The Merchant of Veniceis a play byWilliam Shakespeare,believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice namedAntoniodefaults on a large loan taken out on behalf of his dear friend,Bassanio,and provided by a Jewish moneylender,Shylock,with seemingly inevitable fatal consequences.

The Merchant of Venice
Title page of the first quarto for the Merchant of Venice (1600)
Title page of thefirst quarto(1600)
Written byWilliam Shakespeare
Characters
Original languageEnglish
SeriesFirst Folio
SubjectDebt
GenreShakespearean comedy
SettingVenice,16th century

Although classified as acomedyin theFirst Folioand sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's otherromantic comedies,the play is most remembered for its dramatic scenes, and it is best known for the character Shylock and his famous demand for a "pound of flesh".

The play contains two famous speeches, that of Shylock, "Hath not a Jew eyes?"on the subject of humanity, and that ofPortiaon "the quality of mercy".Debate exists on whether the play isanti-Semitic,with Shylock's insistence on his legal right to the pound of flesh being in opposition to his seemingly universal plea for the rights of all people suffering discrimination.

Characters

Charles Macklin as ShylockbyJohan Zoffany,1768
  • Antonio– a prominent merchant of Venice in a melancholic mood
  • Bassanio– Antonio's close friend; suitor to Portia; later the husband of Portia
  • Gratiano – friend of Antonio and Bassanio; in love with Nerissa; later the husband of Nerissa
  • Lorenzo – friend of Antonio and Bassanio; in love with Jessica; later the husband of Jessica
  • Portia– a rich heiress; later the wife of Bassanio
  • Nerissa – Portia's waiting maid – in love with Gratiano; later the wife of Gratiano; disguises herself as Portia's clerk
  • Balthazar – Portia's servant
  • Stephano – Portia's servant
  • Shylock– a miserly Jew; moneylender; father of Jessica
  • Jessica– daughter of Shylock, later the wife of Lorenzo
  • Tubal – a Jew; friend of Shylock
  • Launcelot Gobbo – servant of Shylock; later a servant of Bassanio; son of Old Gobbo
  • Old Gobbo – blind father of Launcelot
  • Leonardo – servant to Bassanio
  • Duke of Venice – authority who presides over the case of Shylock's bond
  • Prince of Morocco – suitor to Portia
  • Prince of Arragon – suitor to Portia
  • Salarino and Salanio – friends of Antonio and Bassanio
  • Salerio – a messenger from Venice; friend of Antonio, Bassanio and others
  • Magnificoes of Venice, officers of the Court of Justice, gaolers, servants to Portia, and other attendants
  • Doctor Bellario, cousin of Portia, a character by reference who does not appear onstage

Plot summary

Gilbert'sShylockAfter the Trial,an illustration toThe Merchant of Venice

Bassanio, a youngVenetianof noble rank, wishes to woo the beautiful and wealthy heiress of Belmont,Portia.Having squandered his estate, he needs 3,000ducatsto subsidise his expenditures as a suitor. Bassanio approaches his friendAntonio,a wealthy merchant of Venice, who has previously and repeatedly bailed him out. Antonio agrees, but has no liquid cash as his ships and merchandise are busy at sea toTripolis,the Indies,MexicoandEngland– he promises to cover a bond if Bassanio can find a lender, so Bassanio turns to the Jewish moneylender Shylock and names Antonio as the loan's guarantor.

Antonio has already antagonized Shylock through his outspokenantisemitismand because Antonio's habit of lending money without interest forces Shylock to charge lower rates. Shylock is at first reluctant to grant the loan, citing abuse he has suffered at Antonio's hand. He finally agrees to lend the sum to Bassanio without interest upon one condition: if Antonio were unable to repay it at the specified date, Shylock may take apoundof Antonio's flesh. Bassanio does not want Antonio to accept such a risky condition; Antonio is surprised by what he sees as the moneylender's generosity (no "usance" – interest – is asked for), and he signs the contract. With money in hand, Bassanio leaves for Belmont with his friend Gratiano, who has asked to accompany him. Gratiano is a likeable young man, but he is often flippant, overly talkative, and tactless. Bassanio warns his companion to exercise self-control, and the two leave for Belmont.

