Graduate Institute Summer Lecture Series | Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

Speaker: St. John's College Tutor Claudia Hauer

Description:  The Merchant of Venice is a troubling play. Its position among Shakespeare's comedies is undermined by many disturbing elements that threaten to pull the tale into the realm of tragedy. The plot depends on a certain amount of anti-Semitic profiling and prejudice. The central love affairs require the protagonists to navigate the divides between rich and poor, innocence and cynicism, Christian and Jew. The audience must traverse the unsavory city of Venice and the dubious utopia of Belmont. Themes of betrayal are found at every level of the plot. In this talk, I will discuss these challenges to constructing a unified interpretation, and ask what kind of resolution we might find in the play's conclusion.