To the editor:
When I read the Journal-World story of a parent calling for the removal of Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice" from Lawrence's English curriculum, I immediately thought of two flaws to the argument that this masterful work is anti-Semitic, and thus inappropriate. Dianne Whitten subsequently addressed one flaw in a Feb. 18 letter to the editor, stating that even if the play is anti-Semitic, it still stimulates valuable classroom discussion, which could counter the plays bigoted views. The second refutation, missed by both, is that quite possibly the play is not anti-Semitic.
Shakespeare shows great sympathy for Shylock, a merchant much maligned for simply being a Jew. Shylock assures us that, like any human, Christian or other, he bleeds when cut, laughs when tickled, dies when poisoned, and, yes, revenges when wronged. The play's end, in which Shylock loses his court suit and is forced into Christianity, is seen by some as anti-Semitic. However, the fact that this judgement shortly follows Portia's speech upon the "quality of mercy" demonstrates that Shakespeare does not necessarily view the court's action as just. Though Christian nations would look upon this conversion as salvation for Shylock's soul, Shakespeare has looked deeper. Many scholars believe Shakespeare was Catholic, and thus, would view Shylockforced conversion as akin to a Catholic's required acceptance of the Church of England.
One wonders how anti-Semitic the play could be, when Jewish actors aspire to portray Shylock (as ardently as actresses wish to play Lady Macbeth), viewing Shylock as a voice crying for egalitarianism in a foreign, religiously-intolerant land. Shylock's views become militant, and his actions despicable, but he reminds us that he is merely acting by "Christian example":
The villainy [Christians] teach me
I shall execute,
And it will go hard
But I will better the instruction.
Shylock is human, and Merchant calls upon us to judge if his actions are justifiable. If they are not, Shakespeare informs us undoubtedly that Shylock is guilty because he is a flawed (and thus typical) human, and not because he is a Jew.
Michael J. Colvin,
Lawrence.
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