Meanwhile, in Belmont, Portia is awash with suitors. Her father left awillstipulating that each of her suitors must choose correctly from one of three caskets, made of gold, silver and lead respectively. Whoever picks the right casket wins Portia's hand. The first suitor, the Prince of Morocco, chooses the gold casket, interpreting its slogan, "Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire",[1]as referring to Portia. The second suitor, the conceited Prince of Aragon, chooses the silver casket, which proclaims, "Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves",[2]as he believes he is full of merit. Both suitors leave empty-handed, having rejected the lead casket because of the baseness of its material and the uninviting nature of its slogan, "Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath".[3]The last suitor is Bassanio, whom Portia wishes to succeed, having met him before. As Bassanio ponders his choice, members of Portia's household sing a song that says that "fancy" (not true love) is "It is engendered in the eye, / With gazing fed";[4]Bassanio chooses the lead casket and wins Portia's hand.

A depiction of Jessica, fromThe Graphic Gallery of Shakespeare's Heroines

At Venice, Antonio's ships are reported lost at sea, so the merchant cannot repay the bond. Shylock has become more determined to exact revenge from Christians because his daughter Jessica eloped with the Christian Lorenzo and converted. She took a substantial amount of Shylock's wealth with her, as well as a turquoise ring which Shylock had been given by his late wife, Leah. Shylock has Antonio brought before court.

At Belmont, Bassanio receives a letter telling him that Antonio has been unable to repay the loan from Shylock. Portia and Bassanio marry, as do Gratiano and Portia's handmaid Nerissa. Bassanio and Gratiano leave for Venice, with money from Portia, to save Antonio's life by offering the money to Shylock. Unknown to Bassanio and Gratiano, Portia sent her servant, Balthazar, to seek the counsel of Portia's cousin, Bellario, a lawyer, atPadua.

The climax of the play is set in the court of theDuke of Venice.Shylock refuses Bassanio's offer of 6,000 ducats, twice the amount of the loan. He demands his pound of flesh from Antonio. The Duke, wishing to save Antonio but unable to nullify a contract, refers the case to a visitor. He identifies himself as Balthazar, a young male "doctor of the law", bearing a letter of recommendation to the Duke from the learned lawyer Bellario. The doctor is Portia in disguise, and the law clerk who accompanies her is Nerissa, also disguised as a man. As Balthazar, Portia in afamous speechrepeatedly asks Shylock to show mercy, advising him that mercy "is twice blest: / It blesseth him that gives and him that takes."[5]However, Shylock adamantly refuses any compensations and insists on the pound of flesh.

As the court grants Shylock his bond and Antonio prepares for Shylock's knife, Portia deftly appropriates Shylock's argument for "specific performance". She says that the contract allows Shylock to remove only theflesh,not the blood, of Antonio.(seequibble)Thus, if Shylock were to shed any drop of Antonio's blood, his "lands and goods" would be forfeited under Venetian laws. She tells him that he must cut precisely one pound of flesh, no more, no less; she advises him that "if the scale do turn / But in the estimation of a hair, / Thou diest, and all thy goods are confiscate."[6]

Defeated, Shylock consents to accept Bassanio's offer of money for the defaulted bond: first his offer to pay "the bond thrice", which Portia rebuffs, telling him to take his bond, and then merely the principal; but Portia also prevents him from doing this, on the ground that he has already refused it "in the open court". She cites a law under which Shylock, as a Jew and therefore an "alien", having attempted to take the life of a citizen, has forfeited his property, half tothe governmentand half to Antonio, leaving his life at the mercy of the Duke. The Duke spares Shylock's life and says he may remit the forfeiture. Portia says the Duke may waive the state's share, but not Antonio's. Antonio says he is content that the state waive its claim to half Shylock's wealth if he can have his one-half share "in use"until Shylock's death, when the principal would be given to Lorenzo and Jessica. Antonio also asks that" for this favour "Shylock convert to Christianity and bequeath his entire estate to Lorenzo and Jessica. The Duke then threatens to recant his pardon of Shylock's life unless he accepts these conditions. Shylock, re-threatened with death, accepts with the words," I am content. "[7]

