“Don’t judge a book by its cover” is a common literary theme. In fact we have encountered it in our reading of To Kill a Mockingbird and many short stories already. What does this common expression mean? How does it appear in The Merchant of Venice?
What personal experiences have made you aware that appearances can be deceiving?
What happens to those who put their trust in appearances?
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jenniferroot
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The expression “Don’t judge a book by its cover” means that we shouldn’t judge other people just by what we see on the outside. We shouldn’t be judging someone when we haven’t fully known that person, we shouldn’t be biased just cause of there looks or where they are from. This appears in The Merchant of Venice when Antonio is discriminating against the Jews just because of who they are.
Before I came to this school, I was in a local school, and one day I met this new kid that transferred to our school. He looked very mean and cold so I didn’t dare to talk to him. As days went by, I always see him alone in the classroom and playground, so I tried talking to him. After a few weeks, I knew him a lot more and found out he was a very nice guy. I never would’ve known if I didn’t talk to him, so that taught me not to judge someone by what they look like or what you think they are.
I think people who put their trust in appearances will end up not making a lot of friends as they would just think of people on how they look like. They would lose chances of making friends because they won’t be socializing with anyone that they think is bad.
When people say “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”, what they mean is that you should not judge something by it’s look and your first thoughts. Your ideas and thoughts about a person or object should not be based on what you see, usually things like how the person or object looks like physically, what they wear, what they act like, etc. Something can be very different outside than it is inside. Often we base our ideas of something when we first see something, like if one fruit looks more undamaged or fresh than another, most people would immediately think that the better looking fruit is the better fruit, even if inside, the good looking fruit has a fruit worm. A person may look lazy but can work very hard and efficiently when motivated, for example.
In “The Merchant of Venice”, Antonio is prejudiced against the Jews. Since at the time, they were not respected by most people, and were forced to wear special Jewish clothing and items, Antonio stereotypes all of them as just Jews, without knowing what they are really like. Also, Portia is prejudiced against most of the men that travels to court her. She insults many of them, based mostly on what they look like and what they say and do.
When I was in grade 4 I saw a boy who was very different from normal kids. He had eczema, a skin disorder, and also had asthma, a lung problem. He also looked over-weight. At first I thought he was really weird, but after I got to know him through the years I learned he is just like the rest of us. Just because he has a few problems doesn’t make him very weird, he’s still human.
People who put trust in people’s appearances may learn quickly that their method of trust is wrong. They could put trust into a person who looks well-organized and smart, and find out that they’re “trust” of their appearance is deceiving, and that the person is very different from what the person looks like. Because of their judgement of appearances, they would not get to become acquainted with others that other less judgmental people would get to meet and possibly become friends with them and develop a relationship.
The common expression “Don’t judge a book by its cover” means that we shouldn’t judge people basing by their looks. We shouldn’t raise bias thoughts on others when we haven’t known them truly yet.
It appears in the Merchant of Venice when Portia is stereo typing her courters. Antonio was being racist to Jews.
In grade three my teacher Mrs. Oetting was a fat teacher, at first I didn’t like her because she was fat. But after the year had passed she became one of my most favorite teacher to be with. Mrs. Oetting was kind and funny and she gives free hugs! I never knew till I actually started to learn more about her.
Those that rely on first impressions would find making friends hard as they only rely on their first instincts, usually making the wrong choices. Because people that look ‘good’ might actually be bad in their personality.
Don’t judge a book by it’s cover – a literary theme which means to not judge thing based on their “cover”, their outside appearance. You have to fully understand something before you jump to conclusions, as looks can be deceiving – a robber may have good intentions, a police may be corrupt.
This theme appears frequently in the book The Merchant of Venice, examples might be when Antonio seemed like a nice and honest person at the start of the book, it turns out he is racist and discriminates against Jews. When Jessica seemed innocent and honest when she talked to Lancelot, she steals from her father. When Morocco opens a golden casket – he finds a death carrion. There are many shades of grey.
One personal experience I had was just recently, in 2008 basketball Olympics. It involved Yao Ming, who I previously thought was an amazing basketball player since he’s tall and is one of the most celebrated heroes in China. After watching the game, Yao did not do much and I realized he was just another average player. I learned to not judge people by their appearances but to instead understand them first.
Those who put their trust in appearances will usually be disappointed later on as they are proven wrong, they will eventually learn to not judge things by its cover. Trusting people by appearance can be dangerous as people might not always turn out to be what you think they are. They could hurt you in the end if you told him things you would tell a trusted friend.
The expression “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is a common literary theme which can appear in many different contexts, and can be used in a variety of ways. However the common definition for this expression means “Do not judge something by its appearance; things may not be the way the look”. In other words, it means do not jump to conclusions or make assumptions of something by only looking at their surface appearance. It is normal to think of someone like that before you know them, but once you actually know them better, they might be totally different from what you have thought or assumed previously.
