Is The Merchant of Venice anti-Semitic?

[Delta40]

No, these truths should not be buried and a play is a good way to show them. I hope your play is successful.

What would you think of a play that said it was a good thing that indigenous kids were torn from their families? Or in some way justified what happened?

Yes/No there are people out there who believed it at the time - some still do. One of the characters in my play is one of those people.

[kelby_lake]

What would you think of a play that said it was a good thing that indigenous kids were torn from their families? Or in some way justified what happened?

That is an interesting question. What if Shakespeare had written The Merchant of Venice now instead of over 400 years ago?

[Delta40]

a work of contemporary fiction set in an historical context? Then you might get an uproar!

[YesNo]

I don't see anything racist with presenting characters who are racist in a story or play. That does not make the play or story itself racist. If you look at the movie The Help about southern blacks in the US during the 1950s or 1960s you will see a lot of racist people and situations portrayed, but that doesn't make the movie itself racist. The movie goes beyond any of the racism exhibited in the characters.

[kelby_lake]

a work of contemporary fiction set in an historical context? Then you might get an uproar!

What if the story was contemporary as well?

[Delta40]

I think if the story was contemporary then it has all the possibilities to expose the truth of anti-semitism. I would hope that people squirm in their seats.

I guess thinking about the play I've written, which exposes a shameful part of a country's racist history among other things, I don't expect it to offer comfort or answers - just a stark aftermath. How the audience deal with that is anybody's guess.