1. Printable Version
2. Download PDF
3. Cite this Page

Thomas Luxon (essay date January 1999)

SOURCE: Luxon, Thomas H. “A Second Daniel: The Jew and the ‘True Jew’ in The Merchant of Venice.” Early Modern Literary Studies 4, no. 3 (January 1999): 3.1-37.

[In the following essay, Luxon investigates the play's treatment of Jews within the context of late Elizabethan society's attitudes toward Jewishness as both race and religion.]

Two recent studies of Shakespeare and early modern attitudes towards Jews come to remarkably different conclusions on the question of whether or not The Merchant of Venice is an anti-Jewish play.¹ James Shapiro's richly historical Shakespeare and the Jews offers fascinating evidence about the scope and complexity of anti-Jewish attitudes embedded in the “cultural moment” of Shakespeare's play (Shapiro 10), but he shies away from directly accusing either playwright or play of promoting or trading on anti-semitism, claiming...

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass

1. Introduction
2. Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
   1. Walter Cohen (essay date winter 1982)
3. Criticism: Character Studies
   1. Richard Abrams (essay date 1996)
   2. Bruce Boehrer (essay date summer 1999)
   3. Gary Rosenshield (essay date 2002)
4. Criticism: Production Reviews
   1. Peter Marks (review date 13 January 1999)
   2. Hal Jensen (review date 2 July 1999)
   3. Matt Wolf (review date 2 August 1999)
   4. Robert Smallwood (review date 1999)
   5. John Simon (review date 14 February 2000)
   6. Alvin Klein (review date 5 November 2000)
   7. Robert Smallwood (review date 2000)
   8. Caryn James (review date 8 October 2001)
   9. Toby Young (review date 10 November 2001)
5. Criticism: Themes
   1. Thomas Luxon (essay date January 1999)
   2. Steve Patterson (essay date spring 1999)
   3. Martin Japtok and Winfried Schleiner (essay date 1999)
6. Further Reading
7. Copyright