Dangers of Prejudice - A Study of 'The Merchant of Venice'

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How Does Shakespeare Show Us The Dangers Of Prejudice and Judging By Appearance In Act One and Two Of ‘The Merchant Of Venice’? Prejudice and the judgement of matters just by appearance are both regularly recurring themes throughout “The Merchant Of Venice,” by William Shakespeare. For the whole play, Shakespeare makes clear the potential dangers of many different forms of prejudice and premature judgement in what is obviously an important aspect to this text. In this essay, I will be trying to identify the dangers of this. There are several examples of prejudice that can be found in the book, somewhat seemingly more commonly used and allowed at the time this play was written. Whether it be anti Semitism, racism or sexism, all three appear to be widely accepted in late 16th century Venice. Jews were not allowed (by the Christians) to work in many profitable positions of employment, so many went into lending money; this earned them a lot of unfair haters; Antonio was one of them. A wealthy and highly respected merchant, Antonio sunk to the levels of publicly insulting and disrespecting Shylock (a Jewish money lender); however this proves to be a mistake. Because of his treatment, Shylock (as he tells us) is always looking for a way to get back at Antonio. And so when Antonio wanted to borrow money from him in Act I, Shylock puts forward the forfeit of a pound of flesh on failing to pay back the loan. When one man (Shylock) is in a position of power of another (Antonio), the second man should surely seek the approval of the first. But even when signing the bond, Antonio expresses his lack of remorse for his actions. Even though Antonio may see himself as more important than any Jew, Shylock’s profession will always put him in a place with Antonio under his control. By insulting Shylock, he can only expect a harsh punishment when he fails to return the loan.
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