Shylock
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Shylock | |
---|---|
The Merchant of Venice character | |
Created by | William Shakespeare |
In-universe information | |
Family | Jessica (daughter) |
Shylock (
Shylock's characterisation is composed of stereotypes, for instance greediness and vengefulness, although there were no legally practising Jews who lived in England during Shakespeare's time. Jews were expelled from the country in 1290 by
Name
Shylock is not a Jewish name. However, some scholars believe it probably derives from the biblical name
In the play
Shylock is a Jewish moneylender who loans 3,000
Historical background
In Shakespeare's time, no Jews had been legally present in
Portrayal
Shylock on stage
Since Kean's time, many other actors who have played the role have chosen a sympathetic approach to the character.
Kean and Irving presented a Shylock justified in wanting his revenge. Adler's Shylock evolved over the years he played the role, first as a stock Shakespearean villain, then as a man whose better nature was overcome by a desire for revenge, and finally as a man who operated not from revenge but from pride. In a 1902 interview with Theater magazine, Adler pointed out that Shylock is a wealthy man, "rich enough to forgo the interest on three thousand ducats" and that Antonio is "far from the chivalrous gentleman he is made to appear. He has insulted the Jew and spat on him, yet he comes with hypocritical politeness to borrow money of him." Shylock's fatal flaw is to depend on the law, but "would he not walk out of that courtroom head erect, the very apotheosis of defiant hatred and scorn?"[10]
Some modern productions explore the justification of Shylock's thirst for vengeance. For instance, in the
Other representations
Arnold Wesker's play The Merchant (1976) is a reimagining of Shakespeare's story.[12] In this retelling, Shylock and Antonio are friends and share a disdain for the crass antisemitism of the Christian community's laws.[13]
The award-winning monologue
Notable portrayals
Notable actors who have portrayed Shylock include
After World War II, productions were sometimes featured on TV and in film as well as on stage, such as
played the role in the Globe theatre in the summer of 2015. This was followed by a touring production in 2016. Pryce's daughter performs the role of Jessica (Shylock's daughter) in the production.Shylock and antisemitism
Since Shakespeare's time, the character's name has become a
Antisemitic reading
Antisemitic views were common in Elizabethan era England.[16]
It was not until the twelfth century that in northern Europe (England, Germany, and France), a region until then peripheral but at this point expanding fast, a form of Judeophobia developed that was considerably more violent because of a new dimension of imagined behaviors, including accusations that Jews engaged in ritual murder, profanation of the host, and the poisoning of wells. With the prejudices of the day against Jews, atheists and non-Christians in general, Jews found it hard to fit in with society. Some say that these attitudes provided the foundations of anti-semitism in the 20th century.
During the 1600s, in Venice and in other regions, Jews were required to wear a red hat at all times in public to ensure that they were easily identified. If they did not comply with this rule, they could face the death penalty. In Venice, Jews had to live in a ghetto protected by Christians which was probably for their own safety. The Jews were expected to pay their guards.[17]
Shakespeare's play possibly reflected the antisemitic tradition. The title page of the
Sympathetic reading
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Many modern readers and audiences have read the play as a plea for tolerance, with Shylock as a sympathetic character. Shylock's 'trial' at the end of the play is a mockery of justice, with Portia acting as a judge when she has no real right to do so. Shakespeare does not question Shylock's intentions, but that the very people who berated Shylock for being dishonest have resorted to trickery in order to win. Shakespeare gives Shylock one of his most eloquent speeches:
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, heal'd by the same means, warm'd and cool'd by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.
