teachers` Notes - Shakespeare`s Globe

6 – 20 march 2014
teachers’ Notes
Writing the Merchant of Venice
Antonio:
I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano,
A stage where every man must play a part,
And mine a sad one.
The Merchant of Venice (1.1.77-78)
Shakespeare: Actor, Playwright, Poet
The Merchant of Venice is thought to be written around 1596-7.
William Shakespeare was by then a leading member and chief
playwright of acting troupe the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. The
Lord Chamberlain’s Men and another company, the Lord
Admiral’s Men, performed regularly at court during festive
occasions. The Lord Chamberlain’s Men also performed at
The Theatre in Shoreditch, built by James Burbage in 1576).
It was with this company that Shakespeare was a shareholder
and would later become a ‘house’ holder in the Globe
Theatre, built in Southwark in 1599 from the timbers of the
demolished Theatre.
Although the exact date of composition of many of
Shakespeare’s works is difficult to determine, by this time
he had written such famous plays as Titus Andronicus and
The Taming of the Shrew (1593-4), Romeo and Juliet and
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1594-6), as well as the poem
Venus and Adonis (1593).
Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth I
Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603, r. 1558-1603), the so-called
‘Virgin Queen’, had been on the throne almost 40 years. After
the turmoil of the reign of her father Henry VIII, this ‘golden
age’ was proving to be a time of considerable advancement
for England in both exploration and colonisation (the
Americas), military power (the defeat of the Spanish Armada),
science, literature and music.
Shakespeare’s company enjoyed the patronage of the Queen.
He performed in two comedies before the Queen at the Royal
Palace, Greenwich, in December 1594; Love’s Labour’s Lost
was performed for her on December 26, 1597.
It is no surprise that Shakespeare chose to have strong,
central female characters in The Merchant of Venice, As You
Like It and Much Ado About Nothing. While this may have
said something about the talent of boys in Shakespeare’s
company, it also demonstrates the potential of Elizabeth I as
a powerful role model in the mid to late sixteenth century.
Some scholars speculate that perhaps Portia, in particular,
was written with the strong attributes of the Queen in mind.
For a detailed timeline of Shakespeare’s life and works,
see A Shakespeare Timeline Summary Chart. For an
interactive version, see Routledge’s Interactive Timeline.
Or why not visit our Globe shop and purchase a timeline
poster for your classroom?
Shakespeare: Man of Property
We know Shakespeare was quite well off because in
October 1596 he was living in Bishopsgate, a genteel area
near the Theatre, Curtain and Rose Theatres. A further
sign of Shakespeare’s growing prosperity is that in 1597,
Shakespeare bought New Place, deemed one of the grandest
houses in Stratford-upon-Avon. A record of corn and malt
holdings in Stratford-upon-Avon, held by the Shakespeare
Birthplace Trust, further illustrates Shakespeare’s wealth
as his holdings are ‘exceeded only by 13 other of the 75
households’ in the region.
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Context
The Merchant of Venice – Teacher’s Notes
The Jews in Early Modern Europe
Shylock:
You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,
And spit upon my Jewish gabardine,
And all for use of that which is mine own.
Well then, it now appears you need my help.
The Merchant of Venice (1.3.105-108)
Throughout history, the Jews have occupied a tenuous
position in society – theirs is a story of co-existence but
also persecution. An uneasy tension has existed between
Christians and Jews since Biblical times. The Jews’ rejection
of Jesus Christ as the Messiah and, therefore, the question
of who was responsible for his death (Goldstein, 2012), is a
deep-rooted source of conflict.
The Holocaust is the most well-known, recent example
of persecution of the Jews; however the Jews have been
persecuted throughout history. Popular Renaissance
theories about the behaviour of Jews included crimes such
as poisoning wells, killing Christian children, spreading
the plague and monopolising finance. Like many forms of
prejudice, these accusations were more often based on fear
than fact.
It is a great testament to the resilience of the Jews that,
despite thousands of years of persecution, their culture and
language survive today.
