Marlowe's influence on Shake-
speare's "Merchant of Venice" and
the 'ambuguity of Marlowe's "Jew
of Malta" are indicated in a most
impressive volume, "The World
and Art of Shakespeare" by Prof.
A. A. Mendilow and Dr. Alice
Shalvi, both lecturers at the
Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
The study was published by Israel
Universities Press and Daniel
Davey & Co. (257 Park S., NY10).
Dealing ,with ai1 aspects of the
Shakespearean plays, zeviewing
their background, the two scholarly
authorities on The Bard delve into
the many aspects of all approaches
to the theater in Shakespeare's
time. They base their work on
experiences in the course of teach-
ing Shakespeare at the Hebrew
University.
Their summary of the value and
importance of early plays for an
understanding of Shakespeare are
especially relevant to their survey
of Shakespeare's major produc-
tions.
The treatment of the Jew as the
stock-villian is commented upon
in the course of defining of "The
Merchant of Venice" as follows:
"There is room for thinking that
Shakespeare's own stand on the issue
of the old values as against the new
values, virtue versus virtu, the old
philosophy against what came to be
known as the new philosophy, was
fundamentally ambivalent and hence
ambiguous, no matter what he may
have thought he believed. It may be
suggested further that a similar ambi-
valence, and for similar reasons, is
to be found in two other contemporary
plays written about Jewish money-
lenders: Marlowe's "Jew of Malta" and
Wilson's "Three Ladies of London."
(Marston's "Jack Drums Entertainment"
has a character, Mammon. described as
the Usurer with a great nose, but he
is nowhere described as a Jew in the
play.) In all three plays the same
problem confronts the author under dif-
ferent aspects and prompts the same
question: When is a Jew not a Jew?
The answer seems to be: When he
serves as the symbol for the Christians'
sense of guilt over the discrepancy be-
tween the abstract tenents of their faith
- in the perspective of the life to come,
and the contradictory action born of I
their mundane economic needs and
desires In the perspective of this world
of increasing national and international
Coca-Cola Plant
to Start Operation
in Israel Feb. 1
NEW YORK (JTA) — A Coca-
Cola bottling plant will open Feb. 1
in Israel, despite Arab threats to
boycott the parent company, it
was announced by Abraham Fein-
berg, a major stockholder in the
new enterprise.
The franchise to operate the plant
was given to the Central Bottling
Company of Tel Aviv, whose prin-
cipal stockholders, in addition to
Mr. Feinberg, are Carl Navarre,
president of the Coca-Cola Bottling
Company of Miami. Fla., and the
Israel Central Trading and Invest-
ment Company of Tel Aviv.
Feinberg said the new plant
would employ initially from 70 to
100 Israelis and eventually "several
hundred." He estimated an annual
consumption of 200,000,000 bottles
of Coca-Cola in Israel—based on
the country's dry climate ("no
rainfall nine months of the year").
the low consumption of alcohol by
Israelis and the total abstinence
from alcohol of Arab citizens.
commerce and finance. Only the Puri- largely passed into the hands of Lom-
tans, following in this respect the bards, Venetians, and now, in England.
point of view of Calvin, tried to escape
"Puritans, those enemies of Shake-
the dilemma by coining to terms with speare and his fellows, who were a
the necessities of a modern state. They the dramatist's mind there fused the
alone in England countenanced a con- stage-villain Jew linked to the stock
trolled usury both in theory and in figure of the Vice; Gerontlus, the hero
practice. The Catholics and the Angli- of Wilson; Barabas, the villain of Mar-
cans for the most part permitted it in lowe; the Puritans; Usury, a theme
practice and in theory denounced it. that had aroused bitter polemic in
There was in the popular mind a close
- decades and had issued
connection between the fanatical, pleas- In
England
a score for
of books
and innumerable
ure-hating. •bible-quoting but neverthe- sermons; the new society and the
less highly practical Puritan merchants new values which could not easlly be
of the City of London. and the tradi- adjusted to the world-picture tradition.
Bonetmediaeval image of the Jew. Little wonder that his feelings were so
based not on direct knowledge but involved in Shylock and all he im-
on hearsay and legend. For a man of plied that he devoted far more space
the theater it was particularly easy to him than was warranted in a light
to fuse the stock-villain, the Jew. with romantic fairy-tale comedy. - Little won-
his great enemy, the Puritan, since the der too that Shylock was presented
Puritan was the arch-enemy of the with much more realism and psychol-
theater and all that the actors and ogical insight and deeper feeling that
dramatists stood for. It will be re- the idealized Christian figures In whose
membered that Shylock too feared and veins there pulses no red blood. And
hated masquerades and entertainments. yet these latter represented all the
things that Shakespeare in theory be-
Explaining their view that lieved
in; but on the other hand, were
Marlowe's "Jew of Malta" was not he and his friends lenders and
borrowers on interest? The whole
ambiguous, that "In his time and world was topsy-turvy, as Wilson had
in his observation that Gerontlus
later the dramatist had acquired noted
was the one who behaved according
Christian principles, while Merca-
a reputation for holding atheisti- to
tore acted in the manner attributed
cal opinions and for being a fol- to the Jew of tradition. Handy dandy!
again which is -the true and which is
lower of Machievelli's advocacy the
false? The old certainties and the
of 'policy,"' Drs. Mendilow and new policy were both infected with a
taint. Wilson's play and Shakespeare's
Shalvi point out:
both end in a fantasy projection of
"In this play ("Jew of Malta') the faith into a Golden Age, but full con-
is lacking; wishful thinking im-
Jew Barabas is Introduced as a fol- viction
as a condition of its activity an
lower of Machiavelli whose ghost opens plies
at some level of the realty
as a kind of prologue with a sum- awareness
rinciple.
