Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

participating in blood libels, and for worshiping the devil. Eventually, they were ostracized from their
homes in England when they refused to denounce their faith and convert to Christianity. This brewing anti-
Semitism continued to grow over the next centuries until 1933 with the Nazi rise to power in Germany.
The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 were backed by Hitler and ordered the separation of Aryans and non-Aryans
which legalized a racist hierarchy. In 1938, the destruction of Jewish businesses and synagogues served as
the transition to “an era of destruction, in which genocide would become the singular focus of Nazi anti-
Semitism,” (ushmm.org). This horrible explosion of Jewish hate, the Holocaust, would dominate the next
twelve years in Europe.
In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is referred to as a devil, berated throughout the
course of the drama, and cast as the play’s ill-fated villain. Protagonist Antonio employs the English
Christian valued ideals of mercy in thwarting Shylocks money-lending business at every opportunity. He
belittles Shylock, comparing him to a dog, and agrees to forfeit a pound of flesh if his own altruistic act of
aiding his friend, Bassanio, rebounds. Wearied by the injustices of his providence, Shylock attempts to
illuminate similarities between himself and Antonio consequently attempting to establish his worth as a
fellow human. “Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?
Fed the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means,
warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If
you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that,” (3:1:49-57). As Jews, embodied by the
character of Shylock, nearly achieve redemption and recompense through the forfeit of Antonio’s bond,
Shakespeare thrusts Shylock to the dogs much to his audience’s presumed pleasure. Not only is Shylock
stripped of every tangible and intangible asset at the end of the play, his demise occurs at the hand of a
woman, the epitome of all disgrace. Portia, whose true identity is revealed solely to the audience, disguises
herself as a “lawyer,” or State’s Attorney that eventually brings the ax down upon Shylock.
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