Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" can be read as a total anti-Semitic play. However, if the audience reads between the lines, they would find that the play is one that condemns racial and religious discrimination. Shylock, the Jewish character in the play, is not only given a voice but is depicted as a round character with an undeniable human side. He is not solely driven by mere greed and self interest; there is much depth in his character.
             To appeal to the Puritan Elizabethan audience, Shakespeare could not have simply depicted an ideal picture of a Jew who is worthy of love and respect. Such a dogmatic society would have rejected that. The Jews were marginalized, looked down upon and treated as second rate citizens in Christian Europe. Setting his play in Venice, far from London, Shakespeare managed to get the audience to sympathize with the old, abandoned disdained father and merchant who lost not only his money, but the chance to avenge himself from those who humiliated him, together with his daughter and his faith as well. He was left by nothing but the so-called 'Christian mercy' which is far from the true sense of mercy.
             After his daughter, Jessica, has abandoned him and eloped with her Christian lover, Shylock sought her in every way possible to finally hear some news about her that she has exchanged a ring for a monkey. He is astonished by this act and says that this ring originally belonged to her deceased mother and that it has been a most precious piece of jewelry. He adds that he would not exchange this ring for a jungle of monkeys as it means a lot to him. In this scene, the audience sees Shylock mourning his daughter, crying over her, and moreover speaking of the moral value of the ring rather than its materialistic value. One would not help sympathizing with a man in his place, whose own daughter has brought him loss and disgrace and has shown no respect for his precious memories of her mother.
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