Was Shakespeare anti-Semitic?
No, of course he wasn’t. His universalism, his grandeur, the wholeness of his understanding, makes such questions meaningless. Shakespeare cannot be confined by any set of beliefs: his genius always bursts out, putting both sides of a case far more eloquently than any other advocate. When you try and conscript him to a narrow cause, you make yourself look narrow. Shakespeare’s canon will broaden your experience more than your experience can ever broaden it. Shylock: fuelling centuries of anti-Jewish prejudice Ah, but is The Merchant of Venice anti-Semitic? A far more interesting question, one raised anew by a group of girls at Jewish school who boycotted an exam about the play because they found it offensive. It’s a delicate question but, on balance, I’m with the pupils at Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls School. Shylock, precisely because of the depth of his character, precisely because his motives are made comprehensible, is the most dangerous archetype of the malevolent Jew ever created
