Christianity Versus Judaism In Shakespeare S Merchant Of Venice

Author : Andrea Oberheiden
Publisher : GRIN Verlag
Page : 29 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2009-11
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9783640469062

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Christianity Versus Judaism in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice by Andrea Oberheiden Pdf

Essay from the year 2008 in the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 2+, Harvard University (Department of English), course: Shakespeare and Modern Culture, language: English, abstract: In Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, the Jewish character of Shylock refers to the biblical story of Jacob tricking his uncle Laban (1.3.68-98) by tampering with the procreative process of Laban's flock of sheep (Genesis 30.25-43). In the following, I will try to point out why Shylock tells this story, and in which literary context he ruminates upon it. Besides a critical comparison of how his speech interacts with the original biblical story, I will furthermore discuss this analogy foremost in terms of its religious and dramatic functions within the play. Against this background, it will be made evident that 'usury' as a negative Jewish stereotype, presumed by the judging eyes of medieval Christians, is put in the centre of consideration here. It will be argued that as a general declaration in MoV, a superiority of the New Testament to the Old Testament, of Christianity to Judaism, can be derived, and that this conclusion is strongly linked with the majoritarian mindset in Shakespeare's times and cultural sphere, rather than with Shakespeare's personal attitude towards Jews or Judaism, an often supposed attitude of unprovable nature.

Author : William Shakespeare
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 158 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 1889
Category : Electronic
ISBN : UOM:39015040786983

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The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare Pdf

Author : Janet Adelman
Publisher : ReadHowYouWant.com
Page : 490 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2010-11-12
Category : Drama
ISBN : 9781459605619

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Blood Relations by Janet Adelman Pdf

In Blood Relations' Janet Adelman confronts her resistance to The Merchant of Venice as both a critic and a Jew. With her distinctive psychological acumen' she argues that Shakespeares play frames the uneasy relationship between Christian and Jew specifically in familial terms in order to recapitulate the vexed familial relationship between Christianity and Judaism. Adelman locates the promise - threat - of Jewish conversion as a particular site of tension in the play. Drawing on a variety of cultural materials' she demonstrates that' despite the triumph of its Christians' The Merchant of Venice reflects Christian anxiety and guilt about its simultaneous dependence on and disavowal of Judaism. In this startling psycho - theological analysis' both the insistence that Shylocks daughter Jessica remain racially bound to her father after her conversion and the depiction of Shylock as a bloody - minded monster are understood as antidotes to Christian uneasiness about a Judaism it can neither own nor disown. In taking seriously the religious discourse of The Merchant of Venice' Adelman offers in Blood Relations an indispensable book on the play and on the fascinating question of Jews and Judaism in Renaissance England and beyond.

Author : Claudia Oldiges
Publisher : GRIN Verlag
Page : 33 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2010-02-03
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9783640522880

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Jews and Christians in The Merchant of Venice by Claudia Oldiges Pdf

Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2, University of Osnabrück, course: The Merchant of Venice, 5 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Although one is able to find a lot bias towards Jews in the play The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare is not to be blamed as an anti-Judaic person. Regarding the historical background and the probability of him not knowing a Jewish person, Shakespeare is to be declared as a typical mind of the Elizabethan age. The mentality of the Elizabethan age is resembled in the plot, therefore it was easy for the audience to understand and laugh about this comedy, particularly about the image of the Jew Shylock. Shylock himself has a dominant aversion towards Christians and it is not mentioned whether this attitude derives from his sufferance or is a streak of him. The reader of the past-holocaust-age has a tendency to criticize the Christian behaviour throughout the plot, to feel pity with Shylock and to defend his actions and conduct. A lot of evidence demonstrate fundamental differences and bias between the Jews and Christians in the play The Merchant of Venice. But one ought always consider the time, when the play was written, and the audience, for whom it was written. Fact is that Jews as Christians both pretend to act pious but evidently do not.

