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Merchant of Venice


But now, Bassanio realized the fact that is willing to accept the fact that he is in debt, and is lacking in money. In this sense, Bassanio may have realized that Portia had more wealth than him, so he humbled himself, showing the gap between he and his wife to the point that he has to look at her like a goddess. Again, showing the levels of the society, Salerio and Jessica called Bassanio "my lord" because they were both lower in status than Bassanio was, so they had to show a great deal of respect for the people above their rank.
             However, anti-Semitism plays an important role in this Shakespearean masterpiece also. In actuality, this play cannot be described by the term "anti-Semitism" because Shakespeare probed the dark side of Christianity. This leads to a conflict between the two religions. On one hand Shakespeare portrays the Jewish as the villain in the play, for the Jews always try to get revenge at the Christians. But the notion of vengeance is something that all humans have, so in a way, Shakespeare was trying to lead his readers in the direction that Jewish people were the ones going against the Christians, but that is just prejudice along with anti-Semitism. The fact that Antonio was referred to as "good Antonio" (Act3 Scene2 Line238) established the biased opinion for the Christians to be "good.". It is peculiar how nothing "good" about Shlyock is said, just because he is of a different race and religion. The Christian religion was the predominant religion back at the Shakespearean time, and even at this early period of time, persecution had already evolved. Sympathy turned to the Christian side while hostility tilted towards the Jews. The strong feeling of anti-Semitism and prejudice is expressed to the reader. However strong that feeling may be, Shakespeare also did something in opposite to not make this religion issue a one sided issue, and that is to criticize the Christians themselves.


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