# Was Shakespeare anti-Semitic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2015, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-shakespeare-anti-semitic/729762 "2015-09-03T00:37:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-shakespeare-anti-semitic/729762/61 "2015-09-09T11:31:27Z")
davidmich - you’re currently starring in a thread in the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Hermione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cdc98d/32.png) [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-shakespeare-anti-semitic/729762/62 "2015-09-09T15:48:18Z")
> [@davidmich](#): > > [How The Character Of Shylock From "The Merchant Of Venice" Is Presented To The Audience In Scenes 1.3, 3.1 and 4.1 - GCSE English - Marked by Teachers.com](http://www.markedbyteachers.com/gcse/english/how-the-character-of-shylock-from-the-merchant-of-venice-is-presented-to-the-audience-in-scenes-1-3-3-1-and-4-1.html) > > " Nowadays we are shocked at the prejudice because we are living after the holocaust when Hitler attempted to wipe out the whole Jewish race and now everyone has a degree of sympathy for Jews.The anti-Semitism shown in the play would be seen as comedy in the Elizabethan period. Shakespeare’s play was so successful because Queen Elizabeth’s doctor was executed for high treason in 1954. He was a Jew. Shylock has been seen as both the victim and the villain of the play. A victim because he loses all his money and has to change his religion at the end of the trial scene. Also he is the victim of lots of prejudice from the Christians like them spitting on him and calling him names. But in conclusion I think that ultimately Shylock is a villain." I have a very good book called The Friendly Shakespeare by Norrie Epstein. In her section on The Merchant of Venice, she interviews David Suchet, who has played Shylock. She brings up the issue of the forced conversion at the end and how unsettling it is to modern eyes, and Suchet argues that “we must not look at this play through the eyes of the Holocaust”, that in the time and place it was presented in, it would have been seen as saving Shylock’s soul. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-shakespeare-anti-semitic/729762/63 "2015-09-09T17:15:35Z")
Forced conversion, which was often preceded by torture and/or followed by murder, is still pretty damned unsettling even without looking at it “through the eyes of the Holocaust.” ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-shakespeare-anti-semitic/729762/64 "2015-09-10T01:25:46Z")
Good point Herminione. “in the time and place it was presented in, it would have been seen as saving Shylock’s soul.” Going back to what Captain Amazing was saying about the Merchant of Venice having a Christian message, I was reminded of what Elizabethan Christians really believed, namely that souls could only enter the Kingdom of Heaven through Jesus " “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” So Shylock’s conversion in the end is the only way to save his soul. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-shakespeare-anti-semitic/729762.md?page=3)