Monday, February 13, 2017

Did Shylock deserve the punishment he received - Merchant of Venice

For the most part Shylock did deserve a punishment, after all he was trying to kill someone. I don't believe he entirely deserved the punishment he received. Making someone change their religion is way too extreme, it is asking someone to change the way they lived for their entire life. Also taking all of someone's money away that they've worked their entire life to get could be extreme, but he did try to kill someone. Antonio wasn't completely innocent either though, he deserved to be punished as well because of the way he's been treating Shylock his entire life. The majority of an Elizebathan audience would have thought he deserved the punishment, whether it is because they actually thought that or because he was Jewish I don't know. After all people were very Anti-Semitic in Europe back when this was written.

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