مجلة إشكالات في اللغة و الأدب
Volume 11, Numéro 2, Pages 720-729
2022-06-02

Anticipating The Jews’ Danger On Humanity In Shakespeare’s The Merchant Of Venice

Authors : Mihoubi Houria .

Abstract

The present research paper deals with the image of the Jews in the Shakespearean famous play The Merchant of Venice that has long been hated and criticized by the Jews throughout history. In this play, the character of Shylock represents the Jewish people who were part of the Venetian society. Shakespeare might have the intention to give his readers an idea about how the Jews looked like. He portrayed shylock as a stubborn man whose pride leads to provoking enmities. He is also greedy and materialist who has an incredible love for money .In addition, Shakespeare portrayed him as a vengeful man with a weak personality .The materialism of this Jewish character went to the extremes when nothing grieved him when his daughter fled with her Christian lover than his suddenness over the money.

Keywords

The Image ; the Jews ; Shakespeare ; the Merchant of Venice ; Judaism