PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ALGERIA

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

University of Tlemcen

Faculty of Letters and Foreign Languages

Department of English
Section of English

Alleged Anti-Semitism in
Shakespeares The
Merchant of Venice
An Extended Essay Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for
a Masters Degree in Anglo-Saxon Literature and Civilisation

Presented by

Supervised by

Mr Belaid Mohammed Amine

Dr. Frid Daoudi Farid

2015/2016

Dedication

I dedicate this work to Her, more than anytime before.

My love and appreciation are also addressed to my two families, for their
kindness, devotion and endless support. I consider myself extremely lucky to
have a twofold of families.

Acknowledgements

The completion of this dissertation would not have been possible if not dependent
on the steadfast support, guidance and encouragement Dr. Frid Daoudi who is
always happy and willing to help me solve the confusions as he was the one who
ushered me in this topic. On top of that, Dr. Frid is an easy-going and open-minded
person, without his encouragement, I would not finish this final work in my master
study. Thank you very much Sir.
Special mention goes to my beloved teacher Dr. Mouro Wassila.My years at the
department of English have been an amazing experience and I thank Dr. Mouro
wholeheartedly. She is always patient to help me out and answer my questions.
Thank you for being who you are.
Similar profound gratitude goes to Mr Rahmoun Omar, who has been a truly
dedicated teacher. I am particularly indebted to Mr Rahmoun for his constant faith
in my work, and for his endless support and encouragement.Thank you ever-somuch Sir!

It was my good fortune that Ms. Berber Souad and Dr. Hadjoui Ghouti were and
always will be my teachers, I have been lucky to be your student .Thank you very
much.

II

ABSTRACT
Literature and history are major fields in which a multitude of scholars operate, and
the lines between the two are often blurred since the latter provides plausible
explanations of the former. This extended essay examines William Shakespeares
The Merchant of Venice from a historical perspective and attempts to evaluate the
existence of anti-Semitism in the play by casting light on Shylock, the Jewish
moneylender. The research begins by addressing the concepts of otherness and antiSemitism in addition to the tenets of new historicist theory which is necessary to the
next chapter that highlights a thorough depiction of Shylock and his characteristics.
As this paper submits, the audience must reach a moral and rational stance and
conclusion about Shylock the villain and man.
Keywords: The Merchant of Venice, anti-Semitism, new historicist theory,
Shylock.

III

Contents

Dedication ........................................................................................................... I
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................... II
Abstract ........................................................................................................... III
Contents ................................................................................................... IV
General Introduction....2
Chapter One: Historical Perspectives of anti-Semitism .................................... 4
1.1. Introduction .................................................................................................. 6
1.2. New Historicism ........................................................................................... 6
1.3. Otherness .......................................................................................................... 10
1.4. Anti-Semitism .................................................................................................... 11
1.4.1 Definition .....................................................................11
1.4.2 Association with the Jews ...12
1.4.3 Famous Cases of Anti-Semitism..13
1.4.4 Controversy..14
1.5.Jews in English Literature ..15
1.5.1 The Jew as a Villain.17
1.5.2 The Jew as a Saint18
1.5.3 The Wandering Jew.19
1.5.4 Historical Background of The Merchant of Venice19
1.6. Conclusion ........................................................................................................20
Chapter Two: New Historicist Analysis .......................................................... 21
2.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 23
2.2. The Merchant of Venice ................................................................................... 23
2.2.1 Plot .......................................................................................................... 24
2.2.2 Characterization......25
IV

2.2.2.1 Shylock...25
2.2.2.2 Portia.......26
2.2.2.3 Antonio...26
2.2.2.4 Jessica and Lorenzo....27
2.2.3 Setting ............................................................................................ 28
2.3 Shakespeares Patterns of The Villain........28
2.3.1Age.............28
2.3.2 Sanity ........29
2.3.3 Control ......30
2.4 Description of Shylock...31
2.4.1 Physical Description.......31
2.4.2 Moral Description.......31
2.5 Analysis of Shylock ...32
2.5.1 Religion.......32
2.5.2 Usury.......33
2.6 Criticism 34
2.5 Conclusion .36

General Conclusion.....37
Bibliography..39

General Introduction
The three pillars of literature, namely prose, poetry and drama, have always
worked in a complimentary way to ensure the reflection and saving of the
formidable experience of mankind, but each one of them flourished during a
specific era and under different circumstances. English literature is no exception to
this rule, and the diversity and timeline of its canonical works prove that it
responded to the needs of the English-speaking people, whether those under
oppression or the ones in power.
During the Elizabethan era, a unique playwright, who goes by the name of
William Shakespeare, contributed to the evolution of the English language and
wrote plays that continued to entertain and intrigue his audience for centuries. The
works of the Bard of Avon as he is called transcend the notion of time, making
him as mentioned by his rival Ben Johnson - a man who is not of an age, but for
all time. Nevertheless, his major masterpieces reflect the vibrant qualities of the
Elizabethan age and are considered as reliable sources to explain the entangled web
of events in British history, but he did not escape criticism for he received charges
of racism, ethnic discrimination and mainly of anti-Semitism.
The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeares most famous and
controversial plays, it is a comedy which shows sacrifice, greed, womens wit and
triumph of Christianity through the character of Antonio, the merchant who
financed his friend Bassanios romantic sail and must default on a loan from a
Jewish moneylender, Shylock. The Bard was criticized for his portrayal of the latter,
which suited the Elizabethan audience and was hardly to confirm since very few
Jews lived in England at that time. Nonetheless, the dramatist added other layers to
the character of Shylock; the proverbial phrase Hath not a Jew eyes? resulted in a
great feeling of sympathy towards Shylock especially from the contemporary
audience, thus making him a victim and not only a villain. To fulfill the aims of this
research that orbits around the description of Shylock and Shakespeares
involvement in anti-Semitism, the following research questions were formulated:

General Introduction
- To which extent was William Shakespeare anti-Semitic is his description of
Shylock?
- Did Shakespeare draw an image of The Typical Jew in his play?
- How did Shakespeare operate for Shylock to acquire the sympathy of the
audience?
Since it is to be performed by nature, The Merchant of Venice has endured
some adjustments on stage, especially in Shylocks clothing, but the play still
reflects the genius of the Bard in the matter of choosing the setting and the
dialogues, and Shylock seems to draw all the attention of both the audience and
critics for his unusual binary composition of victimization and villainy that
Shakespeare may have associated him with.
In order to answer the research questions, new historicist theory will be
applied to explore the historical layers of the play and to provide a solid ground for
a subtle and thorough explanation for Shakespeares attitudes and motives behind
the supposed anti-Semitism.
This extended essay is divided into two chapters. Chapter one is an
examination of the historical perspectives of anti-Semitism, tackling the tenet of
factors that led to such discrimination with a special emphasis on the concept of
otherness.
Chapter two is a literary analysis of the play that casts light on the character
of Shylock and his physical and moral description, and also an exploration of
Shakespeares patterns of the villain and the key factors of the characters creation
as well as an overall criticism.

CHAPTER ONE:
Historical
Perspectives of AntiSemitism

Outline Chapter One

1.1. Introduction .................................................................................................. 6

1.2. New Historicism ........................................................................................... 6
1.3. Otherness ........................................................................................................... 10
1.4. Anti-Semitism .................................................................................................... 11
1.4.1 Definition .....................................................................11
1.4.2 Association with the Jews ...12
1.4.3 Famous Cases of Anti-Semitism..13
1.4.4 Controversy..14
1.5.Jews in English Literature ..15
1.5.1 The Jew as a Villain.17
1.5.2 The Jew as a Saint18
1.5.3 The Wandering Jew.19
1.5.4 Historical Background of The Merchant of Venice19
1.6. Conclusion ........................................................................................................20

Chapter One: Historical Perspectives of anti-Semitism

1.1.