Your school may be eligible for Jewish Museum workshops
at a discounted rate (see London Links for more details).
Workshops include: Discovering Judaism and Connecting
Lives.
Historian Simon Schama wrote and presented a five-part
series on Jewish history called The Story of the Jews (BBC2).
See bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0392pzx for details and clips.
He has also written a book of the same name to accompany
the series.
For teaching ideas and resources on Anti-Semitism, see
Facing History and Ourselves.
One way in which Christian countries dealt with their
unease over the Jewish presence was to expel Jews
from places where they had settled. In 1537, the famous
Protestant reformer Martin Luther, upon realising the Jews’
unwillingness to convert to Christianity, petitioned the Prince
of Saxony to expel Jews from the region. This is one of a
number of times throughout history where Jews have been
forced by authorities to migrate: 250 CE Carthage, 325 CE
Jerusalem, 415 CE Alexandria, 612 CE Visigoth Spain,
855 CE Italy, 1181 CE France
Other forms of persecution the Jews in Europe suffered
included: forced conversions, book burning, property
confiscation, vandalisation of synagogues, being burned alive,
bans on travel and mass killings.
For a more detailed timeline of Jewish persecution, see the
History of Anti-Semitism.
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Context
The Merchant of Venice – Teacher’s Notes
The Jews in England (11
th
Century – 16th Century)
Gratiano:
Thy currish spirit
Governed a wolf, who hanged for human slaughter,
Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet,
And whilst thou layest in thy unhallowed dam,
Infused itself in thee; for thy desires
Are wolvish, bloody, starved, and ravenous.
The Merchant of Venice (4.1.133-138)
Jews have been present in England as early as 1066, when
the establishment of the first Jewish settlement as recorded.
Jews followed William the Conqueror to Britain from Rouen.
As in Europe, the Jews faced persecution in England.
They could not own land outside the towns or join guilds.
Consequently, many turned to money lending, an occupation
forbidden to Christians. This at least allowed them to have
some financial independence in society, though it was a role
for which they were despised.
Royal Regulations
With the rapid increase of anti-Jewish sentiment came stricter
government regulations. Henry III’s 1253 Statute Concerning
the Jews set a number of limitations, including:
• Keeping their voices down during synagogue services
so as not to upset Christians
• Christians were not to serve Jews, eat with them or
live with them
• Jews were not to insult or denounce Christianity
• No sexual relations were permitted between
Christians and Jews
• Jews were not to prevent other Jews from converting
to Christianity
• Jews needed a royal licence to settle in a new place
• If Jews disobeyed these statutes they would forfeit all
their possessions
Identifying Marks
A 1215 Lateran Council ruling under Henry III, reiterated in
1218, ruled that Jews must wear the tabula, a white piece
of cloth in the shape of the Ten Commandments, as an
identifying mark. Wealthy Jews were, however, able to ‘buy
the right not to wear it on behalf of themselves and their
communities’ (Abulafia, 2013, p. 209).
In 1275, Edward I issued a Statutum de Judeismo stipulating
that Jews older than seven were to wear a piece of yellow
taffeta, ‘six fingers long and three broad’, over their heart
(Fishburn, 2007, p. 28).
Coin Clipping
Hundreds of Jews were burnt and executed for crimes
such as coin clipping. Ralph Holinshed, whose Chronicles of
England, Scotland and Ireland was often used by Shakespeare
as a historical source, recorded that in 1278, 297 Jews and
3 Englishmen were executed because they had ‘clipped,
washed and counterfeited the King’s coin’ (Shapiro, 1996,
p. 100). One interesting theory is that people were
suspicious of Jews clipping coins because they were also
fearful of Jewish circumcision – the word used in English
documents for coin clipping, curtus, was also used in relation
to circumcised Jewish men. This further illustrates the
irrationality of the prejudice shown towards the Jews.
Expulsion
Things came to a head in 1290 when Edward I ordered the
expulsion of Jews from England. It is estimated that the
Jewish population of England at the time was 2000-2500;
the total population of England was 5-6 million (Shapiro,
1996, p. 46).
