, 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 anti-Semitic 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 H...