Introduction
Literature, the complex and multifaceted notion that it is, is prone to

different interpretations and can be approached from distinct angles. In such

interpretations, the historical factors play a major role in understanding the literary
masterpieces as they were written in a special historical and social milieu and
addressed a specific audience that has its own perception of issues such tolerance
with minorities .This chapter explores the historical aspect of a literary texts in
addition to the main concepts that make Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice a
canonical work and a masterpiece that relates history to literature and examines
the concepts of otherness and anti-Semitism by scrutinizing the European society .

1.2.

New Historicism
Critics have always debated the essence of a literary work; some have

emphasized the importance of the text as the Formalists, others put forward the
issue of social struggle like the Marxists, while the structuralists categorized the
literary work in a set of converging or diverging structures. Yet the assumption
that the historical aspect of a text is crucial to its understanding is inevitable.
To explain this assumption, one should define the literary theory . New
Historicism seeks to find meaning in a text by considering the work within the
framework of the prevailing ideas and assumptions of its historical era. New
Historicists concern themselves with the political function of literature and with
the concept of power, the intricate means by which cultures produce and reproduce
themselves. These critics focus on revealing the historically specific model of
social construct and authority reflected in a given work.
In other words, history is not an account of events and facts, but rather a
depiction of the human society and realm and the notions that control them, and
this history is to be scrutinized in order to relate the literary work to the prevailing
ways of thinking at the time of its production. Reconnecting the work with its time
period echoes in Michel Foucaults concept of episteme, this emphasized the
6

Chapter One: Historical Perspectives of anti-Semitism

structures underlying the production of knowledge in a specific time and place.
Since history is a chain of related events, the critic can hardly neglect the historical
angle of the text. David Richter (2007:1321) asserts that New Historicism is
a practice that has developed out of contemporary theory, particularly the
structuralist realization that all human systems are symbolic and subject to
the rules of language, and the deconstructive realization that there is no way
of positioning oneself as an observer outside the closed circle of textuality.
The complex and entangled layers of history make it impossible for the critic and
the reader to ignore the relationship between the literary text and the major cultural
and historical powers that led to its creation.
In the context of Academia, The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms
defines New Historicism as:
"A term applied to a trend in American academic literary studies in the 1980s
that emphasized the historical nature of literary texts and at the same time (in
contrast with older historicisms) the textual nature of history. As part of a
wider reaction against purely formal or linguistic critical approaches such as
the New Criticism and deconstruction, the new historicists, led by Stephen
Greenblatt, drew new connections between literary and non-literary texts,
breaking down the familiar distinctions between a text and its historical
background as conceived in established historical forms of criticism."
It is worthwhile to mention that New Historicism came as a reaction to the other
critical theories that restraint literary criticism to the language and the form.
New Historicism is not a mere delving into factoids but rather an approach
which is concerned with ideologies and cultural constructs, in addition to the fact
that it resists the classical definition of history as mentioned by Lois Tyson
(2006:278): "...history is a series of events that have a linear, causal relationship:
event A caused event B; event B caused event C; and so on". For example ,
Shakespeare made of Richard III the villain of the play of his name not only
7

Chapter One: Historical Perspectives of anti-Semitism

because he was a tyrant , but also to serve the dramatists technique of showing the
good and evil dichotomy as the overthrowing of Richard III opened the door for
the superb House of Tudor.
More specifically, New Historicists are not interested in history itself, but
rather in the interpretations that it provides .Furthermore, they perceive the literary
work as product of time and culture and thus it should be analyzed according to
the two aforementioned factors .In this respect, Tyson (2006:278) adds: "...we
don't have clear access to any but the most basic facts of history...our
understanding of what such facts mean...is...strictly a matter of interpretation, not
fact".
New Historical critical theory represents a return to the empirical
scholarship in literature, thus it requires following a specific framework of
analysis. Gregory S. Jay (1990:6) states:
The analysis needs to describe: (1) the set of discursive
possibilities offered to the writer by the cultural archive; (2) the
assumption within the text of a contemporary audience whose
knowledge must both be used and resisted; (3) the projection
within the text of a future audience constituted by its
decipherment of the text; (4) the social and institutional sites of
the text's production and reception; (5) the figurations of
subjectivity offered or deployed by the text; (6) the effects of
reflexivity inscribed in the text; (7) and the possible contradictions
between the text's cognitive, performative, didactic, aesthetic,
psychological, and economic projects.
The two prevailing ideas in George S. Jays statement centres around the
non-literary aspects of a text and the social situation of both the writer and the
audience; it is crucial to form a parallel relationship between the literary work and
the other non-literary sides to perform a thorough analysis rather than the classical

Chapter One: Historical Perspectives of anti-Semitism

approach that considers the literary foreground and the historical background of a
text.
As far as Elizabethan Literature is concerned, approaching its works from a
historical angle must take into consideration the tenet of the cultural, political and
social situation of England, in addition to the ideologies that led to the creation of
these literary works and the distinct reactions and interpretations in different
settings of time and place.
A prominent example of new historicist criticism in literature is that of
Shakespeares Hamlet; the fact that both monarchs and pretenders to the throne
are males, and it was written under the rule of Elizabeth I suggest that the Bard
supports patriarchy.
All things considered, New Historicists aim to put forward the idea that
literature is related to and coextensive with all products of culture, and that the
most efficient analysis and interpretation of a literary text go beyond the
restrictions of Formalism and structuralism, and explore other facets of the human
society which is a mixture of races and ethnicities sometimes living in harmony,
and in agony and discrimination in others.

1.3.

Otherness
The concept of Otherness has been a centre of debate between scholars, and

its meaning surpassed the traditional literal sense of the word. Merriam-Webster
Dictionary defines Otherness as the state or quality of being other or different, a
broader definition of Otherness, which characterizes the Other, is the state of being
alien to the identity of the Self. In other words, the focus centers around the Self
while the Other is discarded.
Staszak (2008:19) defines Otherness as the result of a discursive process
by which a dominant group (Us, the Self) constructs one or many out-groups
(Them, the Others), by stigmatizing a real or imagined difference, presented as a
motive of discrimination. Said differently, the process of alterity implicates the
9

Chapter One: Historical Perspectives of anti-Semitism

categorization of groups of people basing on certain criteria i.e. people of dark and
fair complexion, of Semitic or non-Semitic origins, thus allowing stereotypes to be
the only reference of judgment.
From a sociological standpoint, the idea of Otherness defines how minority
and majority identities are constructed, and these constructs are based on outward
signs like race and gender. The Other is the marginalized group of people that
lives outside the dominant social group, the latter manage collective ideas about
who gets to belong to their group and which type of people is seen as different
or an outsider.
Zygmunt Bauman (1991:6) states that Otherness is crucial to the
categorization of societies, thus forming identities as dichotomies. He argues that
Woman is the other of man, animal is the other of human, stranger is the other of
native, abnormality the other of norm, deviation the other of law-abiding, illness
the other of health, insanity the other of reason, lay public the other of the expert,
foreigner the other of state subject, enemy the other of friend
The sense of Other puts forward how both societies and individuals build a
sense of belonging by constructing social categories as social binary opposites.
Among the scholars who addressed the issue of Otherness, Jacques Derrida has
been acclaimed for his conception of alterity. In order to disclose the full
ramifications of the issue, Derrida (1989) asserts that the other of otherness
resists both processes of incorporation and introjections. The other can neither
keep a totally foreign identity, nor introjected within the self. He also suggests that
responsibility towards the other is about respecting and even emphasizing this
resistance.
The Post-Colonial theorist, Abdul R. Jan Mohamed (1983:84) argues that
genuine and thorough comprehension of Otherness is possible only if the self can
somehow negate or at least severely bracket the values, assumptions and
ideologies of his culture, that is to say that in order to understand the Other, one
should de-center his vision from themselves so that the face of the Other can be
10