Usury
English monarchs imposed regulations on Jews lending
money throughout the thirteenth century. Until 1545, usury
was defined as charging interest on money lent, and was
considered a crime and unchristian.
The relaxing of laws against Christian money lending and the
imposition of taxes on Jews also contributed to the Jews’ loss
of financial power. The authorities realised that prohibiting
usury did not discourage it, and so in 1571, Elizabeth I
legalized money lending in England, meaning Christians
could practice it too. The statute allowed the charging of 10
percent interest on loans to guard against corrupt practices.
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Context
The Merchant of Venice – Teacher’s Notes
‘Secret Jews’
Shakespeare and Jews
Between expulsion and re-admittance in 1656, Jews who
remained in England were forced to keep a low profile.
Records show that after the 1290 expulsion, there were Jews
who arrived in England from European countries (including
France and Spain) who were baptised and sheltered at
the Domus Conversorum, the House of Converted Jews
(Jewish Encyclopedia, 2011). Henry VIII declared he would
‘punish soundly any Jew or heretic to be found in his realms’
(Shapiro, 1996, p. 68), although intriguingly, he employed
Jewish musicians at Court, including the Bassano family from
Venice. They seemingly managed to survive because they
married Christians.
There is some debate over the extent to which Shakespeare
was familiar with Judaism and Jews, owing to the fact that
Jews in Elizabethan society were forced to keep their faith
secret. Jews were regarded as cultural figures (and rejecters
of Christianity) of popular imagination, rather than real
people. Society’s negative ideas about Jews were informed by
the fears of the past and such representations as Christopher
Marlowe’s unlikeable Barabbas in The Jew of Malta.
During the reign of Elizabeth I, there were estimated to be up
to 100 Marranos (secret Jews living as converted Christians)
in London. Jews in London had to hold services in secret.
The most high-profile case of Jewish persecution during
Elizabeth I’s reign was that of Roderigo Lopez. Lopez was
a Portuguese doctor who arrived in England in 1559. By
1567 he was already the esteemed house physician at St
Bartholomew’s Hospital in London; one of his high-profile
patients was Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth I’s secretary
of state. In 1586, he became the queen’s chief physician.
Physicians not only attended to illnesses, they also provided
cosmetics and beauty care to high-born women, such as
the Queen.
Lopez was tried in 1594 for plotting to poison the queen.
He was known to have been an informer for Sir Francis
Walsingham, but also possibly a double agent because he had
contact with the Spanish authorities. At the gallows, Lopez
said he loved the Queen and Jesus Christ, but the crowd
reportedly responded with ‘He’s a Jew!’. He was hanged,
drawn and quartered.
04
Context
In other Shakespeare plays, the term ‘Jew’ is used in a
derogatory manner. In Much Ado About Nothing, Benedick
says about Beatrice: ‘if I do not love her, I am a Jew’ (2.3.2534), implying that Jews are heartless. In Henry IV, Part I
Falstaff declares ‘or I am a Jew else, an Ebrew Jew’ (2.4.177),
as if this was an insult.
For further information about the Jews in Britain, visit the
Jewish Museum London’s British Jewish History Timeline
and Jewish Britain: A History in 50 Objects.
Your school may be eligible for Jewish Museum workshops
at a discounted rate (see London Links for more details).
Workshops include:
Discovering Judaism
Connecting Lives
Historian Simon Schama wrote and presented a five-part
series on Jewish history called The Story of the Jews (BBC2).
See bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0392pzx for details and clips.
He has also written a book of the same name to accompany
the series.
The Merchant of Venice – Teacher’s Notes
Setting: Sixteenth-Century Venice
Antonio:
The duke cannot deny the course of law.
For the commodity that strangers have
With us in Venice, if it be denied,
Will much impeach the justice of the state,
Since that the trade and profit of the city
Consisteth of all nations.
