Language:
English
Year of publication:
1991
Titel der Quelle:
Notes and Queries
Angaben zur Quelle:
38,1 (1991) 35-38
Keywords:
Shakespeare, William,
;
Marlowe, Christopher,
;
Antisemitism History 1500-1800
Abstract:
Discusses the case of Roderigo Lopez, Queen Elizabeth I's Portuguese Jewish physician (who was, however, a practicing Christian), accused of high treason in January 1594 by the Earl of Essex, and executed in June 1594. Suggests that the revival of the performance of "The Jew of Malta" during that period could have been used to help create antisemitic prejudice, since generally the Jews were tolerated in late Elizabethan London and the Queen was opposed to Lopez's arrest and execution. Shakespeare wrote "The Merchant of Venice" after a further revival of "The Jew of Malta" in 1596, and may have had the young Earl of Essex and his friends' hounding of Lopez in mind when he wrote the play as a counterblast to recent antisemitism.
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