Chapter One: Historical Perspectives of anti-Semitism

recognized. In the same vein , George Herbert Mead (1934) states that identities
are products of agreement and disagreement with the Other .Ones behavior is
based upon the interactions and the self-reflection about these interactions , thus
forming the looking glass self.
Literature provides a space for reflection, and also gives room for the Self
to criticize its own position. Other Scholars as Jacques Lacan (1970) widened the
definition of the Other beyond the other subjects that one encounters in their social
life to the language and conventions of social life which are organized under the
category of the law. In this case the Self is internally divided and alienated and the
use of the Other in terms of language is crucial to Lacans philosophical theory of
the psyche.
It is worthwhile to mention that the study of the notion of Otherness is
philosophical rather than empirical. The Self and the Other are interrelated and
reflections of each other yet different in a way described by Richard Kearney
(1995:17) as the labyrinth of looking glasses. The recognition of the Other is
the first step towards achieving the ethical obligation towards it as emphasized by
Emmanuel Levinas (1976).

1.4.

Anti-Semitism
Among the most spread and controversial concepts of the contemporary

world, anti-Semitism seems to be the most prominent one as it was used as a

pretext to defend a minority over the supposedly oppressive majority throughout
history, but the definition itself causes controversy.
1.4.1

Definition
The term Anti-Semitism would seem to indicate hatred and discrimination

against all the Semitic Peoples: the Arabs, Assyrians, Samaritans, Jews and the
Ethiopians, while nowadays it is exclusive to the prejudice and/or discrimination
against Jews, individually or collectively, that can be based on hatred against Jews
11

Chapter One: Historical Perspectives of anti-Semitism

because of their religion, their ethnicity, ancestry, or group membership. It
assumes that Jews share particular characteristics in common and think and act in
special or different ways from other people.
Over the centuries, anti-Semitism has taken an abundance of forms and has
been used as a reason of all kind of evil and atrocities against Jews: from the late
eighteenth century events in Central Europe to the Holocaust. It manifests itself in
a variety of attitudes, words, ideas and actions. It can involve bigotry, bullying,
defamation, stereotyping, hate crime, acts of bias and scapegoating. The term was
firstly used by Wilhelm Marr, a German politician in his book Victory of Judaism
over Germanism (1873), and it was promoted by Heinrich von Treitschke, a
Prussian nationalist historian. The term referred to Jew-hatred rather than hatred of
other Semite peoples. Throughout their history, the Jews have been expelled more
than once: from England in 1290, France in 1394, and Spain in 1492, this suggests
that the spirit of anti-Semitism is deeply rooted in the European society and that
Europe was the cradle of such concept.
The history of European anti-Semitism is veritably formidable. It is at least
two thousand years long, while anti-Semitism formed a solidly integral part of
European culture until the middle of the twentieth century. The hatred exhibited a
changing and manifold character over this period, depending on the time and the
context. The motives behind the persecution of the Jews differed from an era to
another; from Christian fanaticism during the Crusades, to the complete rejection
of Jews in Martin Luthers reformed version of Christianity in the Reformation.
1.4.2

Association with the Jews

The etymology of the word anti-Semitism suggests that it is used to

express prejudice and hatred towards all the Semite peoples, but it was never the
case . The term came to replace the word Judenhass or Jews-hatred with a
more scientific word, it is considered as a form of racism since it segregates Jews
as a religious group and an ethnicity.

12

Chapter One: Historical Perspectives of anti-Semitism

1.4.3 Famous Cases of Anti-Semitism
Throughout history, there were a considerable number of cases where the
feeling of anti-Semitism was omnipresent, but the most famous one in modern
times is the Dreyfus Affair. Captain Alfred Dreyfus was an officer in the French
army, and in 1894, he was wrongfully convicted of treason for passing military
secrets to Germany and sentenced to life imprisonment. Evidence proving
otherwise made surface and his innocence was proclaimed eleven years later. It
was clear that anti-Semitism was the driving force behind this affair, as Stephen
Wilson (2007:27) mentions: It is clear that the explosion of the Dreyfus Case into
the Dreyfus Affair was largely the responsibility of an organized anti-Semitic
movement and newspaper press.
In Germany, anti-Semitism was deeply ingrained for centuries and the
country witnessed ascension of the feeling of hatred towards the Jews, which
suggests that the Nazis massacres and persecutions were the result of a long
century of anti-Semitic acts and agitations. The historian Heinrich V. Treitschke
(1879:233) wrote that the Jews are our misfortune, blaming the Jews for the
hardship that Germany suffered from. After few years, the philosopher Eugen Karl
Dhring wrote The Jewish Question (1881) in which he argued that the Jews are
the main reason of Germanys decline and that they form a state within a state
and a counter-race which is impossible to be assimilated. In addition to the
aforementioned aspects, the Jews shared the responsibility of Germanys military
defeat in 1918 with the Socialists according to the German public opinion.
With their rise to power, the Nazis exploited age-old anti-Semitic
stereotypes and myths to enforce their vision. Adolf Hitler revived the blood
libel discourse of the Middle Ages, emphasizing that the inferior Jews would
contaminate the pure and superior Aryan race. On this basis, all Jews must be
exterminated, initiating what is known in history as The Holocaust.
There is an abundance of anti-Semitic cases in European history that differ
in time and impact , whether among the ignorant or the illuminated , the religious
13

Chapter One: Historical Perspectives of anti-Semitism

or the secular , the military or civilian , the Jews were to blame . The historian
Raul Hilberg (1961:52) summed up the development of the patterns of antiSemitism as follows: Twelfth century Crusades:You have no right to live
amongst us as Jews. Sixteenth century ghettos:You have no right to live
amongst us. Twentieth century Nazis:You have no right to live.
1.4.4

Controversy
One must distinguish between the hate speech against the Jewish people

that is a result of an anti-Semitic attitude, and criticism of the Israeli occupation of

Palestine. A considerable number of Jews view any criticizer of the occupation as
an anti-Semitic person; the lack of accuracy of the expression indicates an
excessive use of it and the employment of the horrors to which the Jews were
exposed in Europe as pretexts to justify acts of colonization and oppression.
In the same vein, being anti-Semitic seems to be a ready-made accusation
for leaders of Arab or Islamic origins, and even for those European politicians who
sympathize with the Palestinian people, especially in Britain. In an interview with
BBC Radio London, MP and member of the Labour Party Ken Livingstone
defended the anti-Zionist MP Naz Shah and he said that he never heard anyone
from his political party saying anything anti-Semitic. He further added: When
Hitler won his election in 1932 his policy then was that Jews should be moved to
Israel. He was supporting Zionism before he went mad and ended up killing six
million Jews. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his long-time ally had been
suspended amid "very grave concerns about the language he used in the interview
this morning" and would face an investigation by the party. While others called Mr
Livingstone a Nazi Apologist, He said in his defense that he mentioned that
Hitler was a monster from start to finish and that he was just quoting historical
facts.
Ironically, the outbreak of the Dreyfus Affair led an Austrian journalist,
Theodor Herzl, to form the Zionist movement which resulted in the creation of the
state of Israel in 1948. There is ambiguity for a considerable number of people
14

