Fifteen Hundred Years of History
In
William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, the villain of the piece is
quite obviously Shylock the Jew. During Shakespeare’s time, this is a common
role for Jews in Europe. Over the roughly
sixteen hundred years between the rise of Christianity and Shakespeare’s play,
this role evolved through repeated misperceptions and royal actions.
Most of the early references to Jews in European literature begins
during the heydays of the Greek and Roman empires. Within these boundaries,
the Jews were not given any special treatment, either positive or negative
(Poliakov 6). There was no “discriminatory legislation” in the Roman
Empire before the advent of Christianity, and in fact while
the Empire was still predominantly pagan, during the third century AD, an
emperor granted them Roman citizenship (Kahler 38). They were assimilated
almost entirely, with the exception of religion, holding jobs indistinguishable
from other residents and citizens and frequently Latin- or Hellenizing their
names to reflect the culture (Poliakov 6). The only major anti-Jewish action
taken during this period was in 38 AD, with a riot in Alexandria
(Poliakov 8). Malcolm Hay notes that it was encouraged by Flaccus, the Roman
commissioner for the area (21).
Even after Christianity took root, the Jews were still considered
to be equal. Both lived in the same communities into the second century
AD (Poliakov 18). Most of the Roman authorities, in point of fact, often
referred to them as a unit rather than separately (Poliakov 20). The two
communities did have their differences, however. The Christian community
placed the blame for the death of Jesus squarely on the shoulders of the
Jews. This had a dual effect, of both putting down the Jews and exonerating
the Romans from blame for the death, thereby making the Christians rise
in the estimation of the Empire (Poliakov 21). When, in 70 AD,
Jerusalem
was attacked and the Jewish Temple destroyed, this lent more credence to the
tale (Hay 21): God had shown His Divine punishment and disapproval of the
Jews through their defeat in war (Poliakov 20). With the conversion of the
Roman emperor Constantine to Christianity, the fate of the Jewish community
was sealed. Roman Jews were forbidden from serving in the army, and throughout
the fourth and fifth centuries they suffered continually degrading conditions
that reduced them to near or total servitude (Hay 23).
Surprisingly, after the fall of the Roman Empire,
the conditions that most of the Jewish community lived under were good.
On the whole they lived in harmony with their Christian neighbors, and kings
and clergy frequently dealt with or asked the advice of esteemed Jews (Kahler
42). They held state office and owned ships and landed estates, “with all
the rights of the lord of the manor” (Hay 42). This is not to say that they
led charmed lives, however. There were attempts made during this period,
primarily by the Catholic church, to limit contact with Jews by Christians,
such as banning taking meals together and opposing mixed marriages, but
the edicts had little to no effect (Poliakov 27). In Spain,
there was an incident in 613 where the church became zealous, and many Jews’
only choices were conversion to Christianity or expulsion from the country
(Kahler 45).
Worse was to come, however. In 1096, the First Crusade began, and
the conditions of Jews in Europe took an
abrupt plunge during the attempts to drive “the infidel” out of the continent
(Poliakov 42). This was compounded by the effects of the Black Plague and
a famine in France, for which
the Jews were blamed (Poliakov 102). The best fate that anyone Jewish could
hope for, in many areas, was having legislation passed against one’s occupation
or to have fines levied against one to help fund the Crusades themselves
(Poliakov 43).
Massacres
began to occur across Europe, with some of the most devastating ones being
performed in the area of the Rhine
Valley (Poliakov 42).
One particularly bloody murderer, named Emicho von Leiringen, gathered a mob
and traveled up and down the Rhine
River valley, slaughtering
as he went (Poliakov 43). He was perceived as being particularly mercenary,
as he frequently charged Jews for their protection and then killed them after
receiving the amount that he demanded (Poliakov 43). Unfortunately, he was
not the only one to do this. An example of a smaller pattern of attacks would
be the infamous “Shepherd’s Crusade,” which was a group of peasants led by
a shepherd that had visions; it made its way through several cities in France,
killing Jews, before being forcibly dispersed by the king-- but only after
they started attacking Christian clergy (Poliakov 50). Throughout these pogroms,
some people, such as princes and clergy, attempted to protect the Jewish citizens
but were unable to, being threatened themselves when they tried (Poliakov
45). The town of Cologne
succeeded for the month before being forced to give in, and many other areas
succeeded in holding off the attackers long enough for the Jewish population
to get away (Poliakov 45).
Eventually there were fewer attacks, but those that occurred were
often involving accusations of ritual murder and profaning the Host-- the
wafers used in Catholic services to represent the body of Jesus (Poliakov
49). A frequent aspect of this was that a Jew recently converted to Christianity
would tell the larger community about rituals where Christian blood, body
parts, and religious artifacts were used in rituals (Poliakov 58). One instance
of this was in Rottingen, in the German states, where a Jew was accused
of profaning the Host in 1298; one man, Rindfleisch, roused a band and moved
through Bavaria and Franconia,
killing all Jews that didn’t accept Christian baptism (Poliakov 99). This
incident is notable, as it is the first real example of genocide in Europe toward the Jews, with the entire population being
blamed for one crime; roughly one hundred thousand Jews were killed, and
it is considered the real start of anti-Semitism (Poliakov 100).
During the thirteenth century, a council of the Catholic church gave
out an order that “unfavorable” such as lepers, prostitutes, Saracens, and
Jews wear distinguishing clothing, as they were still very much assimilated
into the larger culture (Poliakov 65). This led to the wearing of either small
circles, thought to be used because they resemble coins and thus called to
mind Judas selling Jesus for silver, or hats of particular color and shape;
in England the mark was a strip of yellow fabric sewn across the chest (Poliakov
65). The separating effect was compounded as many cities assigned ghettos
specifically to Jews (Kahler 60).
Eventually, even this proved not enough for many, and cities and
even countries expelled Jews (Poliakov 118). Entire communities were uprooted.
Some stayed around the outside of city gates, while others wandered from
one city to the next; more managed to lose themselves and settle in the
borders of countries where laws were vague, but many fled entirely away,
and ended in border countries such as Lithuania and Poland (Poliakov 121).
England had a
particularly colorful history regarding Jewish communities. There are no communities
as a whole in the history of the country until 1066, when William the Conqueror
encouraged them to settle in communities in cities like York and London
(Schoenberg). Many were fleeing the hostility they were experiencing throughout
the rest of Europe (Schoenberg). Life was
not perfect in England,
either, as they were not considered citizens (Rogers). They were forced to
wear yellow badges in the shape of two stone tablets, and were taxed heavily,
as the encouragement they had received to settle was based primarily on their
earnings as moneylenders enriching the royal treasury (Schoenberg). England was also the first country where they were
accused of ritual murder, in the town of Norwich in 1144; after this period, the Jewish
community’s quality of life decreased further, with liberties like owning
property stripped away and occasional attacks on many Jews (Schoenberg). As
a final blow, all Jews were expelled from England, the first country to do so,
on July 18, 1290, and it is estimated that between four and sixteen thousand
people had to leave (Schoenberg). They were not readmitted until 1655 (Rogers).
The fact that officially there were no Jews in England at the time that Shakespeare
wrote his plays makes interpretation of The Merchant of Venice interesting.
The fact that he wrote the play using a Jewish moneylender as a villain
is no great stretch, as less than ten years before Christopher Marlowe had
written The Jew of Malta with that same idea (Rogers).
Furthermore, three years before the play’s first performance, Queen Elizabeth’s
doctor, Roderigo Lopez, a Jewish convert to Christianity, was implicated
in an assassination, and may have been falsely accused (Schoenberg). As
Jami Rogers put it, a Jew in a theater production was almost automatically
“the guy audiences love to hate,” and continues that it is irresponsible
to assume that Shakespeare would not have been well-educated in the history
of Jews in England, as well as in the theater, and what the popular perception
was. Furthermore, it is entirely possible that he would have known Jews,
secretly practicing their religion while professing to be Christian, as
many Jews remained in England
under this disguise; it is theorized, in fact, that the “Dark Lady” in many
of his sonnets is actually Emilia Bassano, a woman who was Jewish by descent
(Rogers). It is possible
that personal knowledge would be what compelled him to make Shylock humanized,
rather than the “one-dimensional” and “over-the-top” role that the title
character in Marlowe’s play inhabits (Rogers).
While Shylock of the play is no angel, demanding flesh to pay a debt, he
is almost justified when one takes into account his description of the wrongs
done him. He is a good man that is, like many, prone to doing wrong, and
unlike many, is “oppressed by the Christians surrounding him” (Rogers). This perspective of Jews “broke with
theatrical tradition,” and should be interpreted in that light (Rogers).
This revolutionary treatment of Shylock is remarkable, given the violent
history of the almost fifteen hundred years that preceded it. That Shakespeare
would take it upon himself to do so, in a country where Jews could not legally
exist, is a stunning aspect to the play. It sheds new light on the roles filled
by, and the interactions of, Shylock and Antonio, as well as the other characters
in the play.
Work
Cited
Hay,
Malcolm. Thy Brother’s Blood: The Roots of Christian Anti-Semitism.
New
York :
Hart Publishing Company, Inc., 1975.
Kahler,
Erich. The Jews Among the Nations. New York:
Frederick
Ungar Publishing Company, 1967.
Poliakov,
Leon. The History
of Anti-Semitism. New York:
Vanguard Press Inc., 1974.
Rogers,
Jami. “Shylock and History.” PBS. PBS. 12 November 2005. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/merchant/ei_shylock.html.
Schoenberg,
Shira. “The Virtual Jewish History Tour: England.” The
Jewish Virtual Library. 2005.
American-Israeli
Cooperative Enterprise. 12 November 2005. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/England.html