1. On page 49 (Act 3, Scene 1) Shylock gives his speech that seems to be sympathetic to the plight of Jews ("I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes?..."). Considering the rampant anti-Semitism in the play, why do you think Shakespeare would have included this speech? How does it change what we think of Shylock? 

when we were reading the merchant of venice, moore specifically the first act you could definitely see the hate that a lot of the characters had towards jewish people. one of the bigger actions in that first act was when we learned how bad antonio had treated shylock (that he had spit on him and made fun of him). at the time i thought this was just a way shakespeare was almost making fun of shylock and to make him out to be the villain. but after shylock gave his speech about how he is still human i am not so sure. i instead think that he did this to make his characters not seem so black and white, and make them more realistic. this would also make the audience think of the way they have treated jewish people. as to how this affects how we think of shylock. at least for me i think it adds a lot more depth to the character, it made it so that i don't know who the good guy and who the bad guy is.