Merchant Of Venice III.i. and III.ii

In this section of The Merchant of Venice, the racism against the Jewish people really stood out to me. I practice Judaism as a religion, and to read these comments was offensive and degrading toward my religion. Toward the beginning of the section, Solanio and Salarino are conversing when Shylock walks in. Solanio says, "Let me say "amen" betimes, lest the devil/ cross my prayer, for here he comes in the likeness/ of a Jew" (III.i.20-22). Here, Solanio is referring to Shylock as a devil because of his religion. The devil is not often associated with positive connotations. Shylock is puzzled as to why Antonio speaks badly of him and takes his business: "what’s his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not/ a Jew hands, organs, dimen-/ sions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the/ same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to/ the same diseases, healed by the same means,/ warmed and cooled by the same winter and sum-/mer as a Christian is?" (III.i.57-63). Shylock is curious as to why Jewish people are treated differently than Christians. He says that a Jew's body is the same as a Christian's, and that people of both religions go through the same life processes.