ABSTRACT
Reading Shakespeare in Jewish Theological Frameworks is the first monograph on The Merchant of Venice since the Holocaust that points to a Jewish path of criticism beyond victimhood. This book uses Jewish theology to argue that Shylock is an assimilated Jew and parvenu focused on competitive survival in a hostile, materialistic culture who turns Judaism upside down by pursuing vengeance. Then, it analyzes key moments of the play or epiphanies when Shylock and other corrupt characters in The Merchant of Venice reveal their potential to turn towards transcendence and moral agency. The book takes up the responsibility of hastening that turn by creatively reading five characters, Shylock, Antonio, Portia, Jessica, and Lorenzo, for glimpses of revelation that suggest their capacity for change. Each character approaches a potential epiphany which ultimately merges in the figure of the rings revealing a transformed spiritual and societal paradigm. The Introduction lays the foundation for this epiphanic analysis through a close look at the representative critical history of Merchant. After explaining the dual concepts of epiphany and revelation in the history of Jewish thought, this Introduction presents Shakespeare criticism that resonates with the freedom and universality inherent in the epiphany that—I argue Shakespeare is saying—points to a transformed societal paradigm beyond violence.