In The Merchant of Venice, a good example of this literary expression would be from Antonio. In the first act of the play, he seems like a very nice friend to Bassanio, and will do anything to help him, including lending him money, even when Bassanio owes him more debt. However, when we meet Shylock, we find out that Antonio isn’t exactly the same person we have known from before. He seemed to be racist, and very disrespectful of the Jews. That gave Shylock an extreme hatred of Antonio, and asked for a pound of flesh if he doesn’t return the money n time.
Another good example from the play would be Shylock’s daughter, Jessica. When we first meet her, she seems like a shy and trustworthy character, but later we find differently. We would have never expected her to run away from her house, and steal all her father’s wealth, including all his gold and jewels. We also find out that she seemed like a practical person, unlike Lorenzo, who was only looking for romance and love.
I have experienced some situations like this. In one instance, I was at a piano competition. When I was waiting for my turn, the person next to me talked to me, and he seemed pretty friendly. Even when it was my turn, he wished me good luck, and he seemed pretty sincere about that. However, in the end of the competition and it was announced that I won, he seemed pretty outraged and said a few pretty nasty things to me. In the end, I decided that he wasn’t a nice guy.
People who put their trust in appearances often get deceived, or will regret their decisions afterwards. That is usually because the person or thing they believed, in return, will be the complete opposite of what they believed in. They would be even more shocked and surprised, or maybe even hurt when they find out. From that, they might even learn a lesson that they shouldn’t trust by physical or first appearances.
Nothing can be more valuable than friendship.
You may earn money effortlessly or laboriously, but either way they can all be gone in a blink of an eye. Friendship, on the other hand, has no shortcuts on building it, you cannot earn it by simply asking your parents or earning a reward. Friendship is a thick relationship between you and a person which builds up trust and confidence towards each other through a journey of happy and sadness.
Through my experiences, I have noticed that most people who value money over their friends tend to have from none to very few. They invest their time and work, spending days and nights into investing more and more money everyday, forgetting how does it really feel to have fun. On the other hand, the ones who values their friends over their money tend to have a lot as they are thoughtful, caring and fun to be around with. Not only they would have their habits changed to their likings as he/she gets used to their surroundings of his/her friends personalities which would affect their decision makings, they would also receive aid from them even at your most depressing or down moment in your life.
After reading Act I, scene I, I think Antonio values friendship most while Bassanio values money. Although Antonio had already been lending Bassanio money for numerous times without the loan being paid back, he continues to ignore about his money and instead to help his close friend to get close to his love. Bassanio in turn asks Antonio for money when he believes he needs it to trade it feelings for his love, Portia.
Not to judge a book by its cover means to not make assumptions or jump to conclusions about someone or something as a cover of a book sometimes allows us to determine whether we want to read the book or not without knowing what’s inside. It is the same with people. It is human nature to look at someone based on their outward appearance or their shallow actions and to judge them right away. In “The Merchant of Venice”, Antonio seems like a very nice person as he was willing to lend Bassanio money despite his inability to pay him back. As we read on, we find out that Antonio is actually not very nice as he has humiliated and insulted Sherlock publicly simply due to his religious views. Sherlock is also someone else who made us think that he was a different person. In the beginning, Shakespeare gave us an impression that he was a person who was under attack from Antonio and that we should feel sorry for him. However, we later find out that he does treat people unfairly such as Lancelot and his daughter.
This year, there were a few new students who came into our school and since I didn’t know them, I let my first impressions or their physical appearance get the best of me. There was one student who didn’t look very friendly and seemed snobby by his looks, however, after I got to know him better and realized that he is a complete opposite person than who I thought he was. After that experience, I became aware of the dangers of paying more attention to the appearance of others and learned to instead get to know people first before making a judgment about them. You could be missing out on someone really great.
For people who put trust in appearances, they will end up getting hurt, disappointed or unsatisfied because appearances are not long-lasting and only last for a certain time period. One example is choosing to marry someone because of their appearances and not because of their personality. Your spouse will become old or sick or be involved in an accident that will cause them to not look like how they use to. If you had married that person because of their appearance, you will probably no longer love them or want to be with them.
” Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” is a common literary theme, this phrase means that you cannot make a conclusion or judge someone based on their outside, such as their physical appearances, you have to really understand them and look inside them to know who they truly are. “Appearances are deceiving”, someone may look like an ideal person or friend on the outside but deep down they may be trying to hurt you, therefore you can never “judge a book by it’s cover”.
Examples of this metaphor appears constantly throughout the first 2 acts of ” The Merchant of Venice”, Antonio who may seem like the most loyal friend and caring person at the beginning is actually racist and treats Jews horribly. Shylock’s daughter Jessica was painted as a shy, young women in love who detests her overprotective father. But we would never expect her to steal from her father ,who has raised her since a child, to run away with her love, Lorenzo. Portia’s casket’s are also an example of ” deceptive appearances”, the inscription on the caskets are easily misread and misunderstood as we learn from Prince of Morocco and Prince of Arragon. There are 2 sides to everything and not everything is black and white, as proven throughout Shakespeare’s story there are lots of gray area…
A personal experience that I have had that has made me aware that appearances can be deceiving was when I joined a local football team when I was 8 and I saw this child who had the best socks, best shoes and best shin pads equipped, judging by his appearance I immediately classified him as the best footballer because of his high-class and professional gear. Later on, I found out that he was the exact opposite of a good footballer as he was terrible at the sport. From this experience I have been aware that ” appearances can be deceiving” and that having top quality equipment does not mean that you are good at the sport.