Bassanio does not recognise his disguised wife, but offers to give a present to the supposed lawyer. First she declines, but after he insists, Portia requests his ring and Antonio's gloves. Antonio parts with his gloves without a second thought, but Bassanio gives the ring only after much persuasion from Antonio, as earlier in the play he promised his wife never to lose, sell or give it. Nerissa, as the lawyer's clerk, succeeds in likewise retrieving her ring from Gratiano, who does not see through her disguise.

At Belmont, Portia and Nerissa taunt and pretend to accuse their husbands before revealing they were really the lawyer and his clerk in disguise (V). After all the other characters make amends, Antonio learns from Portia that three of his ships were not stranded and have returned safely after all.

Earlier sources

The title page from a 1565 printing of Giovanni Fiorentino's 14th-century taleIl Pecorone
The first page ofThe Merchant of Venice,printed in the Second Folio of 1632

The forfeit of a merchant's deadlybondafter standing surety for a friend's loan was a common tale in England in the late 16th century.[8]In addition, the test of the suitors at Belmont, the merchant's rescue from the "pound of flesh" penalty by his friend's new wife disguised as a lawyer, and her demand for the betrothal ring in payment are all elements present in the 14th-century taleIl PecoronebyGiovanni Fiorentino,which was published in Milan in 1558.[9]Elements of the trial scene are also found inThe OratorbyAlexandre Sylvane,published in translation in 1596.[8]The story of the three caskets can be found inGesta Romanorum,a collection of tales probably compiled at the end of the 13th century.[10]

Date and text

The date of composition ofThe Merchant of Veniceis believed to be between 1596 and 1598. The play was mentioned byFrancis Meresin 1598, so it must have been familiar on the stage by that date. The title page of the first edition in 1600 states that it had been performed "divers times" by that date. Salerino's reference to his ship theAndrew(I, i, 27) is thought to be an allusion to the Spanish shipSt. Andrew,captured by the English atCádizin 1596. A date of 1596–97 is considered consistent with the play's style.[citation needed]

The play was entered in theRegisterof theStationers Company,the method at that time of obtainingcopyrightfor a new play, byJames Robertson 22 July 1598 under the title "the Marchaunt of Venyce or otherwise called the Jewe of Venyce."[11]On 28 October 1600 Roberts transferred his right to the play to the stationerThomas Heyes;Heyes published the firstquartobefore the end of the year. It was printed again in 1619, as part of William Jaggard's so-calledFalse Folio.(Later, Thomas Heyes' son and heir Laurence Heyes asked for and was granted a confirmation of his right to the play, on 8 July 1619.) The 1600 edition is generally regarded as being accurate and reliable. It is the basis of the text published in the 1623First Folio,which adds a number of stage directions, mainly musical cues.[12]

Themes

Shylock and the antisemitism debate

The play is frequently staged, but is potentially troubling to modern audiences because of its central themes, which can easily appearantisemitic.Modern critics argue over the play's stance on the Jews and Judaism. American literary criticHarold Bloomargued in 1998 that "one would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to recognise that Shakespeare's grand, equivocal comedyThe Merchant of Veniceis nevertheless a profoundly anti-semitic work ".[13]

Shylock and Jessica(1876) byMaurycy Gottlieb

Shylock as an antagonist

English society in the Elizabethan and Jacobean era has been described as "judeophobic".[14]English Jewshad beenexpelledunderEdward Iin 1290 and were not permitted to return until 1656 under the rule ofOliver Cromwell.PoetJohn Donne,who was Dean ofSt Paul's Cathedraland a contemporary of Shakespeare, gave a sermon in 1624 perpetuating theBlood Libel– the entirely unsubstantiated antisemitic lie that Jews ritually murdered Christians to drink their blood and achieve salvation.[15]In Venice and in some other places, Jews were required to wear a yellow or red hat at all times in public to make sure that they were easily identified, and had to live in a ghetto.[16]

