Title: Religious Conflict and Social Justice in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice

Abstract: Locating William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice in the context of the long-standing conflict between Jews and Christians during the Renaissance, this paper attempts to understand the dramatic conflict between Shylock the Jew and Antonio the Christian as well as the author’s intention of creating such a conflict as the major conflict in the play. Through a comparative analysis ofthe concept of usury and social justice in the religious doctrines of Judaism and Christianity, this paper argues that the great differences between the Hebrew understanding of usury and justice and the Christian understanding of them lead to the mutual hatred between Shylock and Antonio, and by creating such a conflict, Shakespeare intended to prompt a rethinking of social justice.

Keywords: The Merchant of Venice, religious conflict, social justice, Judaism, Christianity

Author: Shiqin Chen, Assistant Professor, School of Foreign Langueges, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.