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1、Shakespeare’sPurposeofPortrayingShylockintheMerchantofVeniceI.IntroductionWilliamShakespeare(1564-1616)isoneofthemostremarkableplaywrightsandpoetstheworldhaseverknown.Withhis38plays,154sonnetsand2longpoems,hehasestablishedhisgiantpositioninworldliterature.Hehasalsobeengiventhehighestprai
2、sesbyvariousscholarsandcriticstheworldover.Inthepastfourhundredyears,booksandessaysonShakespeareandhisworkshavekeptcomingoutinlargequantities.BenJonsononcewroteapersononcewroteapoemeulogizingShakespeareasbeing“notofanage,butforalltime”.Shakespeare’sgreatnessasaplaywrightandthesuccessofhi
3、splaysonthestagefromElizabethanEnglanduptothepresent-dayworldchieflydependuponhispenetratingexpositionofhumannature,hislivelypaintingsofhumanlifeandhistruthfulreflectionsofhumanreality.Hisworksprovideuswithavividandauthenticpanoramaofhisage.Allthis,forShakespeare,hasbeenachievedthroughhi
4、sunremittingendeavorinbringingabouthisloftyidealofhumanismandhispainstakingeffortsinmasteringvarioustechniques.HeisnotonlyamasterofEnglishlanguagebutalsoageniusofcharacterportrayalandplotconstruction.TheMerchantofVenicerankswithHamletasoneofShakespeare'smostfrequentlyperformeddramas.Writ
5、tensometimebetween1594and1598,theplayisprimarilybasedonastoryinIlPeotone,acollectionoftalesandanecdotesbythefourteenth-centuryItalianwriterGiovanniFlorentine.Thereisconsiderabledebateconcerningthedramatist'sintentinTheMerchantofVenicebecause,althoughitconformstothestructureofacomedy,thep
6、laycontainsmanytragicelements.Oneschoolofcriticsmaintainsthatthedramaisfundamentallyallegorical,addressingsuchthemesasthetriumphofmercyoverjustice,NewTestamentforgivenessoveroldtestmentlaw,andloveovermaterialwealth.Anothergroupofcommentators,observingseveralambiguitiesintheplay'sapparent
7、endorsementof13Christianvalues,contendsthatShakespeareactuallycensuresAntonioandtheVenetianswhoopposeShylock.Inessence,thesecriticsassertthattheChristians'discriminationagainstShylock,whichultimatelyresultsinhisforcedconversionfromJudaism,contradictstheNewTestamentprecept
