The context in which William Shakespeare wrote the Merchant of Venice in 1597 was racist and prejudiced against different religions in the society that existed then. At that time England was a protestant country that had recently been under threat from catholic Spain and before that the Jews had been exiled from the country. Therefore Jews, coloured people and Catholics were generally hated and very rarely seen except in ports around the coast, nevertheless, Shakespeare makes …showed first 75 words of 2127 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2127 total…would take to much away from English literature and psychology even to edit anything really out of this play because it seems that it gives an insight into the wrongs of human nature then and now, and how much destruction it can cause. I also feel that the audience of a production should be aware of the content of this play, before seeing it as I don't feel any of the content could be edited.