Controversy Over Anti-Semitism in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice

William Shakespeare's play, The Merchant of Venice has recently caused controversy in high schools because of the Jewish stereotypes depicted in the play through Shakespeare's character, an outsider Jew named Shylock. Schools have elected not to read the play out of fear that it will encourage anti-Semitism amongst high school students. Rather than ignoring the stereotypes in the play by not reading it at all, the school system can address their students about the Jewish stereotypes depicted in The Merchant of Venice and discuss how the play written in the end of the 1500s has an effect on our present day culture.

From 1988 to 1995, Suffern High School in New York removed The Merchant of Venice from the English syllabus after a substitute teacher sent letters to three area rabbis and the school district superintendent (Wilson 44). The substitute argued that both the BBC version of the film and the play "convey the blatant anti-Semitism of the Elizabethan period. Shylock is portrayed as a stereotypical avaricious Jew, mugging the camera by gesticulating and cringing in turn, underlining his rage and later obsequiousness with a Yiddish accent" (Wilson 43). The substitute teacher went on to argue that "non-Jewish students fail to be repelled by the vilification to which Shylock is subject" (Wilson 43). Yes, there are Jewish stereotypes within the play but instead of censoring the play, teachers should be allowed to teach students about these stereotypes and look at the probable reasons why Shakespeare used them in The Merchant of Venice. By censoring the play, students aren't educated about the stereotypes, they ignore them. They may read the play on their own and learn what the stereotypes are but they won't know why the stereotypes came about.