The Tragedy of the Jew in the Comedy of Christian Venice

The Tragedy of the Jew in the Comedy of Christian Venice

The current literary criticism has accelerated its trend to present a viable alternative to the conventional hierarchy of binary oppositions lurking in the traditionalist criticism such as the ruling elite/the oppressed populace, the white majority/the colored minority, and the male/the female. In these contexts, The Merclant of Venice has excited great controversies because the play chrectly confronts racial issues. This essay tries to see the playas Shakespeare's attempts to inscribe the tragedy of the Jew within the so-called comedy of the Christian majority. At a glance, the play seems to contrast the Christians with the Jew The Christians share the value system such as speculative entrepreneurship, willing munificence and the emphasis on the inner purport of the language, while the Jew seems to be locked in stingy husbandry, economic self-interest, and legally enforceable contracts. As the play proceeds, however, the apparently chstinctive difference between them becomes gradually blurred Shakespeare undermines the popular notion that the 'merciful Chrisrians' are quite different from the allegedly 'cruel Jewish moneylender' The Christians' discriminatory maneuver is depicted most vividly in the trial scene Which unlocks the rift between 'merciful appearance' of the Christians and 'merciless reality' of them. The act 5 of the play shows the typical deriouement of comedy. It excludes Shylock and ends with love and marriage in a fairy-tale land of Belmont. However, considered from the perspective of racial issues, the play lingers under the shadow of tragedy because Shylock's powenul outcry against the racial prejudice renders a disconcerting resonance to the end of the play.