he conflict between Shylock the Jewish moneylender and Antonio the Christian merchant in Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice" is both religious and economic. The play is a profoundly anti-Semitic work depicting unforgiving religious sects, according to Harold Bloom, Yale University professor and author of "Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human." Antonio frequently spits on Shylock in the Rialto marketplace, while Shylock cries, "Cursed be my tribe if I forgive him!" The economic conflict arises when Antonio asks a loan of the Jew, who sarcastically replies, "You spit on me ... and for these courtesies I'll lend you thus much moneys?