View Poll Results: Is the Merchant of Venice anti-Semitic?

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Thread: Is The Merchant of Venice anti-Semitic?

  1. #331
    stanley2
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    And Professor Braunmuller noted in his introduction that "manna" is also found in Chapter 6 of the GOSPEL OF JOHN.

  2. #332
    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    Yes, there are a lot of biblical terms in the play.
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
    Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row

  3. #333
    stanley2
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    R&J then begins with an allusion or indirect reference to the GOSPEL OF JOHN and MV ends with one. Holy cow! It seems to me that though it is clear that Antonio's "Mark you this, Bassanio, / The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose"(MV1.3.95-6), is a reference to the Gospel by the author, whether Antonio also has this in mind is uncertain.

  4. #334
    stanley2
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    In the second scene of ROMEO AND JULIET is a memorable line: "I must to the learned"(ROM1.2.44). One might recall that when considering Professor Bloom's comments. In the GOSPEL we find, in the translation that I have before me, "Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad"(GOSPEL OF JOHN 8:56). The context is such that one might suggest that this is another indication that Antonio's "Mark you this, Bassanio"(MV1.3.95) is an allusion to the Gospel.
    Last edited by stanley2; 02-13-2022 at 07:10 PM.

  5. #335
    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    It seems that here is a word missing:

    "I must to the learned"(ROM1.2.44).
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
    Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row

  6. #336
    stanley2
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    Prince Hamlet, if he were a real person, might say that the line is a "contraction"(HAMLET3.4.47).

  7. #337
    stanley2
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    Fans of Team Portia might recommend that President Putin appoint a modern day Team Portia to engage in parallel talks with a corresponding team from the other side. Back to the matter here, Professor Parrott wrote of Duke Orsino in TWELFTH NIGHT: 'It required no little skill in character portrayal to keep such a sentimentalist as the Duke from becoming a ridiculous, if not a contemptible, figure." Professor Greenblatt notes that "Viola, disguised as a boy and serving Duke Orsino, is assigned the task of helping him woo the countess Olivia.........Orsino is clearly attracted to the servant he believes to be a sexually ambiguous boy and Olivia falls madly in love with this same ambiguous go-between." Again, one might compare Antonio, Orsino and Sonnet 144.

  8. #338
    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    I agree with you! Modern life is badly in want of the wisdom of Portia.
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
    Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row

  9. #339
    stanley2
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    The challenge of single combat that Elon Musk offered to President Putin, in due course, recalls the first scene in HAMLET: "our last king, / Whose image even but now appeared to us, / Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway, / Thereto pricked on by a most emulate pride / Dared to the combat; ........." In Act 2, scene 2 Polonius says to the King: "At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him. / Be you and I behind an arras then. / Mark the encounter. If he love her not, / And be not from his reason fall'n thereon, / Let me be no assistant for a state, / But keep a farm and carters"(HAMLET2.2.176-180). President Putin might then consider ordering his forces to withdraw then conclude his lengthy career of public service. One suggestion would be to follow Curt Gowdy's example and host a hunting and fishing program for television.

  10. #340
    stanley2
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    We recall that Romeo is "banished" by the Prince as the result of his single combat with Tybalt. The speech from Polonius above is prominently placed. Isaac Asimov agreed with Professor Wilson that Hamlet may be eavesdropping on the conversation. Therefore, the author is suggesting that Hamlet might have averted tragedy if instead of or along with "Now might I do it pat, now he is a-praying"(HAM3.3.77), he suggested to his uncle the farmers life as it were. One might note that this is consistent with the work of Leo Tolstoy and Voltaire. Songwriters and pop musicians Ray Davies, Bob Marley and David Bowie wrote songs about "pressure." So it surely is also for President Putin.

  11. #341
    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    Dear Stanley. Letīs keep to the ingenious play MV. It seems to me that there is a lot to be learned there
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
    Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row

  12. #342
    stanley2
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    "If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches and poor men's cottages princes' palaces"(MV1.2.11-13). One will recall Isabella's famous speech from MM: "Could great men thunder / As Jove himself does, Jove would never be quiet; / For every pelting, petty officer / Would use his heaven for thunder, / nothing but thunder! Merciful Heaven, / Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt / Splits the unwedgeable and gnarled oak / Than the soft myrtle; but man , proud man, / Dress'd in a little brief authority, / Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd,- / His glassy essence- like an angry ape, / Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven / As makes the angels weep; who, with our / spleens, / Would all themselves laugh mortal"(Measure for Measure2.2.110-123). What else have we overlooked in MV?

  13. #343
    stanley2
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    Drshadow03's post(#31), where we find, "You seem to be suggesting that you can either; a) believe Shakespeares's play [is an artistic failure]....... or b) think it is a great work of art with wonderful aesthetic merit. But are those the only two choices?" and Hawkman's post (#50) where we find "I was hard pressed to identify a "hero" unless it is Portia who delivers Antonio" are together indications that MV is, by design, an invitation to further study.

  14. #344
    stanley2
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    In another thread I noted that the line "'Tis all one"(R&J1.1.20) is an allusion at once to DEUTERONOMY 6:4 and GENESIS 1:27. This lends credence to the idea that Antonio's "Mark you this"(MV1.3.96-7) is an allusion to both MATTHEW 4:6 and JOHN: 8.

  15. #345
    stanley2
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    And by the way, there is a minor error in the article by the late Father Oakes(see post #305). He wrote: "Shakespeare signals his agreement with these claims when he has Hamlet expostulate in these terms: 'In the corrupted currents of this world, / Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice, / And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself / Buys out the law. But 'tis not so above: / There is no shuffling; there the action lies / In his true nature, and we ourselves compelled, / Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, / To give in evidence'(HAMLET3.3.61-68)." The speech is spoken by Hamlet's uncle the King.

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