Shakespeare's play may be seen as a continuation of this tradition.[17]The title page of theQuartoindicates that the play was sometimes known asThe Jew of Venicein its day, which suggests that it was seen as similar to Marlowe's early 1590s workThe Jew of Malta.One interpretation of the play's structure is that Shakespeare meant to contrast the mercy of the main Christian characters with the Old Testament vengefulness of a Jew, who lacks the religiousgraceto comprehend mercy. Similarly, it is possible that Shakespeare meant Shylock'sforced conversionto Christianity to be a "happy ending"for the character, as, to some Christian audiences, it saves his soul and allows him to enter Heaven.[18][page range too broad]

Regardless of what Shakespeare'sauthorial intentmay have been, the play has been made use of by antisemites throughout the play's history. TheNazisused the usurious Shylock for their propaganda. Shortly afterKristallnachtin 1938,The Merchant of Venicewas broadcast for propagandistic ends over the German airwaves. Productions of the play followed inLübeck(1938),Berlin(1940), and elsewhere within the Nazi territory.[19][page range too broad]

In a series of articles calledObserver,first published in 1785, British playwrightRichard Cumberlandcreated a character named Abraham Abrahams, who is quoted as saying, "I verily believe the odious character of Shylock has brought little less persecution upon us, poor scattered sons ofAbraham,than theInquisitionitself. "[20]Cumberland later wrote a successful play,The Jew(1794), in which his title character,Sheva,is portrayed sympathetically, as both a kindhearted and generous man. This was the first known attempt by a dramatist to reverse the negative stereotype that Shylock personified.[21]

Thedepiction of Jews in literaturethroughout the centuries bears the close imprint of Shylock. With slight variations much of English literature up until the 20th century depicts the Jew as "a monied, cruel, lecherous, avaricious outsider tolerated only because of his golden hoard".[22]

Shylock as a sympathetic character

Shylock and Portia(1835) byThomas Sully

Many modern readers and theatregoers have read the play as a plea for tolerance, noting that Shylock is a sympathetic character. They cite as evidence that Shylock's "trial" at the end of the play is a mockery of justice, with Portia acting as a judge when she has no right to do so. The characters who berated Shylock for dishonesty resort to trickery in order to win. In addition to this Shakespeare gives Shylock one of his most eloquent speeches:

SALARINO:Why, I am sure if he forfeit, thou wilt not
take his flesh! What’s that good for?

SHYLOCK:To bait fish withal; if it will feed nothing else,
it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me and
hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses,
mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted
my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies—
and what’s his reason? I am a Jew. 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 same means,
warmed and cooled 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, l. 50–72[23]

It is difficult to know whether the sympathetic reading of Shylock is entirely due to changing sensibilities among readers or that Shakespeare, a writer who created complex, multi-faceted characters, deliberately intended this reading.

One of the reasons for this interpretation is that Shylock's painful status in Venetian society is emphasised. To some critics, Shylock's celebrated "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech redeems him and even makes him into something of a tragic figure; in the speech, Shylock argues that he is no different from the Christian characters.[24]Detractors note that Shylock ends the speech with a tone of revenge: "if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?" Those who see the speech as sympathetic point out that Shylock says he learned the desire for revenge from the Christian characters: "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."

Even if Shakespeare did not intend the play to be read this way, the fact that it retains its power on stage for audiences who may perceive its central conflicts in radically different terms is an illustration of the subtlety of Shakespeare's characterisations.[25]In the trial Shylock represents what Elizabethan Christians believed to be the Jewish desire for "justice", contrasted with their obviously superior Christian value of mercy. The Christians in the courtroom urge Shylock to love his enemies, although they themselves have failed in the past. Jewish criticHarold Bloomsuggests that, although the play gives merit to both cases, the portraits are not even-handed: "Shylock's shrewd indictment of Christian hypocrisy delights us, but... Shakespeare's intimations do not alleviate the savagery of his portrait of the Jew..."[26]

