Defending The Innocent In The Book Thief And The Merchant Of Venice
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Defending the Innocent
Friends. They are there to comfort, to defend and to be trusted. But how far would someone go for a friend? Would they go as far to be taken? Killed? Or would they do nothing at all? In both The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak and The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, there are characters who defend and support innocent people even though they may encounter troubles from others in society. These are three good examples of this Antonio accepts the bond for Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice, Hans and Rosa hide Max, and Hans gives bread to the Jew in The Book Thief.
To begin, Antonio accepts the bond for Bassanio. Bassanio is Antonio’s best friend and when he needs help Antonio is prepared to assist him. Even though Bassanio is terrible with his money and still has not paid Antonio back for other loans, Antonio still wants to help. He even goes as far as asking…show more content… Before this happens Hans, Liesel and Rudy are watching the procession of Jews walk through the town on the way to Dachau. Suddenly when an old man falls, “Papa reached into his paint cart and pulled something out. He made his way through the people, onto the road. The Jew stood before him, expecting another handful of derision, but he watched with everyone else as Hans Hubermann held his hand out and presented a piece of bread, like magic” (Zusak 394). Hans actually receives punishment from society because when Hans gives the bread to the Jew he is left with "four lines of fire" (Zusak 395) because "He was struck four times” (Zusak 394) by the soldier for doing it. Also, because Hans helped a Jew he fears that the Nazi’s may come to search his house to see that he is not hiding any Jews. The Nazi’s do not come although it creates great anxiety for Hans and Rosa. In closing, even though Hans has never even met this man he still feels the need to defend and help him which results in painful