In Troilus and Cressida
mart' of some of his opinions. He p hakespeare
was to reject both worlds,
says: 'I count religion but a child- and to relapse into a state of empty
ish toy,' and claims that the Jew has despair or utter scepticism. In the last
obtained his wealth by adhering to plays, however, he found a solution to
his principles. Barabas himself openly nihilism. Codes and systems of 'gen-
acknowledges that he is completely eral value are still susp t, but what
evil, vicious, and unprincipled in his counts Is the individual , ec sot
n
the s ys-
behavior, and especially in his hatred tem
, the private virtues of toleration
for the Christians. Wnat gives us pause and forgiveness. The Justice and the
is the growing awareness that the thief have each
faults, but also
Christians are certainly not less corrupt, their virtues, if their
one Is prepared to
less money-loving, less Machiavellian look for these and overlook the others.
than the Jew. Machiavelli himself , Even Caliban, the monsterrnan, will be
states in the Prologue that he has freed. In The Merchant of Venice there
come to England to view this land, , are anticipations of this humanity,
and frolic with his friends, for the though still clouded by Shakespeare's
land contains many of his adherents. own indeterminacy in the transition of
Barabas explains his cupidity by Chris- 'society. Even the villian-Puritan-Usurer-
tian example . . . who Is honor'd now Jew is a human being."
but for 'his wealth? The Christians
are accused of betraying their faith,
Many of the other major Shake-
acting with 'malice, falsehood, and ex-
cessive pride' while hypocritically they spearean plays are equally
profess virtues they do not follow. The thoroughly analyzed by Drs. Mendi-
Knights suggest various dishonest ruses
to deceive the Turks, and justify them low and Shalvi. The account they
on the grounds of 'simple policy.' this give of their study of the Shylock
word having the special associations of
Machiavellian expediency. Little won- theme is one of the most effective
der that Barabas exclaims that he and most thought-provoking pre-
wilt imitate their hypocrisy and lying
and their vices which they profess sented in many years.
under the names 'of mere charity and
Christian truth.' If the Jew is an evil
monster. the Christians are no better.
"In the words of Lear: Change
places and, handy-dandy, which is the
Justice, which is the thief? This is
no simple anti-semitisrn. And what are
the Machiavellian atheist Marlowe's own
views on cupidity, on 'policy,' and on
'charity and Christian truth."
"The true usurers of England were
the merchant classes and the owners
of property and In fact almost all
people of means, for who did not bor-
row or lend or use credit? But the
Puritans avowedly dealt in finance. Ben
Jonson satirizes them as such The Al-
chemist and in Bartholemew Fair.
Here was a good whipping-boy, if one
had the courage to oppose them for in
London it was they who ruled. 'All's
heathen but the Hebrew,' says the
Puritan Ananias in The Alchemist. They
j le,.. They were attributed to the
Fanatically
Lts.unh rs
tetn
e d-
ing in their fara saa
nit
a t n ,u rigid fain-
n d arTa l e s.rtac trnse tn
ri f y pl cil, c s iplli
oti ng
the Bible as the sole source Of wisdom
and standard of behaviour; and they
were money-lenders. When Shakes-
peare, therefore, wished to write a
play on a Jew to exploit a sudden wave
of anti-semitism aroused by the trial
On a trumped-up charge of treason of
the Portugiese
the very
sSevtTes fitg enieL=trrewg
had served the queen as her physician
for forty years, he embarked on a
theme so charged with special associa-
tions that it threatened to disrupt his
intentions. He wanted to compete with
one of the most successful theatrical
draws at the rival theatre of Henslowe.
Marlowe's Jew of Malta. Marlowe had
presented the tragedy of a Jew; he
would write a comedy with a Jew in
it But he had no experience of Jews
to go on. There was plenty of legend
and literary source material however.
and these were assimilated to the stan-
dard image of the Jew enshrined in
legend from the middle-ages. part devil,
part monster. One aspect of this
legend was based on fact. the Jew
as international merchant, financier
and usurer, even if this function had
Young Israel $21,000 Israel Bond Sale
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, October 6, 1967-23
S. Africa Sends Record
$30,000,000 to Israel
Valuable Study of Shakespeare's Works, Analysis
of Shylock in Hebrew U. Professors' New Volume
JERUSALEM (ZINS) — South
Africa broke the record in its fund-
raising efforts for Israel during
the recent crisis.
Its Jewish population of 117,000
raised $30,000,000.
A record was also broken in
Switzerland where its 20,000 Jews
raised $10,000,000.
The average raised during the
Israel Emergency Campaign was
15 times greater than amounts
raised in previous years,
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YOSEF SERLIN, deputy speaker
of the Knesset, has arrived in New
York to participate in the current
Session of the United Nations as
part of the Israeli UN Delegation.
During his visit, Serlin will also
participate in meetings of the head
office of the World Union of
General Zionists and will address
the forthcoming session of the ZOA
national executive committee,
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At the leadership reception on behalf of Young Israel Oak-Woods
and Young Israel Greenfield, where $21,000 in Israel Bond subscrip-
tions was announced, are (from left) Rabbi Joshua Sperka, Mr. and
Mrs. Salek Lessman, who hosted the reception; Rabbi David B.
Hollander, former president of the Rabbinical Council of America,
guest speaker; and Rabbi James I. Gordon of Young Israel Oak-
Woods. The affair was held In advance of the Israel Bond High
Holy Day appeals.