Those who put trust in appearances are often deceived and often regret their decisions as later on as they learn that the person they trust are not who they really are, but it may be already too late. Therefore you must learn to surround yourself with “good” people, people that you know truly cares for you and not people that will only stand by you for their own benefits.
‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ refers to appearances, and how people should not base their judgment of something or someone based on their outside. Shakespeare was very interested in this theme, many times incorporating it into his plays. In fact, he often had characters to go onstage in disguise, and then reveals their ‘true self’ at the end, to put this theme to use. An example would be Twelfth Night, in which Viola, the main character, dresses up as a boy and enters the service of the Duke of Orsino.
In the Merchant of Venice, the first encounter we have with this theme is when the caskets are mentioned. There are three caskets that all of Portia’s suitors have to choose from: one gold, one silver, and one lead. One of them contains Portia’s picture, and whoever chooses the right one will receive her hand in marriage. In reference to this theme, we read that the Prince of Morocco, one of her suitors, picks the gold box, but inside is not Portia’s portrait – it’s a skull with a scroll in its eye socket that chastens Morocco for choosing the casket based on its outside, with the memorable first line ‘all that glisters is not gold.’ Another scene that obviously relates to the theme is when Portia dresses up as a male lawyer to save Antonio. She is Bassanio’s wife, but nobody recognizes her here. If we make a reference to history, we know that women were not considered as intelligent as men, and here, it shows the exact opposite of the thought: Women are, despite appearances that the era has set, equal to man in intelligence.
I am completely aware that appearances can be deceiving. Once, when traveling on a train, I struck up a conversation with the bespectacled young American man sitting next to me. His first words to me were, “Oh, you speak English?” with an air of surprise. Not only was it insulting, it showed how he had thought me ignorant of his language merely because I do not look English. Another example would be my mistake, when I was talking to an English friend of mine. I thought he couldn’t speak Chinese, because he had only been in Hong Kong for two weeks, but he surprised me by speaking fluently in Cantonese. I later learned that he had been born and raised in Hong Kong, and had lived in England for only a year.
Those who put their trust in appearance are often deceived by others. They see only what they want to see, and by the time they take a look at the inside, it may already be too late. People who are superficial often look only at the outside, and think that there’s all to them. But it’s not – the human body is made up of emotions and feelings that are, as an understatement, twisted in nature. We do not think in straight lines, but in chaotic bubbles. When people put their trust in appearances, they don’t think about that. It’s a dangerous practice, and very foolish. Often, I find, those who put their trust in appearances are uneasy within relationships – no matter it be with family or friends.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” This literary theme means that the value of something is not always obvious from what we see on the surface, as personalities and behaviors of a person can all be morphed under the cover of his/her looks, we should save our judgments towards a person when the experiences comes by to be able to do so. An example of this may be how a person looks as if he is very friendly on the outside but corrupted on the other.
This idiom can be viewed in many examples from the book The Merchant of Venice, one of them is the protagonist of the story Antonio, in the beginning where we are introduced to him, we see him painted as an affable and thoughtful person that truly cares for his friends especially Bassanio who he is willing to do almost anything for him to get to his love, Portia. However, when it comes to borrowing money from a Jewish moneylender named Shylock, Antonio shifts from a warmhearted friend to an ill-tempered lowdown who prejudice Shylocks race as a Jew, calling him a dog and spitting on him in public, uncovering Antonio’s true personalities.
A personal experience that had made me aware that appearances can be deceiving was back when I was grade 2, I had a classmate named Tyler and he was really into sports, he knew almost everything about it, all the soccer and basketball teams and all the brands of sports equipment. But when it comes to playing sports, Tyler did not turn out to be as professional as he is with his knowledge. I can still remember him from today for that I have learned that no one looks exactly the same as me or anyone else thinks as we all have our own different perspectives in judging people.
Those who put their trust in appearances may affect their decision-making, in which you may regret picking the wrong choice because it was all biased from your opinions to the person. An example would be how you think going to Jeremy’s house alone would be really fun as he seems rich and he probably lives in an huge apartment when he really does not, whereas going to Jonas’s along with your friends may be boring as he does not look as wealthy as Jeremy does so to expect to play less video games and sleepover sharing a bed with someone else.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” This literary theme means that the value of something is not always obvious from what we see on the surface, as personalities and behaviors of a person can all be morphed under the cover of his/her looks, we should save our judgments towards a person when the experiences comes by to be able to do so. An example of this may be how a person looks as if he is very friendly on the outside but corrupted on the other.
This idiom can be viewed in many examples from the book The Merchant of Venice, one of them is the protagonist of the story Antonio, in the beginning where we are introduced to him, we see him painted as an affable and thoughtful person that truly cares for his friends especially Bassanio who he is willing to do almost anything for him to get to his love, Portia. However, when it comes to borrowing money from a Jewish moneylender named Shylock, Antonio shifts from a warmhearted friend to an ill-tempered lowdown who prejudice Shylocks race as a Jew, calling him a dog and spitting on him in public, uncovering Antonio’s true personalities.
