The Shakespeare Book

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stereotype of a Jewish character
that was already well used by the
time Shakespeare wrote his play
around 1597. Indeed, Christopher
Marlowe had a huge hit with such
negative stereotypes around 1590
with The Jew of Malta. There are
clear parallels between Shylock
and Marlowe’s Jew, Barabas,
who, like Shylock, is a widowed
father with a single beautiful
daughter who rejects her father’s
“misplaced” Judaism and converts
to Christianity. It is likely that
neither playwright was writing
from direct experience, however,
since Jews had been banned from
England long before. As a result,
both Barabas and Shylock are
perhaps best seen as stock villains.
There is no doubt that The
Merchant of Venice has done a
great deal to reinforce negative
stereotypes of Jews over the
centuries. Originally, perhaps,
this was in a mostly comic
vein, with Shylock played as
a pantomime villain. But more
disturbingly, The Merchant of
Ven ice was staged deliberately in
Nazi Germany in the late 1930s to
help justify the attacks on Jews.
Critics, however, have been divided
over whether this can be blamed

THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN

But love is blind, and lovers

cannot see

The pretty follies that

themselves commit

Jessica

Act 2, Scene 6

on Shakespeare, or those who

misuse the play. Many critics

defend Shakespeare against

the charge of anti-Semitism by

underlining the play’s nuances.

Others have suggested that we

should bear in mind the context

of Shakespeare’s age, when few

people had the political and racial

awareness we do now. Shakespeare

was writing, as when he wrote of

Othello, about storybook figures in

tales from abroad. The problem,

perhaps, is more for us today—how

do we deal with characters such as

Shylock with our awareness of the

dangers such stereotypes pose?

The victim of prejudice

Since the Holocaust, most

stagings of the play have been

acutely aware of the dangers of

portraying Shylock simply as a

villain and have instead looked

at the character more as a tragic

victim of racial and religious

prejudice. Shylock is seen as an

outsider who is abused by the

Christians of Venice, robbed and

abandoned by his daughter, and

finally humiliated by the loss of his

fortune and good name and forced

to convert to Christianity. Such is

Shakespeare’s skill as a playwright

that this tragedy can be found in

the play. In a famously telling

speech, Shylock rails against the

abuse he has suffered: “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?” (3.1.54–59).

This speech is often quoted out

of context as a heartfelt cry against

racial prejudice—or the bitter cry of

In sooth, I know not why

I am so sad.

It wearies me, you say it

wearies you

Antonio

Act 1, Scene 1

Dustin Hoffman took on the role of

Shylock in a 1989 production directed

by Peter Hall. Hoffman portrayed the

moneylender as a good man driven

beyond endurance by mistreatment.

anger of the whole Hebrew

race. But perhaps it is not

quite so simple as that. When

Shylock says, “If you prick us,

do we not bleed?” he is not

just saying that Jews have the

same blood, but also referring

to the common test for a

witch, which was to prick the

thumbs to see if they bleed. ❯❯