Why were the Knights Templar persecuted? They were a major force in the Crusades and protected Christian pilgrims from being slaughtered during their long travels. They also had one of the largest banking systems in Europe during the height of their Order. Several countries considered them to be useful to them and they were on good terms with many royal families. So if they were such a reputable Order of Knights‚ why were they almost completely wiped out? After the First Crusade in 1100 A.D‚ several
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Shakespeare’s years. Jews were considered vile and scorned upon. Shakespeare presents Judaism as an ’unchangeable trait’" (Bloom 37). Shakespeare’s age based their anti-Semitism on religious grounds because 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 subvert spread of Christianity. The religious grounds of this anti-Semitism means that if a Jew converted to Christianity
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Drama was the chief literary glory of the Elizabethan age. In the beginning‚ these dramas were not so well- written‚ though the comedies were better than the tragedies. Ralph Roister Doister is taken as the first regular English comedy. It was a kind of farce in rough verse written by Nicholas Udall. Another comedy was Gammer Gurton’s Needle acted at Cambridge University in 1566. Lyly improved the comedy in his prose comedy Compaspe and Edimion. Gorboduc‚ written by Thomas Norton and Thomas
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<center><b>Show how the plot of The Merchant of Venice’ is apparently fanciful but in reality exactingly structured.</b></center> <br> <br>"The Merchant of Venice is a fairy tale. There is no more reality in Shylock’s bond and the Lord of Belmont’s will than in Jack and the Beanstalk." <br>H. Granville-Barker‚ in Prefaces to Shakespeare. <br> <br>This is one way of looking at the play‚ reading it or enjoying the performance. But it can be a contradiction to our actual feelings about this complex
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single-minded pursuit of a pound of flesh‚ his frequent mentions of the cruelty he has endured at Christian hands make it hard for us to label him a natural born monster. In one of Shakespeare’s most famous monologues‚ for example‚ Shylock argues that Jews are humans and calls his quest for vengeance the product of lessons taught to him by the cruelty of Venetian citizens. On the other hand‚ Shylock’s coldly calculated attempt to revenge the wrongs done to him by murdering his persecutor‚ Antonio‚ prevents
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In the process of development‚ English Drama had already passed through religious‚ moral and artistic period when towards the closing years of the 16th century it fell‚ for further development‚ into the hands of a group of well educated scholars who are generally referred to as University Wits. They were responsible for providing Shakespeare the right foundation so as to raise English Drama to the highest point and make it the greatest literary force of the Elizabethan age. In the tradition of Drama
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recording‚ or by an information storage and retrieval system‚ without permission in writing from the publisher. © 2006 Anti-Defamation League Page 2 Anti- Semitism and The Merchant of Venice: A Discussion Guide for Educators I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands‚ organs‚ dimension‚ senses‚ affections‚ passions IN THIS GUIDE I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. Teaching Controversial Texts A Brief History of Anti-Semitism Shakespeare s England Shylock: A Character Analysis Glossary Bibliography
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Nyesha Nicole Trusty ENGL 403 Final Paper The Merchant and the Jew: Examining the bond between Shylock and Antonio in The Merchant of Venice In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice‚ the use of oaths and exchange often help to forge personal bonds. For instance‚ Bassanio’s marriage to Portia is based off of both characters’ oaths to honor the instructions of Portia’s dead father; the exchange of wedding rings further seals their bond. Similarly‚ the bond between Shylock and Antonio is first
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to 1300 B.C. when the Jews were expelled from Egypt at the end of the nineteenth Dynasty.. Jews were accused of exploiting Christians and they were actually banned from England in 1290‚ and were not allowed back into England several decades after ‘The Merchant of Venice’ had been written. The Elizabethans were ignorant of the Jewish culture. Shakespeare knew that the majority of the population was Christian and had to write something that was somewhat an outrage to the Jews. So he decided to write
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raise the issue of anti-Semitism as a precursor to examining the text‚ and to explore this type of prejudice as both a historical and contemporary phenomenon. Throughout the play‚ Shylock‚ and by extension‚ all Jews‚ are presented as moneyhungry‚ conniving‚ and cruel. Shylock the Jew‚ as he is called by everyone in the play is compared with a dog‚ a cur‚ and a demon‚ and is referred to as the very devil incarnation. Teachers should be aware of the negative impact these words and ideas could
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