Much attention has been paid to the place of Shylock in the history of anti-Semitism. Most scholars have agreed with Harold Bloom that Shakespeare’s famous villain is drawn with a “murderous anti-Semitism” and that Shakespeare uncritically mirrors the rife anti-Semitism of his times. While others see only gross caricature in The Merchant of Venice, however, Martin Yaffe finds a subtle analysis of the Jew’s place in a largely Christian society. In Shylock and the Jewish Question, Yaffe challenges the widespread assumption that Shakespeare is, in the final analysis, un¬ friendly to Jews. Emphasizing that 77le Merchant of Venice is a work of political philosophy as well as literature, Yaffe raises the intriguing possibility that Shakespeare presents Shylock not as a typical Jew, but as a bad one. He finds that Shakespeare’s consideration of Judaism in The Merchant of Venice provides an important contrast to Marlowe’s virulent The Jew of Malta. In many ways, he argues, Shakespeare’s play is even more accepting than Francis Bacon’s notably inclusive New Atlantis or the Jewish philosopher Benedict Spinoza’s argument for tolerance in the Theolofjico- Political Treatise. Although the book focuses on the Jewish question, it has larger implications for our thinking in a number of areas: the rise of liberal democracy, the development of religious toleration, the relation of church and state, and the interrelation of politics, economics, and religion—in short, a whole range of issues basic to the conception of modernity. Martin D. Yaffe is associate professor in the Department of Philosophy and Reli¬ gion Studies at University of North Texas in Denton. Johns Hopkins Jewish Studies Sander Gilman and Steven T. Katz SERIES EDITORS Shy lock and the Jewish Question Johns Hopkins Jewish Studies Sander Gilman and Steven T. Katz Series Editors Shylock and the Jewish Question Martin D. Yaffe The Johns Hopkins University Press Baltimore & London This book has been brought to publication with the generous assistance of Dr. Robert Fine and Nina Cortell and family, and of Norman and Carol Miller and family. © 1997 The Johns Hopkins University Press All rights reserved. Published 1997 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free recycled paper 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97 54321 The Johns Hopkins University Press 2715 North Charles Street Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4319 The Johns Hopkins Press Ltd., London Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data will be found at the end of this book. A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 0-8018-5648-5 For Ellis Rivkin o>toTi mvb >rp>n oo>y ,on nof^ .'impnN Nb ooviNb wp nm >d:n in (Job 29:15-16)