Demonization Fear And Jealousy Essay Research Paper

Demonization Fear And Jealousy. Essay, Research Paper

In the two works entitled, The Merchant of Venice, and The Fixer, the reader is thrown into two authors world where antisemitism was apparently prevalent despite the very different times that they were written. The purpose of this paper is to briefly discuss how each of the main Jewish characters are portrayed: how they are alike and different. It will also demonstrate how the characters demonstrate an antisemitic viewpoint. In Shakespeare s play The Merchant of Venice, the Jew in the story is Shylock. He is portrayed at first as a penny-pinching, but not wicked moneylender in the first couple of scenes. Later, however he is seen as a truly terrifying figure whose speeches reflect the triumph of inhumanity. He is at first far from being self-consciously evil, and has a fierce integrity and a very strong sense of self. He also displays a relentless focus on logic and his desire to be understood by the Christians. Very quickly however, he turn into the villain repeating single-mindedly, Let him look to his bond. He has an obsession with the pound of flesh. His pound of flesh is so important to him simply because it is Antonios flesh. Antonio is a Christian and Shylock being a Jew, he is therefore stereotypically out to seek revenge. He is outraged that Christian Venice would deny him what is rightfully his. One explanation for why he feels this way is that he is merely emulating Christian behavior. Do some Christians hate cats, pigs, rats. Well, Shylock despises Antonio. Do some Christians own slaves. Well, Shylock is soon to own a pound of Antonio s flesh. His pursuit of the pound of flesh is an excercise is naked, almost absurd cruelty. I ll have my bond! Speak not against my bond (III.iii.4) he cries, and attempts at reason are denied when he says, I ll have no speaking; I will have my bond. If Shylock stands for his bond, then the Christians stand for mercy. Though they may hate the moneylender as much as he hates them, they can still put aside their desire for vengeance and show him mercy. Shylock defeats Antonio, but he cannot stop there; he cannot put aside his desire to see his enemy bleed to death in front of him. When the tables are turned, however, the Christians stop. They may wish to see Shylock bleed, but they exercise mercy where he exercised none. As the Duke said, Thou shalt see the difference of out spirit (I.iv.366). Shylock is very well aware that he is being persecuted against by the Christians. He says, Hath not a Jew eyes. Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions.…If you prick us, do we not bleed. (III.i.73). The reader is not, however, meant to sympathize with Shylock: he may have been wronged, but he lacks both mercy and sense of proportion, and his refusal to take pity on Antonio is contrasted with the mercy shown him by the Christians. At the end of the play the reader must accept that Shylocks conversion is a mercy, but one does not need to accept his statement that I am content (IV.i.392). A few line later, he leaves the stage and the play, saying, I pray you give me leave to go from hence. I am not well (IV.i.393-94). He more than not well-he is finished. His dignity, which he had preserved against all of Christian Venice is gone, and so is his integrity. Shylock simply cannot be a Christian; it is unimaginable. Thus, in order to save his play from the dark grip of Shylocks personality, Shakespeare abandons mercy and destroys his character. The other characters see Shylock as a villainous individual by nature. They condemn him for the practice of usury, and distrust him altogether. They feel that they were tricked into the situation. Antonio and Bassanio would never have made the agreement if they had not been under the assumption that it was as Shylock told them, in merry sport (I.ii.). They did not realize the extent of the situation they were getting themselves into. The Duke says that Shylock is, a stony adversary, an inhuman wretch (IV.i.5). Gratiano accuses him of being soulless, and states, You might as well use question with the world (IV.i.73). They feel the bond was made under false pretenses , as stated before, and therefore Shylock is a liar. Thus, Shylocks mind has been warped into obsession, not by Antonio alone, but by the persecutions visited on him by all of Christian Venice. He has taken Antonio as the embodiment of all his persecutors so that, in his pound of flesh, he can avenge himself on everyone. This pursuit seems to have sucked his own humanity away in the process. If Shylock stands for his bond, then the Christians stand for mercy. Though they may hate the moneylender as much as he hates them, they can still put aside their desire for vengeance and show him mercy. Shylock defeats Antonio, but he cannot stop there; he cannot put aside his desire to see his enemy bleed to death in front of him. When the tables are turned, however, the Christians stop. They may wish to see Shylock bleed, but they exercise mercy where he exercised none. As the Duke said, Thou shalt see the difference of out spirit (I.iv.366). Shylock is presented to the reader as the epitome of economic envy. The Christians in the story do not him because he is a usurer, and a Jew. They hate him because he embodies all the characteristic that they as Christians are supposed to despise. All the way from the fact that Jews rejected Christ, to the unspeakable horrors of ritual murder of ch