Few of Shakespeare’s comedies have aroused such contradictory passions as  

. Harold Bloom asserts “[one] would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to recognise that Shakespeare’s grand, equivocal comedy 

 is nevertheless a profoundly anti-Semitic work” (171). The problem involves the portrayal of the figure of the “Jew” Shylock since it is difficult for us to approach this character outside the context of the Holocaust. Indeed, Arnold Wesker – who re-wrote the play as  

 (1976-1978) in order to explain and exorcise its anti-Semitism – argued it was no longer appropriate to perform the play (

, 6 June, 1993). Modern productions have attempted to compensate for this difficulty, though none have…

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Citation: Drakakis, John. "The Merchant of Venice". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 August 2005; last revised 20 January 2020. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=151, accessed 23 November 2024.]