Re Ianus statement on Merchant of Venice.

Submitted by duncan (Canada), Jan 18, 2009 at 22:01

I think to say that Shakespeare is anti- semitic because of statements by the characters of his plays is pretty harsh. Are we to think that Bram Stoker drinks blood because he created a character Dracula or that Goerthe is a Satanist because of having created Mephistopheles. Also Shylock is the villain of the play- he is supposed to be nasty. But what is interesting about his character is why he has become a monster as Shakespeare demonstrates by giving him the "if you prick me speech".

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".