"Merchant of Venice" came from two completely different worlds and live in two different times, yet their courage, need for freedom, and true hearts desire were close in comparison. Although these two women left their loveless family behind to pursue their true love and freedom, Anna's husband and Jessica's father would never be able to understand their true thoughts and feelings.
             Anna comes from a rich, well-known, high-class family greatly valued by society. She and her husband Karenin are highly respected citizens of the highest class, and Karenin has no intention of leaving this highest circle of the Russian society. Karenin is fixated on appearances, with doing what is right, orderly and fulfilling to his duties. He married Anna not for love, but simply for marriage and his life's goal of fulfilling all the righteous duties. Anna sees him as selfish and cold in the sense that he does not care about her thoughts and feelings; he is greatly concerned with his reputation and the outer image that he holds. "I must think it over, come to a decision, and throw it off,' he said aloud. 'The question of her feelings, of what has taken place or may take place in her soul, is not my business; it is the business of her conscience and belongs to religion" (Tolstoy pp143). In this quote Karenin thinks about confronting Anna on her improper behavior, giving us insight into his character. He handles Anna's affair in a way that is harmful to both of them, and she feels that he is more concerned about what Society thinks than about her or their marriage. This selfishness does not at all help him to understand better why his wife left him and therefore Karenin is unable to perceive the true thoughts, dreams, and feelings of Anna. Jessica on the other hand is from a broken, lower classed family, who is looked down upon and criticized by society. Shylock, her father, is a domestic tyrant and a "killjoy" who makes his daughter unhappy, showing no lo...