william shakespeare never saw a jew in his life.
the question has been posed and no one knows the answer. on the one hand, merchant of venice is so blatantly anti semitic that one is tempted to label the bard an anti semite; on the other hand, his depiction of a greedy and spiteful jew is so over the top that it can be said he was painting a caricature of that era and its unabashed racism. shakespeare may very well, it has been posited, have been very pro semitic and was using his stories to make others see the foolishness of their prejudices. there were no jews in england from 1290 to the de facto…legalization is the wrong word because it just isnt true…but jews were essentially no longer banned after cromwell decided to allow a small group of jews who had been living secretly in england to remain.