Word: shylock
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Dates: during 1900-1909
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...play, written in 1596, is among the first of Shakespere's works comprising his second period--that of the comedies. It naturally divides itself into two parts, the story of the bond and the story of the casket, and the plot centres about Portia and Bassanio. The story of Shylock, although often considered the centre of the plot, in reality forms merely a supporting set of incidents. There is unhappily one great defect in the play, the anticlimactic effect of the last act. It was recognized by Booth, who omitted it in all his performances, and is generally attributed...
...regard to the characters, Shylock is unique in illustrating the passion of pure hatred. In the first act he is led partly by avarice, but as the play progresses his hatred for the race of Christians, represented by his enemy, Bassanio, drives him to the act of pure hatred which results in Bassanio's signing the bond. Yet there is something in the character of Shylock which almost invariably arouses sympathy and pity, because Shakespere created a Jew whose actions, though despicable, are clearly the result of the treatment of unfaithful Christians...