By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Hath not a Jew eyes?’ ‘If you prick us, do we not bleed?’ These are among the most famous lines from William Shakespeare’s comedy, The Merchant of Venice. One of the common misconceptions people who haven’t read or seen The Merchant of Venice fall prey to is the notion that the ‘merchant’ of the title is Shylock, the Jewish moneylender.
It is, in fact, Antonio, who is the merchant of Venice, but The Merchant of Venice has become Shylock’s play, if it wasn’t always his.