The Presentation of Shylock and Antonio as Conflicting...

The Presentation of Shylock and Antonio as Conflicting Opposites in The Merchant of Venice Shakespeare personifies the juxtaposed themes of this play; justice and mercy, forgiveness and revenge. He contrasts characters of Shylock and Antonio to represent these key ideas. Shakespeare’s character representations of these themes certify that they are constantly played out against each other throughout the play. The play presents anti-semitic ideas, depicting Shylock, a Jew, as evil and Antonio, a Christian, as good. Stereotyping in this play is used to portray Shylock as malicious, selfish and hateful man who only cares about money. Antonio, on the other hand, is portrayed as the ‘perfect Christian’;†¦show more content†¦The ‘idea of scales’ used to represent the way the characters are seen, also represents the juxtaposed themes of justice and mercy in the court scene and for each theme that each character stands for- Shylock for justice, Antonio for mercy. The themes begin balanced but as the play proceeds mercy triumphs over reve nge and this is personified through Shylock’s downfall. The reason behind the portrayal of Shylock is because of the anti-semitic attitudes of the Elizabethan’s of that time; therefore Shakespeare painted Jews in a bad light to get a bigger audience. The Elizabethans inherited the fiction, fabricated by the early Church, that the Jews murdered Christ and were therefore in league with the devil and were actively working to destroy Christianity. Jews were classified as an inferior race with specific physical and personality characteristics. Racial prejudice created negative stereotypes existing from Christian anti-Semitism. A reason behind this stereotyping was an increasing nationalistic fear, highlighting the Jews as a ‘foreign element’. This anti-semitism is reflected in the literature of the time, and Jews were used to portray evil, heartless characters. In ‘The Jew of Malta’, for e.g., Christopher Marlowe uses a Jew, Barabas to represent his central malevolent character. The personal view of Shakespeare may have been different as within this