The Merchant of Venice (3.3.26-31)
Commerce and Multiculturalism
During the sixteenth century, Venice was the capital of a
republic and one of the ten most populated cities in Europe,
with as many as 150,000 residents. Venice enjoyed important
status in the sixteenth century as a crucial centre for trade
due to its location and proximity to the East. Venice had been
a site of trade with the Islamic world as early as the ninth
century, including Egypt, Syria, and Iran, as well as partners
as far away as China, thanks to the Silk Road.
Venice had a reputation for producing many goods, especially
their high quality woollen textiles and Murano glass, and
these were exchanged for exotic items such as spices, wine
and salt. Trade was so central to the Venetian economy that
they held ceremonies to pray that their merchant ships would
be safe from piracy or tempests – the two most destructive
forces at sea.
This east-west exchange also meant that sixteenth-century
Venice was a booming, multicultural city. Trade with the
East brought exotic visitors, including Egyptians, Ottomans
and Persian Safavids. It is not surprising that Shakespeare
included princes from Morocco and Aragon in The Merchant
of Venice (not to mention a merchant as the title character).
Venetian Society
The presence of foreigners did not necessarily mean that
sixteenth-century Venice was a tolerant society. Venetian
society was structured and hierarchical. At its apex was the
doge, a prince who was elected for life, a representative head
who oversaw the Great Council, Senate, Collegio and Council
of Ten. Society was divided into approximately three classes:
the nobility or gentilhomeni, the ruling class, was an hereditary
group of 200 clans and families; the middle class, the cittadini,
consisting of the general populace of citizens; and the
popolani or plebei, the artisans, guildsmen and shopkeepers.
A distinction was made between citizens who were Venetianborn natives (per natione), and those who were granted
citizenship, resident aliens – those who lived in Venice
on a long-term basis (per privilegio or per grazia). A further
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Context
distinction was added in 1569 when the Great Council ruled
that cittadini originari (original citizenship) could be claimed
by those who fathers and grandfathers had been legitimately
born in Venice. These definitions must have made new
arrivals feel like outsiders.
The Social Status of Jews
The Jewish population of Venice was made up of immigrants
from European countries such as Poland, Bohemia, Spain
and Portugal, but also from as far afield as Constantinople
and Cairo. Jews could not gain citizenship, and hence were
classed as ‘aliens’ (Gross, 1992, p. 26).
Despite being a somewhat intolerant society, Venetian
authorities did not want to expel Jews because they
recognised their importance to the economy. However, the
authorities did limit their way of life. Jews were deprived of
the right to own land or houses. As in Elizabethan England,
there were strict rules forbidding Christians and Jews from
sleeping together, eating together and engaging in sexual
relations. Thus in The Merchant of Venice, Jessica must make
the difficult decision to renounce Judaism in order to marry
Lorenzo.
The Jews and the Ghetto
Laws confined Jews to living in certain areas. A 1516 decree
restricted Jews to living in an area which became known as
the Ghetto, where they paid a third more rent than Christians.
The ghetto was surrounded by high walls and gates guarded
by Christians that were kept closed from sunset to dawn.
During the day, Jews were permitted to venture into the
city as moneylenders, sellers of second-hand clothes and
providers of medical services for wealthy Venetians. This was
on the basis that they wore a distinguishing yellow mark on
their chests, and a beret or yellow hat. When Shylock says
‘For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe’ (1.3.104) – could
this be a reference to the distinguishing mark Jews had to
wear?
To give a sense of the crowded conditions in which they
must have lived, the population density was 662 people per
hectare, compared to 351 people per hectare in the city of
Venice.
Thus there was a clear separation in Venice between
Christians and Jews, a distinction echoed in The Merchant of
Venice, though, as Shaul Bassi comments wryly, there is no
explicit mention of the Ghetto in the play.
The Merchant of Venice – Teacher’s Notes
The Jews and Money lending
In 1573 the Venetian court ruled that Jews could continue
money lending without having to make annual payments,
recognising the important function the Jews played in society
as providing funds for the poor and that money lending was a
necessary ‘evil’ to facilitate trade.
