First, I have no idea why I've never friended you before. I am going to rectify that now, if you don't mind.
Second, thanks for the link to your review. It was highly educational and helped me put some things in context. I really don't know what to make of all the contradictions inherent in the text, and I'm not sure how anyone at any point could have overlooked them so completely as to pretend that Shylock was just a villain.
He made Shylock something more complex because of his writerly skills, not because Shylock was actually intended as something to COUNTER that stereotype, let alone as a genuine plea for tolerance.
This is about the only explanation that makes sense to me. Although, Shylock's speech... I dunno. It's hard to discount the aspects of social justice in the words as something just thrown in to make him more well rounded.
Jessica is particularly problematic. I thought that the actresses performance was surprisingly subtle. I really did think that she looked torn and it made me wonder what her home life had been like before she ran away. I'm guessing it wasn't very good. I thought her words of warning at the end about Shylock's intent to harm Antonio were almost made in the hopes that she could spare her father the consequences of his success.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2010-06-21 02:39 pm (UTC)Second, thanks for the link to your review. It was highly educational and helped me put some things in context. I really don't know what to make of all the contradictions inherent in the text, and I'm not sure how anyone at any point could have overlooked them so completely as to pretend that Shylock was just a villain.
He made Shylock something more complex because of his writerly skills, not because Shylock was actually intended as something to COUNTER that stereotype, let alone as a genuine plea for tolerance.
This is about the only explanation that makes sense to me. Although, Shylock's speech... I dunno. It's hard to discount the aspects of social justice in the words as something just thrown in to make him more well rounded.
Jessica is particularly problematic. I thought that the actresses performance was surprisingly subtle. I really did think that she looked torn and it made me wonder what her home life had been like before she ran away. I'm guessing it wasn't very good. I thought her words of warning at the end about Shylock's intent to harm Antonio were almost made in the hopes that she could spare her father the consequences of his success.
I don't know. It's all muddled.