 The theme of prejudice is prevalent within the merchant of Venice. Now on the one hand prejudice and especially when it came to darker-skinned characters or characters that were different, okay? So of course, you've got the main villain of the play. This is Shylock. He was different because he was Jewish. However, you also had the Prince of Morocco, okay? So this is when Portia was waiting for the correct suitor to pick their caskets. She showed an extreme dislike and an aversion towards the Prince of Morocco simply because of the complexion of his skin, okay? Remember that Moroccans are darker-skinned than Europeans, okay? So they are part of Africa, okay? Just north of the Sahara and especially during this time in Venetian society and indeed in Elizabethan society, people who were not European were also seen in very prejudiced terms. They were seen as outsiders. They were seen as others. They were seen as devilish, okay? So the theme of prejudice is used, especially by Shakespeare, firstly, to reflect Venetian society, which was incredibly close-minded and incredibly negative towards outsiders, okay? Also remember in terms of how Shylock is treated. He as a Jew and during this time in society, Jewish people were barred. They were banned from most other professions and the few remaining professions were allowed to practice in Venetian society was basically money lending and of course they had to make some money off lending and hence why there was interest charged, okay? This is usury. This is what Shylock is criticized by Antonio for practicing. However, he doesn't have any other way of making money, okay? So on the one hand, we can see that Venetian society was incredibly close-minded and very prejudicial towards outsiders. However, going back to the point that I made with regards to Shylock, perhaps the fact that he had so little options, is the fact that he was so mistreated as a Jewish man in society, perhaps he became a villain as a result of this treatment. Maybe he wasn't inherently a villain, so maybe we could also interpret this as Shakespeare subtly criticising this extremely prejudiced society, which then creates its own villains out of the people that it excludes, okay? The final thing you can also mention is that Venetians of course also pride themselves in being Christians. Antonio asked Shylock to convert into Christianity. He was even labelled as the misbelieving dog, okay? However, the irony is that Christianity teaches values of acceptance, values of forgiveness, and Antonio, as well as all the other Venetians, practice the opposite traits, okay? So when Shylock is caught up in the legal laws, when both of us are basically interprets it in a way that basically means that Shylock cannot extract Antonio's pound of flesh. They then become very unforgiving towards him, okay? So there's also, we can see that within this very ugly emotion of prejudice and within this very ugly theme of prejudice, actually people who are prejudiced tend to contradict themselves, okay? So Antonio is criticising Shylock, he practices the same issues, and he shows the same lack of forgiveness that he criticises Shylock for, okay? So this is an important theme, and as you can see behind me, I have selected the most relevant quotations you can consider if you're writing about the theme of prejudice. So let's get started with the first quotation. Now this first quotation is tying into Portia and how prejudiced she was towards the Prince of Morocco, simply based on the colour of his skin. She automatically rejected him, she did not want him to pick the right casket, just because he was darker skinned, okay? So he was from North Africa, and she states, if he had the condition of a saint and the complexion of a devil, I'd rather he should shrive me than wife me, remember shrive, by the way, is a priest basically giving their followers and things sacraments, okay? So she's basically saying, oh, he looks like a devil, but if he is a saint internally, so if he's like a priest internally, I'd rather he basically treats me like a priest treats his congregation rather than making me his wife, okay? So we can see here that she has this extreme disgust of the Prince of Morocco, simply because of the colour of his skin, okay? Now of course here what Portia's attitude is illustrating is the typical Venetian attitude during this time, and of course also the typical Elizabethan attitude towards outsiders during this time, okay? Majority of people tended to be very close-minded, towards outsiders, towards non-Europeans, and anyone that was darker skinned was seen as somehow devilish. Now the one level artist which illustrates this form of prejudice is firstly the alliteration of H in he have, also the oxymoron of saint and devil, okay? So the Prince of Morocco is described as looking like a devil, looking devilish just because he's dark skinned, but he, even if he had a good heart within, Portia doesn't really care, she doesn't care about how he is internally, it's all about his external appearance and that's what really repulses her. And then finally you've got sibilance of should and strive, okay? So of course here she's being very sarcastic, she's basically saying even if he's like, he's as pure as a priest, I'd rather him treat me like a priest treats his congregation rather than making me his wife, I'm just too disgusted by him, okay? So of course this is illustrating and reflecting Venetian society ideas and norms at the time which it was seen as unheard of, of anybody of darker complexion, anybody, any outsiders, any non-European marrying a European person, it simply never happened, okay? And it's because they were very extremely prejudiced and very racist towards outsiders. The next quotation which you can tie in to the theme of prejudice of course is Sherlock's character and Sherlock then basically shows that, you know, Antonio mistreated him purely because he practices lending and asking and charging interest on top of his lending, okay? And going back to the idea that contextually in Venetian society Jewish people were barred from most professions, they didn't have a choice but to do some of the few professions that were remaining to them which is for example lending money and charging interest, that's the only way they can make money, okay? And Sherlock is angry that Antonio mistreats him for this, he states, Senor Antonio, many a time ellipsis, you have rated me about my money's ellipsis and usances, okay? So usances means when you practice a usury, basically lending money and then charging interest on top and Antonio has criticized Sherlock for this, okay? And he's saying, oh, it's so unquestioned that you're doing this, you know, you Jewish people are doing this but actually he's criticising him for practicing usury but then mistreating him and treating him in a very unquestionably manner. In other words, he's treating him in a really horrible way, mistreating him, okay? So of course we could say that the way even Antonio treats