Victim and Villain

Shylock in the African American Imagination

Authors

  • Adam Meyer Vanderbilt University

Keywords:

African American Studies, Shylock, Jewish Studies

Abstract

In examining the allusions that a variety of African American writers have made to the figure of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, this essay demonstrates that these writers have followed a general pattern that has long existed of viewing the character as either a victim or a villain. While some African American writers see a kindred spirit in Shylock, one whose vilification by Venetian society parallels the negative ways in which African Americans have been treated in America, others view him as an embodiment of Jewish economic exploitation. By appropriating Shylock in these opposing ways, these writers attempt to place Shakespeare on their side in promoting either positive or negative views of the history of Black-Jewish relations.

 

Author Biography

Adam Meyer, Vanderbilt University

Adam Meyer is Associate Professor of Jewish Studies and Associate Director of the Program in Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. In addition to the full-length work Black-Jewish Relations in African American and Jewish American Fiction: An Annotated Bibliography (Scarecrow, 2002), he has published articles on this subject in such journals as MELUS, African American Review, Prospects, and Studies in Short Fiction. His essay "'The Gesture Was Never Enough': Harlem as a Problematic Proving Ground for Jewish Reformers in the Post World War II Period" appears in the recent collection, Black Harlem and the Jewish Lower East Side: Narratives Out of Time (SUNY).

ssue Cover text: B&L, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2012. Image: Lady Macbeth cradles Macbeth who sits naked in a bloody bathtub. Masked figures look on.

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Published

2020-06-25

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 2 (2012): Fall/Winter

Section

Articles