Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
I saw The Merchant of Venice performed in the courtyard of one of the Cambridge colleges a few years ago, and this speech was gripping. Why does everyone hate Shylock–because he’s a Jew or because he’s a mean old curmudgeon? Or did he evolve into a cold, impossible miser because of the hatred? Did the persecution (see III.i.51-55, just before this speech) drive him to become miserly, to take comfort in money because it wouldn’t mistreat him?
I found an interesting blog post about the anti-Jew attitude in MOV, in response to some high school girls recently boycotting the play. Be sure you check out the comments below the post; they capture more breadth of the discussion, and some hit it right on.
The anti-Jewish sentiment makes me want to rebel and cheer for Shylock–but he’s so impossible, it’s a love-hate relationship at best, and most of the time it veers into the hate territory. I can’t believe his response when Jessica runs away.
