What is background of merchant of venice ? 5 single side page- limit
Answers
Background to the "Merchant of Venice."
William Shakespeare wrote an extraordinary
Play and called it the "Merchant of Venice", during the 16th Century.
Elizabethans of this time, were extremely anti-Semitic and because
of their anti-Semitism the subject matter of the play alone would
have grabbed the audiences' attention. Inspirations for
The "Merchant of Venice" came from two different places for Shakespeare.
Firstly there was a play showing called the "Jew of Malta."
In this play, written by Christopher Marlowe The Jews were portrayed
as monsters. Again, prior to Shakespeare's play Dr Lopez-who was
Queen Elizabeth's physician, was accused of attempting to poison
The Queen. The events only added to the Elizabethans Semitism
and because of these events the Elizabethans were not Happy or Pleasant
towards the Jews.
The "Merchant of Venice" seemed to be a perfect opportunity
to express their hate for the Jewish nation.
"Lopez" is the Spanish word for wolf.
A wolf is a type of dog and throughout the book
we read of Shakespeare referring to the Jews as dogs.
Once again the Elizabethans would not have seen anything wrong with this,
for that was how they referred to the Jews themselves.
What we need to realize is that there isn't only one audience;
in fact there are two- the 16th Century audience and
the 21st Century audience.
Whereas people of the 16th Century agreed with Shakespeare
attitude towards Jews, the attitude of the 21st Century
has completely changed.
This change in attitude has happened due to the events of World War II,
where Adolph Hitler and the Nazis treated the Jews in unimaginable,
inhuman and unacceptable ways.
Over thirty thousand Jews were sent to concentration camps.
Answer:
Explanation:
William Shakespeare wrote an extraordinary
Play and called it the "Merchant of Venice", during the 16th Century.
Elizabethans of this time, were extremely anti-Semitic and because
of their anti-Semitism the subject matter of the play alone would
have grabbed the audiences' attention. Inspirations for
The "Merchant of Venice" came from two different places for Shakespeare.