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Character Analysis of Shylock from The Merchant of Venice

William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice is a classic play that has also brought about some issues revolving around the antagonist of the story Shylock. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the character of Shylock in the play and also introduce the uses of that name throughout history down to the present day. Shylock in Shakespeares work is a money lending Jew who pursues money with strong vigor and attachment. Shylock is also portrayed as literally bloodthirsty as he demands punishment of mutilation as retribution for delinquency. Shylock is not portrayed very well in this story as he is duped in the end and eventually his owed debt is erased by the court as he exits in shame and defeat. Understanding the character of Shylock requires some knowledge about the history of money lending and the term usury. Usury is the practice of charging interest when lending money. This practice was usually despised throughout history beginning with Jesus throwing his fit in the temple in protest of this practice. The morality of practicing usury is certainly debatable, but what is not in dispute, is the tendency for people of Jewish heritage to become involved in this practice. Shakespeares Shylock was indeed based on truth, Jews have a history of dominating the banking and financial sectors of society. This trend certainly continues today. Many Jewish individuals are at the top of the ladder in the leading financial firms of today. Companies such as Goldman Sachs, JPShow MoreRelatedThe Merchant of Venice939 Words   |  4 PagesContrast of Shylock and Claudius Introduction This essay looks into the lives of Shylock and Antonio. These are two of Shakespearean antagonists of all time. They are alike in more ways than one. Shylock in Merchant of Venice is a Jewish moneylender based in Venice. He has been tormented and repressed mainly by the Christian population. One finds it easy to sympathize with him mainly because he has his own reasons to be loathing, greedy, and miserly. This ends up making the entire ‘Merchant of Venice’Read MoreRacism And Prejudice By William Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice Essay1699 Words   |  7 Pagesreligion and what they believe in, however there is racism and prejudice present in the world. William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is one of his most controversial plays. Written in the 16th century England, the play poses many questions concerning racial, religious and human differences due to anti-semitism being very common at the time. The story is set in Venice where a merchant named Antonio lived. His poor friend Bassanio wants to charm and marry a lovely, rich girl of Belmont called PortiaRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice2059 Words   |  9 Pagesin The Merchant of Venice resembles a folktale known as â€Å"A Pound of Flesh† (325). Artese supports his supposition with background context and parallels between the two story lines. Literary versions of the pound of flesh story circulated during the sixteenth century and were collected since the nineteenth century because of the plot’s longevity and populairity Shakespeare would have been familiar with pound of flesh stories (326). Human commodification is a central issue in both The Merchant of VeniceRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice989 Words   |  4 PagesThe Play Analysis of The Merchant of Venice The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare Comedy’s published in the First Folio. (McDonald 212) This analysis will review the written work of the play and the production from the Sweet Tea Shakespeare Theater Group. An overview on a few on the main stories within the play: the animosity in the relationship between Antonio the merchant and Shylock the Jewish moneylender, the courtship of Bassanio and Portia, and the secret eloping of Jessica and LorenzoRead MoreMerchant of Venice - Plot Structure1714 Words   |  7 Pagesof ‘The Merchant of Venice is apparently fanciful but in reality exactingly structured./b/center br brThe Merchant of Venice is a fairy tale. There is no more reality in Shylocks bond and the Lord of Belmonts will than in Jack and the Beanstalk. brH. Granville-Barker, in Prefaces to Shakespeare. br brThis 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 play. ‘The Merchant of VeniceRead More Shakespeares Presentation of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice831 Words   |  4 PagesShakespeares Presentation of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice This essay is an analysis of how the character of Shylock, in the play The Merchant of Venice, is presented to the audience, by Shakespeare, in different ways. The riveting play shows the best and worst aspects of human nature and contains one of Shakespeares most reviled, complex and compelling characters. Love and romance end this play, yet before that come bigotry, racism, hatred, death threats andRead MoreMerchant Of Venice Essay Outline956 Words   |  4 Pages The Merchant of Venice Essay Outline Introduction: Hook: The theme is the main subject or message of a story. It is used to give depth and enhance the plot. The themes of The Merchant of Venice are used throughout the story of the play to make