The greatness of shakespear's ampathic abilities is that, in trying to write a one dimensional, villianous Jew in the mould of Barabas, he can't do it. Hi shylock is justified, his shylock is wronged, and his anger is natural. The Elizabethans and Jacobeans were content to enjoy his fall, but in this less racist age he play still works, but not as a comedy but as a cautionary tale - the righteous indigination at the anti-semitism, the refusal of Portia to play a 'woman's role, the fairly obvious latent homeosexuality in the Antonio/Bassanio relationship, even the clear bias of the courts of law, favouring the christian -and businessman, over the wronged Jew,, are all incredibly modern, and problematic, and thetrically marvellous.
I always saw forgiveness, or the lack of it, as the moral of the play as portrayed through Shylock's fall. The climax in the courtroom drives home the point.
To be fair he was known for taking inspiration, like when he used his favourite Disney animated movie The Lion King as the basis for his play Hamlet. Although I think he went a bit far when he tried to claim Romeo and Juliet as his own original work when clearly we can see it’s a rip off of the Baz Luhrman movie of the same name.
All of the comments you will see on this channel, or to be truthful, any channel, will be focused upon the supposed inference that Shylock was the villain in the play, when he sought legal redress for a man who literally stole money from him.There was no forgiveness in this, Shakespeare. or whoever wrote this play, was violently anti-semetic, as was the majority of Europe at this time. Even though I am not Jewish, I wonder why the Jewish people have been singled for so much hatred, and if they were expunged from this Earth, who will be the next scapwgoat?
My sentiment exactly. I did the play for O'Level and never say Shylock as the villain, only a man who was fighting against a social system that made him so...
