Anti Semetic Themes in The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

In Shakespeare's The merchant of Venice there is a clear clash of opinions between Antonio and Shylock.
Most of the characters in the play are definitely against Shylock because he is Jewish. But is the message
that Shakespeare is putting across saying that all people should hate Jewish people? I think that it could
well be for these reasons.
Firstly in the basic structure of the play, Shakespeare will always make subtle differences in the way he
writes dialogue for each character. This being that if the character is quite important, then he will write
their dialogue in verse, but if the character is deemed unimportant, then Shakespeare will write their
dialogue in prose. Shylock is quite a major character in the play, he is in a majority of the scenes in the
play, and has a big influence of the plot, however all his dialogue is written in prose, thus deeming him
unimportant. There is no knowing that this was just because Shylock was Jewish, Shakespeare may have
had many other good reasons for structuring the play. But the fact remains that during the time that
Shakespeare wrote the play there was a lot of anti-Jewish feeling around and this seems like a feasible
reason for this structure.
The way that Shylock is portrayed in the play is also a good indication of the feelings towards him.
Shylock is portrayed as miserly and selfish. This is shown by his attitude towards his daughter Jessica
especially when he finds out that has stolen his money.
I would my daughter be dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear: would she were hears'd at my foot, and
the ducats in her coffin.
From this we can see that he is so concerned with his money, and so enraged at his daughter that he
wishes her dead. This to the audience would be seen to be a very evil thing to be, and so they would
believe that all Jewish people were like that. If the play were not anti-Semitic then the plot would be that
Shylock would not care about the money, he would be angry no doubt but he would want to know what
was wrong with his daughter to be like this, and he would want to talk to her. Shakespeare has clearly
made the plot like this in order to show the audience that Shylock is evil and his being Jewish had clearly
influenced this decision.
The clearest reason for me thinking that the play is anti-Semitic is what happens at the end of the play.
Firstly Shylock is portrayed to be evil again by what he wants to do to Antonio, and that is to take a pound
of flesh. It is not that he is forced to do so by the court, it is what he wants to do, he even gives up the
chance of getting triple what he is owed by Antonio, instead of the Shylock's desired punishment, but he
turns this down.
If every ducat in six thousand ducats
Were in six parts, and every part a ducat,

I would not draw them, I would have my bond.

This is what Shylock says to Bassanio when he offered double the bond, which is owed by Antonio. This
shows that Shylock has no mercy, which is supposed to be a typical Christian attribute. So this is antiSemitic in itself.
What Shylock wants is to take a pound of flesh from Antonio's body, even though Shylock knows that this
could kill him, he does not care about this.
If William Shakespeare had wanted to make the play less anti-Jewish then he could have changed the
punishment, which befell Shylock in the end of the play. Due to Balthasar saying, that yes Shylock could
take a pound of flesh, but only a pound of flesh, so bone, and not a drop of blood, Shylock becomes
beaten on his own terms. Then the conditions are turned on him, because he has plotted to kill Antonio
then he must give up all his possessions when he dies, and also must give up his own religion to become
a Christian. In this day and age, this form of punishment would be illegal because this would be known as
ethnic cleansing, and very similar to what Hitler had done to the Jews during the Second World War.
Two things provided more, that for this favour
He presently become a Christian:
The other, that he do record a gift
(Hear in the court) of all he dies possess'd
Unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter.
This clearly says to me that this play is Anti-Semitic, and that William Shakespeare has clear intentions of
making Shylock out to be evil just because he is Jewish. I think that if the play had not meant to be then
Shylock would have been able to keep his religion.