The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-03-17
Says Play Made r. ossi-I
bic Only by Absence
Of Wife and Mother.
.SHYL OCKS SINsLlGHT OF
WRONG G ILL "a CTER
DR.. Calisch Declares Play is ths.
Misrepresentation Of Wronged
People-Defends His Peo-
pie Against Irnputa
tions Of Merchant
Of Venice. .

Of Venice.
Rabbi e. N. Callsch last night deliver
ed lecture on "Thea Merchant OF We
nice, in which he declared with u ring 4
Ing emphasis that Shylock was th,.
wronged and outraged character, ants
that the play, usually listed as a comedy
is a tragedy of misrepresented people
doomed to a world old insult and Shumilisb (
ton.
DR.. Calisch spoke before a fairly larsS
audience, and delivered himself With I
much power and thought.
Heytook his text from Proverbs axxt:si,
"Gtve her OF the fruit of her hands and
lot her own works praise her in thu
gates"
The Merchant OF Venice is usually list
cd as q comedy. In reality 1t is a tragedy.
more bitter than the imagination of this
poet could have created. the tragedy soi
the Misrepresentation OF the cllaracte.
OF a people, tile tragedy of their century
enduring humiliation and insult, and oi !
the fastening OF a cruelty false nains
upon them. The Jew has suffered from
many mIsrepresentations. Most Of their
have been outliyed. but the genius o,
Shakespeare has given worldwide cur
rency to the unnatural and untrue con.
ception that the Jews are a class Of
people OF whom a hard-hearted and
8vengcful usurer is the type. The trngedy
grows deeper when we consider, (a) that II !
z all human probability Shakespeare nevek
saw u Jew or had any personal rela.
ttons with him, (b) that the original story
of the episode OF the pound OF flesh
~
#inal shylocl< was a C,hristian "A, maj {
Fthe int,cs1,,c,,o, -
.,,1 ,i,.,t ~ . -
storv nf tto Ian,.,, ,,aa,,1 ~, - -.
~. ,.,sa. sM .I, est .,'
s''a. M ne ls s,'iie hsither crue' nor fensciul.
History OF the P1av. SiS
DR.. Calisct then gave the storp s, i s.ss
first appeared about 1p,0 Z Il, Z !, Er,1,;,
translation of "a novel called q. f,oIopn-s
-tfios. Hc spoke sof he various versions
as they appeared in tie early lit era lures
sof Italy, France, Germany, England and
Denmark. In all these versions the
cruel creditor is always 4 Christian How.
came the Jew into the story? Professor
Graet1, who has written a monograph on
the subject. says that he was introduced
I by All Italian writer. Giovanni F'iorentino.s.
who compiled a volume of short stories
called "Pecorone, for the amusement
aor the court. F1orcntln wrote but three
decades a1ter the plack plague that swept
oven europe IN ls4s, When tnc Jews We're.
ol po,sonlE
,.s
au
MI. baJeo,,s ~, ,nn,s M
- = NO !. M - ~
,ishaS a,,o ra 2 ,,iti, ,,s tar,.,
for ill. IT, tSa Scene laid IN the sN,er,
scl,nnt enf Venice. in Venice. the horrowars
IA a merchant. whose wealth lies in shipsS
and their Icarpoes. and who also l,or-
rows not for himself, but for an im-
pecunious friend who is wooing ID Al,
heiress, His three leading Characters are.
drawn from there. Shylock, Antonio and s
Bassanio, also Portia and her maid.
shakespearc inserted Jessica Shylocks
daughter.
Glad there been in!s Shyiocks S home n
jewish wife and mother. the maxim. OF
the bond would have been more than tm-
nrobable. the inslsteuce on the bond
you'd neverf hnvo taken Ma ce \, AM, tha
no -. tao,, n,t' ~ tho ~, u ,nn
,se
r,,ss
- -
ne -. I,
wh,ch h,s a Ifa,, a s ne "
ipanion. the one. as b IN eyery Jewisl,3s
household With whom no shared allisI,jss
Joys and who 5llshtened all his burdens.
-. :.
30 ! "a i,ies ana n, tI,a ,.a,itnIsa
ANn wv
~ ~ Wuuu Aos
told toll, hin, Mn that that the Ii treatment q % tho Gen.
ol ~, "a r.,s a. HI. m
and ana Wo Would Sh have raminaed a him ias. that
spatient sufrerance was the badge OF his 4