the plot move along and to encourage the characters into action. Bridge: When you read The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare there are many themes throughout the play and many lessons to be learned. Main Ideas: The most important themes are hatredRead MoreIs Shylock The Villain Or Victim In The Merchant Of Venice By William Shakespeare1411 Words   |  6 PagesCharacter Analysis Shylock Is Shylock the villain or the victim in the Merchant of Venice? In the play the ‘Merchant of Venice’ by William Shakespeare the antagonist Shylock is both the victim and the villain. Shylock is a Jewish moneylender and is initially portrayed as anger filled and bloodthirsty but as the play continues we begin to see him as more human and his emotions become more evident. As the antagonist, Shylock is a fearful adversary to Antonio, the protagonist. But as good begins toRead MoreAnalysis of The Merchant of Venice Essay513 Words   |  3 PagesAnalysis of The Merchant of Venice William Shakespeares play The Merchant of Venice is based on a simple enough plot, but it gives a more complex view of the characters involved. It portrays each characters attitude, opinions and actions and shows how they affect the other characters. ====================================================================== Shylock is perhaps the most noteworthy character. He is centred on most of the plays events. Throughout theRead MoreLiterary Criticism Of William Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice 850 Words   |  4 Pagesanalyze all other disciplines associated with the play in question. Some have also criticized Shakespeare as being a master of only one single genre of drama as in relation to other plays. Feminist criticism Feminist approach applied to the Merchant of Venice is relatively a new area of study. The fundamental idea is that the western world is entirely patriarchal (created, ruled, and viewed through the eyes of men) (Janik 170). During the 1960s, the movement began to form a new approach of criticizing

Mughal Emperor Akbar Free Essays

Muhammad Akbar was born at Aurangabad in the Deccan to Dilras Banu Begum, Aurangzeb’s first wife and chief consort. She was a member of the Safavid dynasty and was the daughter of Mirza Shahnawaz Khan, a minister at the mughal court. She died when Akbar was only one month old. We will write a custom essay sample on Mughal Emperor Akbar or any similar topic only for you Order Now For this reason, Akbar was brought up with special care and affection by his father. He was his father’s favourite and most-loved son as Aurangzeb, himself, said in a letter to him, â€Å"God be my witness that I have loved you more than my other sons. † At the age of 15, Akbar was wed to a granddaughter of his paternal uncle, Dara Shikoh, who had been killed at Aurangzeb’s behest. Salima begum was the daughter of Sulaiman Shikoh, eldest son of Dara Shikoh. Later, Akbar also married a daughter of an Assamese nobleman. He was the father of two sons and two daughters, including Nikusiyar, who briefly became mughal emperor in 1719. Like other Mughal princes, Muhammad Akbar administered various provinces and fought minor campaigns under the guidance of experienced officers. His first independent command was during Aurangzeb’s war of the Jodhpur succession. The Rajput War[edit] Jaswant Singh, who was Maharaja of Jodhpur, was also a high-ranking Mughal officer. He died at his post on the Khyber Pass on 10 December 1678. He died without leaving male issue, but two of his wives were pregnant at the time of his death. The succession was thus unclear. When the news of the death reached Aurangzeb, he immediately dispatched a large army (9 January 1679) to occupy the state of Jodhpur. One of the division of this army was commanded by Akbar. Aurangzeb occupied Jodhpur ostensibly to secure the succession for any male infant born to Jaswant’s pregnant widows. He declared that such rightful heir would be invested with his patrimony upon coming of age. However, relations between Jaswant and Aurangzeb had not been very happy, and it was feared that Aurangzeb, a notorious bigot, would annex the state for good on this pretext. Indeed, incumbent officers in Jodhpur state were replaced by mughal officers. Many temples in Jodhpur were broken and the idols were carried to Delhi, where they were placed at the entrance of the Jama Masjid so that they could be trampled underfoot and defiled by the Muslims. After thus effectively annexing the largest Hindu state in northern India, Aurangzeb reimposed the jaziya tax on the non-Muslim population (2 April 1679), almost a century after it had been abolished by his tolerant ancestor Akbar I. All this made the emperor extremely unpopular among the Rajputs. One of Jaswant’s pregnant wives was duly delivered of a son, who was named Ajit Singh. Officers loyal to Jaswant brought his family back to Jodhpur and rallied the clan to the standards of the infant. The Rajputs of Jodhpur (Rathore clan) forged an alliance with the neighboring Rajput state of Mewar (Sisodia clan). Maharana Raj Singh of Mewar withdrew his army to the western portion of his kingdom, marked by the rugged Aravalli hills and secured by numerous hill-forts. From this position, the smaller but faster Rajput cavalry units could surprise the Mughal outposts in the plains, loot their supply trains, and bypass