Holocaust and Shylock

[Terrance F. Flaherty]

Gary,
Before your departure you posted on Skippy. Just want to say thanks and ask what
exactly you are interested in, in terms of references.

I posted a couple of replies on Aristotle and M&D that did not show up, perhaps
they were too long or is something amiss with the mail?

Anywise, we can return to Skippy. Not sure what you are asking in terms of this
being worked out and references?

On "The Merchant of Venice," I'm not sure if this play can be strictly classified
as a Comedy. Granvill-Barker reads the play as a fairy tale--comparing it to jack
and the Beanstalk, and many disagree (Thomas Wheeler). In act V scene I, it does
appear that Shakespeare has left the Giant and returned to Jack and his happy home.
However, a close reading of the end of this play, for me at least, resounds  with
very disturbing  NOTES.

Lots of great stuff out on this play: Jay Halio, M.M. Mahood, John Gross, Barbara
Lewalski, W.H. Auden, Bertrand Brown, Leggert, and Thomas Wheeler.  I'll just
mention an article on Richard II that I think brilliant and worth reading for all
of Shakespeare--Phyllis Rackin's "The Role Of the Audience," ShQ 36 (1085) 262-81.


Gary Thompson wrote:

> Glad to see 90+ messages finally arrive. One of these--
>
> FrodeauxB at aol.com wrote:
>
> >  By the way, why
> > did Bill have Shylock convert at the end? Seems out of character for Shylock,
> > but maybe he didn't really convert, eh? If so, what does that tell us about
> > the Jewish people?
>
> Not to add unduly to the digression (and this is a few days old), but
> Shylock
> didn't exactly convert voluntarily, any more than Infant Tyrone gave
> informed
> consent to Papa B. so that Jamf could take a Q-tip to his little dowsing
> rod.
> Shylock "converted" under threat of capital punishment for threatening
> Antonio's
> life with his pound of flesh security. As Terrance sez, that tells us
> nothing about
> "the Jewish people" and something about English and European myth, and
> not a
> whole lot about Shakespeare except that he's hard to find in his plays.
> Just a
> nudge in the right direction (so Dennis Huston used to say) and this
> becomes not the comedy _The Merchant of Venice_, but the tragedy of
> _Shylock,
> the Jew of Venice_. Maybe our friend Pointsman is _GR_'s equivalent to
> Shylock,
> the figure we are all cued to hate, but having sympathetic moments and
> more
> readerly access to his habits of thought.
>
> Not overly fond of Bloom's book myself--it's interesting how easily
> academic
> Young Turks turn into Conservatives once they start that long downward
> glide.
> There's better stuff on Shakespeare if you want it.
>
> Gary Thompson