A personal experience that had made me aware that appearances can be deceiving was back when I was grade 2, I had a classmate named Tyler and he was really into sports, he knew almost everything about it, all the soccer and basketball teams and all the brands of sports equipment. But when it comes to playing sports, Tyler did not turn out to be as professional as he is with his knowledge. I can still remember him from today for that I have learned that no one looks exactly the same as me or anyone else thinks as we all have our own different perspectives in judging people.
Those who put their trust in appearances may affect their decision-making, in which you may regret picking the wrong choice because it was all biased from your opinions to the person. An example would be how you think going to Jeremy’s house alone would be really fun as he seems rich and he probably lives in an huge apartment when he really does not, whereas going to Jonas’s along with your friends may be boring as he does not look as wealthy as Jeremy does so to expect to play less video games and sleepover sharing a bed with someone else.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover” is a common literary theme. This expression means to look deeper into that something to truly see its value, to see what makes it unique and different from others.
It has appeared in the Merchant of Venice quite a few times already. The first example would be Antonio. In the first few acts, we see him as a friendly and thoughtful man who is willing to give his all for his friend Bassanio to “woo” Portia, a lady in Belmont. As soon as he sees Shylock the Jewish moneylender, they start arguing, and through their dialogue, we find out that Antonio even called Shylock a dog and spat on him in public. Having witnessed this event, the dark side of Antonio is revealed to the reader. Another example would be Jessica. Our first impression of her was when she was telling Lancelot to deliver her letter to Lorenzo. She was really polite and warm, but later on when she stole her father Shylock’s ducats and escaped with Lorenzo, it provided the reader with another feel of her.
The personal experience that made me aware that appearances can be deceiving actually dates back to the beginning of this year. There was a new girl in my class and I never talked to her until one day I went up to say hi. We’re now really close friends, and just a few weeks back was when she told me she thought “I was mean and bossy” when she first saw me. I don’t know if it was how I talked when I joked around with the people in my group, or just how I act in general, but that is definitely not the impression I want to give others.
Those who put their trust in appearances might never find the genuine beauty of that special something. Things aren’t always what they seem like on the outside. I remember watching a Barbie movie back when I was younger, and the princess explained this perfectly. She was madly in love with a poor boy, instead of a prosperous prince. She explained his qualities with a rock in a mine they were trapped in. The rock seemed like the ordinary, rough, dirty, but once she cracks it open, beautiful crystals are revealed. Without knowing both in and out, you won’t have an opinion that is fair and well thought through before categorizing that something.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover” is a very popular and commonly used expression in the world. It means that you shouldn’t judge people by their appearances, or the outside. We shouldn’t judge people by their looks, because looks cannot be controlled while personality and behavior can. That means maybe a bad looking person could be nice, because it is he/she who controls how they express themselves. Which leads me to the point that looks can be deceiving; just because somebody is good looking, it doesn’t mean that they are definitely kind or vice versa. The expression is popular and commonly used, because us humans always judge people first without actually knowing them yet, and we have to be reminded to be patient and see who people really are before judging. This expression appears in The Merchant of Venice when each character reveals both sides of themselves in different parts of the story, therefore we cannot say that a certain character is definitely nice and some other character is definitely evil.
A personal experience I have encountered is when I was in my first SEASAC golf competition. For some reason, I was teamed up with three top-ten guys of the competition, and I thought all of them were nice and funny since we were talking before we teed off. But during the whole first day, two of the boys were being annoying and I was pretty sure they were laughing at the other guy and me whenever we had bad shots. Since those boys were speaking Thai, we couldn’t be sure if they were actually doing what we thought they were doing, but it didn’t help much that they were only ones talking to each other and etc.
Those who puts their trust in appearances are just making bad choices and continually getting backstabbed or surprised eventually when they see the real person underneath their looks. For example, you may rather want to be friends with a very pretty girl or hang out with a good-looking boy, but most of the time they turn out to be completely opposite of their looks/appearances. Therefore, this also limits your choices of finding good friends and being happy.
“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” is an expression we all use to remind ourselves at times. It generally means to not judge a person by their appearances but by their actions. We should ‘read’ or get to know them first before judging them. It appears in The Merchant of Venice when Portia judges the suitors by their image, color and what people say about them before really getting to know them personally. It also appeared when Shylock said he didn’t like Christians, he did not have the reason to hate on Christians just because of their beliefs.
I haven’t exactly experienced anything in particular that made me aware that appearances can be deceiving, but I did experienced one scenario that is close enough. This happened on the internet- facebook. I was browsing and chatting with friends one day and then my friend’s friend commented on a post I made with my friend. He typed ‘Hong Kong? There are computers there? Is there even internet? You are Chinese right? How do you know how to use Facebook. Do you even learn english?’ I got really offended by that comment just because he saw that I was asian from my display picture. I ended up confronting him about myself and how Hong Kong is like, proving him wrong.