— Act III, scene I
Alexander Granach, who played Shylock in Germany in the 1920s, writes,
[H]ow does it happen that Shylock's defense becomes an accusation? ... The answer must be a perfectly simple one. God and Shakespeare did not create beings of paper, they gave them flesh and blood! Even if the poet did not know Shylock and did not like him, the justice of his genius took the part of his black obstacle [Shylock, the obstacle to the plans of the young lovers] and, out of its prodigal and endless wealth, gave Shylock human greatness and spiritual strength and a great loneliness—things that turn Antonio's gay, singing, sponging, money-borrowing, girl-stealing, marriage-contriving circle into petty idlers and sneak thieves.[18]
Influence on antisemitism
Antisemites have used the play to support their views throughout its history. The 1619 edition has a subtitle of "With the Extreme Cruelty of Shylock the Jew ..." The
The depiction of Jews in the literature of England and other English-speaking countries throughout the centuries was influenced by the character of Shylock and similarly stereotypical Jewish characters. Jewish characters in English literature were frequently depicted as "monied, cruel, lecherous, avaricious [outsiders] tolerated only because of [their] golden hoard".[21]
Shylock as an allusion
Today the word Shylock is often used to refer to any "relentless and revengeful moneylender"; in fact, any relentless person. In the early 20th century - as even now - doctors were often referred to as Shylocks, because of their exorbitant charges. A one page paper from a medical journal of that time argued that most physicians - even preeminent ones - did not have adequate incomes because the code of medical ethics prevented them from charging the poor for their services [the same code exists today, too, in most countries][citation needed]. The paper ends with an ironic remark - Is the doctor a Shylock?[22]
See also
References
- ^ Halio, Jay L. (1994). The Merchant of Venice. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. 23.
- ^ quoted from Shylock is Shakespeare by Kenneth Gross, 2006, University of Chicago Press.
- ^ Ferguson 2009, p. 36.
- ^ Baron, Salo, Kahan, Arcadius; et al., Economic History of the Jews, Nachum Gross (Ed.), Schocken Books, 1975, p. 257
- ISBN 9780415311731.
- ^ Adler erroneously dates this from 1847 (at which time Kean was already dead); the Cambridge Student Guide to The Merchant of Venice dates Kean's performance to a more likely 1814.
- ^ Adler 1999, 341.
- ^ Wells and Dobson, p. 290.
- ^ Adler 1999, 342–44.
- ^ Adler 1999, 344–350
- ^ Granach 1945; 2010, 275–279.
- ^ Chan, Sewell (13 April 2016). "Arnold Wesker, 83, Writer of Working-Class Dramas, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
- ^ Billington, Michael (13 April 2016). "Arnold Wesker: the radical bard of working Britain". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
- ^ Charlesbois, Gaetan. "Shylock". Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia. 18 June 2010. Retrieved 19 January 2013
- ^ BWW News Desk. "David Serero to Star in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE at the Center for Jewish History This June". BroadwayWorld.com.
- ISBN 1-56584-969-8.
- ^ "Venice, Italy Jewish History Tour – Jewish Virtual Library". jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
- ^ Granach 1945, 2010: 276–77
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
- ^ Lecture by James Shapiro: "Shakespeare and the Jews"
- ^ Mirsky, David. "The Fictive Jew in the Literature of England 1890–1920". Samuel K. Mirsky Memorial Volume.
- PMID 36020055.
Bibliography
- ISBN 0-679-41351-0.
- Ferguson, Niall (2009). The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 9780143116172.
- Granach, Alexander, "There Goes an Actor," tr. Willard Trask, Doubleday, Doran, Garden City, NY, 1945. Also Granach, Alexander, "From the Shtetl to the Stage: The Odyssey of a Wandering Actor," with new Introduction by Herbert S., Lewis, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4128-1347-1.
- Smith, Rob: Cambridge Student Guide to The Merchant of Venice. ISBN 0-521-00816-6.
Further reading
- Bronstein, Herbert (1969). "Shakespeare, the Jews, and The Merchant of Venice". JSTOR 2868968.
- John Gross, Shylock: A Legend and Its Legacy. Touchstone: 1994. ISBN 0-671-88386-0.
- Kenneth Gross, Shylock Is Shakespeare. University of Chicago Press: 2006. ISBN 0-226-30977-0.
- S.L. Lee, "The Original of Shylock," The Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. CCXLVI, January/June 1880.
- James Shapiro, Shakespeare and the Jews. Columbia University Press: 1997. ISBN 0-231-10345-X.
- Joseph Shatzmiller, Shylock Reconsidered: Jews, Moneylending, and Medieval Society. University of California Press: 1990. ISBN 0-520-06635-9.
- Martin Yaffe, Shylock and the Jewish Question. Johns Hopkins University Press: 1997. ISBN 0-8018-5648-5.
External links
- Patrick Stewart illustrates approaches to the Shylock character on Shakespeare Teaching Videos