威尼斯商人论文

摘要

威廉莎士比亚的早期浪漫喜剧《威尼斯商人》主题博大广泛，情节曲折感人，语言优美流畅，人物生动典型，几百年来评论家们对其进行了多种多样的解读。本文试图用历史唯物主义的观点，通过追溯历史上犹太民族的经历，分析夏洛克与安东尼奥等人冲突的终极原因，揭示《威尼斯商人》中所体现出来的种族歧视，特别是发生在主人公夏洛克身上的种族歧视和迫害，并对这种现象予以深入的分析，使人们看到种族歧视给人们带来的巨大精神创伤。

全文共分为三个部分。

摘要部分简要概括全文的主题思想。

正文包括三个章节。第一章论述信仰与生存法则结下的宿怨。第二章论述合理贬抑下的犹太人的悲剧。第三章揭示宿愿与贬抑背后的主题——种族歧视和宗教迫害。

论文的最后一部分是结论，通过前面几章的分析和论述，全文的主题已经不言而喻，犹太人夏洛克所遭受的种种欺辱纯属种族歧视和宗教迫害，《威尼斯商人》蕴含这一主题。

关键词：莎士比亚；威尼斯商人；种族歧视和宗教迫害

William Shakespeare’s early romantic comedy The Merchant of Venice has a broad theme, an intricate plot, beautiful language and typical characters. For hundreds of years, critics have been interpreting it in various ways. This thesis reveals the theme of racial discrimination of this play by analyzing what Shylock suffered and by tracing the history of racial discrimination and religious persecution against Jews.

The thesis consists of 3 parts.

Abstract is an introduction,which briefly summarizes the plot and elaborates the theme of radical and religious discrimination.

Part two consists of 3 chapters.Chapter one traces the radical discrimination against Jews.Chapter two,the most important chapter ,analyzes the cruel treatment Shylock suffered in the play.Chapter three points out clearly that it is radical discrimination against Jews that made Shylock such a greedy,cruel and miserly person.

The last part comes to the conclusion that The Merchant of Venice comprises the theme of radical discrimination and religious persecution.

Key Words：William Shakespeare;The Merchant of Venice;radical discrimination and religious persecution

1.Introduction

1.1 Introduction to William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet,playwright and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent

extant works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, the authorship of some of which is uncertain. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613.[6][nb 4] His early plays were mainly comedies and histories and these works remain regarded as some of the best work produced in these genres even today. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights.

1.2 Introduction to The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic scenes, and is best known for Shylock and the famous "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech. Also notable is Portia's speech about "the quality of mercy". Bassanio is considered as the central hero of the story, and his dearest friend Antonio, mainly described as the kindest man in this world.