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| Jesus driving out money changers and sellers of sacrificial birds |
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| Shakespeare's "New Place" |
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| Traders' Guild in Elizabethan age |
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| Banking Services |
Of temples for misusing
the place as Matthew wrote;
The wandering Jews
wherever they went tried in vain
For livelihood but none
understood their strife and pain;
The Christian stated did
not confer any right
To own or do any work; none understood their plight;
For livelihood, they
turned as money lenders at last
The forbidden profession as
per the Biblical thought;
As marginalized group in
Renaissance plays
They were portrayed as
greedy villains with disgrace;
The Bard of Avon showed
some humanistic strain
Showed the Jews as men
who feel pleasure and pain;
Though he wrote against
lending money on usury
His precept he himself
did not obey;
The great bard himself
earned much in his days
By lending and collecting
tithes in rigid ways;
His spouse, though not
well-learned did play
A vital role in lending
money to others as well
So many writers in
clearing their debts did fail
Destitute, at last ended
up in jail;
As the bard of Cumberland rightly said
“Mighty poets in their misery dead.”
Famed as the “master of mighty line” in his life
Charged with heresy, died
in a drunken strife;
Part -II
In former times, the merchant guilds used to lend
Enough wealth to kings
and feudal lords to spend
On their lavish luxuries
and to fulfill the needs
Of their people to
improve progress with speed;
The guilds besides
expanding their trade
Overseas, a vital role,
they had played;
They improved their
status by their prominent part
In patronizing schools,
churches and arts;
A basic concept of
banking system they did start
Which helped rulers and other traders a lot;
Part--III
Lending and borrowing is a sin no more
In present times a chance to develop and score
Success in expanding
their status and prospects;
A banker is now treated
with utmost respect;
Even states brag about
rising huge loans as a sign
Of progress and welfare
schemes as they define;
Yet providing too many
things free leads to decline
Of states in finances and
economic strain;
A balanced approach
between welfare and progress
Saves people from facing
tax-increase and distress;
But be not too
tight-fisted and stingy with greed;
Enjoy your life and spend
on you can afford and need;
Help others within your
limits and spare
Some wealth for the
suffering poor; we should care
Even for the welfare of
the birds and beasts
Our co-brethren, with
kindness we should treat;
Discrete and wise use of
wealth a must for all
For the constructive
goals and welfare for all;
We keep our wealth in
banks to safe guard and secure
Some interest; banks in
turn, on our behalf, lend
Our wealth to persons and
industries to spend
And collect some amount
as interest in return;
For whatever amount in
banks, we invest
A part from their gains,
they pay us as interest;
We can also borrow money
from banks and use
On purchase of house or
vehicle we choose;
Or on weddings or
children’s studies; but beware
Of using loans taken;
spend wisely and take care;
Banks with prompt
services serve us a lot
With humanistic touch
they play their part
To help farmers,
merchants, women and students
But money borrowed should
be wisely spent;
Misuse of loans explodes
like a bomb in your face
Lands you in soup and
brings shame and disgrace;
Money flows like honey in
a sieve or down the drain
If you, wasteful expenses
cannot restrain;
All of us are lenders and
borrowers in one sense
But we should use in
proper way our finances.
********************
Note:
1 Matthew wrote – Jesus drove out the
money changers who charged exorbitant rates to exchange foreign currency and
vendors who sold doves as for sacrifices in the temple courts (Open courtyard
surrounding the synagogue) in Jerusalem.
He declared the temple as a “House of prayer and accused them of turning
it into a “den of thieves.” (Matthew 12:12-13).
2
Shakespeare in his play “The Merchant of Venice” (1596-1597, published in
1600 A.D.) portrayed Shylock, the Jewish moneylender as a very greedy inhuman
person demanding his pound of flesh from Antonio. Still, he tried to show the
human side of the Jew when he writes “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, healed by the means,
warmed by the same winter and summer as a Christian is?” (The Merchant of Venice,
Act III scene 1)
2 Chrostopher Marlowe in His play “The
Jew of Malta” (1589-1590) featured Barabas as a greedy merchant who used
violence and manipulation to take revenge on Christian and Muslim authorities and
ultimately fell a victim to his own evil designs.
3 “Neither a lender nor a borrower be –
(Act I, Scene 3) In Shakespeare’s tragedy “Hamlet” (1599-1601), Polonius spoke
the above advice to his son Laertes.
4 In real life, Shakespeare was a shrewd businessman who gave loans, invested in real estate business, and bought tithes (agricultural taxes from the parishes of old Stratford) and by this act ,he not only derived profit but also as a lay rector and a major property holder in the town, got the prestigious right of having burial spot in the chancel of the Holy Trinity Church for his whole family. He bought 107 acres of land and purchased the second largest house in Stratford-upon- Avon known as New Place in 1597 from William Underhill. It was a large brick-and-timber mansion with ten fireplaces and over twenty rooms. Shakespeare stayed here with his family members from 1597 to 1616.
5 Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare’s wife was
a shrewd manager of her family’s finances. She ran a malt-making business,
managed property and gave money on loan.
6 Mighty poets in their misery dead” – a famous line from William Wordworth’s poem “Resolution and Independence. "He refers to the troubled lives of Chatterton and Robert Burns who led a life of poverty and made heavy debts. Many Elizabethan poets and writers like Ben Jonson, Robert Greene, George Chapman and Thomas Dekker went to prison as they were unable to clear their heavy debts.
7 "Master of the mighty line" refers to Chrostopher Marlowe (1564-93) who used blank verse in a creative manner in dramas charged with emotional force, flexibility and graceful rhythm. But he was charged with heresy as an atheist, and was killed in a drunken duel in Deptford tavern at the age of twenty-nine.
8 Trade Guilds: Merchant Associations of various crafts played a prominent role in regulating trade, product quality and expansion of their trade overseas. They acted as financial intermediaries providing loans to kings and feudal lords and town governments to finance wars. They secured royal influence which increased their social status and got exemption from certain taxes. They served as banks to help the local governments. They also provided aid to churches, schools, hospitals and philanthropic organizations. They organized, funded and staged drams like mystery plays.
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