, for example, Shylock is not the villain, but only the victim of his society.

Prejudice...

English society during the Elizabethan period could be described as judeophobiac, which means that the population didn't accept jews probably because most of them worked as bankers or moneylenders. But this wasn't the only reason: English people were convinced in their evilness, and they though that jews used to kill children just to inflict pain and suffering and feel better with theirselves.

Shylock represents the typical usurer jew at that time. He is represented as a bad character, but his desire for revenge is due to the abuses suffered by Christians. So, when Antonio (who always critised him) ask for a favor, he takes advantage of the situation.

Bassanio, a noble venetian, needed some money because he wanted to court the rich Portia, so he asked his friend Antonio, a merchant, to lend him a sum of money so that he could impress and conquer Portia’s heart. But Antonio didn’t have enough money so he went to Shylock, a Jewish usurer, who lent him the money. Antonio had to give the money back to the jew in three months or Shylock would have taken a pound of his flesh from his body. Portia’s pretenders had to choose among three chests made of gold, silver and lead. If they found Portia’s picture, they could marry her. Bassanio went to Portia’s house and chose the lead casket. When he opened it he found the picture of Portia, so he was the one who would marry her. Bassanio told Portia that Antonio had a debt, because he had helped him and now he couldn’t give the money back to Shylock. Portia said that she would have helped Antonio and that she had a plan. In fact the day of the process Shylock claimed a pound of Antonio’s flesh, precisely of his heart, but suddenly Portia arrived dressed up as A lawyer. She said that Shylock could have the pound of flesh but couldn’t pour a single drop of Antonio’s blood. So Shylock gave up but since justice has to be carried out, Shylock is forced to give up on his religion, Hebraism, and become a Christian. So from this moment his hate against Christians grew up and this is the reason why he made his famous monologue.

VENGEANCE

Bassanio

Before we talk about vengeance we must know what it is. Revenge is the action of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for an injury or wrong done to oneself. Shylock is the main responsible character of revenge in the Merchant of Venice. He wanted to make Antonio pay for the wrong he has done to him. Many things contributed to the anger that was the foundation of his revenge. There are 3 events in particular that made him want to seek revenge: the isolation because he is a jew, the fact that Antonio stole his business and the fact that Jessica (his own daughter) eloped with a christian. Let's analyse these 3 things that combined made Shylock lose his mind. Jews are not citizens in Venice, in fact they are seen as aliens and are treated unfairly. Antonio does not charge interest when he lends his money while Shylock does, because of it people prefer to go to Antonio. Jessica has stolen from her father and eloped with a christian. It is well known that Shylock has a profound hate for christians, so Jessica running away with one of them makes him even more furious. So, did Shylock have a good reason to put in danger Antonio's life? The answer is no, he did not. At the end of the day he just wanted revenge, nothing more and nothing less. He would stop at nothing to see his justice being served.

Bassanio is a young gentleman of Venice who has squandered all his fortune and is therefore in dire need of a rich wife. He is impulsive and romantic and he's a great friend of Antonio. His love for Portia, a wealthy lady, leads him to ask Antonio to borrow some money from him.

Setting:

The merchant of Venice was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1596 and 1599. It is set in Venice and Belmont, Italy in the sixteenth century.

Antonio

Mercy

Anti-semitism

Shylock

Once you're finished reading the Merchant of Venice you ask yourself a question: Does mercy exist in this world? Among themes such as antisemitism and personal revenge,the play seems to lack of a merciful character. However against all the odds, Portia manages to bring out some mercy in Venice. When Shylock is about to face an execution for his crimes, Portia convinces the Duke to forgive him and to give him another chance. Portia represents the christian idea of mercy as it was in the new testament, she thinks that everyone should "turn the cheek". On the other hand Shylock's view of justice is the complete opposite: it is "an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth". Anyway Portia succeds in transmitting some of her idealism into Venice.

Antonio is a merchant from Venice. He is a deeply melancholic man, strongly attached to Bassanio, who he has deep feelings for.

Although Bassanio takes advantage of how he feels, Antonio is willing to risk all his money, and even a pound of his flesh, to allow his friend to win Portia's heart.

Moreover, Antonio's reputation as an anti-Semite precedes him, in fact he proves a dominant trait of his character is cruelty when he breaks out insulting Shylock for being a jew. Though he detests him so much, he has to ask him for money, in order to lend it to Bassanio. In his monologue, Shylock calls Anonio out on his contradictory behavior. In fact the merchant doesn't show any sign of regret by asking him for money after having heavily insulted him.

