The Merchant Of Venice: Shylock - Victim Or Villain
Beginning of paper
In 1594 the Earl of Essex, an English Nobleman who lived during the
Elizabethan period in England, was actively involved in the persecution and
trials of Roderigo Lopez. Lopez was a Jew of Portuguese descent, who was
wrongly accused of attempting to poison the Queen of England, for reasons never
....
Middle of paper
.... Lopez sets the tone
for The Merchant of Venice. Lopez' incident occurred in 1594, The Merchant of
Venice was written only two years later. Anti-Semitism was prevalent during
Shakespeares' time, and therefore we must understand that it was as easy for him
to make a Jewish man the villain as it would be for us to make a Nazi the
villain. According to Sylvan Barnet "The Merchant of Venice [shows] the
broad outline of a comedy (not merely a play with jests, but a play that ends
happily). ....
------------------
Word count: 2695
Page count: 10 (approximately 250 words per page)
