The Merchant (play)

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Shylock - a Study by Joseph Keiley

The Merchant is a 1976 play in two acts[1] by the English dramatist Arnold Wesker. It is based on William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, and focuses on the Jewish Shylock character, that play's principal antagonist.[2][3]

Wesker began writing the play after seeing a 1973 performance by

Tony Award winner Zero Mostel. Wesker had high hopes that the play would make a big profit, but this did not happen.[4] He wrote a book about the play in 1999, The Birth of Shylock and the Death of Zero Mostel.[5][2]

In this play, Shylock is a good man and the good friend of Antonio, the title character in Shakespeare's play.[6] They bond in their love of knowledge and mutual dislike of the antisemitism in their community.[7][4] Shylock's demand for a pound of flesh is meant as a jest, but he can not retract it. Both Shylock and Antonio are relieved when the demand is denied in court.[1][6]

Reviewing The Merchant, critic Michael Billington wrote "Wesker’s point comes across clearly: that anti-Jewish prejudice is ingrained in English life."[3] John Gross, another critic, stated that "As a humanistic sermon, The Merchant has much to recommend it. As a play, it lacks bite".[8]

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-415-24052-9
    . Retrieved 16 September 2018 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ a b c Chan, Sewell (13 April 2016). "Arnold Wesker, 83, Writer of Working-Class Dramas, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  3. ^ a b c Pascal, Julia (12 April 2016). "Sir Arnold Wesker obituary". the Guardian. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-1-135-54145-3
    . Retrieved 16 September 2018 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ "Arnold Wesker, Major British Playwright of "Angry Young Men" Era, Dies at 83 - Playbill". Playbill. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  6. ^
    ISBN 9780241187975
    . Retrieved 16 September 2018 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ Billington, Michael (13 April 2016). "Arnold Wesker: the radical bard of working Britain". the Guardian. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  8. ISBN 978-0-671-88386-7
    . Retrieved 20 September 2018 – via Google Books.


Essay on the play: Kevin De Ornellas, "'The Law is a Terrifying Thing: Anti-semitic Misuse of the Law in Arnold Wesker's Shylock". Liverpool Law Review, 2023. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10991-023-09347-5

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