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"The Merchant of Venice", by William Shakespeare, uses prejudice and anti-semitism as a dominant theme. Many of the people of Shakespeare's time shared the belief that Jewish people were inferior to Christians, a belief reaching as far back as ancient roman times. Christianity came from Judaism, and the Christians believed themselves to be perfection of the Jewish religion. Christians viewed the Jews as people that needed converting, and took it upon themselves to convert the Jewish population. It is my opinion that Shakespeare does not advocate anti-Semitism but attempts to expose it. When the play is first read, Shylock, the Jew appears to be the villain. Upon closer inspection we see that he is a man that has been persecuted all of his life because of his Jewish background. Shylock is not the villain in this story but a victim of his own anger and frustration at a lifetime of persecution and alienation for being a Jew.
Shylock is a defensive character because society is......

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Approximate Word Count: 1730
Approximate Pages: 7 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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