The Merchant Of Venice Task 1
The Merchant of Venice
Written task 1
How and why is a social group represented in a particular way?
The Merchant of Venice was written by Shakespeare and printed for the first time around the sixteen hundreds, just after a revolutionary play that depicted the main character as a great villain and Jew, The Jew of Malta, by Christopher Marlow. Shakespeare’s inclusion of a Jewish character in his play was not usual, and until today it is discussed whether he was trying to show an anti-Semitic opinion or criticise the anti-Semitism of the time. The sixteen hundreds was a time of growth of the Jewish community and insertion into society in Venice, were their commerce and scholarship flourished. This new role of the Jews was unknown to Catholics who has excluded them for hundreds of years. In this context it is difficult to recognize if Shakespeare wanted to show the cruel reality of the Jew’s life in an anti Semitic society, and portray them as victims, or as the villains because of their culture. As time went by, the different believes of what Shakespeare was trying to achieve changed. Immediately after the publication and until the late 17th century it was portrayed as comic and Shylock the Jew was the villain. As time passed he was pitied, and after the Second World War the play was seen as tragic. This context is very important when understanding why the social group of the Jews was originally depicted as untrustworthy, greedy, materialistic, cruel and unmerciful, since these where the characteristics of the stereotypical Jew of the moment. There are few Jewish characters in the play; I will start by analysing Shylock’s behaviour. Shylocks first appearance in the play is when Antonio and Bassanio in need of money approach him, a moneylender. The moneylending profession itself was very badly seen in those times; Christians did not understand how Jews could profit from lending money, since it was something that went against the bible. "For when did friendship
Written task 1
How and why is a social group represented in a particular way?
The Merchant of Venice was written by Shakespeare and printed for the first time around the sixteen hundreds, just after a revolutionary play that depicted the main character as a great villain and Jew, The Jew of Malta, by Christopher Marlow. Shakespeare’s inclusion of a Jewish character in his play was not usual, and until today it is discussed whether he was trying to show an anti-Semitic opinion or criticise the anti-Semitism of the time. The sixteen hundreds was a time of growth of the Jewish community and insertion into society in Venice, were their commerce and scholarship flourished. This new role of the Jews was unknown to Catholics who has excluded them for hundreds of years. In this context it is difficult to recognize if Shakespeare wanted to show the cruel reality of the Jew’s life in an anti Semitic society, and portray them as victims, or as the villains because of their culture. As time went by, the different believes of what Shakespeare was trying to achieve changed. Immediately after the publication and until the late 17th century it was portrayed as comic and Shylock the Jew was the villain. As time passed he was pitied, and after the Second World War the play was seen as tragic. This context is very important when understanding why the social group of the Jews was originally depicted as untrustworthy, greedy, materialistic, cruel and unmerciful, since these where the characteristics of the stereotypical Jew of the moment. There are few Jewish characters in the play; I will start by analysing Shylock’s behaviour. Shylocks first appearance in the play is when Antonio and Bassanio in need of money approach him, a moneylender. The moneylending profession itself was very badly seen in those times; Christians did not understand how Jews could profit from lending money, since it was something that went against the bible. "For when did friendship