Chapter One: Historical Perspectives of anti-Semitism

about the difference between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism; the former criticizes
the horrible and inhuman practices of Zionists inside and outside the Middle East,
and has no relation whatsoever with the feeling of hatred towards Jews which is
expressed by the latter.
The concept of anti-Semitism has been used as an excuse to the atrocities
and the crimes of Zionists. The allegedly guilty European conscience tried to
redeem itself by supporting and providing legal and financial support for the state
of Israel.
In a nutshell, anti-Semitism ruled Europe throughout its long history and
caused pain and horror to the Jews, while in modern times the philosophy of
Zionism has changed the victimized Jew into a ruthless oppressor based on
vengeance and ancient myths.
1.5 Jews in English Literature
The image of Jews varied across the works of English literature, but some
stereotypes prevailed during centuries and some Jewish characters were
intentionally stigmatized while other were presented in a totally different manner,
from the creation of Shylock and Fagin to the bright description of Daniel
Deronda.In a similar vein , Edgar Rosenberg (1960:116) examines a catalogue of
some appearances of the Jew in English literature and traces the origins of the
myth of the Jew to its Biblical origins:
It dates back at least to Herod, the slayer
of children and aspiring Christ killer in disguise
('and when you have found him, bring me word,
that I may also come and worship him'); to Judas,
the original businessman with the contract in the
pocket; and to the anonymous vulgar Jewish
farceur who, in answer to Christ's 'Eli', eh' forced
a reed filled with vinegar between His lips."

15

Chapter One: Historical Perspectives of anti-Semitism

The association of the Jew with usury is the dominant factor behind the
creation of the myth in addition to its depiction as manipulator.Another
compelling evidence lies in the fact that literature evolved under the watch of the
church and the religious texts influenced to a considerable context the literary ones
, and in this vein Rosenberg adds: "at a time when literature flourished under
clerical auspices and when nine tenths of the corpus poeticum derived from
Biblical paraphrases and martyrologies. . ."
The spectre of fear of the Jew is due, according to Rosenberg (1960), to the
latters fabled attribution in the Christian texts and thus subconscious as a godkiller, and that image developed during the Victorian age to be the swarthy-faced
old man who makes his living by tramping the streets of London and that matches
a very convenient image of child-quelling bogeyman. The accumulation of stories
of necromancy, greed, lust and killing solidifies the stereotypes about the Jews
during two millenniums.
The mosaic of depictions of the Jew in English literature resulted from the
differences in the authors backgrounds, historical and social milieu and
perception of the Jews, and the description can be categorized in viewing the Jew
as villain, saint or comedian.

16

Chapter One: Historical Perspectives of anti-Semitism

1.5.1 The Jew as a Villain
The dominant image of the Jews in English literature is a negative one;
epitomized by Marlowes Barabas and George du Mauriers Svengali , it is base
on the stereotypes of a villain Jew who allies with Christians enemies and use his
con and seduction to dominate the innocent Christians.
The stereotypes about the Jews contributed to the greater extent to associate
usury and villainy with them, and albeit they lived in Britain from the Norman
Conquest until their expulsion, their existence did not change the myth.
From the ballads and morality plays of medieval and Renaissance England
to the novels of the Victorian Age, the portrayal of Jews has followed the goodbad polarity to the extreme, and in the case of Chaucers Prioresss Tale,
Marlowes Jew of Malta and Shakespeares Merchant of Venice the villain Jew
paid the ultimate price or suffered humiliation and disgrace, in this respect,
Rosenberg states: "In Chaucer he was torn by wild horses and hanged also. In
Gower a lion tears him to death. Marlowe has him burned in a cauldron. Shylock,
the fox at bay, loses both daughter and ducats, as well as his religion."
But in the case of Victorian writers such as Charles Dickens, one must cast
light on some extra-literary phenomena such as the authors psyche and social
milieu. In his Novel Oliver Twist, Dickens referred to Fagin two hundred and fifty
seven times as The Jew while neglecting any of the other characters religion or
ethnicity, in addition to that, Dickens has fervently supported the genocide against
Indians in response to the Indian Rebellion of 1857.Another important factor is
that the author projected his childhood images of the old-clo along with other
ogreish images on Olivers view of Fagin as a child-snatcher. The role of the
usurer Jew prevailed throughout the Victorian Age as Dickens described his
houses buyer as a Jewish moneylender and it was considered as a
discriminatory statement.

17

Chapter One: Historical Perspectives of anti-Semitism

1.5.2 The Jew as a Saint
The analysis of the portrayal of the Jew in English literature is missing a
great deal of the image if it is to neglect the counter-myth that rose in the late
eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. The paragons that
represented the opposite image are mainly Cumberlands Sheva from his play The
Jew (1794), Walter Scotts Rebecca and Eliots Mordecai. In contrast to the villain
Jewish characters, the aforementioned ones combine Self-righteousness with
kindness and generosity, but being good demeanors did not prevent them from
suffering from the age-long stereotypes about the Jews. It is worthwhile to
mention that the creation of these characters galvanized other authors into
changing their portrayal of the Jews in their writings, thus creating a literary
apology to the Jews.
The apologies were mainly manifested in the creation of Maria
Edgeworths Harrington, Dickens Riah and Du Mauriers Leah. The authors seem
to try to redeem themselves and to avoid criticism by their Jewish readership, as
well as reviving the image of the Jew in literature by adding another dimension to
it as Rosenberg explains:
"The chief reason . . . is that [the good Jew] has
been almost consistently a product of far too obvious and
explicit ulterior motives. He bore from the first the pale
cast of after-thought. Given the convention, the authors
who kept the Jew-villain in circulation created their man
with a good deal of spontaneity. The Jew-villain might
not be a realistic figure; but within the canons of comedy
and melodrama he could give the illusory appearance of
being a creature of flesh and blood. The purveyors of the
immaculate Jew, on the other hand, produced not so much
a character as a formula.

Drama and tangled plots of novels gave a new option for the portrayal of
the Jew especially in comedy, creating what is known as The Wandering Jew.
18

Chapter One: Historical Perspectives of anti-Semitism

1.5.3 The Jew as a Comedian The Wandering Jew

A new pattern of the portrayal of the Jew was created and it diverged from
the conventional polarity of good and evil, it is known as The Wandering Jew.
This motif is dynamic and attuned to the imaginative demands of distinct
generations, and it is noticeable in Godwins novel St. Leon (1799) where the Jew
is portrayed as a marooned black magician.
In a nutshell, and myth of Shylock allowed the counter myth to exist , thus
enriching the English literature and providing a reflection of the British and
European consciousness and feelings towards the Jews.
1.5.4

Historical Background of The Merchant of Venice

The common assumption that Christopher Marlowes The Jew of Malta is

the forerunner of this Shakespearian play becomes untenable under examination,

albeit it has a solid ground if one considers the wave of anti-Semitism that was
initiated after the execution of Queen Elizabeths Jewish physician, Roderigo
Lopez, who was convicted of treason . The evidence that Shakespeare has
burrowed the plot was manifested in the writings of Gregorio Leti (1685:229) who
stated that In 1587, Paul Mario Sechi, .a merchant of Rome, gained information
that Sir Francis Drake, the English Admiral, had conquered San Domingo. He
communicated this piece of news to Simone Cenade, a Jewish merchant, to whom
it appeared incredible, and he said: I bet a pound of esh that it is untrue. And I
lay one thousand scudi against it, replied Sechi. A bond was' drawn up to that
effects after a few days, news arrived of Drakes achievement, and the Christian
insisted on the fulllment of his bond. In vain the Jew pleaded, but Sechi swore
that nothing could satisfy him but a pound of the Jews esh. In his extremity, the
Jew went to the governor. The governor of the city promised his assistance,
communicated the case to Pope Sixtus, who condemned both to the galleysthe
19

Chapter One: Historical Perspectives of anti-Semitism

Jew for making such a wager, the Christian for accepting it. They released
themselves from imprisonment by each paying a ne of two thousand scudi
toward the hospital that the Pope was erecting.

