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The Sixteenth Century
Persecution of the Jews
This book was first published in German in 1999. In this edition the story has been translated into English by Brian Murdoch, who has also added a historical note.
This is the story of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice retold from the point of view of Shylock and his family. It fills in the background to Shakespeare's play.
Here Shylock is given a family. There is Jessica, his beautiful but flighty daughter, who is in the original play. But Mirjam Pressler adds two new characters -- Dalilah, his foster daughter, and Amalia the old housekeeper.
We are given much detail about the Jewish communities in Venice in 1568. The Jews live in two adjoining ghettoes. To Jessica the ghetto is a prison but Amalia tells her that it is actually a place of safety. There are two groups of Jews in the city. Shylock allows Jessica to visit the household of a rich Jewish doctor who belongs to the other group. It is in his house that Jessica meets Lorenzo.
The Shylock who emerges in this book is something of a tragic figure. He did not want to become a money-lender in the first place. He wanted to study medecine at the University of Padua and become a doctor but there was not enough money and, when his father died, he had to look after his mother and sisters. He is also a very lonely man. Although she had died many years ago, he still grieves for his wife Leah. He would have liked to have married Amalia, but her husband divorced her and Shylock belongs to a sect that will not allow him to marry a divorced woman.
Shylock dotes on Jessica, who is so like his dead wife. When she runs away with Lorenzo, becomes a Christian and marries him, Shylock is devastated. He even believes that his daughter has been stolen from him. This becomes an obsession with him and is partly the reason why he insists on his pound of flesh.
The background is filled in with great detail -- descriptions of the ghetto and the Jewish rules and customs: descriptions of the way in which the Jews are treated -- the distinctive clothes they had to wear when they left the ghetto, the raid on the ghetto and the burning of the sacred Jewish books. It is even brought out that the bond was Bassanio's idea in the first place and that, originally, Shylock did not want it.
Extra light is thrown on the ghetto in another way. Dalilah is sent to Jessica to try to persuade her to return. Dalilah has to make a long journey through the countryside. She has never been outside the ghetto before and her experiences put the ghetto into perspective.
The treatment of the Jews in Europe throughout the centuries tends to form something of a footnote to history. The fact that in 1290 all Jews were forced to leave England, the fact that other countries followed suit and expelled their own Jews -- these are mentioned only briefly in the history books. It is easier if we think of Hitler as something unique, a one-off. But this book shows that far from being unique Hitler had actually a long tradition behind him. Hitler was more brutal and savage, but there were precedents for his ideas. Something which we would all do well to remember.
This book would complement a study of The Merchant of Venice. It would also complement courses on the treatment of minorities, and other cultures and traditions.
Thought provoking.
Teenage
In 1594 Dr Rodriguez Lopez, one time physician to Queen Elizabeth, was accused of High Treason on very insubstantial evidence, and hanged. His death sparked off a wave of anti Jewish feeling in London and Jews were reviled as poisoners. Against this background, Christopher Marlowe wrote a play, The Jew of Malta about the horrible, greedy Jew Barabas - a hideous monster. This was received by frenzied audiences with jeers and cheers. Yet a year later William Shakespeare wrote a very different play about a Jew. Shylock is still the villain of the play, but Shakespeare still manages to show him in a sympathetic light. What made Shakespeare write a play which was actually contrary to the public opinion of the time? In Plots and Players Pamela Melnikoff has given her own answer.
The Fernandez family are part of the Marrano community in London. The parents had come to England from Portugal to escape persecution. They practise their Jewish faith in secret because, if they are discovered, they will be sent back to Portugal - and the Inquisition. The two sons in the family attend a school where they are taught singing and music. One day William Shakespeare visits the school and chooses Robin to be in one of his plays. Robin's father disapproves but he is persuaded to let Robin take part.
The Fernandez family are also friendly with the kindly old physician, Dr Lopez and we follow their horror and sadness when Dr Lopez is accused of treason on the flimiest of evidence, arrested, imprisoned and finally hanged.
After the performance of The Jew of Malta Robin becomes disenchanted with the stage and when his former friend, Shakespeare, visits him he loses his temper.
"'All you care for is your theatre, sir,' he said bitterly, 'and yet it breeds hatred against us.'" He continues,
"Why must the Jew be the villain. Why can't he be the hero?"
Shakespeare gently explains that no audience would accept such a thing. Robin is still not satisified.
"Then if we can't be heroes why can't we at least be human beings? ... You won't let us be giants but why do we have to be horned beasts?"
Shakespeare goes home and takes a manuscript he has written and throws it in the fire. A year later he meets Robin again. He tells Robin that he taught him that Jews are human beings and should be presented as such on the stage. He arranges for Robin to get leave from work to see The Merchant of Venice - which is, in a sense, Robin's play.
Robin sees the play and realises that despite his evil intentions Shylock retains his humanity. This gives Robin a great feeling of comfort.
The harsh fate of Dr Lopez is at the heart of the story but there is also a happier side to the book. We are given a warm, sympathetic picture of the Fernandez family practising their faith in secret, the two boys attending school and their sister, Frances, preparing for her arranged marriage with the dull, boring Thomas who only opens his mouth to put food in it. There are also fascinating descriptions of the theatre and of a masque before the Queen herself.
A well researched, gripping story with an interesting interpretation of how Shakespeare came to write The Merchant of Venice.
10+
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