Notably, in Nazi Germany, concerns arose that the portrayal of Shylock would elicit too much sympathy for the plight of a Jewish person, thus prompting many alterations to the play, including the excision of Shylock's final speech.[27]

SirHerbert Beerbohm Treeas Shylock, painted byCharles Buchel(1895–1935)

Antonio, Bassanio

Antonio's unexplained depression – "In sooth I know not why I am so sad" – and utter devotion to Bassanio has led some critics to theorise that he is suffering fromunrequited lovefor Bassanio and is depressed because Bassanio is coming to an age where he will marry a woman. In his plays and poetry Shakespeare often depicted strong male bonds of varyinghomosociality,which has led some critics to infer that Bassanio returns Antonio's affections despite his obligation to marry:[28]

ANTONIO[…]
Commend me to your honorable wife,
Tell her the process of Antonio’s end,
Say how I loved you, speak me fair in death,
And when the tale is told, bid her be judge
Whether Bassanio had not once a love.
[…]

BASSANIO[…]
But life itself, my wife, and all the world
Are not with me esteemed above thy life.
I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all
Here to this devil, to deliver you.

— The Merchant of Venice.Act 4, scene 1, ll. 285–298[29]

In his essay "Brothers and Others", published inThe Dyer's Hand,W. H. Audendescribes Antonio as "a man whose emotional life, though his conduct may be chaste, is concentrated upon a member of his own sex." Antonio's feelings for Bassanio are likened to a couplet from Shakespeare'sSonnets:"But since she pricked thee out for women's pleasure,/ Mine be thy love, and my love's use their treasure." Antonio, says Auden, embodies the words on Portia's leaden casket: "Who chooseth me, must give and hazard all he hath." Antonio has taken this potentially fatal turn because he despairs, not only over the loss of Bassanio in marriage but also because Bassanio cannot requite what Antonio feels for him. Antonio's frustrated devotion is a form of idolatry: the right to live is yielded for the sake of the loved one. There is one other such idolator in the play: Shylock himself. "Shylock, however unintentionally, did, in fact, hazard all for the sake of destroying the enemy he hated, and Antonio, however unthinkingly he signed the bond, hazarded all to secure the happiness of the man he loved." Both Antonio and Shylock, agreeing to put Antonio's life at a forfeit, stand outside the normal bounds of society. There was, states Auden, a traditional "association of sodomy with usury", reaching back at least as far asDante,with which Shakespeare was likely familiar. (Auden sees the theme ofusuryin the play as a comment on human relations in a mercantile society.)

Other interpreters of the play regard Auden's conception of Antonio's sexual desire for Bassanio as questionable. Michael Radford, director of the 2004 film version starringAl Pacino,explained that, although the film contains a scene where Antonio and Bassanio actually kiss, the friendship between the two is platonic, in line with the prevailing view of male friendship at the time.Jeremy Irons,in an interview, concurs with the director's view and states that he did not "play Antonio as gay".Joseph Fiennes,however, who plays Bassanio, encouraged a homoerotic interpretation and, in fact, surprised Irons with the kiss on set, which was filmed in one take. Fiennes defended his choice, saying "I would never invent something before doing my detective work in the text. If you look at the choice of language... you'll read very sensuous language. That's the key for me in the relationship. The great thing about Shakespeare and why he's so difficult to pin down is his ambiguity. He's not saying they're gay or they're straight, he's leaving it up to his actors. I feel there has to be a great love between the two characters... there's great attraction. I don't think they have slept together but that's for the audience to decide."[30]

The playbill from a 1741 production at the Theatre Royal of Drury Lane

Performance history

The earliest performance of which a record has survived was held at the court ofKing Jamesin the spring of 1605, followed by a second performance a few days later, but there is no record of any further performances in the 17th century.[31]In 1701,George Granvillestaged a successful adaptation, titledThe Jew of Venice,withThomas Bettertonas Bassanio. This version, which featured amasque(The Masque of Peleus and Thetis) was popular, and was acted for the next forty years. Granville cut the clownishGobbos[32]in line withneoclassicaldecorum;he added a jail scene between Shylock and Antonio; an extended scene of toasting at a banquet scene, and had Bassanio give Portia his ring when she is disguised as a male lawyer, removing any homosexual subtext that could be inferred from that scene in the original play.Thomas Doggettwas Shylock, playing the role comically, perhaps even farcically.Roweexpressed doubts about this interpretation as early as 1709; Doggett's success in the role meant that later productions would feature the troupe clown as Shylock.