1.6 Conclusion
The European society is wrongly conceived as a whole unit that comprises
cultures and ethnicities living under the umbrella of tolerance, there was much
discrimination and segregation against minorities, especially Jews, that it was
reflected in the works of its renowned writers and dramatists.

20

CHAPTER TWO:
New Historicist
Analysis

Outline Chapter Two

2.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 23

2.2. The Merchant of Venice ................................................................................... 23
2.2.1 Plot .......................................................................................................... 24
2.2.2 Characterization... .25
2.2.2.1 Shylock...25
2.2.2.2 Portia.......26
2.2.2.3 Antonio...26
2.2.2.4 Jessica and Lorenzo....27
2.2.3 Setting ............................................................................................ 28
2.3 Shakespeares Patterns of The Villain........28
2.3.1Age.............28
2.3.2 Sanity ........29
2.3.3 Control ......30
2.4 Description of Shylock...31
2.4.1 Physical Description.......31
2.4.2 Moral Description.......31
2.5 Analysis of Shylock ...32
2.5.1 Religion.......32
2.5.2 Usury.......33
2.6 Criticism 34
2.5 Conclusion .36

Chapter Two:New Historicist Analysis

2.1 Introduction

Shylock, the Jewish character of The Merchant of Venice, is Shakespeares

most widely known villain. In the parameters of the Elizabethan Age, The Bard of
Avon designed the outfit of his villains personality to showcase a multitude of the
phenomena of his era. The central issue addressed in this chapter is to put forward
the hints of Anti-Semitism and the controversial role of Shylock and whether he
was the Jewish scoundrel that he is claimed to be or that he was entangled in a
larger plot of hatred and fear, by means of analysis of his physical and mental traits,
along with an emphasis on the patterns that were set by Shakespeare to convey the
message of confrontation between Good, represented by the Christian characters on
one hand, and Evil, supposedly embodied in Shylock on the other.

2.2 The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice is a play by William Shakespeare that was classified
in his First Folio. The play is believed to be written either in 1597 or 1598 and its
events take place in Venice where a Jewish usurer by the name of Shylock cries for
a pound of flesh as a settlement for his loan to Antonio, a melancholic Christian
merchant. This masterpiece has raised debate as both Elizabethan and
Contemporary audience developed sympathy towards the villain, in addition to the
issue of anti-Semitism that led this work to face censorship in some cases,
especially by Michael Halperin (2007:13) who considers the play as a blatantly
racist work that would not be taught to impressionable students.

23

Chapter Two:New Historicist Analysis

2.2.1 Plot
The chief source that may have inspired Shakespeare to write his play was a
tale in an Italian collection entitled Il Pecorone or The Simpleton, written in 1378
by Giovanni Fiorentino, and published in 1565. No known English translation
existed for Shakespeare to use, but it is possible, that someone Shakespeare knew
had translated his own private copy and gave it to Shakespeare to read. Another
possibility lies in the fact that the Bard may have been of a higher intellect than he
is known for, and might have read it in Italian. The story in Il Pecorone tells of a
wealthy woman at Belmont who marries a young gentleman. Her husband needs
money and has friend, desperate to help, goes to a money-lender to borrow the
required money for his friend. The money-lender, who is also a Jew in Il Pecorone,
demands a pound of flesh as payment if the money is not paid back. When the
money is not paid in time, the Jew goes to court to ensure he receives what he is
owed. The friend's life is saved when the wealthy wife speaks in court of true justice
and convinces the judge to refuse the Jew his pound of flesh. Shakespeare adds the
casket story line and the Shylock's usury.
A young Venetian, Bassanio, needs a loan of three thousand ducats so that
he can woo Portia, a wealthy Venetian heiress. He approaches his friend Antonio, a
merchant. Antonio is running out of money because all his wealth is invested in his
fleet, which is currently at sea. He goes to a Jewish moneylender, Shylock, who
hates Antonio because of Antonio's anti-Semitic behaviour towards him.
Shylock nevertheless agrees to make the short-term loan, but, in a moment of dark
humour, he makes a collateral to the loan of exacting one pound of flesh from
Antonio if he does not give the money back in three months. Antonio agrees,
confident that his ships will return in time.
Because of the terms of Portia's father's will, all suitors must choose from
among three caskets, one of which contains a portrait of her. If he chooses that he
may marry Portia, but if doesn't he must vow never to marry or court another
woman. The Princes of Morocco and Arragon fail the test and are rejected. As
Bassanio prepares to travel to Belmont for the test, his friend Lorenzo elopes with
24

Chapter Two:New Historicist Analysis

Shylock's daughter, Jessica. Bassanio chooses the lead casket, which contains her
picture, and Portia happily agrees to marry him immediately.
Meanwhile, two of Antonio's ships have been wrecked and Antonio's
creditors are pressurising him for repayment. Word comes to Bassanio about
Antonio's predicament, and he hurries back to Venice, leaving Portia behind. Portia
follows him, accompanied by her maid, Nerissa. They are disguised as a male
lawyer and his clerk. When Bassanio arrives the date for the repayment to Shylock
has passed and Shylock is demanding his pound of flesh. Even when Bassanio
offers much more than the amount in repayment,Shylock, now infuriated by the loss
of his daughter, is intent on seeking revenge on the Christians. The Duke refuses to
intervene.
Portia arrives in her disguise to defend Antonio. Given the authority of
judgment by the Duke, Portia decides that Shylock can have the pound of flesh as
long as he doesn't draw blood, as it is against the law to shed a Christian's blood.
Since it is obvious that to draw a pound of flesh would kill Antonio, Shylock is
denied his suit.
Moreover, for conspiring to murder a Venetian citizen, Portia orders that he
should forfeit all his wealth. Half is to go to Venice, and half to Antonio. Antonio
gives his half back to Shylock on the condition that Shylock bequeaths it to his
disinherited daughter, Jessica. Shylock must also convert to Christianity. A broken
Shylock accepts. Portias manipulation of the law leads to the grim reality that law
is not always the ultimate ideal and judge.News arrives that Antonio's remaining
ships have returned safely. With the exception of Shylock, all celebrate a happy
ending to the affair.

2.2.2 Characterization
Shakespeares roles attribution creates intertwined patterns of wickedness
and good; the major character, namely Shylock, was to conceal his evil and seize
the opportunity to take revenge, while Portia exemplify the tender woman that saves
her lovers friend Antonio from the horrible collateral to Shylocks loan. The
25

Chapter Two:New Historicist Analysis

centralization of the play is undeniable as the main focus is on Shylock and the
reactions of the other characters to his terms and conditions.