The ducat, short for ducatus venetorum, was a gold coin and
the currency of Venice. In today’s money, a ducat would be
worth approximately £100. This would make Shylock’s loan
of 3,000 ducats equivalent to £300,000 today – a huge sum.
As well, Shylock’s house would probably have been full of
treasures as a result of pledges which were not claimed.
Women and Marriage
Portia:
O me, the word ‘choose’! I may neither choose whom I
would, nor refuse whom I dislike; so is the will of a living
daughter curbed by the will of a dead father.
(1.2.19-22)
Jessica:
Farewell, and if my fortune be not crossed,
I have a father, you a daughter lost.
(2.5.55-56) The Merchant of Venice
Elizabethan England
Despite there being a female monarch, Elizabethan England
was a patriarchal society. Women were considered to be
second-class citizens and there are scores of books, known
as ‘conduct manuals’ that instruct women how to behave in
the home, in public and towards their loved ones. Importance
was placed upon a woman’s body as property belonging to
a man – either her father or husband. Therefore, she was
supposed to guard her behaviour to avoid shaming and
dishonouring her family name.
Because daughters were viewed as property, fathers
cared deeply about their future marriages. Marriage
could be consented to at 7 years of age, but could not be
consummated until a girl was 12 years old and a boy 14
years, however marrying at such a young age was a rare
occurrence. The average age at which members of the
aristocracy and gentry married was 27 years for men and 25
for women.
Women from aristocratic households were often unable
to choose their own partners. Many writers in the period
questioned this, and indeed, there are many cases in which
daughters had run away from home and eloped with their
lovers. This is a theme that interested Shakespeare. Love
is an important value in his plays, and he was preoccupied
with the natural human desire to choose one’s own marriage
partner.
Both Portia and Jessica in The Merchant of Venice must deal
with this issue. The terms of her father’s will prevent Portia
from choosing her spouse; Jessica knows her choice of
spouse is going to devastate her father.
The three principles of womanhood in Shakespeare’s time
were: chastity, silence and obedience. To remain a virgin until
marriage, and then to be a loyal and faithful wife were the
most important goals for a young woman. To listen and not
speak, was her public duty, but if a woman was spoken to and
asked to respond, she should only speak ‘the best of her head’
as sixteenth-century writers commented. Finally, if a woman
was not obedient and did not listen to her husband or her
father, she was potentially a liability. She could be unruly and
marry someone her father did not approve of.
While women had few legal rights, in Protestant England a
lot of emphasis was placed upon companionship and love
within marriage. But Shakespeare never makes it easy for
us to decide whether the marriages at the end of his plays
will achieve such a balance. Portia is enterprising and smart,
while Bassanio seems to be too materialistic and somewhat
deceptive. Will Portia’s strength and courage help to balance
their relationship? How will Jessica reconcile the treatment
of her father? How would Shakespeare’s audience have
understood her disobedience?
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The Merchant of Venice – Teacher’s Notes
Context
Sixteenth-Century Venice
Like Elizabethan England, Venice was a patriarchal
society in which all positions of power were held by men,
including within the family, and the public sphere was man’s
dominion. Visitors to sixteenth-century Venice observed that
noblewomen were rarely seen in public as they would only
be allowed out with an escort. Again, this was to guard and
protect their chastity and, therefore, their family name. In
the domestic sphere, husbands had authority over wives and
fathers had authority over their children.
In a city where trade and money were major industries,
women were also a sort of commodity. It was commonplace
in England and in Italy to make comparisons between women
and vessels. In The Merchant of Venice, the link between
marriage and trade becomes a running joke:
In Portia’s case, being the only child and a daughter of a
wealthy man explains why she is not allowed to choose
her own partner. Her father’s casket tests are a means
of protecting Portia and her (his) fortune as well as the
family name. She does, however manage to provide clues
to Bassanio while he is choosing a casket through an
accompanying song. In doing so, she demonstrates her
intelligence.
