Tag Archives: usury

Foundations of Shylock

Via Artstor

Written in 1596, Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice teems with anti semitism. Interestingly, however, during Shakespeare’s life time there were no Jews in England—they had been expelled from the country in 1290 and were not permitted to resettle until 1665. Why, then, would Shakespeare write one of the Merchant of Venice’s most pivotal characters as a Jew? And what was the religious and political climate that inspired him to create Shylock as such an unsavory character? Continue reading