Sherlock and the way society at large treats Sherlock is also criticism, a subtle criticism on Venetian society, they were supposedly Christian but they were acting on a very un-Christian way towards Sherlock in how badly they treated him. The word level analysis you want to focus on here and of course we can see that Sherlock, he's being made a villain by society because society is rejecting him, Venetian society specifically. The word level analysis you want to focus on is the words money and usances which belong to the semantic field of lending. Sherlock had no choice but to be a money lender, okay? The next quotation which ties in to the theme of prejudice is now how Sherlock is, we can see the reason why Sherlock becomes a villain. He becomes a villain because of how badly society treats him and they've basically made him into a villain, he states, you call me misbeliever cutthroat dog, okay? So here he uses the metaphor dog, okay? So Antonio calls him a dog and also by the extension most of Venetian society calls him these terrible names, okay? Because he's Jewish and again what this is illustrating is extreme racist views and the extreme prejudice that Venetian society held towards Sherlock that treated him with a lot of contempt based on something he can't control based on just him being a Jewish man, okay? And of course here we can really empathize with Sherlock, okay? And we can see the prejudice. Also the adjective misbeliever is ironic because Antonio is calling him a misbeliever not believing in Christian ideas but he's criticising him and treating him really badly as a Christian and thus he's not really practising any Christian values and morals, okay? So it would be one thing if maybe he saw Sherlock as a misbeliever but still treated him with kindness still exercised Christian values of kindness but actually Antonio treats him really badly and he says he's going to treat him badly because he's a misbeliever, he's not a Christian. So again there's a lot of irony in the treatment of Antonio towards Sherlock. He also is not using very godly principles in the way he treats him. The next quotation tying into the theme of prejudice is when Antonio basically states that he does not trust Sherlock and he states, yes, even if Sherlock knows the Bible even the devil knew the Bible, okay? And the devil was a fallen angel from God, okay? So and he states, and of course again here this is a lot of prejudice because he's basically seeing Sherlock just because he's Jewish, he's devilish, okay? And he states, the devil can cite scripture for his purpose, okay? And of course here the words devil and scripture belong to the semantic field of religion. Again what we can see here is the extreme prejudice views that many of the characters held towards Sherlock purely because he is Jewish. The next quotation tying into the theme of prejudice and this is perhaps the most famous quote from the merchant of Venice, okay? So this is Sherlock's impassioned plea to everybody and basically saying, look, though you guys are treating me, you're treating me subhumanly and you're thinking that I'm kind of not a human but I believe like you guys, I basically am a human like you guys, okay? So can you not really put yourselves in my shoes, okay? And this really inspires a feeling of sympathy within us as the audience, okay? With fill some pathos. Now he asks and he states, I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands? Organs dimension, senses, affections, passions, okay? So he asks these series of rhetorical questions which really trigger us to realize how silly prejudiced ideas are towards other people. Here we can see that Sherlock is basically asking, I'm just a human being like you guys, why are you treating me like I'm subhuman, okay? Now here you want to focus firstly on the rhetorical questions, okay? So Hath not a Jew eyes and then Hath not a Jew hands and so on, okay? So rhetorical questions. Also you want to focus on how persuasive Sherlock is being. He's using repetitive language. Hath not, Hath not, okay? So Hath not, that's repetition. And finally you want to focus on the listing of human body parts, okay? And this is a syndetine, okay? So he uses asyndentic listing. So he lists hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions, okay? And here what this is just illustrating is Sherlock is a human being just like them and he doesn't deserve this kind of treatment and what this is also showing is just how absurd prejudice is because it tries to treat the person who is being made an outsider almost as if they're subhuman when that's not really the case, okay? The next quotation which can you use relating to prejudice is now this is specifically tying into another outsider. Of course this is the Prince of Morocco who I've mentioned and he tries to make a plea to Portia, mislike me not for my complexion. So again here it's really clear that he understands that because he's an outsider because he's from North Africa, he is disliked simply because of how dark-skinned he is. However, Portia is too consumed with the prejudice. She's too focused on the color of his skin. She judges him purely based on that, okay? Now the word love analysis you want to focus on here which obviously illustrates her prejudice is firstly the litteration of M in mislike me, okay? And also the adjective complexion. Again here Portia takes a very shallow approach in terms of judging his character because of her prejudice. The final quotation tying into the theme of prejudice is when Shylock, when Portia rather, she is disguised as the lawyer Balthazar and she asks and this is when of course she cracks the case, she helps Antonio beat the case and so this is when she first approaches, she's this supposed very successful lawyer as Balthazar, she's a man and she asks which is the merchant here and which the Jew, okay? Now what you want to focus on of course is the repetition of the word the, okay? Which is what we call a definite article. The reason why this is important is because think about referring to somebody using this definite article. Sometimes it can be very alienating, okay? If you refer to somebody as the Christian, the atheist, the Buddhist and so on. This is a really alienating way of referring to people, okay? And specifically when Balthazar and of course this is Portia states the Jew, this is very, very dehumanizing because whilst Antonio, he is referred to as his profession, the merchant, okay? He recognizes being more complex than just being the man. Shylock is characterized simply by just being a Jew, okay? And of course, again, what this is illustrating is just how acceptable it was in Venetian society at the time to basically see somebody based on just the, you know, the religious category or the racial group that they belong to, okay? So that's really it when it comes to the main creations which I would suggest using if you're writing about the theme of prejudice in Merchant of Venice. Thank you so much for listening.