Would you agree if i said shakespeare was against racism, but was anti-semitic nevertheless?

Question

in othello, he puts a black moor as the protagonist of the play; he empathizes with him and his feelings, and shows the white men of the society as being ignorant and hypocrital;

in themerchant of venice, the antagonist of the play is a jew; the interesting thing, at least to me, is that he does not put a single redeeming quality in him.

Answer 1

definitely....but anti semitism was just a given at the time.....it was almost a caricature of itself with Jews having to pass through cattle gates with special taxes....it wasn't even considered wrong, just normal....there's a lengthy history to "anti semitism" which only really had the phrase coined at the turn of the 20th century......I'm sure Shakespeare never met a Jew with a redeeming quality, because he probably never met a Jew period!!! So was life in those ages.....