Shylock in Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" and Walter in "A Raisin in the Sun" " by Hansberry both share the same lack of equality in society. “The Merchant of Venice” in 16th century Venice and “A Raisin in the Sun” in the 1950s in the slums of South Chicago. Each of them is oppressed by the rest of the world due to their uninhabitability or "integration" due to their race in the case of Walter Lee and in the case of Shylock due to his religion and beliefs. This essay will focus on comparing these two characters using perspectives such as humanity and equality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an original essayIn the 16th century, specifically in “The Merchant of Venice,” Judaism and Christianity were not just religions, they constituted the basis of racial identities. about and also what built a person's character. As we can see in this play, Shylock is seen as the villain, but instead he should be seen most of the time as the victim. He suffers deep within himself with frustration and anger due to his previous experiences of racism and alienation from Christians (those there are considered pure citizens, those whom God sent to rule) , while the Jews are seen and taken away. in the same consideration as dogs "You treat me as an unbeliever, a merciless dog,/And you spat on my Jewish gabardine [...]'Good sir, you spat on me last Wednesday,/You despised on such a day; another time you called me a dog.” He is a foreigner who does not have the same rights as other (Christian) citizens of Venice, which is why he seeks refuge and comfort in the law, which in his mind is supposed to be fair and equal for all, regardless of any type of situation. religion, appearance or social stature. Antonio and others' hatred of Shylock is due to his religion but also to his work as a moneylender. But after all, throughout the play, Antonio and his friends, who mocked and spit on the Jew, go to get him money. Throughout the duration of the play, we are able to observe Shylock's journey, not only physically but more importantly mentally. This journey leads him to become a character for whom we can sympathize and feel pity as Shakespeare delivers speeches to him: “Has not a Jew eyes? Doesn't the Jew have hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed by the same food, wounded by the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and refreshed by the same winter and the same summer as a Christian? If you sting us, don't we bleed? to a character where revenge and frustration seem to be the only feelings he is allowed to feel and then finally to a character we can identify with because he has gone from family, money and well-being to a miserable lonely man with nothing left thanks to a desire for revenge. While in “A Raisin in the Sun” we see the difficult life of the young family, especially in Walter Lee, the main character of this play, who goes through a lot of misfortune during the play. This character is a dreamer and that is primarily the reason why this family tends to suffer so much, because he chooses to pursue his dreams at the wrong time with the wrong people. "A Raisin in the Sun" depicts normal, afro life -working class Americans as part of a larger movement.This play begins with the family waiting for something big to happen, the arrival of a check that is supposed to change the way they live, but what Walter wants with this money is not the well-being of his family but his. We can see this as the action progresses and we see this character get really angry at his family when they say the check doesn't belong to them. What his mother decides to do later in the play is to buy a house for everyone (her dream finally comes true), but what is not at all favorable is the racism that goes with it That. The house this family moves into is in a white neighborhood where people don't want to accept having to live with them. For what? Because they are people of color, and as Mr. Lindner says, “I want you to believe me when I tell you that racial bias just doesn't come into it. It's about the residents of Clybourne Park believing, rightly or wrongly, as I said, that for everyone's happiness, our black families are happiest when they live in their own community. But Mr. Lindner is not the only person to be racist towards this family. We also see this in George (Beneatha's "friend"), even though he is actually also a person of color, he thinks he is superior to them because he is rich, so he makes fun of Beneatha's heritage as if he didn't have it. also “Let's be real, baby, your legacy is nothing but a bunch of ragged spirituals and a few grass shacks!” ". But the question is: how can Walter get angry at people who are racist towards him when he himself is racist towards his own people? "Why? You want to know why? Because we're all related to a race of people who don't know how to do anything but moan and pray and have babies!" Comparing the two characters, Shylock and Walter both have issues with their inner selves, as seen throughout. theater plays. This is due to their lack of understanding of the world itself, and by that I mean they don't understand how they are supposed to interact in situations where racism is present because they both feel without any doubt insecure. It's not a lie that they have reason to feel unsafe or outside of society because of their race or religion, but both plays show the inability to forgive or move on after the successful events. Humanity and equality are two different but very similar themes in both plays. plays. In different periods of history, both authors tried to address their audiences with important, subtle but at the same time direct themes of racism and religion, which in Shakespeare's time was a very present problem between Christianity and Judaism, mainly due to the discrimination of one and the other. Christians. They believed that Jews should not be accepted into their society and that they were also inferior to them. Most of the time they were rated (criticized), as Shylock says in one of his famous monologues "Signor Antonio, time and time again/In the Rialto you have rated me" because of their beliefs but also their interest in loans. money to others (it was the only way they could be seen as more than “dogs”). In Hansberry's case, the theme of racism came primarily from colonial times, but was also very present in 1950s America, where, as in this play, black people had to live almost apart from the rest of the population. society (white people). Rights and living conditions were taken away from them as if they were almost not considered human, which.