Author : Lisa Mevissen
Publisher : Grin Publishing
Page : 40 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 3640635000

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Money Matters - Christian Ventures and Jewish Usury in Shakespeares 'The Merchant of Venice' by Lisa Mevissen Pdf

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, RWTH Aachen University (Lehrstuhl für Anglistische Literaturwissenschaft), course: William Shakespeare: The Tempest and the Merchant of Venice, language: English, abstract: In Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" we are confronted with a lot of opposites: friendship versus hatred, male versus female power, mercy versus justice or Judaism versus Christianity; just to name a few examples. By contrasting these opposing themes, Shakespeare evolves a lot of problems, which raise unsolvable questions. If we take for example Shylock, we constantly change our opinion about him: on the one hand we dislike him for he is villainous, greedy and merciless, and on the other hand we pity him because of his losses and his isolation in society. Yet, one cannot make a clear-cut statement about him for he bears opposing characteristics in his attitude. So, one can see, Shakespeare does not only depict opposites, but he also creates opposing opinions about the same topic in our heads. Thus, the oppositions he shows in his play should be looked at more carefully. Therefore, I want to focus on the contrast between Jewish usury and Christian ventures, for the conflict between both groups constantly leads to essential problems in the play. As a preliminary step, I want to look at the historical background, an important impact, which influenced the play's final conception. In the following, I want to compare the attitudes of Christians towards Jews and vice versa. In addition to that, in this paper I want to concentrate on the instance that complicates the tension between Christians and Jews: money. Money binds both opposing groups - Christians and Jews - unwillingly together and causes essential conflicts. Therefore, I want to analyse how Christianity and Judaism is interwoven by money, usury, ventures and the characters' behaviour. Therefore, a depiction and an analysis

Author : Hannibal Hamlin
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 331 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2019-03-28
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781107172593

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The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Religion by Hannibal Hamlin Pdf

A wide-ranging yet accessible investigation into the importance of religion in Shakespeare's works, from a team of eminent international scholars.

Author : William Shakespeare
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 108 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 1917
Category : Jews
ISBN : UCLA:31158000128339

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The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare Pdf

Author : Janet Adelman
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 682 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2010-11-12
Category : Religion
ISBN : 036932157X

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Blood Relations by Janet Adelman Pdf

In Blood Relations' Janet Adelman confronts her resistance to The Merchant of Venice as both a critic and a Jew. With her distinctive psychological acumen' she argues that Shakespeares play frames the uneasy relationship between Christian and Jew specifically in familial terms in order to recapitulate the vexed familial relationship between Christianity and Judaism. Adelman locates the promise - threat - of Jewish conversion as a particular site of tension in the play. Drawing on a variety of cultural materials' she demonstrates that' despite the triumph of its Christians' The Merchant of Venice reflects Christian anxiety and guilt about its simultaneous dependence on and disavowal of Judaism. In this startling psycho - theological analysis' both the insistence that Shylocks daughter Jessica remain racially bound to her father after her conversion and the depiction of Shylock as a bloody - minded monster are understood as antidotes to Christian uneasiness about a Judaism it can neither own nor disown. In taking seriously the religious discourse of The Merchant of Venice' Adelman offers in Blood Relations an indispensable book on the play and on the fascinating question of Jews and Judaism in Renaissance England and beyond.

Author : Christopher Marlowe
Publisher : Broadview Press
Page : 290 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2011-12-02
Category : Drama
ISBN : 1770483039

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The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe Pdf

First performed by Shakespeare’s rivals in the 1590s, Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta was a trend-setting, innovative play whose black comedy and final tragic irony illuminate the darker regions of the Elizabethan cultural imagination. Although Jews were banished from England in 1291, the Jew in the form of Barabas, the play’s protagonist, returns on the stage to embody and to challenge the dramatic and cultural anti-Semitic stereotypes out of which he is constructed. The result is a theatrically sophisticated but deeply unsettling play whose rich cultural significance extends beyond the early modern period to the present day. The introduction and historical documents in this edition provide a rich context for the world of the play’s composition and production, including materials on Jewishness and anti-Semitism, the political struggles over Malta, and Christopher Marlowe’s personal and political reputation.

Author : James Shapiro
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 351 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2016-03-08
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780231541879

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Shakespeare and the Jews by James Shapiro Pdf

First published in 1996, James Shapiro's pathbreaking analysis of the portrayal of Jews in Elizabethan England challenged readers to recognize the significance of Jewish questions in Shakespeare's day. From accounts of Christians masquerading as Jews to fantasies of settling foreign Jews in Ireland, Shapiro's work delves deeply into the cultural insecurities of Elizabethans while illuminating Shakespeare's portrayal of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. In a new preface, Shapiro reflects upon what he has learned about intolerance since the first publication of Shakespeare and the Jews.

