Is Shylock Jewish?: Citing Scripture and the Moral Agency of Shakespeare's Jews

Sara Coodin

Published by Edinburgh University Press 2017

Is Shylock Jewish?

Citing Scripture and the Moral Agency of Shakespeare's Jews

Sara Coodin

In the series Edinburgh Critical Studies in Shakespeare and Philosophy

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474418393

Overview
Contents

About this book

A detailed exploration of the significance of Hebrew Biblical stories in The Merchant of Venice

What happens when we consider Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice as a play with ‘real’ Jewish characters who are not mere ciphers for anti-Semitic Elizabethan stereotypes? Is Shylock Jewish? studies Shakespeare’s extensive use of stories from the Hebrew Bible in The Merchant of Venice, and argues that Shylock and his daughter Jessica draw on recognizably Jewish ways of engaging with those narratives throughout the play. By examining the legacy of Jewish exegesis and cultural lore surrounding these biblical episodes, this book traces the complexity and richness of Merchant’s Jewish aspect, spanning encounters with Jews and the Hebrew Bible in the early modern world as well as modern adaptations of Shakespeare’s play on the Yiddish stage.

Key Features

Analyses alternative contexts for the moral agency of Jewish characters in The Merchant of Venice
Provides an innovative study of Renaissance Christian Hebraism in England and English perceptions of Jews and Jewishness in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries
Discusses important nineteenth- and twentieth-century Yiddish-language adaptations of The Merchant of Venice
Makes a provocative and original argument about the importance of Judaic biblical exegesis to the long afterlife of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Series Editor’s Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Introduction: Is Shylock Jewish? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Renaissance England and the Jews Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	26
2. Parti-Coloured Parables Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
3. Stolen Daughters and Stolen Idols Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	140
4. Rebellious Daughters on the Yiddish Stage Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 272
Illustrations
- Other: 3 B/W illustrations
Keywords: Literary Studies

eBook

Published: June 12, 2017
ISBN: 9781474418393