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The Merchant of Venice
Sources/Background
Sources
• First performed in 1597• First published version of play
published in 1600• Merchant is not an original story
by Shakespeare
Sources
• Shakespeare almost always borrowed ideas and stories from other sources and improved them
Sources
• Immediate source for Merchant is Il Pecorone, an Italian short story that translates “The Idiot”
• Published in Italy in 1558• “Pound of flesh” plot
Sources
• Another source is a medieval tale from Gesta Romanorum (Roman Tales), published in London in 1577
• “Casket” plot
Sources
• Christopher Marlowe’s Jew of Malta (1589-90) was familiar to Shakespeare
• Idea of Jew having daughter
Sources
• Classical sources: Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Plutarch’s Lives
History of Jews in England
• Jews allowed to live in England from 1066
• Allowed to practice usury, or money-lending; Christians were not
History of Jews in England
• Jews became target of government taxations because of their wealth
• At death, Jews’ assets seized by king
• Jews paid Christian church taxes
History of Jews in England
• In 1290, Jews expelled from England
• Suspicion and bigotry practiced against Jews
• Term “Jew” became a label
History of Jews in England
• Secretly practicing their faith, some Jews remained in England
Elizabethan Image of Jew
• Moneylenders (“usury”)• Bloodthirsty murderers (Jews
might demand a pound of flesh as repayment for a loan)
Elizabethan Image of Jew
• Rumors of Christian travelers being mutilated by Jews
• Jews accused of spreading Black Death by poisoning water
Elizabethan Image of Jew
• Jews stereotyped as evil, dressed in black cloaks, horned hats
• Jews played as parodies on stage: actors wore bright red wigs and false noses
Usury
• Lending of money and charging interest on its repayment
• Traditionally Jews were money-lenders
• Christianity forbade charging of interest
Usury
• Aristotle: beyond the laws of physics for money to breed money
• Elizabethans condemned usury, yet this didn’t stop them from borrowing money themselves
Women in Patriarchal Society
• In Elizabethan society, fathers controlled the lives of wives and daughters
• Women had subordinate position in Elizabethan England
• Women’s rights were restricted
Women in Patriarchal Society• Defying authority had serious
consequences• Disobedient sons were disinherited;
daughters were confined at home or in convents
• Father-daughter conflict a recurring theme in Shakespeare
Women in Patriarchal Society
• Women’s power limited by rules of inheritance
• Renaissance ideal of women suggested that they should live in quiet obedience to husbands and fathers
Venice and Trade
• England’s role as trading nation grew in late 16th century
• Merchants took greater risks as their wealth grew
Venice, Italy
Venice, Italy
Venice and Trade
• To Elizabethans, Venice was symbol of trade and wealth
• World center for banking• Had great tolerance for different
cultures and minorities
Gondola and Piazza San Marco
The Rialto Bridge