In the play "The merchant of Venice", William Shakespeare represents anti-semitism in many of his characters, but especially in the character of Antonio. In this way, audiences today may think that the play is offensive, but at Shakespeare's time, the anti-semitic themes would have been accepted as a normal thing. In fact at that time,the majority of London's population was anti-semitic, also because there were few Jews in the city, but also because of the social role of Jews; for all these reasons Shakespear's play supports anti-semitism actions. In particular we should remember that in the play The Jew is considered a "devil incarnation.

Shylock is one of the main characters in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, a Jewish merchant living in a predominantly Christian environment. As the merchant, he exemplifies many negative character traits that we hate in others and in ourselves: greed, jealousy and vengeance. Shylock's life revolves around money. In fact, he has a reputation for charging too much interest on loans. We can find clues to Shylock's tragic character through his monologues, which reveal his innermost thoughts. In this monologue, Shylock reveals his resentment toward Antonio. First, he states that he hates Antonio for his religious beliefs, or simply because he is not Jewish. Shylock also hates Antonio because he is honest: Antonio doesn't lend money at interest. As a result, fewer people borrow from Shylock, who does charge interest. Shylock hopes to entrap Antonio when Bassanio, Antonio's best friend, asks Shylock for a loan that Antonio guarantees.

Shylock accuses Antonio of hating Jews, and there is some evidence that Antonio does discriminate. Antonio has made it clear that he dislikes the way Shylock does business.

Shylock believes that Antonio hates him because he is Jewish. Whenever his business deals fail and Antonio's prosper, Shylock becomes more and more obsessed with revenge. In his monologue, Shylock continues to plead for equality, saying that Jews have eyes, organs and senses and are capable of love. Poignantly, he asks: 'If we prick us, do we not bleed?'

At this point, we can almost sympathize with Shylock. He is revealing deep inner hurts that no doubt stem from the prejudice he's experienced, due to his race and religion. Shylock believes his only recourse is revenge, and he blames Christians for teaching him revenge by example. As a result, he cannot be talked out of taking his pound of flesh.

Portia

Money

Portia in 'The Merchant of Venice' is one of the strongest and wisest characters found in William Shakespeare's plays. In this tragicomedy, Portia uses her creativity and wit to save the life of her husband's best friend, Antonio.

As The Merchant of Venice opens, Portia's father has passed away, leaving her with a stunning inheritance.

Portia loves a young Venetian gentleman named Bassanio,but as decided by her father, the suitor who wins her hand must pass a test and choose from three chests filled with gold, silver or lead and if the suitor chooses wisely, he will win her hand in marriage.

The Prince of Morocco chooses the gold chest the Prince of Arragon chooses the silver chest, Bassanio chooses the lead chest, which contains her picture.

Bassanio and Portia marry immediately, then Bassanio finds out that the life of his best friend, Antonio, is in danger. Bassanio reveals that a greedy merchant, Shylock, loaned him 3,000 ducats to win Portia's heart. As Bassanio's best friend, Antonio, guaranteed the loan, Portia gives her new husband 6,000 ducats.

But Shylock is more interested in revenge, or the taking of a pound of Antonio's flesh, than money. These are the original terms of the loan. Shylock hates Antonio because he refuses to lend money at interest, and this makes Shylock look bad. The fact that Shylock is a Jew and Antonio is a Christian and something of an anti-Semite, or someone who is prejudicial against Jews, contributes to the ethnic and religious tension between the two men.

Although the situation initially seems hopeless, Portia disguises herself as Balthasar, an apprentice lawyer, and takes command of Antonio's destiny. At first, she agrees with Shylock that he has a legal claim on Antonio's pound of flesh, but then she tells Shylock that he can only have his pound of flesh if he doesn't shed a single drop of Antonio's blood. As the contract only refers to Antonio's flesh, and not his blood, and Shylock cannot remove his pound of flesh without drawing blood, Shylock loses.

Another important theme in the play

is economy, in fact the plot is about a Venetian merchant. The main function of that theme could be to make a difference between Christians and Jews

in fact Christians are described as generous or maybe careless of their fortunes,while on the other hand Shylock is accused of caring more for his money than human relationships.

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