Day: 21 February 2016

Furthermore in act 3 scene 3 Shylock has been shown to be harsh as he wants to stick to his bond as Antonio failed to pay shylocks 3000 ducats, however the judge has let Antonio out of prison to even discuss this matter and if shylock was to own Antonio this much money a pound of his flesh would have already been taken from him. This shows discrimination as hey are favoring Antonio by letting him out of jail to try and convince shylock to change his mind. We see this when shylock says  “ill have my bond; I will not hear thee speak:
I’ll have my bond; and therefore speak no more, I’ll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool,To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield To Christian intercessors. Follow not;
‘ll have no speaking: I will have my bond.”

Similarly, we can see that Shakespeare has made this play to be anti-semetic  as in Act 1 scene 1 Shylock says to Antonio ‘Fair sir, you spat on me on Wednesday last…..Another time You call’d me dog’ this shows anti-Semitism towards shylock as Antonio has been calling shylock a dog and has also been spitting on him, which therefore shows us that Antonio had no respect for shylock or any other Jew. We know that the Jews were discriminated in Venice a long time ago. But Shakespeare seemed toput these dreadful acts in the play to make the audience laugh which isn’t really fair.