Language:
Italian
Year of publication:
1994
Titel der Quelle:
Studium (Roma)
Angaben zur Quelle:
90,5 (1994) 739-754
Keywords:
Shakespeare, William,
Abstract:
States that "The Merchant of Venice" was written in the context of England's economic debility and dependence on foreign moneylenders. At a time when radical Calvinist currents were giving legitimacy to usury, Shakespeare opposed the concept of universal love and natural law to the cruel laws of the Old Testament, seeing in usury a violation of the natural law and order as well as a danger to productive activity. Argues that the negative issue here is usury rather than the Jew, since Shakespeare actually outlines the humanity of the man, insinuating that the cruelty of the usurer could be the result of the social marginalization of the Jew.
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