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Explore the influential role of quotation in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and its impact on the characters and themes of the play. Discover how Shakespeare's use of quotes transcends time and influences literature and society today.
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“The wisdom of the wise, and the experience of ages, may be preserved by quotation.” Attributed to Isaac D’Israeli (1766 – 1848 ). Born in Enfield, Middlesex. Son to a Jewish merchant who had emigrated from Venice. Father of Benjamin Disraeli, PM 1868, 1874 – 1880, only Jewish PM (so far). Widely credited with coining the phrase…
Our debt to tradition through reading and conversation is so massive, our protest or private addition so rare and insignificant, -- and this commonly on the ground of other reading or hearing, -- that, in a large sense, one would say there is no pure originality. All minds quote. Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment. There is no thread that is not a twist of these two strands. By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. We quote not only books and proverbs, but arts, sciences, religion, customs, and laws; nay, we quote temples and houses, tables and chairs by imitation. None escapes it. The originals are not original. Ralph Waldo Emerson ‘Quotation and Originality’
Brush Up Your Shakespeare Start quoting him now Brush up your Shakespeare And the women you will wow Just declaim a few lines from "Othella” And they think you're a heckuva fella…
Quotation in TheMerchant ( a very brief introduction) Shylock cites Jacob’s ability to breed sheep as precedent (quote) and justification for what Shylock does with money (i.e. usury)… Antonio: Mark you this Bassanio, The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose – An evil soul producing holy witness Is like a villain with a smiling cheek… (1.3.92 – 5)
‘Well then, it now appears you need my help: Go to then: you come to me, and you say, “Shylock, we would have your moneys,” you say so… *** Lancelot: ‘the fiend is at my elbow, and tempts me, saying to me, “Gobbo, Launcelot Gobbo, good Launcelot […] use your legs, take the start, run away” [and so on…] (2.1) Quotation is anti-Shylock…
Solanio: I never heard a passion so confus’d, So strange, outrageous, and so variable As the dog Jew did utter in the streets, “My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter! Fled with a Christian! O my Christian ducats! Justice, the law, my ducats, and my daughter!...” (2.7.12 – 17) (Salario then quotes approvingly the sensuous affectionate parting of Bassanio and Antonio; 2.7.36 ff.) 4.1 Gratiano mocks Shylock through quotation: • Jew! ‘an upright judge, a learned judge! […] • ‘A second Daniel, a Daniel’, Jew! (4.1.319, 329) (Cf FESTE)
The proverbial It were a good divine…
Shakespeare as Secular Scripture Desert Island Discs (All you need is: Bible + Shakes + wildcard) Quotation as powerful tactic (and inevitable – you can’t go round quoting the whole of Shakespeare…) Quotation as radical synecdoche (the part that stands in for the whole; e.g. a sail for boat, a pound of flesh…) A play is the history of its quotations The contexts into which those quotations are unleashed are beyond the author’s control In the case of The Merchant, that makes for very interesting play…
SHYLOCK: Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal. It was my turquoise. I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor. I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys. (3.1.110-113)
Quoting Shakespeare: Empire and ethics We have to educate a people who cannot at present be educated by means of their mother-tongue. We must teach them some foreign language. The claims of our own language it is hardly necessary to recapitulate. It stands pre-eminent even among the languages of the West. It abounds with works of imagination not inferior to the noblest which Greece has bequeathed to us, --with models of every species of eloquence, -- with historical composition, which, considered merely as narratives, have seldom been surpassed, and which, considered as vehicles of ethical and political instruction, have never been equaled… Lord Macaulay, Minute on Indian Education, Feb 1835
"THE QUALITY OF MERCY." How British Prisoners of War were taken to Germany in 1914. By Keble Howard Sep 18 1918 Official Report based on the Statements of 48 British Officers and 77 N.C.O.s ond Men " The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice blessed — It blesseth him that gives and him that takes; 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown. . . . It is an attribute to God Himself."
THE majority of English people have seen our German prisoners of war. They have remarked upon the size and strength of these men, upon their well-nourished condition, upon their happy and care-free demeanour. And, notwithstanding their recollections of Zeppelins and Gothas, of innocent women and children ruthlessly murdered on sea and land, of the unspeakable Belgian atrocities, of tales that their men-folk have brought back from the front, the English people have been glad to think that we have been great enough as a nation, now as in the past, to extend the quality of mercy to helpless and defenceless men.
Turn from that picture to the plain, true, dispassionate statements of […] men who were captured at different times between the outbreak of the war and the end of 1914. The sufferings of these brave soldiers — not fiends, not savages, but straightforward, honest Britishers, who left their homes, and their families, and their friends to fight for the sacred cause of justice — were so horrible, so needlessly and wantonly cruel, [their stories] will leave no doubt in the mind of any reader, whether prejudiced or otherwise, that the Germans treated their first British prisoners with deliberate, intentional, ordered, and organized cruelty.