In 1741,Charles Macklinreturned to the original text in a very successful production atDrury Lane,paving the way forEdmund Keanseventy years later (see below).[33]

Arthur Sullivanwroteincidental musicfor the play in 1871.[34]As part of the 500 year anniversary of theVenetian Ghetto,which converged with the 400 year anniversary of Shakespeare's death,The Merchant of Venicewas performed in the ghetto main square in 2016 by theCompagnia de' Colombari.[35][36]: 141–142 

A print ofEdmund Keanas Shylock in an early 19th-century performance

Shylock on stage

Jewish actorJacob Adlerand others report that the tradition of playing Shylock sympathetically began in the first half of the 19th century withEdmund Kean,[37]and that previously the role had been played "by a comedian as a repulsiveclownor, alternatively, as a monster of unrelieved evil. "Kean's Shylock established his reputation as an actor.[38]

From Kean's time forward, all of the actors who have famously played the role, with the exception ofEdwin Booth,who played Shylock as a simple villain, have chosen a sympathetic approach to the character; even Booth's father,Junius Brutus Booth,played the role sympathetically.Henry Irving's portrayal of an aristocratic, proud Shylock (first seen at the Lyceum in 1879, with Portia played byEllen Terry) has been called "the summit of his career".[39]Jacob Adler was the most notable of the early 20th century: Adler played the role inYiddish-language translation, first inManhattan'sYiddish Theater Districtin theLower East Side,and later onBroadway,where, to great acclaim, he performed the role inYiddishin an otherwise English-language production.[40]

Kean and Irving presented a Shylock justified in wanting hisrevenge;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 frompride.In a 1902 interview withTheatermagazine, 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?"[41]

Some modern productions take further pains to show the sources of Shylock's thirst for vengeance. For instance, in the2004 film adaptationdirected byMichael Radfordand starringAl Pacinoas Shylock, the film begins with text and a montage of howVenetian Jewsare cruelly abused by bigoted Christians. One of the last shots of the film also brings attention to the fact that, as a convert, Shylock would have been cast out of the Jewish community in Venice, no longer allowed to live in the ghetto. Another interpretation of Shylock and a vision of how "must he be acted" appears at the conclusion of the autobiography[clarification needed]ofAlexander Granach,a noted Jewish stage and film actor in Weimar Germany (and later in Hollywood and on Broadway).[42]

Adaptations and cultural references

The play has inspired many adaptions and several works of fiction.

Film, TV and radio versions

Operas

Cultural references

Edmond Haraucourt,French playwright and poet, was commissioned in the 1880s by the actor and theatrical directorPaul Porelto make a French-verse adaptation ofThe Merchant of Venice.His playShylock,first performed at theThéâtre de l'Odéonin December 1889, had incidental music by the French composerGabriel Fauré,later incorporated into an orchestralsuite of the same name.[65]

St. John Ervineauthored a sequel play,The Lady of Belmont,in 1924, in which the characters from Shakespeare's work reunite ten years after the events of the earlier play.[66]

Ralph Vaughan Williams' choral workSerenade to Music(1938) draws its text from the discussion about music and the music of the spheres in Act V, scene 1.[67]

In both versions of the comic filmTo Be or Not to Be(1942and1983) the character "Greenberg", specified as a Jew in the later version, gives a recitation of the "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech to Nazi soldiers.[68]

The rock musicalFire Angelwas based on the story of the play, with the scene changed to the Little Italy district of New York. It was performed in Edinburgh in 1974 and in a revised form atHer Majesty's Theatre,London, in 1977.Braham Murraydirected.[69][70]

Arnold Wesker's playThe Merchant(1976) is a reimagining of Shakespeare's story.[71]In this retelling, Shylock and Antonio are friends and share a disdain for the crass anti-Semitism of the Christian community's laws.[72]

