Online Lesson #10

Themes
Religion Tensions
Shylock, the Jewish moneylender, is vilified by a flagrantly anti-Semitic society. He is presented in the most stereotypical of anti-Semitic terms: he has red hair (a 17th-century reference to the devil) and a big nose, dresses in filthy clothes, and is a seemingly greedy loan shark with little compassion for others. When his daughter runs off with a Christian suitor, taking a considerable sum of her father's money with her, the devastated Shylock can't decide which loss is greater -- his ducats or his daughter.

But Shakespeare also lets a Jewish character make an impassioned plea for empathy. When maligned by Antonio and his Christian cohorts, Shylock says in his now-famous speech, "Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions...If you prick us do we not bleed...?" Bassanio, the Christian courtier, is as fond of money as Shylock is. In Shakespeare's time, audiences expected a Jewish character to be fiendishly cruel. Since Elizabethans believed that conversion amounted to saving one's soul, Shakespeare gives Shylock, in Elizabethan terms, a happy ending.



Narrative

Micheal leaned silently and sadly on the wall of the house. Why did his employer discriminate him just because he is a Jew and not a Christian. Why does his Employer thinks that he has no human rights and treat him just like a slave. Can't his employer just treat him just like a employee and respect him? Why does his employer criticize his religion continuously. Can't he just respect it even if he doesn't agree with the religions belief. Can't he just treat him equally. Everyday after finishing the massive load of work that his employer gave to him on purpose, he would be forced to clean up the whole office while listening to his employer's insults on his religion. Its already been a year since his boss has been treating him badly. Should he resign and find a better job, or should he cope with it and continue with this high-paying job. After considering for a while, he decided. He would rather work happily than work under a boss who despise him and pick on him. This was the choice he had to make. He had to be proud of his religion and find a new enployer who accepts him for who he is
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Research
Themes:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/13389f98-49ab-11e0-acf0-00144feab49a.html#axzz1RtoLGUfp
http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/jewsandjesus/