What was the treatment of the slaves during Shakespeares time?

Answer 1

Slavery in England during Shakespeare's time was not illegal (that would not happen until the early nineteenth century) but it was very rare. In fact, an attempt by a continental person to claim rights of ownership in a black person in London was thwarted by the courts who upheld the black person's rights.

Slavery in English colonies was another story. The English colonial empire was only in its infancy at the beginning of the seventeenth century but as it grew slavery grew with it, as cheap labour was required to work fields in America and the Caribbean. But this was after Shakespeare's time.

Answer 2

Of course, Jews were treated differently in different places. In Islamic countries, they were treated with considerable tolerance. In Christian countries where they were numerous, like Spain and Germany, they were treated very harshly indeed. They were also fairly numerous in Venice, and were not treated well, but yet were a necessary and useful part of the city economy. In England, however, the situation was different. All Jews had been expelled from the country during the reign of Edward I in the 14th century. In addition, nobody was allowed to have any religion other than the Church of England, on pain of prosecution. This applied to Jews, Catholics, Baptists, Muslims, everyone. Any Jews in England therefore had to pretend to adhere to the Church of England and hide their Jewishness. They did this often by calling themselves Spaniards (indeed a number of them had flown from the terrors of the Spanish Inquisition). These Jews, though not numerous, popped up in a number of fields in Tudor times: mostly as businessmen, but also as mining engineers (Joachim Gans, who worked with Raleigh), Hebrew scholars (Emmanuel Tremellius and Philip Ferdinand were professors of Hebrew at Cambridge and Oxford), musicians (the Venetian Bassanos and Lupos families) and physicians (Roderigo Lopez, Queen Elizabeth's doctor). Lopez unfortunately fell foul of the powerful Earl of Leicester, who framed him for a treason charge in 1593, exploiting ancient prejudices and myths to cause a short-lived revival of anti-Semitism. This brought about a revival of Marlowe's earlier and highly anti-Semitic play the Jew of Malta, and may have influenced the composition of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. However, by the time Shakespeare was writing his play, some five years later, the tide had passed and anti-Spanish sentiments were on the rise, causing Jews to admit that they were Jews because it was safer than calling themselves Spaniards. Among the ignorant and less intelligent, the anti-Semitic myths of the middle ages persisted, but middle and upper class people were moving away from this way of thinking. All official persecution of the practice of Judaism ceased under Oliver Cromwell, some sixty years later.

Answer 3

lovely, they got given cakes and ice cream all day then they got sent back to hogwarts

Answer 4

like scum

Answer 5

they were all shot dead and burnt alive