Those who put their trust in appearances will sooner or later make bad choices but hopefully learn from them. They might be friend with the most popular girl in school, or go out with the most appealing guy they know, but when they figure out those people might not be the best people to hang out with them they might end up getting hurt.
The common saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” is not only a familiar literary theme but also an idea that is very applicable to daily life. We have encountered this theme in many of the short stories we red as well as in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird. This common expression means to not make snap decisions or believe something or someone is a certain way because of it’s outer appearance. Instead, it is important to look beyond what they look or seem like on the surface and truly understand them before coming to a conclusion. This theme is very apparent and evident in the play The Merchant Of Venice. One prime example is the character of Antonio as in the beginning of the play, he is perceived as a good, successful man who is willing to do anything for his friends. Based on the first few scenes, we automatically assume he is the “good guy” since he appears to be very caring and considerate of those around him. However, as his character develops, we can see that he isn’t as nice as we thought he was in the beginning. As we begin to learn more about his character, we realize that Antonio isn’t such a “good guy” after all. One of the main incidents in the play that shows us the other side to his character is the way he treats Shylock, the Jewish moneylender. Antonio is quite rude and mean to Shylock, making fun of him and calling him names, because of their different religious beliefs. Through this incident, we learn the importance of getting to know a person before believing they are a certain way. Antonio did not turn out to be such a caring man after all, his initial appearance was deceiving.
The idea of not judging a book by its cover is also apparent in everyday life. One personal experience I have had that made me aware that appearances can be deceiving is when I met a new girl on the first day of school a few years ago. When I first met her, I did not really want to befriend her because of the first conversation we had. She was different from many of my own friends. She was very quiet and did not really participate in our conversation. She also dressed differently and had different interests than most. However, when we worked together on a project for class, I got to know her a bit better and realized that we weren’t so different after all. We quickly became close friends and still are best friends today. I would have never expected to become such good friends with her just based on our first meeting.
Those who put their trust in appearances are likely to get hurt or miss out on life because your initial judgement may not always be correct. For example, if you trust a person who seems nice at first and tell them everything without really getting know what type of person he or she is, it is easy for them to turn around and hurt you. If they truly aren’t as nice as they were initially, they could break your trust and turn out to become your enemy. Therefore, trusting appearances makes you more vulnerable to be hurt by those who are very different on the outside compared to who they are on the inside. Also, if you were to base everything on appearances, it would be easy to miss out on a lot of great things in life. For example, just because of someone seems different or you don’t like what they are like on the surface, it doesn’t mean he or she isn’t person. If you don’t take the chance to truly get to know someone it is easy for you to miss out on meeting a great friend.
Don’t Judge a book by it’s cover means that you should not judge something by it’s appearance but by the inside of it. This theme appears in the Merchant of Venice through many characters. Portia for one shows us the theme, she seems pretty and is always polite to the suitors who come to court her, however inside she really dislikes all her suitors and criticize them. I’ve always been someone who judges someone by their cover, I don’t mean to do it but it’s quite hard to stop. However I’m always surprised once I got to know a person well and see how different she/he was from what he appears to be. I’m always surprised in how a shy person can actually be very open. If a person put their trust in appearances, they’ll always stereotype people and never get to know someone new and interesting.
Deceptive Appearances:
“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” is a theme that we discover in many different scenarios and we encounter these problems everyday related to judging people or items by their appearance. This phrase means that people should not assume someone or something is a certain way just by looking at the appearance.
Moreover, we encounter this theme in the book ‘Merchant of Venice’. For instance, when Portia first looks at the Prince of Morocco, she doesn’t like him and judges him by his appearance. Moreover, she makes comments like “complexion of a devil” regarding the prince of Morocco and tells her helper that she doesn’t want to marry him before even getting to know him.
I have had a personal experience judging a athlete by her appearance. It was in a tennis trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia when I was sitting on the side watching a short young girl playing with a tall girl. I immediately thought that the tiny girl was going to loose very badly because of the height advantage. However, the game started and I was definitely wrong. The tiny girl won and played extremely well. I was surprised and felt silly for judging her by her appearance.
The phrase “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” means that an outer appearance does not show or prove what kind of person you really are. You cannot judge that someone is bad just because you think they don’t look good. Even in books, an old wrinkled book may be more interesting than a clean and shiny book. This can also be put into the the text of “To Kill a Mocking bird” of the quote “You don’t know someone well until you step into their shoes and walk on it”
This also appears in merchant of Venice when Bassanio was at first a greedy and selfish friend but at the end when Antonio confronts Shylock, Bassanio turned out to be a really caring friend towards Antonio.
An example of this theme of “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” that I have experienced would be in a basketball court. Every time I went into a basketball court, there would be some teenagers with many gears on themselves and wearing the most expensive basketball shoes there were, looking for competition. Then there would be teenagers like me that just wear casual clothes and just wanting to have fun. Every time though, the teenagers would taunt and ask people like me to play with them but every time they would some how lose. After the loss, they would start talking about how they were easy on us and etc and leave.