Jessica, on the other hand, escapes the laws and customs
of Venetian society by forming a love match with Lorenzo,
a Christian. As sexual relations between Christians and
Jews were forbidden, in doing so Jessica must renounce
her religion and her father; in lieu of a dowry, she steals
money and jewels from her own father. Shakespeare leaves
us wondering what his original audiences would have made
of such betrayal. Would it have been acceptable to them
because Shylock was a Jew?
Salerio:
...Should I go to church
And see the holy edifice of stone.
And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks,
Which touching not my gentle vessel’s side
Would scatter all her spices on the stream...
(1.1.29-33)
High dowry prices meant some families had to choose
between marrying their daughters off, sending them to
convents or to live with wealthier families. In 1505, the
Venetian Senate had to cap dowries at 3,000 ducats;
however, noble dowries were often known to exceed this.
For some families, having assessed their daughter’s
‘marriageabilty’, sending her to a convent may have been
more economically viable. Thus Venetian women had
essentially two paths in life – marriage or the convent, though
both required subservience to a patriarchal structure.
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Context
The Merchant of Venice – Teacher’s Notes
Shakespeare’s Sources
Like many of Shakespeare’s plays, Shakespeare drew
inspiration for The Merchant of Venice from sources and real
events, in some cases ‘borrowing’ from aspects such as plot
and characterisation.
‘Il Pecorone’ by Giovanni Fiorentino (1558)
Giovanni Fiorentino was a fourteenth-century Italian author
(exact dates unknown). He wrote a collection of short stories
called Il Pecorone (‘The Stupid Man’ or ‘The Cowardly
Sheep’), which was published in 1558.
Shakespeare seems to have borrowed quite heavily from
the plot of this story. A man named Giannetto is on a quest
to win a lady living in Belmonte. He is sponsored by his
godfather, Ansaldo, a wealthy Venetian merchant. Ansaldo
borrows ten thousand ducats from a Jew (who remains
nameless), ‘on condition that if they were not repaid the next
June on St John’s day, the Jew might take a pound of flesh
from whatever part of his body he pleased’.
The bond expires and Ansaldo is arrested. The Jew refuses
compensation, saying: ‘understand this: if you were to offer
more ducats than this city is worth, it would not satisfy me:
I would rather have what my bond says is mine’. The lady
of Belmonte comes disguised as a lawyer to plead his case.
She rules that the Jew can only take a pound of flesh from
Ansaldo, but cannot take any of his blood: ‘if you take more
or less than a pound, I shall have your head struck off...if one
drop of blood is spilt, I shall have you put to death...’.
The Jew is taunted by those present at the trial: ‘He who
thought to ensnare others, is caught himself’, and tears up the
bond in rage.
‘Gesta Romanorum’
c. 13/14th centuries; English translation c.1577)
Gesta Romanorum is a collection of stories originally written
in Latin around the 13th or 14th centuries. The author is
unknown, although English translations began appearing
from the mid-15th century. It is believed to have been used by
preachers as a source for stories to illustrate sermons
(White, 2013).
Story number 4, ‘The Three Caskets’, was clearly used
by Shakespeare as a source for the device employed
posthumously by Portia’s father to determine her husband,
however in the Gesta Romanorum’s version, it is the woman
who must choose in order to win the man.
In the story, the King of Ampluy sends his daughter to marry
the only son of the Emperor of Rome. She is shipwrecked,
swallowed by a whale and rescued by an earl, who delivers
her to the emperor. The emperor wants her to prove her
love for his son by choosing from 3 vessels, each of which is
engraved with a message:
Gold: ‘Who so chooseth me shall finde that he deserveth’
Silver: ‘Who so chooseth me shall finde that his nature
desireth’
Lead: ‘Who so chooseth mee, shall finde that God hath
disposed for him’
(Kellscraft Studio, 2006)
The Emperor cautions her: ‘If thou choose one of these,
wherein is profit to thee and to others, then shalt thou have
my son. And if thou choose that wherein is no profit to thee,
nor to any other, soothly thou shalt not marry him’ (Kellscraft
Studio, 2006).
Useful Sources
Extract: Brown (ed.), J. R., 1955. Arden Shakespeare The
Merchant of Venice. Walton-on-Thames, Surrey: Thomas
Nelson.
