Journal 2/24

In the time where this play takes place it was an acceptable and common thing to be anti-semitic. Most of the audience and actors and probably even William Shakespeare himself were all anti-semitic or non pro-judaism. Shakespeare had one pro-judaism speech in his entire play "the merchant of venice" and the rest made the main jewish character look like a selfish, harsh, and an all around horrid person to be acquainted with. Today we would see this as a not ok thing to do but then it was generous of him to give him that one speech of pity. Today we are expected to be "acceptant" towards all other religions and races while they were expected to be holy and to punish those who weren't. The persecution of the jewish community in Europe went on all the way to the 1940's while in america most people were acceptant. All in all we just have to take into consideration the conditions of the time and location where the literature was written before judging it based on our current beliefs.

journal 2/17

Shylock is both a comedic villain and a tragic character. In the first part of the play he was mainly a comedic villain while near the end of the play he is truly reviled as a tragic character when you see him reacting to his daughter running away with a christian boy, his money being taken with her, and all of the christians hate him. He is a very sad character who wants wants respect and revenge from and against those who wronged him. He is simply a sad character, not a villain.

journal 2/10

I do not believe that this Shakespearian play is either a pure tragedy or a pure comedy. I find that this play is simply a serious tale containing mixed amounts of comedy and tragedy. It does not contain true sadness and pity or pure laughter and enjoyment. It is a tragicomedy because it has dark overtones, laughable dialogue, and a happy ending can be seen over the horizon. even though it has its comedic aspects we can not simply forget that each character has their own tragedies.

journal 2/3

Venice and Belmont are very different from each other. in Venice there are strict laws and regulations of social hierarchy and religious barriers while in Belmont it is more diverse and acceptant of all classes, religions, and gender. Also in Venice the men are introduced as power holders while in Belmont the female characters are the power holders. I believe that the Green world theory holds.

Journal Week 1/27

Elizabethan English isn't used in modern day communication. Understanding of the words will definitely be a very big issue because these words are not used very often in this day and age. i would imagine that most people would have trouble with understanding old english words.

Pronunciation will probably be one of the biggest problems for not only me but for lots of others.
Dyslexia has been a major problem for me in the past and will continue to be a problem for me in the future. i will most definitely have trouble sounding out the words and figuring out the proper pronunciation.