2.2.2.1 Shylock
The play orbits around Shylock. The Jewish money-lender is the enigmatic
centre of The Merchant of Venice. Albeit he is portrayed as a villain, an abundance
of cruelties were committed against him: his servant left him for a Christian
nobleman , his daughter , in contrast to her miser father , does not restrain herself
from providing her lover Lorenzo with money and jewelry, and eventually escapes
with him . Shylocks cry against the atrocities of his environment is manifested in
the proverbial phrase:hath not a Jew eyes? (3.1.14) . The play does not focus on
the aforementioned events but rather on Shylock refusing any sort of alternatives to
his pound of flesh collateral of the loan; hence the Jew is a persona non grata
and seems petty and cruel. Greed is also a characteristic that was attributed by The
Bard to Shylock , and this is seen through his reaction when he was informed about
his daughters escape :Thou stickest a dagger in me : I shall never see my gold
again : fourscore ducats in a sitting ! Fourscore ducats! (3.1.67-68).Outwitted by
Portia , the smart heiress and Bassanios lover , Shylock is forced to compromise
and to promise his wealth to Jessica , his daughter , and her lover after his death and
eventually converts to Christianity . It is worthwhile to mention that modern
readings started to explore the character of Shylock from a distinct angle from the
ancient ones, denying that he was a villain but rather a victim of the indignities of
the British society.
2.2.2.2 Portia
An intelligent and willful woman, Portia is portrayed differently than the
other characters: she is forced to follow her dead fathers instructions about the
lottery he set up in order to choose her husband, but she makes use of her scathing
wit to provide her favorite contender Bassanio with hints to succeed in choosing the
right casket as she addressed him :before you venture for me. I could teach you
how to choose right (3.2.115) , she finds no harm in dressing like a man and going
26

Chapter Two:New Historicist Analysis

to the courtroom in order to save her lovers friend Antonio from his horrible fate.
Portias acts are overshadowing the reactions of the other characters except for
Shylock, as the play ends , Portia tricks her paramour into giving her the ring she
made him swear not to lose , and she triumph over her nemesis Shylock since he
accepts another collateral to the loan .
2.2.2.3 Antonio
Antonio is actually the merchant of Venice, his generosity and devotion to
his friend Bassanio made him finance the latters romantic pursuit of Portia even
though he was not in disposal of the necessary assets by exposing himself to
Shylocks deadly terms . He is saved by Portia by the end of the play, and rewarded
by his ships making port and full of merchandise. The issue about the character of
Antonio lies in his sadness: He denies that it is related to money and his nautical
ventures, as it may be the case for other merchants, which leaves the problem
unresolved about his true intentions. It is worthwhile to mention that The Bard
justifies Shylocks hostile attitude towards Antonio and the others characters by the
wanton behavior of the Christians and their contempt of his religion, but the fact
that Antonio mistreats Shylock has no foundation in the text.
2.2.2.4. Jessica and Lorenzo
Shylocks daughter and Bassanios friend, a couple that stands aside the
complex plot of the play. they exploited Shylocks riches and they stayed in
Belmont while all the other characters (except Shylock) returned to Venice to save
Antonio from his horrible fate .By the end , Shylock is forced to promise his wealth
for them , and the happiness of this couple is in contrast to the troubles of the other
figures of the play.
2.2.3. Setting
Shakespeare divided the physical action of The Merchant of Venice between
two settings: Venice and Belmont. The former is a real cosmopolitan city which is
close to the center of Christendom (Rome) and a commercial hub with an
27

Chapter Two:New Historicist Analysis

independent and orderly government, but as a result of Venices internationalism,
Shylock is represented as the Other who threatens the traditions of the Christian
society. The latter is an imaginary city of romance and festivity where music,
laughter and domestic bliss are the common values; it was ruled by Portias dead
father lingers and there were no social restrictions to prevent a rich heiress from
acting independently. By the end of the play, the victorious Christians retire to
Belmont as The Bard wants to idealize it and to illustrate the contrast between realworld problems and fairy tales solutions.
At the time Shakespeare wrote his play, he chose Venice to harbor the
events for a multitude of reasons: On one hand, Venice was what England aspired to
become, for its sophistication, beauty and the disposition of Oriental luxuries. On
the other hand, sixteenth century Venice was more tolerant than Elizabethan
England, but this fact did not hinder the clash between the Christians characters and
the Jewish usurer, which indicates that the problem goes beyond the issue of
religion to be an existentialist predicament.

2.3. Shakespeares Patterns of the Villain

The Bard of Avon, throughout his plays, drew specific patterns for his
villains and Shylock is no exception. These patterns include age, sanity and control.
The famous adage That villainous old Jew, Shylock comprises the characteristics
of the villain according to Shakespeare.
2.3.1 Age
The distinction between Shylock and the rest of the characters is his age. He
seems to be the only elderly among them. The Bard seems to cast light on and the
inevitable collision between wisdom, represented by Shylock, and youth mainly
embodied in Gratiano rather than an emphasis on the religious clash between the
Christians and the Jew, and it is depicted in the following dialogue between them:
28

Chapter Two:New Historicist Analysis

GRATIANO
O, be thou damnd, inexecrable dog!
And for thy life let justice be accused.
Thou almost makest me waver in my faith
To hold opinion with Pythagoras,
That souls of animals infuse themselves
Into the trunks of men: thy currish spirit
Governd a wolf, who, hangd for human slaughter,
Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet,
And, whilst thou layst in thy unhallowd dam,
Infused itself in thee; for thy desires
Are wolvish, bloody, starved and ravenous.
SHYLOCK
Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond,
Thou but offendst thy lungs to speak so loud:
Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall
To cureless ruin. I stand here for law. (4.1.130-146)
Gratianos insults make the audience expect a grotesque response of
Shylock, but on the contrary, his answer is very reserved and calm by
calling the Italian a good youth in a sarcastic manner. An Anecdotal
evidence that the young character seems to be ignorant is that he renounce
his Christian faith by making reference to ancient pagan Greek beliefs to
prove Shylocks animalistic side, but this is held against him as Shylock
exhibits his wisdom and maturity to face the young Italian who is prone to
cursing and ill-faith . Shylock himself confesses that he is old, he tells his
servant Launcelot that he will recognize The difference between old
Shylock and Bassanio (2.5.1-2).
2.3.2 Sanity
Although He shows signs of wisdom, Shylock follows the conventional
pattern of the Shakespearian villain as he seems to blackout from his idealistic
29

Chapter Two:New Historicist Analysis

reality to drown into a ruthless state. This was manifested in his horrifying response
to Antonio, when the latter, in shackles, pleaded for him to abort the deadly
collateral:

I'll have my bond; I will not hear thee speak:

I'll have my bond; and therefore speak no more.
I'll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool,
To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield
To Christian intercessors. Follow not;
I'll have no speaking: I will have my bond. (3.3.12-17)
Antonio addresses Shylock as Good Shylock, there is no evidence that
Antonio mistreats or insults Shylock, which suggests that the latter is
blaming all the Christian characters for his social ostracism. Shylocks
sanity is put under question as he shows that his old age which symbolizes
his maturity is driving him towards senility.

