Sprache:
Englisch
Erscheinungsjahr:
1990
Titel der Quelle:
Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen
Angaben zur Quelle:
227,2 (1990) 235-241
Schlagwort(e):
Shakespeare, William,
;
Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim,
;
Wesker, Arnold,
;
Antisemitism in literature
;
Jews in literature
;
Judaism in literature
Kurzfassung:
Analyzes Arnold Wesker's play "The Merchant" as an adaptation and revision of Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice". Wesker cannot accept the deeply ingrained antisemitism in Shakespeare's portrayal of Shylock, particularly when seen from a post-Holocaust perspective. Wesker's Shylock has a noble and intellectual character. The pound-of-flesh contract between Shylock and Antonio, who are close friends, is undertaken by them as a mockery of Venetian law which is based on anti-Jewish prejudice. Thus, the Christians are responsible for the trouble which evolves. Compares and contrasts Wesker's Shylock with Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's depiction of the noble Jew Nathan. Both "The Merchant" and "Nathan der Weise" deal with the falseness of stereotypes. Lessing was optimistic regarding Jewish emancipation and the movement of history towards the universal brotherhood of mankind, while Wesker expresses disillusionment and focuses on disruptive forces in the process. But Shylock's ideas of a universal brotherhood survive his own defeat.
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