holocaust and nuremburg mechant of venice

Modern history complicates the character of Shylock even further.

The Merchant of Venice was one of Adolf Hitler’s favourite Shakespeare plays.

Why do you think Hitler would have been such a fan of The Merchant of

Venice?

It is nearly impossible for an audience in 2014 to explore the character of Shylock without making connections to the holocaust History shapes our understanding of the world and world events .

For top marks, you NEED to explore the representation of Shylock before and after the holocaust.

Gareth Armstrong, author of the one–man show ‘Shylock’, says:

‘Hitler loved The Merchant of Venice. So…the play will never be quite the same again’.

What do you think he means?

This century has witnessed an unspeakable tragedy, which can never be forgotten: the attempt by the Nazi regime to exterminate the Jewish people, with the consequent killing of millions of Jews. Women and men, old and young, children and infants, for the sole reason of their Jewish origin, were persecuted and deported. Some were killed immediately, while others were degraded, ill- treated, tortured and utterly robbed of their human dignity, and then murdered. Very few of those who entered the [Concentration] Camps survived, and those who did remained scarred for life.

Statement issued by the Vatican on March 12, 1998

‘Work sets you free’

• WW2 Nazis sought to murder the entire Jewish population of Europe and to destroy its culture.

• In 1941 there were about 11 million Jews living in Europe; by May 1945 the Nazis had murdered six million of them. (inc. 1.5m children)

• Whilst the Jews of Europe were the Nazis’ primary target, many millions of other people were also imprisoned, enslaved and murdered.

1945-49: The Nuremberg Trials• 1945 War criminals went

on trial for their part in the holocaust.

• Nuremberg (German, Nurnberg) was significant – this was where the Nazi party held their annual rallies.

• Range of war criminals tried – SS Officers, politicians, doctors etc. but not Hitler (Führer), Himmler (SS), Goebbels (Propaganda), who all killed themselves.

The Nuremberg Trials court room

The court room in Act 4, Scene 1 (2000, Trevor Nunn production)

Why would Trevor Nunn decide to visually echo the trials?

TREVOR NUNN: ‘I wanted to put the play there [1930s] so it couldn't in any way shrink from the reality of the Holocaust’

Hermann Göring in the dock The Duke of Venice leading the trial (2000, Trevor Nunn production)

Who knows? But it would be worth considering whether Nunn has intentionally echoed a war criminal. If he has, what might this suggest about the harsh way in which Shylock is treated at the end of the play?

Look at the similarities between these two scenes. The one on the left is of Hermann Göring in the dock being tried for his crime. Göring was a senior leader in the Nazi party with Hitler.

On the left is the Duke leading the trial of Antonio and then Shylock.

ARE THESE SIMILARITIES ACCIDENTAL?

• English society in the Elizabethan era has been described as "judeophobic".

• English Jews had been expelled under Edward I in 1290 and were not permitted to return until 1656 under the rule of Oliver Cromwell.

• In Venice and in some other places, Jews were required to wear a red hat at all times in public to make sure that they were easily identified, and had to live in a ghetto protected by Christian guards.

• On the Elizabethan stage, Jews were often presented in an Orientalist caricature, with hooked noses, and were usually depicted as avaricious usurers. They were usually characterised as evil, deceitful and greedy.

Jews: An Elizabethan Stereotype

Critical Reception

Aaron Davidman, Artistic Director for The Jewish Theatre, says, ‘Shylock is the imagined Jew of the Elizabethan era. We get to laugh at him in the entire play’.

Stuart Bousel, Artistic Director of No Nude Men, blames Shylock himself: ‘I do think that Shylock is a villain in the end because he is given so many opportunities to back down and he can‘t, he won‘t. He‘s a sympathetic monster‘.

Carla Della Gatta: Whether Shylock is interpreted as a fool or a monster, sympathetic or merely inconsistent, the faults of his character are linked overtly to his religious affiliation. Shylock‘s Jewishness is key to his identity. Shylock is referred to as ‘the Jew’ twenty–six times in the play and as ‘Shylock’ only nineteen times.

From, CARLA DELLA GATTA , ‘CONSTRUCTING SHYLOCK: POST–THEATRE TALKS AS SECONDARY PERFORMANCE SPACES IN BAY AREA PRODUCTIONS OF THE MERCHANT OF VENICE’, Peer English (2011)

Harold Bloom: ‘a profoundly anti–Semitic work.’

V

Erin Merritt: ‘I don‘t really feel it is anti–Semitic. The Christians are

really poorly behaved.’