2.3.3 Control
There is hardly evidence about Shylocks senility in the play, but it seems to
be triggered by his daughter, Jessica, who causes him a heart-burning anxiety.
Shakespeare follows the conventionalized pattern of outrageous daughters (as
Cordelia in King Lear) to expose the senility of the old Jew, as it is accompanied
with the loss of physical vigor and ill-controlled emotions that distort the fathers
judgments and transform parental admonition into bitterness. Shylocks enemy is in
his own household, the only offspring of his beloved Leah, his daughter Jessica
escapes with a Christian carrying her fathers money and jewels and he expresses
the loss of his parental authority and a painful love of his vanished money in his
cry:

30

Chapter Two:New Historicist Analysis

My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter,
Fled with a Christian! O my Christian ducats!
Justice, the law, my ducats, and my daughter!
A seald bag, two sealed bags of ducats,
Of double ducats, stol'n from me by my daughter!
And jewelstwo stones, two rich and precious stones
Stol'n by my daughter! Justice, find the girl!
She hath the stones upon her, and the ducats. (2.8.15-23)

On her first appearance, Jessica gives Launcelot a ducat and bestows her dowry on
her lover Lorenzo . This seems to drive Shylock towards insanity for the miser that
he is, even though he gained some sympathy of the Venetians as Salario declares :
Why, all the boys in Venice follow him,
Crying, His stones, his daughter, and his ducats! (2.8.24-25)

2.4. Shakespeares Description of Shylock

2.4.1 Physical Description

The Merchant of Venice does not speak about Shylocks physical
appearance, nor does confirm any age-old stereotypes about a bottle-nosed Jew.
However, Frank Falsenstein (1999:158) states that it was the eighteenth century
actor Charles Macklin who first gave Shylock a red hat and a big nose. He justified
the red hat to Alexander Pope, who asked about it, by saying "he had read that the
Jews in Italy, particularly in Venice, wore hats of that color1."It is noteworthy to
mention that the Bard makes reference to circumcision as a bodily difference
between the Gentiles and Jews, as Gratiano swears: Now, by my hood, a gentle
and no Jew. (2.6.53). He considers his hood as the foreskin emblematic of his
Christianity and confirms that Jessica is a gentle or Gentile. Shakespeares
31

Chapter Two:New Historicist Analysis

avoidance of Shylocks physical traits suggests that the English audience is
accustomed to the Jews and that the latters lived in Elizabethan England in spite of
the fact that Edward I expulsed them of the country in 1290.
2.4.2. Moral Description
While reading the play, one notices Shylocks tendency for selfish behavior
and thinking, in addition to the fact that he is unreasonable and demanding. The
usurer takes immense pleasure in his merry sport of exacting an equal
pound/Offair flesh to be cut off and taken/In what part of [the] body pleaseth me
(1.3.146-151), but he poses as a victim of racism and discrimination because
nobody has seen him beyond his Jewishness in the passage: Hath not a Jew eyes?
Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? (3.1.54)
.Even though he is punished for the violence that he set in motion , the audience
cannot help but question the values of Christian love and mercy , to deduce that
Shylocks nemeses are not better than him.

2.5 Analysis of Shylock:

2.5.1 Religion:
The word Jew and other strongly related terms such as: Jewish, Jewess and
Hebrew were employed seventy four times in the play .Its use becomes anti-Semitic
when it is associated negative racial characteristics and prejudices, and Shylock is
addressed as Shylock only seventeen times throughout the play. The word Jew
has a direct no neutral connotation albeit it was used to express foreignness to the
non-Jews, and it was meant to depersonalize the character in some parts of the play,
thus justifying the hostility of his enemies.
After the bargain between Antonio and Shylock was struck, the former
murmurs: "Hie thee gentle Jew. / The Hebrew will turn Christian, he grows kind"
(1.3.177-178).Antonios ironic tone suggests contempt of Shylock for his religion
and this relatively mild anti-Semitism is omnipresent in the play. Yet, the Bard
32

Chapter Two:New Historicist Analysis

makes very few associations between Shylock and evil in the beginning of the play ,
and one of these connections is manifested in Launcelots monologue while he is
debating himself about leaving Shylocks service : Certainly the Jew is the very devil
incarnation, and in my conscience, my conscience is but a kind of hard conscience, to offer
to counsel me to stay with the Jew" (2.2.27-30).The repetition of the word Jew in this

context indicates that Launcelots aggressive attitude towards Shylock conforms

with the medieval semi-mythical construt about the Jews and is fed by both literary
(Chaucer) and theological (Luther) support , Albert B. Friedman (1974) mentions
that Martin Luther warned Christians stating : next to the devil thou hast no enemy
more cruel, more venomous and violent than a true Jew. The prevalence of the
image of Jews as killers of Jesus Christ contributed to a great extent to the growth
of such anti-Jewish attitude.

But Shakespeare hatches a similar plot for Christianity , and makes it

obvious that Shylocks vehement statements towards Antonio and his Christian
cohorts are mere reflections of their cunning acts, especially when Shylock swore
revenge :...If a Jew wrongs a Christian, 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." (3.1.68-73). The Bard of Avon seems to
attribute the eye-for-an-eye execution to Christianity rather than Shylock or his
religion. However, since the Elizabethan audience perceived the Jews as fiendish
creatures, Shakespeare gives them a happy ending by the conversion of Shylock and
thus saving his soul in Elizabethan terms.
The fact that Shylock is a Jew made him an outcast, but it is to his greatest
sorrow that the pattern of the Jew is associated with other negative characteristics,
one of them is usury.
2.5.2 Usury
Among the negative trait that Shylock was burdened with, usury and avarice
are the most dominant ones. Shakespeare makes it clear that Bassanio loves money
33

Chapter Two:New Historicist Analysis

as much as Shylock does. In addition to that, the young Venetian, with his fortune at
its lowest ebb after squandering all his money, turns to Antonio to finance his
venture to the rich heiress Portia. Antonio hated Shylock for lending money with
interests and considered him a parasite to the Venetian economy, while Shylock
made it clear that he loathes Antonio for his anti-Semitism and due to the fact that
He lends out money gratis and brings down / The rate of usance here with us in
Venice (1.3.34-35), Antonio defends his position by confirming that he will not
lend money with interests : I oft delivered from his forfeitures / Many that have at
times made moan to me (3.3.2223).
In Elizabethan parlance, a usurer is a moneylender who takes even the
slightest amount of money as interests on his loan, in addition to the fact that
Antonio follows the medieval ideal of refusing interests just as Chaucers merchant,
while Shylock is a continuance to Marlowes Barabas , who also combines money
lending with Jewish religion and origins. The play itself was written in the midst of
large debates about usury especially due to the discovery of the New World and the
rise of industrial banking in addition to the difficult transition from feudal society to
modern capitalism.
Many pamphlets were written to disgrace usury such as The Death of Usury
(1594) and The Usurers Almanacke (1624).Causing a huge controversy about the
activity, the latter led the House of Commons to declare that all usury was against
the law of God. This provided a fertile ground for the association of the Jewish
religion and usury, especially after the Spaniards of Jewish origins, who continued
to live in England, did not cease to practice usury. Nevertheless, Antonios attack
on Shylock is flawed due to the fact that usury was a legal commercial activity that
was practiced by both Christians and Jew during the time of the writing of the play,
and that Shylock lent money to Antonio without interest.
Anecdotal evidence lies in the fact that Shakespeare had personal intent for
addressing the issue of usury; his father was sentenced for lending money at
excessive interest, charging twenty pounds interest on loans of eighty and a hundred

