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Merchant of Veniceas Allegory

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Watching the closing courtroom scene of The Merchant of Venice, I was struck by how allegorical it is. First, there's Antonio, threatened with death for a debt that really was incurred by Bassanio. Second, he's threatened by a Jew. Third, Shylock says something like "his blood be on my head," the line that was deleted from the Passion. And the whole thing is in a setting where the issues are the conflict of justice/law and mercy, the outcome being that Venice is both just AND the justifier of Antonio.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Saturday, March 06, 2004 at 03:01 PM

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