Shylock's famous speech in Merchant of Venice

Shylock's famous speech in Merchant of Venice

I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands,
organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same
food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases,
heal'd by the same means, warm'd and cool'd by the same winter
and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If
you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?
And if you wrong us, do we not revenge? If we are like you in the
rest, we will resemble you in that.

Reflection:

I feel that what Shylock has said in this speech is very meaningful. In this speech, Shylock is displaying the characteristic of equality. Shylock said this speech in his argument to take one pound of flesh from Antonio. In this speech, Shylock shows two sides to his personality. Shylock shows that he is sensitive and is hurt by the prejudices that people have against him because he is a Jew. In this speech, Shylock is stating that a Jew and a Christian are equal. He says that both Jews and Christians are human, they are not inferior or superior to each other in anyway as they both would have the characteristic as a normal human does, they would have the same reaction as a normal human would have. I feel that we all have something to learn from what Shylock said in this speech. If we see a person of another race or religion in our daily lives, we should remember what Shylock said in this speech, not to develop any racial or religious prejudices towards that particular person as everyone is equal regardless of who they are.