For my final post about the Merchant of Venice I have decided to write about the discrimination not only towards Jews, but towards all different people. I’m also going to discuss whether the play is truly trying to convey an anti-semitic message.
In the Merchant of Venice anti-semitism is clearly common, but there there are other instances of discrimination towards each side. For example, Portia mentions how she would never marry the Moroccan prince because he was black. The Christians are also criticized in Shylock’s speech. It’s not completely clear if they play had an anti-semitic message because of all of these perspectives. If I was to make an assumption about the author without knowing who it was, I would think that it was someone who was very open minded, trying to convey a message about bigotry. It seems as if Shakespeare was pointing out bigotry during that time from all points of view. If the play truly had an anti-semitic message I believe that Shylock would not have been portrayed as the victim at any instance. Shylock’s words may be Shakespeare’s way of criticizing the prejudice against other races or religions.
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