People that trust appearance is everything usually loses self-esteem really quickly. Thinking about that they are too ugly and they want to kill them selves and etc.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover” is a commonly used expression. It is about not judging people by their appearance and what you first see of them, but rather judge people after getting to know them. This expression tells us to understand a person before judging them, rather than judging them right off the bat. This theme is evident in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, whichs taught us not to judge Mrs.Dubose and not to judge Boo Radley. This expression is also evident in The Merchant of Venice, in the play we learn about duel identities of the many characters, and how their many personalities can easily deceive us. At first we learned that Antonio is a great friend and is caring towards them as a result we judged him as a kind caring man. However, we later notice how mean he acts towards Shylock. This particular incident allows us to understand that we can’t always judge a person by what we first notice, but we must only judge them after we have truly understood them.
This expression is not only used in literature but it is often used in our day to day lives. We often meet people who we judge instantly, by how they dress, act or look without getting to know them. There was once an experience where I realized that appearances can be deceiving. I was at camp and I had met someone new, I saw her and instantly judged her by the way she dressed. I thought it looked unusual and different, as a result I instantly thought that she would have an unusual personality, however little did I know that she would be one of the kindest people I would meet that summer.
Those who put their trust in appearances can probably be easily deceived. They may not get to know someone just because they look different and ultimately not get to know who the person may be, whether they are kind hearted or mean. Most importantly, those people may be the ones who are least open minded and not have an understanding of the similarities everyone shares.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover” means that you should not judge a person by their looks. Just because someone has black skin does not make them inferior. You should always judge a person on the way they act, not how they look, as judging a person by how they look would be racism/prejudice. This quote appear in “The Merchant of Venice,” as Antonio thinks lowly of Shylock, just because Antonio is Christian and Shylock is Jewish, and vice-versa. Portia also judges the suitors by where they come from. For example, Portia does not like the German, because German people have a stereotype that they drink a lot, and Portia doesn’t like that, so she is not fond of him.
I met my friend Justin in grade 1. When I first saw him, I thought he was a smart person, as he just looked smart. Later on, when I became his friend, I learned that he wasn’t actually a very smart person, but a person with normal grades. I eventually became his good friend, and I know he isn’t a smart person, even thought I thought he was when I first saw him.
When a person puts trust in appearances, racism begins. For example, a person may think that he is superior just because he is white. This is not true. A person with black skin can definitely go to much higher in the business, sports, or economic world, if he tries hard enough. But people there are people who are too arrogant to believe that, and they continue to spread the prejudice, stereotypes and racism around the world. Even people who try to judge people on the inside will still be subconsciously rejecting him/her a little. This shows how much racism has spread to the world, it is even a part of our daily life now.
“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” is a popular sentence in the world of literature for a reason. A reader will typically look at a character or an event as being one sided, when in fact, there is a lot more to it. People will often judge a certain element, without understanding it to a full extent. In the story “Merchant of Venice”, there are great examples of this. The most interesting one is probably the one of Antonio. At first, he is seen as a caring young man who will do anything to help his friend, Bassanio. However, as Shylock is introduced to the story, we learn about Antonio’s cruel side. He is racist to the Jewish community, and calls Shylock by names. It is also said that he spits on him. This example is connected to the topic of judgement, as a reader would see Antonio as a gentleman, when in fact there is a whole other side in him.
Of course, there are examples outside of books as well, in real life. The most common example of this is probably when a new student arrives to our community. That person will often be judged before approached. Some will judge based on looks, or even on nationality, which is 100% racism. Just like a character in a book, a person cannot be judged at first sight.
When a person adapts to trusting their first judgement, it can lead to a few consequences. Sometimes your judgement will be correct, but half the times they will not. If you judge somebody incorrectly, you will find that they become hard to approach to, even after you realize that they are not at all the way you thought they would be. This is because you will always have the idea in your head, that they are not being themselves, and you were correct from the start.
-Antonio Gonzalez
“Don’t judge a book by its cover” is a common literary theme. This common expression means that before you can conclude something, you need to take a deeper and closer look at it. Sometimes it’s not always the obvious, you can’t just look at the outside and not at the inside.
This theme applies to the characters in The Merchant of Venice. There are always another side of the character. For example, Antonio; at the beginning, the readers recognizes Antonio as a good friend, generous merchant. On the other hand, when Shylock was introduced to the story, Antonio is very prejudice and is having a bad attitude towards Shylock just because he is a Jew. Another example would be Portia. Portia is a very nice, wealthy lady and she is involve with Bassanio. Her father arranged a lottery to choose the best man for her. Portia is pretending to be nice to the suitors that came to win the lottery but inside, she wants them to lose because Bassanio is the only man that she ever wanted to win the lottery.
A personal experience would be people thinks i’m from international school and children that studies in an international school must be very naughty and get really bad grades but actually, the people who studies in international school is not bad at all and many of us get really good grades and nice.