Author : NA NA
Publisher : Springer
Page : 390 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2016-09-27
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781137077844

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The Merchant of Venice by NA NA Pdf

This edition of Shakespeare s The Merchant of Venice reprints the Bevington edition of the play accompanied by four sets of thematically arranged primary documents and illustrations designed to facilitate many different approaches to Shakespeare s play and the early modern culture out of which the play emerges. The texts include maps, woodcuts, sermons, statutes, early modern documents reflecting Christian attitudes toward Jews and Jewish reactions to these attitudes, excerpts from the bible on money lending as well as contemporary discourses on usury and commerce, excerpts from the first account of Jewish life written in the vernacular by a Jew for a Christian audience, anti-Catholic tracts, travel accounts, diplomatic reports, scenes from a morality play about the corrupting effects of money, royal proclamations concerning the treatment of aliens, conduct literature, and contemporary treatises on the role of women.

Author : Martin D. Yaffe
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 228 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : Drama
ISBN : PSU:000044254902

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Shylock and the Jewish Question by Martin D. Yaffe Pdf

"Yaffe provides a wide-ranging and probing reflection on the portrayal of Jews and Judaism in early modern thought. His innovative approach to the problem of Shakespeare's treatment of Shylock can stand for the originality of his book as a whole... Yaffe's interpretations are likely to prove controversial, but they are always thought-provoking." -- Virginia Quarterly Review Much attention has been paid to the place of Shylock in the history of anti-Semitism. Most scholars have agreed with Harold Bloom that Shakespeare's famous villain is drawn with a "murderous anti-Semitism" and that Shakespeare uncritically mirrors the rife anti-Semitism of his times. While others see only gross caricature in The Merchant of Venice, however, Martin Yaffe finds a subtle analysis of the Jew's place in a largely Christian society. In Shylock and the Jewish Question, Yaffe challenges the widespread assumption that Shakespeare is, in the final analysis, unfriendly to Jews. He finds that Shakespeare's consideration of Judaism in The Merchant of Venice provides an important contrast to Marlowe's virulent The Jew of Malta. In many ways, he argues, Shakespeare's play is even more accepting than Francis Bacon's notably inclusive New Atlantis or the Jewish philosopher Benedict Spinoza's argument for tolerance in the Theologico-Political Treatise. "Although Yaffe focuses on the Jewish question, his study is a lead-in to a study of the rise of liberal democracy, the development of religious toleration, the relation of church and state, and the inter-relation between politics, economics and religion -- all of these being vital in history's evolution towards modernity." -- Serge Liberman, Australian JewishNews "In a critique that promises to refuel scholarly controversy over the portrait of Shylock... Yaffe's retro-prospective approach to its political philosophy suggests interesting possibilities for contrasting popular anti-Semitic culture and the more tolerant, enlightened statesmanship of the seventeenth-century." -- Frances Barasch, Shakespeare Bulletin

Author : Edna Nahshon,Michael Shapiro
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 457 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2017-03-10
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781107010277

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Wrestling with Shylock by Edna Nahshon,Michael Shapiro Pdf

This book explores responses to The Merchant of Venice by Jewish writers, critics, theater artists, thinkers, religious leaders and institutions.

Author : Armin Lange,K.F. Diethard Römheld,Matthias Weigold
Publisher : Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
Page : 342 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2011-10-06
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9783647542089

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Judaism and Crisis by Armin Lange,K.F. Diethard Römheld,Matthias Weigold Pdf

In their long history, Jews encountered political, social, cultural, and religious crises which threatened not only their very existence but Jewish identity as well. Examples for such crises include the Babylonian Exile, the so-called Hellenistic Religious reforms, the first and second Jewish war, the inquisition, and the Shoah, but also the encounter of modernity or socio-economic developments. Political, cultural, and religious crises did not coin Jewish culture, thought, and religion but forced Jews from the very beginnings of Judaism until today to rethink and shape their Jewish identity anew. This volume asks how Jews coped with events that threatened Jewish existence, culture, and religion and how they responded to them. Each crisis was different in nature and evoked hence different developments in Jewish culture, thought, and religion.

Author : Mangasar Mugurditch Mangasarian,Independent Religious Society
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 31 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 188?
Category : Electronic
ISBN : OCLC:16791349

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Shakespeare's Rationalism by Mangasar Mugurditch Mangasarian,Independent Religious Society Pdf