David Henry Wilson's playShylock's Revenge,was first produced at theUniversity of Hamburgin 1989, and follows the events inThe Merchant of Venice.In this play Shylock gets his wealth back and becomes a Jew again.[73]

TheStar Trekfranchise sometimes quote and paraphrase Shakespeare, includingThe Merchant of Venice.One example is the Shakespeare-aficionadoChanginStar Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country(1991), aKlingon,who quotes Shylock.[74]

Steven Spielberg'sSchindler's List(1993) depicts SS LieutenantAmon Göthquoting Shylock's "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech when deciding whether to rape his Jewish maid.[75]

InDavid Fincher's 1995 crime thrillerSeven,a lawyer, Eli Gould, is coerced to remove a pound of his own flesh and place it on a scale, alluding to the play.[76]

The GermanBelmont Prizewas established in 1997,[77]referring to 'Belmont' as "a place of destiny where Portia's intelligence is at home." The eligibility for the award is encapsulated by the inscription on the play's lead casket, "Who chooses me must give and hazard all he hath."[78]

One of the four short stories comprisingAlan Isler'sThe Bacon Fancier(1999) is also told from Shylock's point of view. In this story, Antonio was a converted Jew.[79]

The Pianistis a 2002 film based ona memoirbyWładysław Szpilman.In this film, Henryk Szpilman reads Shylock's "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech to his brother Władysław in theWarsaw Ghettoduring theNazi occupationinWorld War II.[80]

In the 2009 spy comedyOSS 117: Lost in Rio,a speech by the nazi Von Zimmel parodies Shylock's tirade.[81][82]

Christopher MoorecombinesThe Merchant of VeniceandOthelloin his 2014 comic novelThe Serpent of Venice,in which he makes Portia (fromThe Merchant of Venice) and Desdemona (fromOthello) sisters. All of the characters come from those two plays with the exception of Jeff (a monkey); the gigantic simpleton Drool; and Pocket, the Fool, who comes from Moore's earlier novelFool,based onKing Lear.[83]

Naomi Alderman'sThe Wolf in the Wateris a radio-play first broadcast onBBC Radio 3in 2016. The play continues the story of Shylock's daughter Jessica, who lives in an anti-semitic Venice and practices her Jewish faith in secret. Part of the BBC's Shakespeare Festival, the play also marked that 500 years had passed since theVenetian Ghettowas instituted.[84][85]

Sarah B. Mantell'sEverything that Never Happenedis a play first produced in 2017 at theYale School of Drama.Similar toRosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,the play occurs in the gaps between scenes of the canonicalThe Merchant of Venice,with the characters gradually recognizing how conflicts over assimilation and anti-Semitism recur throughout past, present, and future.[86][87][88]

See also

Notes and references

Notes

References

  1. ^The Merchant of Venice,2.7.5.
  2. ^The Merchant of Venice,2.7.8.
  3. ^The Merchant of Venice,2.7.11.
  4. ^The Merchant of Venice,3.2.69.
  5. ^The Merchant of Venice,4.1.192.
  6. ^The Merchant of Venice,4.1.344–346.
  7. ^The Merchant of Venice,4.1.410.
  8. ^abMuir 2005,p. 49.
  9. ^Bloom (2007),pp. 112–113.
  10. ^Drakakis (2010),pp. 60–61.
  11. ^"Stationers' Register entry forThe Merchant of Venice",Shakespeare Documented,Folger Shakespeare Library. February 8, 2020.
  12. ^Wells & Dobson 2001,p. 288.
  13. ^Ambrosino, Brandon (21 April 2016)."Four Hundred Years Later, Scholars Still Debate Whether Shakespeare's" Merchant of Venice "Is Anti-Semitic".Smithsonian Magazine.Retrieved26 May2024.
  14. ^Burrin 2005,p. 17.
  15. ^Dautch 2016.
  16. ^Ravid 1992.
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Sources

Editions ofThe Merchant of Venice

Secondary sources

Further reading