Language:
German
Year of publication:
2001
Titel der Quelle:
Shakespeare Jahrbuch
Angaben zur Quelle:
137 (2001) 32-37
Keywords:
Shakespeare, William,
;
Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim,
;
Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim,
;
Antisemitism in literature
Abstract:
On the basis of a promptbook for this performance, discusses the image of Shylock that would have been projected to the audience. A performance in Hamburg in 1777 avoided (to some extent) connecting Shylock's villainy to his Jewishness; it also greatly reduced the Jessica subplot. Although the Mannheim performance was partly based on the Hamburg text, it departed from it radically in these respects. The Jessica subplot was expanded; Jessica was portrayed as a faithful daughter rejected by her father (with increased emphasis on Lancelot's conjecture that she was really the bastard daughter of a Christian). Antonio's nobility, his attempt to atone for his former disdainful treatment of the Jew, was emphasized. Shylock was thus deprived of any justification for his lust for revenge which might have brought him sympathy from the audience. He was not, however, presented as a dangerous villain but rather as a pitiful buffoon, both by the text and the actor: August Wilhelm Iffland was known for his comic Jewish roles and his stage Yiddish.
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