How Normal is a Person Based on Merchant of Venice and...

Society places value on a person based either on who they are, what they believe, or how much money they make. What happens when society places value on how â€Å"normal† a person is? Using the texts of â€Å"Merchant of Venice† and â€Å"Taming of the Shrew†, I will argue that in dealing with difference, society often unintentionally annihilates it; but what remains in its wake is often far more disturbing. Religion is one of the most dividing forces in a society. At the time of â€Å"Merchant of Venice† Jews stood for everything that was an external threat to England’s national welfare. They were known as the enemy within the English culture. The Feudalist Christians viewed them as dirty, obsessed with money and willing to do anything, legal or illegal, in order to gain monetarily. Christians held value in who a person was, as in their character. One of the first places we see a divide between the two religions is in a conversation between Bassani o and Shylock: Oh, no, no, no, no: my meaning in saying he is a good man is to have you understand me that he is†¨ sufficient. Yet his means are in supposition: he hath an argosy bound to Tripolis, another to the Indies; I understand moreover, upon the Rialto, he hath a third at Mexico, a fourth for England, and other ventures he hath, squandered abroad. But ships are but boards, sailors but men: there be land-rats and water-rats, water-thieves and land-thieves, I mean pirates, and then there is the peril of waters, winds and rocks. TheShow MoreRelatedSocieties Destructive Behavior around ‘Normal’1776 Words   |  7 Pagesplaces value on a person based either on who they are, what they believe, or how much money they make. What happens when society places value on how â€Å"normal† a person is? Using the texts of â€Å"Merchant of Venice† and â€Å"Taming of the Shrew† I will argue that in dealing with difference, society often unintentionally annihilates it; but what remains in its wake is often far more disturbing. Religion is one of the most dividing forces in a society. At the time of â€Å"Merchant of Venice† Jews were seen as