What wrong was there in it? Yes, Shylock did plan to eliminate Antonio, but then if the rats invade his house and destroy his hard earned means, what should he do? Revenge, my friend, revenge. Well done Shylock, my sympathy goes deep down to you to the core, get on with your business, and let none harm you. Steve Urkel Got Any Cookies Shirt. There is no gain being anti-Semitic. About 4 years back I attended the Stratford (Ontario, Canada) performance of Merchant of Venice. It is one of my favourite plays … but I strongly share your view.
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I was much impressed at Stratford’s ability to stick to the script and convey the message of discrimination. The portrayal of Shylock and his treatment was done with sensitivity … even my 11 year old daughter picked up on it and shared discussion with me post our viewing. Shylock is far from coming out unharmed. Of all Shakespearian fathers, he gets the foulest deal from his child, which is generally not undeserved. One can well be a jew and an asshole at the same time, in life and on stage.
Part of Shakespeare’s talent is complex characterization. There’s a fine line between cruelty, revenge, and threatening to take somebody’s life. Sure, Shylock wasn’t wrong on many fronts, but he overstepped the line when he was blood-thirsty. Sure, our sympathy goes to Shylock, but that’s because of the bard’s portrayal of him in his monologue, the fantastic dialogues he delivers wherein he questions the very basis of discrimination against the Jews. Had it not been for Act V in merchant of Venice, the play would have gone down as the tragedy of the Jew. I must remind the audience of the alienation effect as also the sour apothegm to always have a cold spot in their warm hearts for an infernal Jew.
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Pamma Chana I, too, saw that production if it was the one where the traditional hanging the cross round the neck of the Jew was substituted for the swatting off the head of the yalmulke! Brilliant substitution! Gordon Goede – I believe we saw the same. At the conclusion of the performance I attended – one of characters picked up the yarmulke and returned it to Shylock’s hand. I think it was Portia that did that. Pamma Chana It was! What a memory; I had forgotten who picked it up I was in such awe of the swatting!
Shakespeare may have used the antisemitic language of his time but he also gave a voice to the underdog, the social pariah and made his audience see another side to Shylock. Shakespeare is the voice of everyman in his plays, even his villans are multidimensional and his plays often end without a definitive conclusion, leaving the audience to make its own mind up!! The ” Pound of flesh ” represents what Shylock desires, and what he desires is ” Revenge “. Perhaps the desire for revenge has been brought about by the way he was treated by the Christians.
I was asked to direct Merchant at a theatre and I declined since the hanging of the cross was hard for me to be a part of, and I couldn’t think of any piece of business that worked as well given the situation. That’s what floored me, my own lack of creativity given the situation. Steve Urkel Got Any Cookies Shirt. I did return to see what they did with the play and they set it in Los Angles in the 1920’s. I left feeling overjoyed that I was not part of that effort of theirs. Sigh. Be well. In Act 3, when Shylock says, ” If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge.