Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (1595-1596) was written at a time when England was embarking on economic development through trade. Venice is an example of how such an economy can flourish, but it also shows the dangers of encounter that it can bring. In this talk, Michael Scott considered the cultural encounters that occur in The Merchant of Venice. The main encounter is between Antonio, who is Christian, and Shylock, who is Jewish. Further encounters include Antonio's relationship with Bassanio and Portia’s response to her dead father’s will. These encounters encompass the entire play and are seemingly reconciled by the end—but are they? In the end, there are two victims whom others fail to recognize in their “otherness.”
This event was sponsored by the Future of the Humanities Project and the Georgetown Humanities Initiative at Georgetown University with Blackfriars Hall, Oxford. It is part of the series Cultural Encounters: Books that Have Made a Difference.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user Christine Zenino.
