The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 18.0561 Tuesday, 28 August 2007
[1] From: Bob Lapides <
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Date: Saturday, 25 Aug 2007 11:49:19 EDT
Subj: Re: SHK 18.0557 Redheads
[2] From: V. Kerry Inman <
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Date: Saturday, 25 Aug 2007 12:52:22 -0400
Subj: Re: SHK 18.0557 Redheads
[3] From: Arthur Lindley <
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Date: Saturday, 25 Aug 2007 19:21:50 +0000
Subj: Re: SHK 18.0557 Redheads
[4] From: Donald Bloom <
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Date: Monday, 27 Aug 2007 11:33:09 -0500
Subj: RE: SHK 18.0557 Redheads
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Bob Lapides <
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Date: Saturday, 25 Aug 2007 11:49:19 EDT
Subject: 18.0557 Redheads
Comment: Re: SHK 18.0557 Redheads
It's true that Dickens used stock theatrical stereotypes in depicting
Fagin, but he found his imagery in the contemporary theatre he spent a
lot of time frequenting, not in medieval mystery plays, which he didn't
know about. The first time Fagin appears in *Oliver Twist,* btw, he is
holding a piece of pork or bacon on a toasting fork, suggesting the
devil's pitchfork as well as a sign that he has no more regard for
Jewish law than he has for civil law.
Bob Lapides
[2]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: V. Kerry Inman <
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Date: Saturday, 25 Aug 2007 12:52:22 -0400
Subject: 18.0557 Redheads
Comment: Re: SHK 18.0557 Redheads
By the way--I just remembered that a friend once indicated she believed
the red
hair among Jews was due to Jewish women having been raped by Teutonic males.
Red hair among Jews is ancient though not common. One of the bodies of a
Jewish
woman exhumed at Massada was a redhead. This is less than a century
after Judas
died and certainly makes it possible that he actually was a redhead and
makes a
redheaded Shylock less than completely outrageous.
V. Kerry Inman
[3]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Arthur Lindley <
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Date: Saturday, 25 Aug 2007 19:21:50 +0000
Subject: 18.0557 Redheads
Comment: Re: SHK 18.0557 Redheads
If we haven't exhausted this topic yet, I might add that Jonathan
Slinger is currently playing a flamingly red-wigged Richard II at the
RSC in Stratford. He's meant, as far as I could tell, to resemble
Elizabeth rather than Barabas or Shylock.
Arthur Lindley
[4]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Donald Bloom <
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Date: Monday, 27 Aug 2007 11:33:09 -0500
Subject: 18.0557 Redheads
Comment: RE: SHK 18.0557 Redheads
Nicole Coonradt quotes "'Shylock in Celluloid,' a commentary by Kathryn
Bernheimer on the Al Pacino MOV film, directed by Michael Radford:"
"Radford points out that at the time the lending of money with interest
was forbidden to Christians but permitted for Jews, who were not allowed
to own property, were locked in a ghetto at night and forced to wear a
red hat in public -- all details included in the film."
A little precision, please. In the first place, any number of Christians
(including crusading orders and some very large international banks
based in Italy) lent money at interest. In the second place, Jews were
variously restricted in various places at various times across Europe.
Finally, Jews were not restricted at all in England, since there were
effectively none in the whole country (the queen's unfortunate physician
aside).
I don't hold Coonradt responsible for this imprecision, but I regret her
having quoted it.
And I am forced to return to my original questions. Does anybody have a
clue as to why Jews should be associated with red hair?
Peter Bridgman's note about Esau (Genesis 25) is interesting, but would
suggest that the anti-red hair tradition started within the Jewish
community, and was later picked up and changed by Christians. Is that
possible? Would that explain the still-current Islamic / Middle Eastern
association of red hair with bad luck?
Has it always had that negative association among ethnic groups (such as
the Celtic and Germanic) in which red hair is common? If not, when did
it start?
Did it truly have this bad connotation in Shakespeare's time when not
associated with Jews? Did anyone comment on the queen's complexion? Did
sonneteers try to explain it away, as they might the failure of their
beloved to have blonde hair?
Is there any study on the folklore of hair color and complexion?
Still in search of concrete information,
don
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