Full text version: Appendix 4: Il Pecorone. merchantofvenice.
weebly.com/uploads/1/4/2/6/1426390/il_pecorone.pdf
[Accessed 2013 August 2013].
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Shakespeare’s Sources
The maiden petitions God to help her make the right choice
(Kellscraft Studio, 2006).She correctly chooses the lead
vessel, obtaining gold, precious stones and the emperor’s
son (Brown (ed.), 1955, pp. 172-173). The ‘moral’ is that
Christians are to lead simple, unadorned lives, storing up their
treasures inside and in heaven (Brown (ed.), 1955, p. 174).
Full text: Kellscraft Studio, 2006. Tales from the Gesta
Romanorum. http://www.kellscraft.com/MediaevalTales/
MediaevalTales03.html [Accessed 19 August 2013].
Extract: Brown (ed.), J. R., 1955. Arden Shakespeare The
Merchant of Venice. Walton-on-Thames, Surrey: Thomas
Nelson.
The Merchant of Venice – Teacher’s Notes
Zelauto, or the Fountaine of Fame
by Anthony Munday (1580)
The Orator by Alexandre Sylvain
(English translation - 1596)
Anthony Munday (1560?-1633) was a London writer and a
contemporary of Shakespeare’s. Like Shakespeare, he also
started off as an actor. His story Zelauto, or the Fountaine of
Fame was published in 1580.
Alexandre Sylvain (or Alexander Silvayn) (c.1535-1585) was
a Flemish moralist and poet. He published a series of debates
on moral issues in 1581, which was translated into English in
1596 as The Orator (Gillespie, 2004, p. 465).
Titled ‘The Amourous lyfe of Strabino a Scholler, the brave
behaviour of Rodolfo a martiall Gentleman, and the right
reward of Signior Truculento a Usurer’ (Brown (ed.), 1955,
p. 156). The story is set in Verona and revolves around
Strabino, who is in love with Cornelia, the sister of his friend
Rodolfo. Truculento, a usurer (but not Jewish), is also trying
to woo Cornelia.
Declamation 95 is headed: ‘Of a Jew who would for his debt
have a pound of the flesh of a Christian’. The Introduction
reads:
It is Cornelia’s idea for Strabino to borrow money from
Truculento to buy a jewel. Truculento is pleased and flattered
by Rodolfo’s request for a loan of 4,000 ducats on behalf
of his friend. The condition is that ‘if by the first day of the
month ensuing, the whole sum be not restored: eache of
your lands shall stand to the endamagement, besides the
losse of bothe your right eyes’ (Brown (ed.), 1955, p. 160).
Truculento’s daughter, Brisana, is Rodolfo’s mistress. Rodolfo
also flatters Truculento into agreeing to their marriage
At the trial, the Judge rules that, according to the law, the
usurer is right to claim the forfeit. Brisana steps in and says
she went to Truculento’s house to return the money, but
Truculento was not at home (Brown (ed.), 1955, p. 166).
Cornelia adds that the bond is to be redeemed but only if
Truculento executes it himself: ‘If in pulling foorth their eyes,
you diminishe the least quantity of blood out of their heads...
you shall stand to the losse of bothe your owne eyes’ (Brown
(ed.), 1955, p. 167).
The judge says the bond money is to be given to Strabino and
Rodolfo as compensation. Truculento also accepts Rodolfo
as ‘his lawfull sonne, and put him in possession of all his
lyuinges after his disease’ (Brown (ed.), 1955, p. 168)
The story is thought to be Shakespeare’s inspiration for
Lorenzo and Jessica.
