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Shylock and Anti-Semitism: Evidence That the Backbone of the Play Is Anti-Semitic

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Shylock and Anti-Semitism: Evidence That the Backbone of the Play Is Anti-Semitic University of Central Florida STARS PRISM: Political & Rights Issues & Social Movements 1-1-1962 Shylock and anti-semitism: Evidence that the backbone of the play is anti-Semitic Morris U. Schappes Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/prism University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Book is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in PRISM: Political & Rights Issues & Social Movements by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Recommended Citation Schappes, Morris U., "Shylock and anti-semitism: Evidence that the backbone of the play is anti-Semitic" (1962). 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TW CENTS SHYLOCK IN GEORGIA FTER the performame of The A Hemhunt 01 Yen& at he Uni- versity of Georgia in Athens in Feb, 'L Jewish school child here in Athens hm been repeatedly taunted with the name of Shylock, and 1 would think that this was not the only harm done an a reault of expoeing many minds in the form- ative yearm to tbc distaaeful stereo- typing continued in this play," wrote Rabbi Nathaniel Zimskind, Hillel director, to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the Cniversity. An article by Addph Rmnbetg, editor of tbe Sodhern I~ralik (Atlanta l June I, publishes tine correspondence and reveals that he Univernity Department of Speech and Drama inaided on pre- senting the lay deapite advan- proteas of t R Rabbi and aeverlrl other Jewish leadm as far back aa laet Jrly, when announcement ot the intention to perform The nfer- cha~a~oi Yenice was made. Published by JEWISH CUMENTS Morris U. Schrrppes, Editor Co ies of this pamphlst and subscriptions to he monthly, JEWISH EURRENTS(Sub-$4.00 a year in U.S.A., ).I.%ekewhere). JEWISH CURRENTS 22 East 17 Street New York 3, N.Y. BULK RATES 12 Capies - $1 .OO 25 Copies - 2 .OO 50 Copies - 3.50 per I00 Copies - 6.00 Shvlock and Anti-Semitism Evidence that the backbone of the play h anti-Semitic By MORRIS U. SCHAPPES N Central Park June 19 the N. Y. bie pound of flesh, should be kept on re Festival with Jwph the boobhelm until a raier epch" will begin its per- Are we in that %fer ewch now formance of The Merch oj Venice. in our country, in New kork, any- Admission will be free and it b ex- where? (fsrael is of course excluded pected that the new &eater arena will and I am not condabout per- be fiUd to its capacity of 2,300 %eats. formances of this play in Yiddish or We wish Mr. Papp had been persuaded Hebrew or before wlndveIy Jew* to folltw the example of Orson Wen-. andimem. To such audiences you welles abandoned what he said was could read Hitler's Mein KampJ in any a lifelong ambition to play Shylock language without stirring hem to anti- when he announced in Jan., 1960 that Semitiam.) I know of no country in be was cancelling his scheduled Lon- the wodd today (except Israel) in don production. Swastikas had ap dich performances of The Werchand peared at Cologne,. Weae Germany of Venice could be given More gea- and were being qrad by the Nasi eral andiances 'Gth no risk of reinfom international underground into Eng- ing, stking or stimulating anti- land, the United States and otber Semitic attitudes or prejudh. For lands. Welles explained to the Lon- the anti&itism is built into the don Express : "No, mtil all the church very structute and backbone of the walls are clean -and eafely clean, play and cannot be eliminated if too - I think Shylmk, with. his Jew- Shakeqmm's text is fully or substrm- ish gaberdine, hie golden ducats and tidy fo?lowed. For 350 years it haa been staged with many "interpretations,'," includ- to win aympath for MORRISU. SCWPES turn a member Efyld;,*P"H", the ward "shYl~"is, of the Engbh Depcutnnenb at thCity h been and continuee to be a term Coke in New York, 192&1941 d of abuse. There is no ,record of any. taugk Shakespeare there. He is also one ever havbig come away from a the edhr of the pros@, poetry mud reading of the play or the witnessing ktms of Emma ham,of A Docu- of even the most "sym thetic" Shy- mentary History of the Jews in the lock portrayal who has ereafter uaed U. S. 1654-1875 and author of The the term "ShyIock" as a word of praise Jews in