Name: Amna Bibi

Roll No: (O3)

Assignment: Drama

Topic:

Comparison between the Merchant of Venice and Jew of Malta.

Department of English (UOS).

The two plays,christopher Marlowe's Jew of Malta and William Shakespeare's The merchant of
Venice the main characters are jews a characteristic that makes a comparison of books easier.
However,the way the characters are presented has made the two stories have deep and active
anti-Semitic notions and messages.Right from the begining Of the play,we can see some clear
stereotypes towards jews. Barabas is undoubtedly portrayed as a man who loves money to an
extent that he seems addicted to them.

Jew of Malta and Shylock from The Merchant of Venice.However it is said that Barabas is the
more extreme version of Shylock.In this essay,the similarities and the differences between
these two jews will be discussed with reference to the Two plays The Merchant of Venice and
Jew of Malta.Firstly it is important to note the titles.

My Money!;

Furthermore, as a result of the prejudice and racism these jewish protagonist face,they have
developed strong hatred for the Christians.in the case of Barabas,this hatred has caused him to
act exremely and murder some of Christians for wanting to take his money.in relation to
Shylock he does not kill anyone and he is not murderous find in the play The Merchant of
Venice.All that Shylock wants is to be respected for who he is as a jew and as a person for the
only difference is religion.'I am a Jew.Hath not a jew eyes? Hath not a jew
hands,organs,dimensions,senses,affections,passions,and all these things.

Along with money, their daughters hold a significant importance to them. Barabas states in The
Jew of Malta that he has 'but one sole daughter, whom I hold as dear.However in each of the
plays,both Shylock's and Barabas daughter's turn their backs on them for Christianity.in the
merchant of venice,jessica,Shylock's daughter fall in love with a Christian called Lorenzo.she
escape her father's house with his riches and runs off to marry her love.

Shylock's daughter is now dead to him because of her betrayal but he does not do any thing to
physically harm her and Lorenzo.in the play we see the sadness that overbears Shylock when
he discovers Jessica Is gone.'O my daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter!.

However,in the Jew of Malta,Barabas does harm his daughter Abigail when she becomes a
Christian Nun.Barabas is so angry Over her betrayal that he kills his daughter by giving her
poison in the food.in this scene Abigail is Dead.In merchant of Venice the main character is
shown as a greedy Jewish money lender that is just like Barabas when it comes to hate
Towards Christians and other people.Such a racist society had created all these negative
stereotyping for jews,making them seem Like greedy monsters.so I find it impossible that
Marlow as an author has not been affected and influenced by stereotypes of his time.That is
mainly because in societies that racism towards specific religion is so acceptable.there is for
very high tolerance for reproduction of such ideas and thus such a portrayal would not arise
any questions or hate.

I personally feel that Shakespeare was also influenced by general anti-semitic environment he
lived in. Although a verdict of whether he was actually racist in his story is hard to b reached.i
find it impossible that a play meant for Christians would not follow the trends of time. The fact
that it was Same thing for government to gain wealth and convert a Jew,show the deep rooted
hatred against his religious group and that christians simply wanted to get rid of them. Such
sort of treatment reminds us of newer generations of Nazi's and their monstrous acts.i would
strongly doubt that shakesapeare intended to make his play anything similar to a parody of a
criticism of stereotypes,and I believe that he expresses what he purely thinks.

As we have seen from the Jewish protagonists,Barabas and Shylock have a very negative and
unethical personality.Their vile and evil acts,paired with their appealing character seem to be
the actual description of a negative stereotype towards the jews.in a nutshell we can say that
no matter how wrong and inaccurate,these description were made with complete seriousness
by the writers living in the environment were such sort of prejudice was rooted for many years
ago and continued to bloom.