Useful Sources
Full text available on Questia: Munday, A. & Stillinger, J.,
2013. Zelauto: the Fountaine of Fame, 1580. questia.com/
library/1275716/zelauto-the-fountaine-of-fame-1580
09
Shakespeare’s Sources
A Jew unto whom a Christian Marchant ought nine hundred
crownes, would have summoned him for the same in
Turckie : the Marchant, because he would not be discredited,
promised to pay the said summe within the tearme of three
months, and if he paied it not, he was bound to give him
a pound of the flesh of his bodie. The tearme being past
some fifteene daies, the Jew refused to take his money: the
ordinarie Judge of that place appointed him to cut a just
pound of the Christian’s flesh, and if he cut either more or
lesse, then his owne head should be smitten off: The Jew
appealed from this sentence, unto the chiefe judge... (Internet
Archive, 1917)
The text contains a speech believed to relate to Shylock’s at
the trial, including some of the arguments used by the Jew to
justify his demand for his bond (British Library, n.d.):
...in the Roman Commonwealth, so famous for laws and
armes, it was lawfull for debt, to imprison, beat, and afflict
with torments the free Citizens: How manie of them (do
you thinke) would have thought themselves happie, if for a
small debt they might have ben excused with the paiment of
a pound of their flesh? Who ought then to marvile if a Jew
requireth so small a thing of a Christian, to discharge him of a
good round summe?...
...I might also say that I have need of this flesh to cure a
friend of mine of a certaine maladie, which is otherwise
incurable, or that I would have it to terrifie thereby the
Christians for ever abusing the Jewes anie more hereafter...
(Gillespie, 2004, p. 466)
Small extract: British Library, n.d. Shakespeare Quartos:
The Merchant of Venice. http://www.bl.uk/treasures/
shakespeare/merchant.html [Accessed 27 June 2013].
Extracts from: Internet Archive, 1917. The Arden
Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice. http://ia700301.
us.archive.org/29/items/merchantofveni00shakuoft/
merchantofveni00shakuoft.pdf [Accessed 19 August 2013].
Gillespie, S., 2004. Shakespeare’s Books: A Dictionary of
Shakespeare Sources. London: Continuum.
The Merchant of Venice – Teacher’s Notes
A New Song: Shewing the Crueltie of Gernutus a Jew
(date unknown)
Gernutus is a Renaissance ballad (exact date unknown),
‘Shewing the crueltie of Gernutus a Jew, who lending to a
Merchant a hundred Crownes, would have a pound of his
flesh, because he could not pay him at the day appointed’
(Brown (ed.), 1955, p. 153)
A Jewish moneylender living in ‘Venice town’ lends
a merchant one hundred crowns, with a pound of the
merchant’s flesh as bond:
Jew: And this shall be the forfeyture;
Of your owne fleshe a pound.
If you agree, make you the bond,
And here is a hundred crownes.
(Gernutus, the Jew of Venice)
A court case ensues in which the Judge says the moneylender
may have his bond, provided he does not shed a drop of the
merchant’s blood:
Judge:
For if thou take either more or lesse
To the value of a mite,
Thou shalt be hanged presently
As is both law and right.
(Gernutus, the Jew of Venice)
The Jew leaves, crying out against the ‘cruell judge’
(Gernutus, the Jew of Venice).
Full text: Gernutus, the Jew of Venice. http://www.exclassics.
com/percy/perc31.htm [Accessed 19 August 2013].
Other Possible Sources Used by Shakespeare
There was a Jewish merchant from Venice living in London
1596-1600 who could be a possible model for Antonio
(Popkin, 1989, p. 330)
1567 lawsuit between Jew Abraham Abencini and Christian/
crypto-Jews Gaspar and Giovanni Ribeira over 3000 ducats,
even though Jews were not allowed to lend more than 3.
10
Shakespeare’s Sources
The Merchant of Venice – Teacher’s Notes
Useful Sources
Books
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Cerasano (ed.), S., 2004. A Routledge Literary Sourcebook on
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Facing History and Ourselves, 2013. http://www.facing.org/
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Jewish Museum London, 2009. British Jewish History Timeline.
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11
Useful Sources
The Merchant of Venice – Teacher’s Notes
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Partners
jewishmuseum.org.uk
Social History Curator and Collections Manager:
Elizabeth Selby
Professor David FeldmanDirector of the
Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism
16
Partners
The Merchant of Venice – Teacher’s Notes