Antonio, an antisemitic merchant, takes a loan from the Jew Shylock to help his friend to court Portia. Antonio can't repay the loan, and without mercy, Shylock demands a pound of his flesh. The heiress Portia, now the wife of Antonio's friend, dresses as a lawyer and saves Antonio (www.shakespeare.org.uk).
In 1290, King Edward expelled anyone of the Jewish faith from England. While some converted to Christianity to stay in England, most of the Jewish population moved out of the country. This means that by the time Shakespeare wrote this play in 1596, there were few to no Jews living in London. Due to lack of exposure, irrational fear of religious difference, and the general prevalence of racist ideology, anti-Semitism was rampant in early modern England. Many plays featured despicable Jewish characters to perpetuate this unfounded hatred. Shakespeare’s play was largely a rebuttal to rival playwright Christopher Marlowe’s then famous play The Jew of Malta. Marlowe’s play features Barabas, a Jewish man who is portrayed as scheming, sinister, and villainous. Many critics have read Shakespeare’s Shylock as a similarly despicable character. However, unlike Marlowe, Shakespeare humanizes Shylock and gives him the most famous lines of the play. While the play contains anti-Semitic sentiments, Shylock’s complexity and how the Christian characters treat him provide modern readers with a look at the ethics in Shakespeare’s time. Such ethics and beliefs clash with today's perceptions, and understanding the difference in these views is important to modern readings of the play (www.owleyes.org).
Shakespeare’s father was a glove-maker, and Shakespeare received no more than a grammar school education. He married Anne Hathaway in 1582, but left his family behind around 1590 and moved to London, where he became an actor and playwright. He was an immediate success: Shakespeare soon became the most popular playwright of the day as well as a part-owner of the Globe Theater. His theater troupe was adopted by King James as the King’s Men in 1603. Shakespeare retired as a rich and prominent man to Stratford-upon-Avon in 1613, and died three years later.
