Review of The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare...

Review of The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare Shakespeare wrote the Merchant of Venice, it is one of Shakespeares less known plays because the original manuscripts were lost but the play did re-surface in the 1600s. In Shakespeares time there was only one Jew in England, he name was Rodrigo Lopez. He was the Queens Physician and was only half Jew. He was tried and executed. Shakespeare probably never met a Jew so he may have got his attitudes towards Jews from his experiences of them; he may also have†¦show more content†¦The courtroom scene is one of the most important scenes because everyone is on stage and it is the penultimate scene of the play. Act IV Scene I is a stage for Shakespeare to present his ideas to the audience, he shows the Duke using derogatory language towards Shylock to show the attitudes of Venice towards Jews and he also shows us that women were not recognised in court through Nerissa and Portia dressing up as men to save Antonio. This scene also shows a change in attitude over time because in Shakespeares time a Jew having to change to a Christian was a fate worse than death because it is a spiritual death and some people would say if you cant be yourself whats the point of life. But in our time death is much worse because we are not so religious. As the scene opens, the Duke begins the dialogue with references to Shylock. The Duke uses phrases such as `That thou but leadest this fashion of thy malice, `thou art come to answer a stony adversary, an inhuman wretch to describe Shylock and his actions. Shakespeare uses this language to show how alienated Shylock is from the rest of the people in the courtroom and it also sets the scene that the trial is straight away biased because of the prejudice towards Jews. 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