The conclusion of Shakespeare's play, The Merchant of Venice, can be viewed as a cop out. In my opinion, the ending was a cop out because Shylock, the truthful character that is ridiculed and has all his posessions taken from him loses in his situation. The greedy, stupid, and wasteful Christians end up gaining wealth in the end. Usually Shakespeare doesn't shy away from killing off major characters, but the evasion of Antonio's death was almost awkward. I think it seems awkward to me because in many stories the mistreated (Shylock) get their revenge and the hateful characters (Antonio) get what was coming to them.
However, this was not the case. I think that the way the story ended may have not seemed like such a cop out in Shakespeare's time because I don't think people would have ever expected the Jew to triumph over the Christians. Shakespeare clearly shows the hypocracy of the Christians, so having them utterly defeated may be too extensive. So for this time period the ending may not have been a cop out.
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