their camps to ravage neighbouring Mughal provinces. In the second half of 1680, after several months of such setbacks, Aurangzeb decided on an all-out offensive. Nicolao Manucci, an Italian gunner in the Mughal army, says: â€Å"for this campaign, Aurangzeb put in pledge the whole of his kingdom. Three separate armies, under Aurangzeb’s sons Akbar, Azam and Muazzam, penetrated the Aravalli hills from different directions. However, their artillery lost its effectiveness while being dragged around the rugged hills and both Azam and Muazzam were defeated by the Rajputs and beaten back. Akbar’s rebellion[edit] Akbar and his general Tahawwur Khan had been instructed to t ry to bribe the Rajput nobles to the Mughal side, but in these attempts, they themselves were ensnared by the Rajputs. The Rajputs incited Akbar to rebel against his father and offered all support. They pointed out to him that Aurangzeb’s attempt to annex the Rajput states was disturbing the stability of India. They also reminded him that the open bigotry displayed by Aurangzeb in reimposing jaziya and demolishing temples was contrary to the wise policies of his ancestors. Prince Akbar lent a willing ear to the Rajputs and promised to restore the policies of the illustrious Akbar. On 1 January 1681, Akbar declared himself Emperor, issued a manifesto deposing his father, and marched towards Ajmer to fight him. As the commander of a Mughal division, Akbar had a force of 12,000 cavalry with supporting infantry and artillery. To this, the Maharana of Mewar added 6,000 Rajput cavalry, being half his own army. As this combined army crossed Jodhpur state, numerous war-bands of Rathores joined up and increased its strength to 25,000 cavalry. Meanwhile, various Mughal divisions deployed around the Aravalli hills had been racing to come to Aurangzeb’s aid. Aurangzeb however resorted to threats and treachery: he sent a letter to Tahawwur Khan promising to pardon him but also threatening to have his family publicly dishonored by camp ruffians if he refused to submit. The Mughal noble secretly came over to meet his master but was killed in a scuffle at the entrance to Aurangzeb’s tent. The crafty Mughal Emperor then wrote a false letter to Akbar and arranged it such that the letter was intercepted by the Rajputs. In this letter, Aurangzeb congratulated his son for finally bringing the Rajput guerillas out in the open where they could be crushed by father and son together. The Rajput commanders suspected this letter to be false but took it to Akbar’s camp for an explanation. Here they discovered that Tahawwur Khan had disappeared. Suspecting the worst, the Rajputs departed in the middle of the night. The next morning, Akbar woke to find his chief adviser and his allies gone and his own soldiers deserting by the hour to Aurangzeb. The would-be emperor escaped the prospect of war with his father by hastily departing the camp with a few close followers. He caught up with the Rajputs commanders and mutual explanations followed. Aftermath[edit] Seeing that Akbar had attempted no treachery and that he could be useful, the Rathore leader Durgadas took Akbar to the court of the Maratha king Sambhaji, seeking support for the project of placing him on the throne of Delhi. For fully five years, Akbar stayed with Sambhaji, hoping that the latter would lend him men and money to strike and seize the Mughal throne for himself. But at that time, Sambhaji was engaged in uncovering the conspiracy against him. After which, he was engrossed in wars against Siddhis of Janjira, Chikka Dev Rai of Mysore, Portuguese of Goa and Aurangzeb. In September 1686, Sambhaji sent Akbar to Persia. In Persia, Akbar was said to pray daily for the speedy death of his father, which alone would give him another chance to wrest the Mughal throne for himself. On hearing of this, Aurangzeb is said to have remarked, â€Å"Let us see who dies first. He or I! † As it turned out, Akbar died in 1704, three years before his father’s demise. He died at the town of Mashhad in Persia. Two of Akbar’s children were brought up by the Rajputs, until as a result of peace negotiations, they were handed over to the old emperor. Akbar’s daughter Safiyat-un-nissa was sent to her grandfather in 1696 and his son Buland Akhtar was returned in 1698. The latter, when presented in court, shocked his grandfather and nobles by speaking fluently in the Rajasthani language. Legacy[edit] In the words of Jadunath Sarkar: â€Å"The rebellion of Prince Akbar, though it was fostered by the Rajputs and originated, grew to fullness, and expired in Northern India, changed the history of the Deccan and hastened the fate of the Mughal Empire as well. His flight to Shambhuji raised a danger to the throne of Delhi which could be met only by Aurangzib’s personal appearance in the south. But for this alliance, the Emperor would have left Bijapur and Golconda to be occasionally threatened and fleeced by his generals, while the Maratha king would have been tolerated as a necessary evil and even as a thorn in the side of Bijapur. But Akbar’s flight to the Deccan forced a complete change on the imperial policy in that quarter. The first task of Aurangzeb now was to crush the power of Shambhuji and render Akbar impotent for mischief. For this he patched up a peace with the Maharana (June 1681) and left for the Deccan to direct the operations of his army. † Notes[edit] ^ According to Tarikh-i-Muhammadi, his death of death is 31 March 1706 (Irvine, William (1922) Later Mughals, Volume I, Jadunath Sarkar ed. , Calcutta: M. C. Sarkar Sons, p. 1) ^ Sir Jadunath Sarkar (1919). Studies in Mughal India. W. Heffer and Sons. How to cite Mughal Emperor Akbar, Papers

