Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice. Toronto: Oxford. 1982.
Cited: Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice. Toronto: Oxford. 1982.
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The character of Shylock plays an important part in The Merchant of Venice. He is a money lender who charges interest (commonly known as usurer) and agreed to a bond with one of his customers called Antonio. Antonio agreed that if he wasn’t able to repay him, then Shylock could receive a pound of his flesh. Unsurprisingly Antonio couldn’t repay him, and so the bond was taken to court. We watched three different portrayals and examined the three different roles of Shylock. The first version we watched was Al pachino’s version. Al pachino is a well known Italian/American actor. This was directed by Michael Radford, and was created for cinema viewing. To follow this we watched Henry Goodman’s version of the scene. This wasn’t intently created for a large audience. It was made by the Royal Shakespeare Company, and seems to appear as more of a stage play. It was set in a dull set, and so was more theatrical. As it was created by the RSC, I think that they were quite dependant on the text, and wanted to stick to what was written, rather than adding their own little twists. The final version we watched was produced by the BBC, and made for TV purposes. This obviously would have had more of a budget than Goodman’s, but both were just as impressive. From just reading the book, I had anticipated Shylock to be a selfish, greedy, and all over quite an unpleasant man, but I think that his true colours shone through him. When reading the book you didn’t seem to get the sense of sadness towards the end of the scene which was projected through the all three film version.…
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Antonio appears before the court since he is unable to repay Shylock 's loan. The duke advises Shylock to show mercy on Antonio, but Shylock refuses because he wants to punish him. Shylock refuses to conform to Venetian law as he acknowledges that his hatred for Antonio is based on racial discrimination rather than a desire for the law 's application of justice. Shylock 's hatred of Christians shows that it is the fundamental inequalities between Christians and Jews which is the basis for that hatred: "I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same…
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Shylock, the hated Jew, makes his living through the practice of usury and uses deception when Antonio asks to borrow money from him. Shylock agrees to lend Antonio three hundred ducats if Antonio is willing to sign a bond that would allow Shylock to have "an equal pound of [his] fair flesh"(I, iii, 145-146). He expresses the bond "in a merry sport"(I, iii, 141) and uses this bond to also show that "[he] would be friends with [Antonio], and have [his] love"(I, iii, 134). Though Shylock's description of the conditions in the bond makes it seem as if Shylock does not mean harm, his intentions are to harm and humiliate Antonio. Antonio says that "[he] neither lend[s] nor borrow[s] by talking nor by giving of excess"(I, iii, 57-58) and is willing to do that for his dear friend, Bassanio. At first, Antonio is not blinded Shylock's friendly pretence, aware that Shylock "is like a villain with a smiling face [and] a goodly apple rotten at the heart"(I, iii, 96-97). However, in the end Antonio accepts the terms of the bond. The cruel use of deception from Shylock is to help fulfill his intention of revenge against Antonio.…
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In the Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare illustrates his feelings towards Jews in 17th century England through the use of a commonly known stereotype during the time, the racial tension between Jews and Christians. Shylock is the focal point of the play, and acts as the traditional stereotype of the Jew in Elizabethan times. The merchant of venice is often seen as an anti-semitic work due to the stereotypical portrayal of the jewish character shylock. Some would argue that the most inevitable interpretation of shylock as a miserly wretch who care for nothing but his money is shakespeare expressing now – unfashionable anti-jewish views. However , one must remember that this view was seen as entirley normal and acceptable at the time, and most of the jews of elizabethan england had stoicly accepted such treatment.…
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Discrimination proves that injustice is shown in both plays. In The Merchant Of Venice, Jews are often mistreated by Christians and this results in Shylock’s mistreatment throughout the play. Shylock is treated like an animal by Antonio. He calls Shylock a throat dog and people never call him by his real name, instead they refer to him as the Jew. Shylock also…
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Shylock cannot be considered the most villainous character in this play, for he shoulders much undeserved ridicule for his religion. Nearly every character in Shakespeare’s famous play behaves in malevolent or unjust ways at one point in the story, whether it is predominantly as selfishness, cruelty, or vindictiveness. But does this pronounce them villains? Whilst Shylock is portrayed as a villain in more than one aspect, does this not warrant that Portia, being unjustly biased and unlawful, also be given the title of villain? Should not Shylock’s daughter Jessica be labelled a villain for her deceptive and larcenist actions and Antonio for his bigotry and obstinacy? And what of Bassanio; does he not selfishly and irresponsibly borrow money from Antonio, unable to afford to repay him, in order to further his personal wants? Each of these characters exhibits wanton villainous behaviour, with some performing more acts than others. They execute deceptive and vengeful acts in different forms, with most also being prejudiced in one way or another. Shylock could well be the ‘supposed’ villain of Shakespeare’s play, for he is Antonio’s enemy, and Antonio, being quite obviously the plays most prominent and most famous character, is quite possibly made out to be the main character of the play, rather than Bassanio, or even Shylock himself. The title page of the first quarto of ‘The Merchant of Venice’; ‘the moſt excellent Hiſtorie of the…
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