Subversion of Anit-Semitism

Throughout my experience with the Merchant of Venice, I have seen the most famous scene (“hath not a Jew eyes”) preformed or quoted on film so many times it is difficult to count. From The Pianist, to Man Without a Face, to the full version of Merchant of Venice that we watched in class, this is probably one of the soliloquies that I remember most as a Shakespearean quote. Especially while we were reading this play in our English class, I had already begun thinking about the answer to this question. In response, I believe that Shakespeare was trying to subvert the idea of anti-Semitism through this play.

In Elizabethan England, it would not have been possible to come right out and say that you did not support anti-Semitism, so Shakespeare had to be more creative in his ways to express his forward ideas. As Shakespeare was a businessman, he was constantly writing things that he knew would be liked. Romantic comedies or histories that exaggerated the greatness of the current ruler were some of his large crowd pleasers. Shakespeare, being an artist who was incredibly successful during his life, had to write plays that appealed not only to the highest of nobility, but also the lowest of peasants. To do so, he often cracked jokes that were extremely popular at the time, including taking many anti-Semitic jabs throughout many of his plays. I do not believe though that this had any influence on his ideas.

Throughout the play Merchant of Venice, Shylock is portrayed as an incredibly human character. Though in the end, Shakespeare makes sure that he appeases the large majority of his crowd, there are times throughout the play when he completely changes the role, and makes Shylock a character that the audience is meant to sympathize with. For example, when Shylock’s daughter, Jessica, runs away and leaves him, it seems much more understandable why a character like Shylock might seek his revenge through Christian flesh. He was not as driven to take his bond until he had lost something so incredibly great.

I believe that Shakespeare presented a subverted idea of anti-Semitism in his play, Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare gives us a character to relate to in Shylock, and I also believe that this play was truly meant to get this point across. Not only did Shakespeare create an incredibly dynamic character in Shylock, but he also set these very controversial ideas inside of a romantic comedy. I believe that Shakespeare hoped that the lightness of the general plot of Merchant of Venice would help to really bring home his point of anti-Semitism. Though Shakespeare did end his play by punishing Shylock, I do not believe that he could have honestly ended the play any other way. His audience would have never accepted a Jew winning the bond, and it does not exactly fit within the guidelines of a romantic comedy. What Shakespeare did do though, is to at least put his ideas out there about anti-Semitism. For a playwright who was so well known, this is an accomplishment that is not easy to do. (519)