34

Chapter Two:New Historicist Analysis

pounds, and that event seems to have an impact on the dramatist especially that it
was a cursed activity and many clerks preached against it.
2.6 Criticism
Critics have come to draw contradictory and controversial conclusions about
Shakespeares true intentions; Shylock endures as a man and a monster, the
ambiguity of the play spawned debates about this character and the aims of the
dramatist. Shakespeares subtlety of themes and scenery seems to transcend antiSemitism, he tries, using a multitude of techniques, to show the audience the face of
Shylock the man, the human that was oppressed by an ignorant and arrogant
society, and when he finally opts for revenge, he is considered as a fiendish cruel
Jew, his mistake may be that he wanted to take the life of a noble Venetian in
front of the court, neglecting the Christian vice.
In a distinct facet than Shylocks ardor for his religion and his immense love
for his daughter, The Bard seems to bring Christianity to the task of hypocrisy, as
the Christian characters rebuke Shylock for seeking vengeance, after they provoked
him by goading him publicly ,while it would be a totally normal reaction if he was
of their own religion, it is in this context that Trevor Nunn , director of The
Masterpiece Theatre productions , states: My intention is to show that the play is as
much anti-Christian as it is anti-Semitic. It is a masterpiece about human behavior
in extremis.
One must also cast light on the genius of the dramatist: He gives no hints or
indications about the reason behind making Shylock both detestable and
sympathetic in the play, and this contributed to the ascension of the dramatic
tension, the character stands as a grand creation of a mastermind. In this respect,
Harold Bloom (1999:256) notes:We can keep finding the meanings of
Shakespeare, but never the meaning. With the never-ending interpretations of the
Bards works, the issues that he tackled will continue to challenge the contemporary
audience.

35

Chapter Two:New Historicist Analysis

To sum up, neither Christianity nor Judaism is to blame for Antonio or
Shylock; they are to be considered as individuals, who had their own initiatives and
intentions without regard to religion. Shakespeare invested the former with noble
qualities to guarantee the acceptance of the spirit of the Elizabethan age while
attributed the role of a necessary evil to the latter, all in highlighting that the antiSemitic Christian society is its real architect.
2.7 Conclusion
After examining the most prominent facets of the play, one cannot totally
exonerate Shakespeare of the charge of anti-Semitism, but it is by his emphasis on
the image of The Jew in the centre of his dramatic art that he makes shylock a
victim of an atrocious xenophobic Christian society.

36

General Conclusion
The Merchant of Venice is a canonical work that allows an abundance of
interpretations; it can be approached as a representation of the historical collision
between Christians and Jews embodied in Antonio and Shylock , while other perceive
it as an extension of the anti-Jewish and anti-usury preaching that ruled during the
Elizabethan era.
The play confirms a pattern of mild anti-Semitism that was common during the
rule of Queen Elizabeth I, and one cannot assume that it is unprecedented as many
playwrights and authors of the time provided a darker description of Jews. But what
attracts the audience is that Shakespeare granted Shylock an illuminating moment of
humanity, making him a victim of both racial ostracism and domestic treason. The
way in which Shylock converses with Tubal shows that the man in him overthrows the
usurer and the monster.
The accumulation of centuries of stereotypes influenced many theatre directors
to build a physical construct of Shylock that converges to the prejudices of the era
albeit Shakespeare did not mention any of the above. On the other hand, others tried to
picture it as much anti-Christian as anti-Semitic , and they put forward the argument of
Christian vice and bending the law when it does not serve the Christian interests, and
this vision is adopted by a multitude of critics.
From the first attention of inquirers into Shakespeares works, They discover
that the Bard of Avon gives every villain his say, a chance to defend or justify himself,
but the case of Shylock was different; he did not only defend himself against an
oppressing society but also exposed the atrocious side of Christians, the one who
always consider themselves as the defender of the values of liberty and tolerance.
This research targets the hints of anti-Semitism in The Merchant of Venice, as
well as an investigation of Shylock the human that has been proven to exist in the
play and took the lions share in contemporary criticism and interpretations.
Shakespeares patterns of the villain prevailed in The Merchant, and it is by using the
complexity of those patterns that the Bard succeeded in portraying Shylock as a human
who was destroyed by the ills of an ignorant society.
37

General Conclusion
Being subject to distinct interpretations, The Merchant of Venice , although it
goes in the wave of Elizabethan anti-Semitism for some , it portrays the darkness of
the human soul and how it can be corrupt in the name of religion for others.

38

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Sources
Shakespeare, William, and William Lyon Phelps. The Merchant of Venice. New
Haven: Yale UP, 1923. Print.
Secondary Sources:
Bennington, Geoffrey, and Jacques Derrida. Jacques Derrida. Chicago: U of
Chicago, 1993. Print.
Bloom, Harold. Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. New York: Riverhead,
1998. Print.
Cameroni, Agostino, and Gregorio Leti. Gregorio Leti. Milano: C. Chieva & F.
Guindani, 1893. Print.
, Eugen Karl. Robert Mayer. Leipzig: Naumann, 1904. Print.
Giovanni, Fiorentino. Il Pecorone: Nel Quale Si Contengono Cinquanta Novelle
Antiche. Milano: Dalla Societa Tipografica De' Classici Italiani, 1804. Print.
Hilberg, Raul. The Destruction of the European Jews. Raul Hilberg. N.p.: n.p.,
1985. Print.
Jay, Gregory S., and David Lee Miller. After Strange Texts: The Role of Theory in
the Study of Literature. University, Ala.: U of Alabama, 1985. Print.
, Emmanuel, Adriaan Theodoor Peperzak, Simon Critchley, and Robert
Bernasconi. Emmanuel Levinas: Basic Philosophical Writings. Bloomington:
Indiana UP, 1996. Print.
Mead, George Herbert. George Herbert Mead; Essays on His Social Philosophy.
New York: Teachers College, 1968. Print.
R., Jan Mohamed Abdul. Manichean Aesthetics: The Politics of Literature in
Colonial Africa. Amherst: U of Massachusetts Pr., 1983. Print.
Richter, David H. The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends.
Boston: Bedford, 1998. Print.

39

Rosenberg, Edgar. From Shylock to Svengali; Jewish Stereotypes in English

Fiction. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1960. Print.
Shakespeare, William, and William Lyon Phelps. The Merchant of Venice. New
Haven: Yale UP, 1923. Print.
Smith, Dennis. Zygmunt Bauman: Prophet of Postmodernity. Cambridge, UK:
Polity, 1999. Print.
Sparke, Michael. The Money Monger. Or, the Usurers Almanacke. Wherein with
Necessary Tables of Interest, the Vsurers Gaine, and Borrowers Losse, of 8, 7, and
6, in the Hundred Are Easily Demonstrated, with Other Tables. Being Most Vsefull
and Helpfull to the Merchant, Scriuener, Vsurer, Buyer, Lender, Borrower, or
Traider Whatsoeuer. London: Printed by William Iones, for Iames Boler and Mic,
1626. Print.
Staszak, Jean-Franois. "Other/Otherness." International Encyclopaedia of Human
Geography 09 Aug. 2009: 43-47. Print.
The Death of Vsury, Or, The Disgrace of Vsurers. Cambridge: Printed by Iohn
Legatt, Printer to the U at Cambridge, 1594. Print.
Treitschke, Heinrich Von, Eden Paul, and Cedar Paul. Treitschke's History of
Germany in the Nineteenth Century. New York: McBride, Nast, 1915. Print.
Tyson, Lois. Learning for a Diverse World: Using Critical Theory to Read and
Write about Literature. New York: Routledge, 2001. Print.
Zimmermann, Mosche. Wilhelm Marr, the Patriarch of Antisemitism. New York:
Oxford UP, 1986. Print.

40