Berlin July 1940 • Letter from Reichsdramaturg Rainer Schlosser to Joseph Goebbels, Minister for Propaganda: Responding to an earlier directive, The Merchant of Venice in recent years has been removed from the programme in Berlin. In the meantime, however, some theatres in the Reich with my agreement have tested a modified version […] in this version, Jessica is played as not the daughter but only as the foster daughter of the Jew; race-political difficulties, therefore, are cleared out of the way. Since these modifications are not extensive, present no philological offenses to the Shakespearean text as it has come down to us, and as Jessica is performed by German actresses…
Berlin 1940 … I would see no reason why this classic work – which moreover, in a talented performance, can offer support to our anti-Jewish fight – should not be allowed to return to Berlin…
London 1942-3 ‘I maintain that with the exception of the Jews, known throughout the civilized world for their magnificent support of the arts, the fashionable playgoers of the West End have no love of Shakespeare [but The Merchant is] the one Shakespeare play the Christians flock to’ (James Agate, The Times Sept 6, 1942) ‘The Merchant of Venice appears to be far the most popular of Shakespeare’s plays – or, if you prefer it that way, the one most difficult to dodge […] You cannot begin to reason with this play: everybody behaves like a brute or a nit-wit; even Shylock’s conduct is inexplicable. The Doge is a duffer, and Portia’s cat-and-mouse treatment of Antonio in court is idiotic and insufferable. Bassanio and his boy-friends are cads, go-getters and bullies, the stuff that Fascists are made of. And yet, heynonny, it is, overwhelmingly, the Shakespeare that the public wants’ (Ivor Brown, The Observer, Feb 21, 1943)
China, now. 100% of pupils following the the the Chinese National Curriculum will study Act 1 Scene 4 from ''The Merchant of Venice'' when they are 15 or 16 years old. Other than that, there is little evidence of Shakespeare in the curriculum, and Shakespeare study is largely restricted to undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Merchant first Shakespeare play to be staged in mainland China and Hong Kong; has been very popular since 19th C. ‘what is singular is the way in which the Chinese overlook the racial and religious tensions in the play […] In 1999, Chinese premier Zhu Rongji quoted The Merchant of Venice to emphasize the value of market law for China […] Even in the new millennium, Chinese reception remains focused on the economy of exchange’ Alex Huang, Chinese Shakespeares 2009: 115–16
Zhang Qihong, director of very influential Chinese Youth Theatre production (1980-2): • Purpose was to invite Shakespeare ‘god’ of England, to descend on the land of China and become friends with and accepted by the Chinese audience. She wanted to explore and display Shakespeare’s ‘profound critique of feudalism’ • ‘Shakespeare in China’, Fan Shen, Asian Theatre Journal 5:1, 23-37
Why is ''The Merchant of Venice'' studied at age 15/16?<br> It seems that after the Cultural Revolution, ''The Merchant of Venice'' appeared in textbooks, showing China's willingness to introduce Western culture to young people alongside Chinese enthusiasm for Shakespeare. The focus seems to be on Shakespeare's linguistic skill and the strength of his stories, combined with some basic knowledge of English culture and history. Shakespeare is also taught with reference to a reflection on history, politics and universal human values. ===Language of study=== Pupils aged 15/16 study Act 1 Scene 4 from ''The Merchant of Venice'' in translation into Mandarin Chinese. “Why is The Merchant of Venice'' studied at age 15/16? It seems that after the Cultural Revolution, ''The Merchant of Venice'' appeared in textbooks, showing China's willingness to introduce Western culture to young people alongside Chinese enthusiasm for Shakespeare. The focus seems to be on Shakespeare's linguistic skill and the strength of his stories, combined with some basic knowledge of English culture and history. Shakespeare is also taught with reference to a reflection on history, politics and universal human values. Pupils aged 15/16 study Act 1 Scene 4 from ''The Merchant of Venice'' in translation into Mandarin Chinese. Source: British Council Survey 2011 (see: http://www.worldshakespearefestival.org.uk/wiki/Edit.aspx?Page=China)
Pedagogy I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching… 2.1.15–16
The Globe says it wants to ‘include’ the Hebrew language in its festival – we have no problem with that. ‘Inclusiveness’ is a core value of arts policy in Britain, and we support it. But by inviting Habima, the Globe is associating itself with policies of exclusion practised by the Israeli state and endorsed by its national theatre company. We ask the Globe to withdraw the invitation so the festival is not complicit with human rights violations and the illegal colonisation of occupied land. Letter to Guardian.
