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Merchant of Venice: Cost of Alienation. The Price of Assimilation; The Price
of Alienation Cultural exchange, assimilation, and the ...
Submitted by MadEpiphany on March 11, 2007
Category: English
Words: 1662 | Pages: 7
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The Price of Assimilation; The Price of Alienation
Cultural exchange, assimilation, and the trade of ideas have never been achieved without a certain amount of resistance, usually in the form of oppression, prejudice, and genocide. Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice explores this phenomenon in the setting of one of the most diverse cities of the age, as well as in the broader context of the time. Under the guise of international trade and courtship, Shakespeare's play is really about the financial causes of xenophobia, and the consequences to which this fiscal-based fear leads.
Historically present in nearly every case of injustice imposed by one set of people on another is economic stress, or put differently, the shortage of resources. Hitler would never have had as astounding success without the bleak economics of Germany, and racism in France is most prevalent where housing is limited. Our minority house leader, Trent Lott has this to say about the outsider: "I'm highly offended when illegal people come into this country, take jobs illegally"(Fox News, May 1 2006) which clearly presents the problem of the outsider as synonymous to a threat on the economy. In short, when an economy is in danger, it is nearly always followed by a spell of great distrust and danger to anyone outside the majority, or not part of those in power. It is no wonder then, that xenophobia flourishes in Shakespeare's Venice, where merchants are terrified of losing profit, such as Salerio:
"Should I [Salerio] go to a church
and see the holy edifice of stone
and not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks,
which touching but my gentle vessels side
would scatter all her spices...
but even now worth this,
and now worth nothing." (Act 1 Scene 1, lines 30-7)
The exaggerated fear or losses indicates an extremely stressful economic situation for these young merchants. In fact, Venice's economic situation seems...
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