The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 16.0228 Thursday, 3 February 2005 From: Harvey Roy GreenbergThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Date: Wednesday, 2 Feb 2005 15:24:56 EST Subject: 16.0217 Al Pacino in "Merchant of Venice" Comment: Re: SHK 16.0217 Al Pacino in "Merchant of Venice" Quite an artful reading by Professor Amit, but the play has suffered in this century by twisting Shylock into a 'good' character. He is indeed fully fleshed because that is what Shakespeare does with his most interesting character, but in no way does this mean that Shakespeare is offering the kind of complex apologia to the Jews this reader reads. I saw a production at the Globe about ten years back in which Shylock was detestably presented as a Sturmer archetype, and yet in a bizarre fashion this vile MOV made more sense than these pro-semitic readings. Ironically, I still remember that there was a very large photo of Sam Wanamaker in the adjacent building, who was a mover and shaker in resurrecting the Globe. Vus machts a yid? Harvey Roy Greenberg MD _______________________________________________________________ S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List Hardy M. Cook,This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net> DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the editor assumes no responsibility for them.