Those who put their trust in appearances would soon realizes that appearance doesn’t represent everything and many is fake. They should try to know the real instead of just the outside and not knowing anything in the inside.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover” is a common literary theme. This common expression means that not everything or everyone is what they seem. Looks can be very deceiving. A book or a person might look really bad on the outside, but can be surprisingly good and interesting inside. You never really get to know someone until you “step into his or her shoes”. There was one guy I met. He was very tall and big. He gelled his hair, which made him look mean. But once I got to know him, and talk to him more, he ended up being a very nice, polite, kind, caring guy. He doesn’t bully people and likes to joke around. Also, in many movies, there is a very wealthy girl who tries to be very popular, but isn’t the nicest person in the world. She doesn’t pay respect to other people but expect other people to respect her, just because she is rich and popular. But on the inside, you never really know what she is like. She may be a very lonely girl with parents that don’t really care for her. This is an example of not showing everybody who you truly are. People will appreciate you for who you are, no matter how the person looks. People who depend on too much of their appearance won’t survive long in life, and won’t make too many friends, once people get to know that person over time. So the best is to be who you really are. Accept your differences and people will respect you for that.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover” is an old adage that everyone says but do we really understand what it means? To me, it is telling us not to judge a person by his/her appearance but by the personality and the nature this person holds. This common expression also mean that one should get to know a person before judging him/her, it is unfair to just judge somebody by how they look.
An example was when I was in my first ISSFHK swim meet. At that time, I was only 11 years old and I was one of the youngest in the team. I was short and tiny looking, I wasn’t intimidating at all. It was my turn to swim for my 100-meter breaststroke and many other older girls, who looked confident and proud, surrounded me. Of course I was intimidated, they were all so much taller than me. I got ready and stood in front of my lane, ready for the whistle. Just before we jumped into the water, the girl next to me said, “I bet you’re gonna be last”. I was angry and frustrated, just because I looked tiny, doesn’t mean I can’t swim! So in the end, out of 6 people, I got 2nd place and the girl that teased me got last place.
When people believe in their appearances, they will soon realize appearances aren’t everything. Even though you look nice and everything, when someone tries to know who you really are, they might not like the ‘real you’ (your personality). So the best is to be true to yourself, and look like who you really are.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” While appearances are an essential part of first impressions, one must not only look at the mere surface of another to judge them; what matters most is what the person really is like on the inside.
I have to admit- I do have certain experiences with deceptive appearances. An example would be a not-so special afternoon when I was in a store in Beijing. The clerk was probably in her mid-twenties; she was extremely pretty and had a sweet voice when she greeted me. I thought, just by looking at her, she was probably a wonderful person with wonderful manners, but that was quickly vetoed as soon as she opened her mouth and let out a huge yawn, followed by a burp. When I turned to leave the store, she started to yell at me with a horrible language, using phrases such as “Si Yatou” (offensive slang for “girl”) and even “Sanba” (“promiscuous woman” or the more informal “whore”)! All this just because I did not find anything I wanted to buy. On the other hand, when I walked into another store in the same area, the clerk, who was, I admit, positively homely, treated me so kindly with so much respect that I could not help but purchase a few goods.
Those who put their trust in appearances are in risk of making bad choices and even bad friends. It is important to analyze not only the outside but the inside as well- after all, not everyone looks as good or bad as they are on the inside.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover” generally means to not determine the personality and worth of someone or something based on how they look on the outside. When one sees an aged man in a worn out jacket sitting alone on the bus, one automatically concludes that he is a poor, lonely old man because what one sees is what one gets. This may not be the case at all. He may be a rich gentleman with a wife and children, but takes the bus because he is environmentally friendly and wants to be humble. Most of the time, things are not what they seem.
We all judge others based on their appearances, even if we try not to. When we see a burly, muscular man we immediately think he’s all brawn and no brain, when in reality, that is not the case at all. It’s simply human nature to deduce and categorize others with their appearances because that is just the norm.
One of my friend’s mother (who is a social worker) thinks I am a bad influence to her daughter just because I express myself with make-up. I have never talked to her in my life, nor do I want to now. This social worker, who’s job is to help and not to judge others simply sees me as a girl who wears too much eyeliner, deducing that I must be bad news. In reality, I really am not the person she thinks I am. I get good grades and I’m generally nice and helpful to others. People should really just open their eyes and see others as their true selfs before judging based on appearances and first impressions.
Those who put their trust in appearances will miss out in life. These people will pass up opportunities to meet new and amazing people because they’re too scared to see past others’ masks and facades. Furthermore, they will have limited amounts of friends because of this judgmental personality trait is extremely unattractive.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” being one of the most common expressions can be present in a lot of ways. This usually means how you don’t know someone and you are judging them just basing on their appearance. Its just like a good book with a poor cover and you have to explore the insides to find out what it is really like to be that certain individual. I’ve known someone before who I always thought was mean and always pushes people around, but once you got to know them, they are actually not as bad as you thought and are really nice people. Not judging a book by its cover can sometimes make a lot of friends. Those who do put their trust in appearances ends up making less friends, by missing out on not getting to know those certain individuals. In history, Canadian PM King thought Hitler was harmless and was only patriotic for his country, but however, he was completely wrong by basing his facts just on his appearance. That could be an example of judging a book by its cover.
“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” is a widely used saying. It means that we should not judge an object or a person solely by appearance. I have not encountered many personal experiences that pertain to this topic, however, I have read about events that relate to this subject in some short stories. In this short story, a highly intelligent boy named Johnny is promoted from the 6th grade to the 8th grade. He encounters a much taller, muscular and older classmate by the name of “McCarty”. McCarty is an underachieving student who was forced to re-take grade 8 three times in a row. Johnny is frightened by his presence and is determined that McCarty will beat him up. Johnny decides to take McCarty out before McCarty can, so he hits McCarty over the head with a club. It does not affect McCarty much, but Johnny is terrified. However, McCarty does not seek revenge and he asks Johnny to be his tutor so he can pass grade 8. McCarty is actually a kind and friendly “giant”.
People that “judge a book by it’s cover” often end up with bad results. Appearances can be extremely deceptive, and can fool a person.
Deceptive Appearances:
Don’t judge a book by its cover is one of life’s most important themes. This expression means that just because you pick a book up and it might have a cover that doesn’t appeal to you, you should still take a look inside the book because you never know, there could be something in there that you really like. This applies to people as well, you shouldn’t judge them if you don’t know them. There was a study done in a kindergarten class were they took a picture of a white man who was a mass murder and someone from an Arab nation, they asked the class which out of the two people looked like a bad man and which one looked like a nice man. The whole class pointed to the picture of the Arab man and said he looked like the bad man. Is this a stereotype? Do the children in this class think the Arab man looks bad because of media?
A first hand experience that I have had with this is the appearance of one of my best friends families. Her parents were always so nice to each other, their house was extremely clean and to be truthful her family did seem like the perfect family. We got really close and a while later she told me that her parents were getting a divorce. I was so surprised they had seemed so happy and her family had seemed so perfect. I guess I had never really looked closely at their family, I had just judge from what I saw.
When people put their trust in appearances it can lead to bad things. A pretty girl could get away with certain things because the man likes the way she looks, and hopes that if he does something for her he will get something in return. An old woman might be a serial killer but you would never know because she looks so sweet and innocent. When people put their trust in appearances they are looking at the glass half empty – they don’t see the whole story.
-Poppy Platford
“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” means don’t just look at the appearance of the book, you have to look into it and read it, and understand it before you can make judgements about it. This phrase applies to everything. For example, some people can look kind and someone you can confide in, but they can have a heart that is cunning and conniving.
I have a friend who looks like the nicest and most sincere girl. I became friends with her thinking that she was exactly the same on the inside, nice and sincere. But that turned out wrong. She would continually break engagements with me for going to the movies or hanging out. she would ignore mu comments and pretend I didn’t speak at all. She’s not even concerned about her friends health. Once I was sick and didn’t go to school. The next day she called me and asked about the homework given on the day I had a sick leave. I said. “I don’t know, I wasn’t at school on that day.” And she would pause, and talk to someone else. A few moments later she asked me the same question again and I replied with the same answer. She didn’t even comment. I judged her by her appearance and hoped that inside, she would be the same. But I judged wrongly. Her appearance had nothing to do with her actions and it hurt me. People who put their trust in appearances might be right sometimes, but most of the time that appearance can be like a mask, hiding the truth that is inside. Those people might get hurt or taken advantage of. Some people would get so hurt that they wouldn’t even trust anyone anymore. “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” is a lesson that we should all learn from.
“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” Many of us have heard that literary theme before, but how many of us understands it’s meaning and actually learn from it? The answer is inestimable. What the quote really mean is when you look at things, don’t just focus on it’s deceptive appearance, look closer, look inside, something that totally contrasts it’s appearance might be in there. A personal experience I had was a a pretty lame, but true experience. I still remember that day when my mother bought some apples home. Out of the apples, there was one especially torn apple. It looked like it was rotting, and expired. No one wanted to eat it, everyone took the shiny, beautiful, red apples and when they ate it the apples were completely tasteless and even a bit sour. I took the rotten one and ate it. Turns out, the rotten apple was the sweetest, and yummiest apple of all. That’s when I learned my lesson, don’t judge something by it’s beauty or appearance. Look further, it may surprise you. I think that people who put their trust in appearance often loses an opportunity from some truly good, and beautiful things. They lost a chance to see the beauty of the world, sometimes they end up being into a terrible situation, hurting themselves. People should really learn that, sometimes appearances don’t say all. A person may look the nicest and the prettiest, by their heart may be the evilest of them all…
The phrase “Don’t judge a Book by it’s Cover” means that you shouldn’t judge people by the way they look or the way they express themselves like by their clothing. A personal experience that I made in the past is that there was this new girl in school and even though she was in uniform, she wore allot of accessories and I thought that she was just bragging about how much stuff she has, but when she sat at a table I was sitting in with my friends, I got to know her better and I learned that she just loves wearing accessories. I think that when people put their trust in appearances don’t really know other people very well and sometimes, even the most beautiful girl can be most deceiving.