Elian Gonzalez Essay Research Paper On November free essay sample

Elian Gonzalez Essay, Research Paper On November 25th, 1999, Elian Gonzalez was found cleaving to an inner tubing three stat mis off the seashore of Ft. Lauderdale after a boat transporting his female parent, stepfather and 11 others seemingly sank on its manner to the United States. He had been drifting in the interior tubing for two yearss and darks, and after being admitted to a infirmary he had been found to be in unusually good form sing he was without nutrient and H2O. But the worst was yet to come for Elian Gonzalez. Almost instantly after his release from the infirmary, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, the male child? s male parent, claims that Elian? s female parent kidnapped the male child, and he wants Elian returned to Cuba. The Cuban authorities chose to endorse up Elian? s male parent in the demand, and that is when the inquiry arose. What would the hereafter clasp in shop for Elian Gonzalez? Would he be returned to a life with his male parent in Cuba or would he be kept under better life conditions in the United Sta tes of America? Before you go and make up your head on this issue, I? d like you to see a few things. We will write a custom essay sample on Elian Gonzalez Essay Research Paper On November or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The INS ruled that in the name of # 8220 ; household reunion # 8221 ; Elian must return to Cuba, and many people agreed with the thought. But would such a determination be tolerated if it involved, say, a Judaic male child who had come to the United States from Nazi Germany during the 1930s? Would he hold been sent back if the male parent # 8211 ; with a gun to his dorsum # 8211 ; declared his desire to hold his kid returned to slavery or to a concentration cantonment? Would everyone reason that the kid # 8217 ; s best involvements are served by # 8220 ; household reunion # 8221 ; ? Surely non. Why, so, is Elian # 8217 ; s state of affairs any different? Life in totalitarian Cuba, after all, is fundamentally life in bondage. I think that it is best put in the words of Mr. Jacoby, editorialist of the Boston Globe. ? Send Elian back and he will be allowed to populate with his male parent until he is eleven ; thereafter he will be sent to work in a farm-labor cantonment for 45 t o 60 yearss per twelvemonth. Send Elian back and he will confront mandatory military service until he is 27. Send Elian back and he will be indoctrinated in the glorifications of # 8220 ; the revolution # 8221 ; and taught to see any Cubans who reject Castroism? including his dead female parent? as counterrevolu tionaries and treasonists. Send Elian back and he will be allowed to go to college merely if his â€Å"political attitude and societal conduct† ? to cite the relevant Cuban jurisprudence? satisfy the government in Havana. ? Elian was brought to America by his female parent and stepfather, both of whom died during the unsafe crossing from Cuba. The really fact that people will put on the line such a crossing should clearly demo the consequences of Fidel Castro? s communist absolutism. In a absolutism, the person is regarded as holding no rights ; his individual and belongings may be disposed of by the province whenever the province sees it necessary. A individual has no right to take his ain calling, to run his ain concern, to believe independently, to try to alter the political government under which he lives, or even to go forth for a different, freer state. What parent would desire their kid to populate in this sort of environment? I think that we all know that if Elian is sent back to Cuba, his male parent will be the lone one to take attention of him, and by the sound of it Elian? s male parent won? T be able to give Elian the sort of life Elian deserves. If Elian is to remain with all his relations in the United States, his success won? T be guaranteed but he will hold a much better opportunity at it. Congressional Republicans have agreed to manus over Elian supplying his male parent, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, agrees to come to the United States to pick him up. It is true that the male parent? s ain wants can non be ascertained while he is still in Cuba and therefore non free to talk since the fact remains that every bit long as he is in Cuba, what Castro tells him to state goes. Many think that this would be the best reply. If the male parent were to come to the United States of America to claim his boy, so the most likely result would be the male parent would stop up remaining along with Elian in the United States. In the terminal, I think that the reply to this job is rather obvious. Look at it this manner: the legal criterion in these instances is the? best involvements? of the kid. We? re left with lone one inquiry: would it be in Elian Gonzalez? s best involvements to remain in a life of freedom with his relations or would he be better off in communist Cuba populating a life of bondage under the regulation of Castro?