Evil Resulting from Religious Intolerance:
The play The Merchant of Venice is indirectly a plea for religious tolerance. It depicts the evil resulting from religious intolerance, though it has another theme, which is even more important, the other theme is the evils of usury and avarice. The main story in the play is the Bond Story or the pound of flesh story which centres round Shylock's desire for revenge upon Antonio whom he regards as his enemy and to whom he is bitterly hostile thus, in one sense, this play has revenge as its theme. But there are reasons behind a desire for revenge.
Shylock Hates Antonio Due to Religious Fanaticism:
When Shylock speaks about Antonio, he says, "I hate him for he is a Christian." This is one reason why Shylock feels hostile to Antonio. But there is another reason for his hostility. Antonio brings down the rate of interest in Venice, adversely affecting the professional income of Shylock who is usury. Shylock's greed or avarice may therefore be regarded as a more powerful motive behind his revengefulness. Due to the religious fanaticism Jew hates the Christian. Another reason of Shylock's hatred of Antonio is his daughter Jessica who runs away with a Christian young man with whom she has fallen in love. Jessica not only runs away from home but also takes away a considerable portion of his money and jewel which he had been accumulating. When he laments the loss of his daughter he also laments the loss of ducats and his jewel referring to his ducats as "Christian ducats" meaning the money which he had earned as interest on the loans he had been giving to the Christians in Venice.
Antonio's Also Being A Fanatic:
Antonio also despises Shylock bitterly. He calls Shylock a misbeliever and a cut-throat dog. Antonio told that he would keep on calling Shylock a dog in future also and that he would spit on him. Antonio further adds that if Shylock is going to lend him the money, he should do so not in a spirit of friendship but in a, spirit of antagonism so that if the loan is not repaid in time, Shylock should be able to demand the penalty with a stronger justification. Antonio here shows himself as an extremist in his attitude towards religion. Antonio with all his good qualities-honesty, kind-heartedness is an intolerant Christian who abhorrently hates the Jewish religion. The intolerance on Antonio's part bears a stigma on his character. In Antonio's Tragedy in the Play: Antonio's tragedy is averted by the judge's ingenious interpretation of the bond. But the Christians who were in upper hand, showed no mercy to Shylock. Even Portler forgets her own quality of mercy's speech. Shylock was imposed upon maximum possible penalty; his life is spread, but he loses everything else, and is even compelled to turn into a Christian, Shylock would never have forgiven Christians as he forcibly converted to Christianity, and it is Antonio who demanded this from the judges when he asked to demand any of his four likings.
The Play, An Indirect Plea for Religious Tolerance:
The Merchant of Venice is a play which depicts the evil resulting from religious intolerance. The main story in this play is The Bond story or the pound-of-flesh story which centres round Shylock's desire for revenge upon Antonio whom he regards as his enemy and to whom he is bitterly hostile. The manner in which Shylock is treated in the play shows clearly that Shakespeare wanted either to paint the attitude of the Christians toward the Jews-the attitude of hatred and enmity, or to enlist the sympathy of the audience showing how Shylock has been most unfairly and even illegally robbed of his due penalty of the bond as well as of all his property. Not only that; but Shylock has also been literally outraged being forcibly converted into a Christian particularly when we know that Shylock is an orthodox Jew Christianity.
The inference that we can draw from this play is that the play contains much instruction for us; and part of the instruction is that we should be tolerant and liberal in our religious views, and that we must show due reverence to all the religious of the world. Hence, there is no doubt that The Merchant of Venice is a plea for religious toleration.