Tell us about your current financial situation. Why do you need assistance?

The current pandemic has lulled India’s economy into a deep slumber. I reside in India and
there is a lockdown in my city till date and have been working as a private tutor. As India
braces for an extended lockdown to rein in the transmission of the coronavirus, people like me
belonging to the lower-rung of the society also braces for its battle with hunger and poverty.
The ongoing lockdown to contain COVID-19 spread has affected the quality of life of more than
90% of people employed in the unorganised sector and our families.

In effect, the coronavirus pandemic and the economic consequences of an extended business
shutdown is swelling the ranks of India’s poorest beyond all counts. From 60 per cent, the
proportion of people below the poverty line could increase to 68 per cent – a situation seen in
the country more than a decade ago. Much of the Indian government’s efforts to mitigate
poverty over the years could be negated in a matter of just a few months. Job losses and
increasing unemployment have been an issue of grave concern since the pandemic started. The
worsening economic conditions prior to the pandemic and the resulting lockdown suffered an
additional blow when the entire nation had to be locked at home. Most of the jobs in our
country, including that of a private tutor, in this part of the world, needs the employee to go
out to perform their duties and these are the jobs affected the most during the lockdown.

In more ways than one, this will be bad news for India, which has been reeling from sub-par
economic growth over the past year, even as the government increasingly relies on welfare
measures to win over the poor, fiscally constraining itself in the process. Educated people in
India, who have invested in higher education, are finding it increasingly hard to find work,
potentially affecting their future prospects and potentially those of future generations. The
pandemic is making this issue all the more acute.
India’s shrinking jobs market means it will be increasingly tough for around 1.3 million Indians
joining the workforce each month. Crucially, the pandemic has also jeopardised India’s ability to
capitalise on a unique opportunity; it has the world’s largest youth population.
Because of this, we cannot operate and the chain of money supply has become stagnant. Being
a private tutor, I too have been badly hit by these compelling times where my income has
shrunk considerably.

Due to the outbreak of the pandemic, most schools and educational institutions have closed
down to prevent the transfer of disease among children. Though, we are safeguarding them,
this will also negatively impact their academic progress. Now, we need to shift our focus from
traditional to the virtual classroom. There are many technology-enabled educational
institutions that are providing live classes. This pandemic forced the Government to boost
edtech sector. COVID-19 has changed the way of learning in the long term. Higher education
has also got affected as universities and colleges are shut down, most higher education
institutions are not equipped with digital technology. There is likely to be a delay in the
admission process, as most of the entrance exams have been postponed. Despite online
education, platforms helped students in learning but if this could continue then there can be
seen drastic unemployment in the education sector. Many like me, who are reeling under
extreme economic duress and finding it difficult to make both ends meet, are going through
even more testing times.

Life has never been easy for India’s vast army of working poor — self-employed and casual
labourers who typically work on short-term contracts, with little security. But with toil and
frugality, we and our families have managed to survive. Now, though, with economic activity at
a standstill, most have seen their incomes collapse to zero. The scale of the humanitarian
disaster is significant and while everyone understands the need for the lockdown, millions of us
in the unorganised sector have been needlessly stripped of our dignity.
This pandemic has affected workers of unorganised sector mostly who are daily wager or those
working in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and left them jobless, and rapidly
increased the unemployment rate, leaving no alternate income source. Everyone is witnessing
their painful migration on foot and cycles to their homes but now some sort of help has been
extended by states by way of running some special trains. After lockdown, getting employment
will be a very necessary step. People like us may not die from corona but will die definitely from
starvation. Poor households like that of us cannot afford to remain completely unemployed. If
proper jobs are not available, we might have to take on any work that is available—casual,
informal, part-time, anything to survive.

Being the only bread earner of the family, I am going through trying times where my earnings
are 40% less than what they used to be. Though there are savings, but as this situation does not
seem to get over early, I will probably have to use all of it too. Trying to provide online classes
privately hasn’t been of much use. From coping with basics like internet connectivity and India’s
notoriously undependable power supply to more structural issues such as curriculum and
teaching methods, we have come under tremendous stress since India’s schools began shutting
down sometime in mid-March.

