Holocaust and stereotypes

[Terrance F. Flaherty]

FrodeauxB at aol.com wrote:

> Sorry Terrance, old chap. No need to get in a tizzy. I didn't realize you
> were the definitive word not only on Shakespeare but on his critics as well.
> Stiff upper lip and all that you know. Don't forget the Queen Mum is 99 today.
> frodeauxb

Definitive word? Now that would suggest a stiff upper above the lip and a
deserving blow below the waist. Arrogance is a fools modesty. Shakespeare's
critics have painted him the "Great Defender of Jews" and a "Jew Hater." There is
no proof to support either characterization. Jews were banished from England in
1290 and were not readmitted until 1655 and there is simply no evidence as to
Shakespeare's views of Jews.  To read Shylock as mere racial stereotype is to
diminish the play and the powerful and fiercely human character that Shakespeare
created. Bloom acknowledges the audacity of his claim about the "invention of the
human."

tf