Thread: The Merchant of Venice

you aint cool

I still think you should have watched Britney's show with me

Holy wars are a part of human idiocy, look at Ireland and of course the middle east. It could also be animosity, i.e. "the Jews killed Jesus," even though even he said it had to come to pass and it was not to be stopped (when his own diciples freaked out).

Originally Posted by Mudge

Holy wars are a part of human idiocy. It could also be animosity, i.e. "the Jews killed Jesus," even though even he said it had to come to pass and it was not to be stopped (when his own diciples freaked out).

Well, its not so much a Holy War.. its more along the lines of "we hate Jews so are going to persecute them". In most cities in Europe they were confined to one part of the town, and in some cities locked in at night. Christians would spit in their faces by day, and by night when they needed a loan for whatever they'd sneak in and borrow money from them.

As to the Jews killing Jesus. Well, he could have left anytime he wanted to (by Christian philosophy), so I dont feel too bad for him. It was the plan after all.

There was definitely an animosity there though, people blaming the Jews for killing Christ. It was more along the lines of an excuse to persecute them IMO.

Originally Posted by seven11

you aint cool

en u r ghey

I really want to see this picture. I thought Pacino should have won an Oscar for his portrayal of Ricky Roma in Glengarry/Glenross. Instead, he won for scent of a woman, but I thought that was almost a parody role. When he's on, he's on.

As for the anti-semitism of the play, here are two fairly good summations of how that's viewed by critics:
1) The first argues that The Merchant of Venice endorses anti-semitism and, by extension, that Shakespeare is an anti-semite because his work reflects the anti-semitism that was part of Elizabethan culture.

2) The second argues that The Merchant of Venice subverts anti-semitism and, by extension, that Shakespeare is a great humanist because his work resists or transcends the anti-semitism that was part of Elizabethan culture. (source: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...troduction.htm)

Personally, I'm a Hamlet, Richard the II fan.

Yeah, those views pretty much wrap it up. I find it hard to blame Shakespeare though, becaue in the day, it was the standard. When a culture tells all of its people that its not only okay, but expected... its hard to find fault with the individual people, but rather with the whole culture.

We are most often what we were raised to be. In some ways we are perhaps self made, but by and large we are a product of our lives. While we hold Willy to a high standard, in many ways we cannot expect what we see as common sense and decency to be thought of as the same in his day.

So perhaps he was a racist or perhaps he wasnt... or perhaps in his works he merely put a name to the face of hate that lived during those times. Who really knows.

I enjoy Hamlet and Richy too.. but I have to admit I'm also a fan of the Henrys, Othello, Macbeth, and especially his comedies.