Shakespeare. What a wonder he is. Written dozens of plays, with most of them hitting the fame charts and remaining as a classic even a few hundred years later. He is controversial, I say. Its just that sometimes I wonder whether he was a racist, a discriminator.
One good evidence that Shakespeare is racist is indeed from the play, Merchant of Venice, the play I myelf am analysing in school now. I looked at the facts.
- The only villians in this play are Jews.
- Shylock is portrayed as a stereotypical Jew.
- All the unfortunate stuff happens to him.
- In the end, he is converted to Christianity, and this is seen as a good thing.
- At no point does he say anti-semitism is bad.
This leads us to two conclusions.
- Shakespeare was satirising anti-semitism, in a unfunny way.
- Shakespeare was a racist.
So in the end, I think he was blatantly anti-semitic, no matter how good a playwright he was. I guess racism lies even in the greatest of mankind.
One good evidence that Shakespeare is racist is indeed from the play, Merchant of Venice, the play I myelf am analysing in school now. I looked at the facts.
- The only villians in this play are Jews.
- Shylock is portrayed as a stereotypical Jew.
- All the unfortunate stuff happens to him.
- In the end, he is converted to Christianity, and this is seen as a good thing.
- At no point does he say anti-semitism is bad.
This leads us to two conclusions.
- Shakespeare was satirising anti-semitism, in a unfunny way.
- Shakespeare was a racist.
So in the end, I think he was blatantly anti-semitic, no matter how good a playwright he was. I guess racism lies even in the greatest of mankind.
I like to disagree with your point. At the end of the play, Shylock was left a broken man who lost his daughter and his fortune. His thirst for revenge was met with an even harsher punishment by Antonio and the Duke. If this book is about anti-semitism then it is not possible for Shylock to be depicted as a tragic villain.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to disageee with you too. Shylock is [prtrayed as a tragic villian in order to reinforce the point that Christians are merciful, not to say that Jews are not bad after all. Besides, this likeof anti-semitism is involved in almost every other Shakespearan plays.
ReplyDeleteI would like to agree with Seong Jin and disagree with Kevin's point:Shylock indeed reinforces the point that Christians show mercy and does not degrade the Jews.
ReplyDeleteCheers Seong Jin!=D