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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page paper which examines how the play, despite charges of anti-Semitism, depicts Christians as little better than Jews. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: TG15_TGchrismov.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
critics found nothing funny about the portrayal of Jews as personified by the antagonist, the moneylender Shylock. Charges of anti-Semitism have been leveled against the play and the Bard,
but this is little more than a hasty rush to judgment. Upon closer critical examination of this work, it becomes readily apparent that the Christian characters are presented ad
being little better than their Jewish counterpart. While it is true Shylock was an opportunist who appeared willing to sell his soul for a price, the heroic Christian protagonists
Antonio and Bassanio give the impression of virtue, and yet willingly make a deal with the Devil in order to preserve their reputations and their capitalist ambitions. The play
unflinchingly reveals a "shallow Christian world" that values money and material possessions more than integrity and human compassion (Zaslavsky 181). In Act I, although the merchant Antonios love for his
young friend Bassanio knows no bounds, his hatred for Shylock for nothing more than being Jewish is equally intense (Dessen 258). Antonios unabashed cruelty towards Shylock is blatant and
hardly an example of Christian charity of doing unto others (Weisberg 12). As the moneylender recalled, "Signior Antonio, many a time and oft / In the Rialto
you have rated me / About my moneys and my usances; / Still have I borne it with a patient shrug, / For suffrance is the badge of all our
tribe; / You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog, / And spit upon my Jewish gabardine, / And all for use of that which is mine own. / Well then, it
now appears you need my help; / Go to, then; you come to me, and you say / Shylock, we would have moneys. You say so- / You that did
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