The middle class family like mine is going through a financial crunch and it is becoming a great
issue to deal with it. My sister is a diabetic patient and there are huge spending on her regular
tests and medications as well. Amidst this lockdown and stalled economic growth and a severe
pinch in our pockets, my sister’s ailing health has always been a source of worry for me. Rent of
housing accommodation, electricity bills and medical expenditures are some that never
decreased even when my income has dwindled. Moreover, in India, healthcare services are
provided by public as well as private sectors. However, the share of the private health sector is
much more than the public sector in the overall utilization of health services in India due to lack
of facilities provided in the public sector, low health expenditure by the government and highly
developed private health care sector. As we are all aware of the fact that conditions such as
type 1 and type 2 diabetes require regular, usually face‐to‐face contact with doctors,
endocrinologists, dieticians and podiatrists to optimise glycaemic control. However, with
recommendations regarding social isolation to minimise spread of COVID‐19, the delivery of
such health care is increasingly being delivered using online consultations which are extremely
expensive. There are debts as well which need to be met. My sister had been diagnosed with
Dengue and Jaundice last year in December and she had to be hospitalised for which I had to
incur debts to tide over the crisis. Before, I could get over it, the country rolled into a lockdown
from March this year.
Such is situation now that I cannot even do any side job to earn something extra. Having been
diagnosed with kidney stone last year, it was already becoming very difficult for me to make
both ends meet. However, I was thinking of alternate ways and means but now this pandemic
has closed all doors of hope for me. Inspite of all such constraints, I came to know about such
brilliant opportunities being provided by you that can really help me fall in love with academics
again and at the same time make a stronger version of me once this crisis gets over. This course
is one I am really interested in, and would be grateful if get financial assistance to pursue the
same. This financial assistance will help me hone my skills and learn more about the fields I am
engrossed in.

Tell us about your learning or professional goals. How will a Verified Certificate in this course
help you achieve these goals? 
I am currently pursuing an MA in English and would like to take up research in the subject in
future. I would also welcome a chance to know English in the soil of its origin which would
require me to get qualified from international educational institutions and it is particularly for
this reason that I am interested in this course. Shakespeare has always appealed to me among
all the stalwarts of the Elizabethan Age. Mathew Arnold has rightly said that Shakespeare is not
for any one age but for all ages and the same is equally true for his plays as well.

Texts that withstand the test of time are those that touch on universal ideas, such as aspects of
the human condition. The Merchant of Venice is one such text that undeniably remains
relevant for modern audiences and can be valued with just as much importance as it was in
Elizabethan England. The play's central themes are of power and control, love and friendship,
and the discrimination of others. The most obvious example of bias, of course, is Venice's
inherent anti-Semitism, but the discrimination in the play extends to anyone who isn't white,
male, and Christian. It would have held, therefore, great verisimilitude to Shakespeare's
England.

The control over individuals and groups from a supreme authority is explored throughout the
whole text. Such power comes from the Christian and male Venetian citizens, as anybody who
is not a male and Christian in the play is seen as inferior, be they male and Jewish, female, or
any other race or nationality. Ironically, this power stems from Act I of the play, where Portia is
powerless in determining her own fate, as seen with her line 'I may neither choose who I would
nor refuse who I dislike'. Portia's repetition of 'choose' which occurs throughout this passage,
indicates her subjugation, suggesting resentment to the 'will' of her late father. Indeed, 'will' is
also used as a pun in this section, in context to Portia's father's power and her lack thereof, thus
accentuating the issue 'so is the will of a living daughter curbed by the will of a dead father'.
Further along in the scene, Portia complains about the suitors who have come to play the
lottery: "he is every man but no man." This paradox seemingly indicates Portia's unwillingness
to be a participant. This indicates that Portia is in some ways an object or prize to be won.
Moreover, the character of Shylock has been one of the most debatable characters of
Shakespeare where a villain outdoes the hero. The mere fact that the very title of the play is of
so much intrigue as it never specifies who the merchant was, whether Antonio or Shylock and
particularly the justification of Shylock in Act 3, Scene 1, Lines 50-57 “Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath
not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with 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?”
speaks volumes about the play and embellishes its relevance in the present times of racial
intolerance.
Shylock is the most vivid and memorable character in The Merchant of Venice, and he is one of
Shakespeare's greatest dramatic creations. On stage, it is Shylock who makes the play, and
almost all of the great actors of the English and Continental stage have attempted the role. But
the character of Shylock has also been the subject of much critical debate: How are we meant
to evaluate the attitude of the Venetians in the play toward him? Or his attitude toward them?
Is he a bloodthirsty villain? Or is he a man "more sinned against than sinning"? One of the
reasons that such questions arise is that there are really two stage Shylocks in the play: first,
there is the stage "villain" who is required for the plot; second, there is the human being who
suffers the loss of his daughter, his property, and, very importantly for him, his religion.

In a movie, book, or play there is usually a victim and a villain. It is usually very easy to tell the
two apart, the victim is the one that gets hurt physically or emotionally. Then the villain is
causing problems and stands out as the mean character. In the book/play Merchant of Venice
by William Shakespeare, there is a character so complex that sometimes it is unknown whether
he is the victim or villain. Shakespeare's clever writing makes the character Shylock seem like he
is a villain at one point, then a victim at another. Shylock is the victim because he is seen as
being lower than the other characters because he is Jewish, he loses his daughter and money to
Lorenzo, and he loses his land, possessions, and forced to convert to Christianity, by getting
cheated out of his bond.

