Abstract

 The Jews suffered a lot from racial discrimination and political persecution in history. So in many literary works, the authors always satirized and humiliated the Jews. Shylock is one of the characters in Shakespeare’s comedy The Merchant of Venice. He is the villain in the comedy. He is famous because he is a greedy and merciless usurer. People see him as a typical example of the Jews. At first, most people only see his bad side. But with the passing of time, people, especially scholars penetrate deep into him. Those scholars show their sympathy to Shylock because he is a victim of racial discrimination and political persecution.
Shylock is only one of the Jews, so his tragedy is one of the Jew’s tragedies. The thesis penetrates deep into the reasons of racial discrimination and political persecution: the conflicts between religions; the identity of denizens; the conflicts between commercial capitalism and feudal usury. Then the thesis depicts the miserable living conditions of those poor Jews in such unfriendly circumstances from two aspects: first, the Jews were usurers; second, they should use money to buy living rights.
At last, the thesis penetrates into Shylock from two points. One is the betrayal of his beloved daughter and the other is his strong racial pride and resolution to revenge.
Shylock is one of the most controversial people under Shakespeare’s pens. He needs sympathy.

Key Words: Jew, Shylock, racial discrimination, political persecution        

摘要

自古以来，犹太人就是一个饱受种族歧视和政治迫害的民族。所以，在许多文学作品中，犹太人总是被塑造成众人嘲讽、揶揄、抨击的对象。莎士比亚在他的伟大作品《威尼斯商人》中塑造的夏洛特——一个贪婪、吝啬、狡诈、残酷无情的高利贷犹太商人，更是被人们视为犹太人的典型。大多数人只看到犹太人不好的一方面，而并没有深入地了解犹太人。但随着历史的发展，人们认识的深入。开始有学者去发掘他令人同情的一面。那就是他是种族歧视和政治迫害的受害者。
夏洛特只是众多犹太人中的一员，他的悲惨命运只是所有犹太人悲惨命运中的一个。所以，本文从《威尼斯商人》的写作背景出发，重点研究了犹太民族饱受种族歧视和政治迫害的原因：宗教原因；客民身份；新兴资产阶级和封建高利贷商人之间的冲突。接着，本文描述了在反犹太主义情绪高涨的环境下犹太人的悲惨的生活状况。
最后，本文从两个方面深入地探讨了夏洛特这个形象。一是心爱的女儿的背叛，二是他的强烈的民族自尊心以及报仇心理。
夏洛特是一个备受争议的人物，本文主要研究了他令人同情的一方面。

关键词：犹太人，夏洛特，种族歧视，政治迫害