Deproblematizing The Merchant of Venice

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 52-58
Author(s):  
Roger Wooster
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Negative Stereotyping

The Merchant of Venice remains a ‘problem play’ for contemporary production. Whether the play is inherently antisemitic or not, it remains one of the most popular of the canon. I will consider how actors and their directors can, with the wisdom imparted by twentieth-century psychology and Stanislavskian-derived ideas of objectives, circumstances and subtext, seek to circumvent the challenges and infuse problematic text with more acceptable interpretations. Possible reinterpretations of Shylock are centrally considered, but the characters and motives of Jessica, Portia, Antonio and Bassanio are also scrutinized. Such re-evaluation of the underlying motivations seems a reasonable resolution for keeping the text intact while undermining any inherent negative stereotyping. However, once we admit of this subversion of a writer’s intentions, what might the consequences be if there are those who wish to use the same tools to create anti-humanitarian theatre?

Deproblematizing The Merchant of Venice

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 52-58
Author(s):  
Roger Wooster
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Negative Stereotyping

Abstract The Merchant of Venice remains a ‘problem play’ for contemporary production. Whether the play is inherently antisemitic or not, it remains one of the most popular of the canon. I will consider how actors and their directors can, with the wisdom imparted by twentieth-century psychology and Stanislavskian-derived ideas of objectives, circumstances and subtext, seek to circumvent the challenges and infuse problematic text with more acceptable interpretations. Possible reinterpretations of Shylock are centrally considered, but the characters and motives of Jessica, Portia, Antonio and Bassanio are also scrutinized. Such re-evaluation of the underlying motivations seems a reasonable resolution for keeping the text intact while undermining any inherent negative stereotyping. However, once we admit of this subversion of a writer’s intentions, what might the consequences be if there are those who wish to use the same tools to create anti-humanitarian theatre?

Redefining Censorship

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-142
Author(s):  
Esther B. Schupak
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
The United States ◽  
Educational Choice ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Film Images ◽  
History Of

Abstract Because of its potential for fostering antisemitic stereotypes, in the twentieth century The Merchant of Venice has a history of being subject to censorship in secondary schools in the United States. While in the past it has often been argued that the play can be used to teach tolerance and to fight societal evils such as xenophobia, racism and antisemitism, I argue that this is no longer the case due to the proliferation of performance methods in the classroom, and the resultant emphasis on watching film and stage productions. Because images – particularly film images – carry such strong emotional valence, they have the capacity to subsume other pedagogical aspects of this drama in their emotional power and memorability. I therefore question whether the debate over teaching this play is truly a question of ‘censorship’, or simply educational choice.

scholarly journals Encoding Heteronormativity in the Target Culture: Slovenian Translations of The Merchant of Venice

2012 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-158
Author(s):  
Vojko Gorjanc
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Cultural Environment ◽  
Classical Literature ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Standard Language ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Target Culture

This article discusses how linguistic and translation norms, as evident in dictionaries, enforce the ideology of heteronormativity in Slovenia. The aim of this paper is to show how translation norms concerning homoeroticism were shaped in the translation of classical literature in Slovenia in the twentieth century. Translation norms are shaped in a certain period of time and in a certain environment among translators and others involved in translation according to social and cultural circumstances, expectations, and adaptations of topics to these expectations, in which the translation contrasts the initial norms with the norms of the target culture. At the same time, the linguistic norms of the standard language are created as a result of speakers’ continuous adaptation to a social and cultural environment, as a result of adapting to the current social ideal. It is assumed that translations contributed to creating a model of heteronormativity, which continues to characterize the Slovenian community today because of the limited number of new translations of classical works of literature. The paper concludes with a brief analysis of evidence of homosexuality in Slovenian translations of Shakespeare’sThe Merchant of Venice.

Lin Shu's Translation of Shakespeare's Religious Motifs in Twentieth-Century China

2017 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 389-404
Author(s):  
Jenny Wong
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Religious Values ◽  
Translation Product ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Close Textual Analysis ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Target Culture

When Christian values fall into the hands of translators, how are these Christian values represented in a non-religious or areligious target culture? How do the translations reflect the conflicting ideologies of the time and of the individual translators? This article will examine Lin Shu's major translations of The Merchant of Venice in early twentieth-century China, an important period when reform of Confucianism encountered imported Western ideals. Close textual analysis of the translation produced by Lin Shu, a Confucian literatus and a reformist, reveals that religious content in English literary works was manipulated, Christian references often being omitted or adapted. This study illustrates the translator's strategies, picking and choosing what to domesticate in the translated work to suit his ideology, and how a society's expectations and ideologies shape the translation product. The analysis offers some perspectives for understanding how the translator's linguistic and religious roles and ideologies shaped the Chinese Shakespeare, and how the religious values were re-presented in early twentieth-century China.

Redefining Censorship

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-142
Author(s):  
Esther B. Schupak
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
The United States ◽  
Educational Choice ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Film Images ◽  
History Of

Because of its potential for fostering antisemitic stereotypes, in the twentieth century The Merchant of Venice has a history of being subject to censorship in secondary schools in the United States. While in the past it has often been argued that the play can be used to teach tolerance and to fight societal evils such as xenophobia, racism and antisemitism, I argue that this is no longer the case due to the proliferation of performance methods in the classroom, and the resultant emphasis on watching film and stage productions. Because images – particularly film images – carry such strong emotional valence, they have the capacity to subsume other pedagogical aspects of this drama in their emotional power and memorability. I therefore question whether the debate over teaching this play is truly a question of ‘censorship’, or simply educational choice.

Rebellious Daughters on the Yiddish Stage

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Coodin
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Jewish Life ◽  
Philip Roth ◽  
Jewish Women ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries ◽  
Changing Role ◽  
Jewish Writers

Chapter 4 expands on the previous chapter’s discussion of Jessica, exploring how her character was interpreted by Yiddish writers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This chapter addresses the ways in which Jewish writers used the biblical Dinah and Rachel inter-texts to develop Jessica’s character within Yiddish-language translations and adaptations of The Merchant of Venice, including Meyer Freid’s 1898 novella Der koyfmann fun Venedig, and Maurice Schwartz’s 1947 play Shayloks tochter. Through appeals to these biblical stories, Yiddish-language writers produced distinctively Judaic re-workings of Shakespeare’s comedy that emphasised Jessica’s unique subjectivity and relocated her – and the experience of young Jewish women situated at the margins of their communities -- at the play’s vital centre. This chapter discusses how these writers’ creative revisions to Jessica’s character echoed a series of concerns shared by nineteenth and twentieth-century Jewish writers, including Sholem Aleichem and Philip Roth, about the changing role and place of women within modern Jewish life.

The Merchant of Venice

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Shakespeare ◽  
Tom Lockwood
Keyword(s):  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice

Maritime Fantasies and Gender Space in Three Shakespearean Comedies

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-37
Author(s):  
Wai Fong Cheang
Keyword(s):  
Female Characters ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Twelfth Night ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Tempest ◽  
Gender Space ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Gender And Space

Abstract Laden with sea images, Shakespeare‘s plays dramatise the maritime fantasies of his time. This paper discusses the representation of maritime elements in Twelfth Night, The Tempest and The Merchant of Venice by relating them to gender and space issues. It focuses on Shakespeare‘s creation of maritime space as space of liberty for his female characters.

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