Throughout the play Shylock is criticized because he is Jewish. "Here comes another of the
tribe- a third cannot be matched, unless the devil himself turned Jew" (The Merchant of Venice;
Act 3, Scene 1; Lines 64-65). This is one of the many quotes that support that Shylock is the
victim of the play because he is tormented by others for being a Jew. They treat him like a dog
and Shylock even says that Antonio has even spit on him. Another quote that shows how
Shylock was treated was said by Gratiano, "O, be thou damned, inexorable dog, And for thy life
let justice be accused! Thou almost mak'st me waver in my faith, To hold opinion with
Pythagoras that souls of animals infuse themselves into the trunks of men: thy currish spirit
governed a wolf, who hanged for human slaughter, Even from the gallows did his feet soul fleet,
And whilst thou layest in thy unhallowed dam, Infused itself in thee; for thy desires are wolvish,
bloody, starved, and ravenous" (The Merchant of Venice; Act 4, Scene 1; Lines 128-138). The
continuous onslaught of comments towards Shylock, makes him a more sympathetic character.
Perhaps, it’s through Shylock’s character that Shakespeare wanted to contrast liberality against
selfishness — in terms of money and in terms of love. There was such a figure available from
the literature of the time, one man who could fulfil both functions: this man would be a usurer,
or moneylender, with a beautiful daughter that he held onto as tightly as he did his ducats.
Usury was forbidden to Christians by the church of the Middle Ages, and as a consequence,
money lending was controlled by the Jews; as a rule, it was usually the only occupation which
the law allowed to them. As a result, a great deal of medieval literature produced the
conventional figure of the Jewish moneylender, usually as a minor character, but also too, as a
major character.

It is from this medieval literary tradition that Shakespeare borrows the figure of Shylock, just as
Marlowe did for his Jew of Malta. Some commentators have said that the character of Shylock
is an example of Elizabethan (and Shakespeare's own) anti-Semitism. In contrast, many have
seen the creation of Shylock as an attack on this kind of intolerance. But Shakespeare, they
forget, was a dramatist. He was not concerned with either anti- nor pro-Semitism, except in the
way it shaped individual characters in his plays to produce the necessary drama that he was
attempting to create. The play is thus emphatically not anti-Semitic; rather, because of the
nature of Shylock's involvement in the love plots, it is about anti-Semitism. Shakespeare never
seriously defined or condemned a group through the presentation of an individual; he only did
this for the purposes of comedy by creating caricatures in miniature for our amusement.
Shylock is drawn in bold strokes; he is meant to be a "villain" in terms of the romantic comedy,
but because of the multi-dimensionality which Shakespeare gives him, we are meant to
sympathize with him at times, loathe him at others. Shakespeare's manipulation of our
emotions regarding Shylock is a testament to his genius as a creator of character.

When Shylock leaves the courtroom in Act IV, Scene 1, he is stripped of all that he has. He is a
defeated man. Yet we cannot feel deep sympathy for him — some, perhaps, but not much.
Shakespeare's intention was not to make Shylock a tragic figure; instead, Shylock was meant to
function as a man who could be vividly realized as the epitome of selfishness; he must be
defeated in this romantic comedy. In a sense, it is Shakespeare's own brilliance which led him to
create Shylock as almost too human. Shylock is powerfully drawn, perhaps too powerfully for
this comedy, but his superb dignity is admirable, despite the fact that we must finally condemn
him. Perhaps the poet W. H. Auden has given us our best clue as to how we must deal with
Shylock: "Those to whom evil is done," he says, "do evil in return." Doesn’t this explain in a
few words much of the moneylender's complexity and our complex reactions toward him?

Getting a certificate from Harvard University, will assist me build my resume and give me an
edge while applying for research courses in foreign lands. This will help me stand out from the
crowd, rather than just knowing the grey letters of the literature.

Tell us about your plans for this course. What steps will you take to help you complete the
course work and receive a certificate? 
My plan for this course is to learn Shakespearean characters with particular reference to
Merchant of Venice's, Shylock and delve deep into my research on it. I have immense interest in
this particular topic and intend to invest as much time as possible towards completing it. As
mentioned in the form, instead of giving it 1-2 hours a week, I would probably indulge with it
for more than 1-2 hours a day! I will make pointers and work diligently in order to grasp
whatever is being taught efficiently and will make sure to revise the content and go through
different cases, if they are present on the internet. Further, to complete the course and get a
verified certificate, I assure to focus on the subjects and take part with utmost determination.
Elucidating this impression, I would try and score well if there are evaluations and learn from
my mistakes. By reading more about the matter and indulging in a verified course, my plan is to
set up a foundation or base for myself, in order to pursue my further professional goals. I want
to be articulate with the objectives with the course and plan to dedicate myself completely to
it.