the U. S., 1654-1954, A Pic- for any hqen being. Yet many who torial History. produce the ~hy,iududing Jewish ac- tors performing as Shylock, disregard- pple who always saek their "pound ing the atage hitory of. centuries, of flesh." Apart from the bigoted vainly assume that thy will at last "Christ-killer" epithet, has any image find that interpretation which will be of the Jews been more damaging than both god Shakaepeare and, so to that of "Shylock"? (The image of speak, "good for Jewan Because we Dickens' Fagin would be next in are convinced the bas been and can order.) be no such production, we wish as But the play is indeed not lost; it is briefly sa possible to outline why the indeed too much with us. And even phy as a wholc ia unalterably anti- those isolated passages, when taken Semitic. The fact that the play is full in context, as he shall see, take on a of great pdxy and prose and is a meaning quite different from that product of Sbdespeare's mature ascribed to them in isolation. genius for con~tructionand stagecraft makes it therefore only he more For whut b the play about, whd d erous to perform until we come is its central confiict? Writing at the to3i "safer epochH in which anti- end of the 16th century, Shakespeare Semitism will be a thing of the past. p-ted us with a play in which the tension is caused by a conflict betwm~ two ways of lending money: the way of lending money out of love and T IS newto view the play sa friendship for the borrower versus the I a whole if one is both to under- way of lending money to make money stand it and to grasp ite inherent anti- by getting interest. In Shakeapeare's Semitism Somt people pick out prts day this contrast was still an issue. of a couple of speeches by Shylock, Under feudalism, the Christian Church ignore the entire dramatic context, had banned Christians &from practi8- treat the excerpt19 aa if they were iso- ing usury, which was the original bred arias in some lost opera - and term for lending money at any inter- come to the condmion that the lay est. As capitalism developed, money. really conatituta s drdanac of lending at interest, or banking, became against tbtir persecutors and detxae- a pillar of that social system. The tors! Thus in a sadly con- apology Church compliantly altered its defi- for the play published ia the Bnnai nition of usury to taking money at B'rith Ndwnd Jewish Moonth March msaive interest, with the definition and April. 1962, Dr. David kern, a of exwive depending upon many former colleague of mine ia the Eng- factore. lish department at the City Coil But in IS%, when Shakespare New *orb : ~~na2 wrote The Merchant of Venice, capi- these two pamag- were all that was talism in Fagland was in its infancy extant, wouId we not concIude that the and the Church had not yet changed, lout play must have been an arraign- its definition. In fact it was not until ment of the world'& inhumanity to- 163M.O that the first work estabIish- ward the Jews?" ing he capitalist theory of interest Indeed, yes! But if the play had was produced in Holland (sae my ei- hen lost, the Jews would not have tation from W. E. H. L been tamed for centuries with the vile Documentary Hhtory or.ckK t e injews my inA epithet, ''Shylock," nor taunted as the United Stom, 1654-2875, N. Y., 1950, p. 565.) The new money-lend- comment, JEWISH CUR RE^, Oct., ing technique of interest was mmhg 1961 ) . These wdl-intentimed efforb, to the fore, against the objection of despite dl kinds of mutilations of the both Church and feudal precapitaliet text, including often the omkion of or anti-capitalkt classea and senti- he entire Iast act, could not succeed lnenia exactly because the backbone of the When Shakespeare, basing himself pla is anti-Semitic, that is, it shows an wual on old murces, picked his wid a ~hakaparskgeniw th.t iba theme and story-line, he decided to of money-lending ia cast his weight agoinst the new in- goodChistin and walno le and the Jewish wa ter&-breeding way of lending money is evil, malevolent and must L rouJ and in favor of the old feudal, Chris- This backbone is there no matter how tian way of tending it out of friend- my iutepreter paints a feature, lop a ship. Seeking to add an additional limb, twists or stress%s an idated pa8- emotional weight to this latter side, sage here or there to seek to change Shakqeare stacked the cards against the omall effect.
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