To bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing else,
it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and
hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses,
mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my
bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine
enemies; and what's his reason? I am a Jew. Hath
not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs,
dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with
the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
to the same diseases, healed by the same means,
warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as
a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?
if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison
us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not
revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will
resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian,
what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian
wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by
Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you
teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I
will better the instruction.
When I read this, I was astounded. Shakespeare had, with a single speech, turned a potentially offensive stereotype into a complete, complex human being. Yes, he was still, in my mind, an antisemitic character, but, at the very least he was complex. I knew almost immediately that I wanted to write about Shylock.
However, it took me a while to figure out how. I batted around the idea of talking about Shylock in terms of deconstructionism, but I didn't like that much. After stumbling around for a topic for some time, I posted everything I had, which wasn't much. However, that frustrated post was what really got me started. A few of the comments on that post--especially Rachel's and Professor Burton's--got me thinking about the way Shylock was portrayed throughout history. If I recall correctly, I still wasn't quite sold, but it was something.
As part of my research efforts, I stumbled across an article about Merchant performances in Nazi Germany, briefly mentioned in this post. If you notice, I mention that I had a rather visceral reaction to the content--it was a compelling topic, but not one I necessarily wanted to write about. Later, I went to browse the library shelves, and came up with tons of sources, including several that dealt with the history of the play in Germany. Shortly thereafter, I realized that my best sources all dealt with Germany, and decided to write something about the play as it related to the Nazis. Partially because of a scarcity of sources, I decided to focus on Nazi-era and postwar productions.
Though I had a topic, I still struggled with a thesis. Submitting to a conference helped me narrow my ideas, but not much (and I ultimately ended up abandoning that tack entirely). As late as the week before the rough draft was due, I still didn't know what to write on. I had a lot of good ideas, and some great analyses of the plays and so forth all lined up and ready to go, but no idea what to do with them. It took a meeting with Professor Burton (a Shakespeare scholar, mind you) to really get an idea of where to go. Once I had that, I was able to tweak my largely-complete rough draft to meet my new topic, and, ultimately, I'm happy with the final product. A touch anticlimactic, perhaps, but it all worked out in the end :)
I really learned a lot over the course of writing this paper, most notably the fact that Shakespeare is surprisingly popular worldwide, especially in Germany. I never would have guessed that a playwright that we view as the epitome of English-ness could be appropriated by so many cultures across the globe. I also hadn't realized to what extent our own culture affects our entertainment in general, and Shakespeare in specific.
As far as research, I learned a few new techniques, especially the social aspect. I didn't feel that it was very helpful in getting feedback on my paper (the most useful feedback came from classmates and the professor) but articulating my topic to others really helped me understand it better.
That's what I got. It might be a little long, but it's good.
I hope you (and/or future students) find this helpful! Good luck, Fall 2013 students!
As part of my research efforts, I stumbled across an article about Merchant performances in Nazi Germany, briefly mentioned in this post. If you notice, I mention that I had a rather visceral reaction to the content--it was a compelling topic, but not one I necessarily wanted to write about. Later, I went to browse the library shelves, and came up with tons of sources, including several that dealt with the history of the play in Germany. Shortly thereafter, I realized that my best sources all dealt with Germany, and decided to write something about the play as it related to the Nazis. Partially because of a scarcity of sources, I decided to focus on Nazi-era and postwar productions.
Though I had a topic, I still struggled with a thesis. Submitting to a conference helped me narrow my ideas, but not much (and I ultimately ended up abandoning that tack entirely). As late as the week before the rough draft was due, I still didn't know what to write on. I had a lot of good ideas, and some great analyses of the plays and so forth all lined up and ready to go, but no idea what to do with them. It took a meeting with Professor Burton (a Shakespeare scholar, mind you) to really get an idea of where to go. Once I had that, I was able to tweak my largely-complete rough draft to meet my new topic, and, ultimately, I'm happy with the final product. A touch anticlimactic, perhaps, but it all worked out in the end :)
I really learned a lot over the course of writing this paper, most notably the fact that Shakespeare is surprisingly popular worldwide, especially in Germany. I never would have guessed that a playwright that we view as the epitome of English-ness could be appropriated by so many cultures across the globe. I also hadn't realized to what extent our own culture affects our entertainment in general, and Shakespeare in specific.
As far as research, I learned a few new techniques, especially the social aspect. I didn't feel that it was very helpful in getting feedback on my paper (the most useful feedback came from classmates and the professor) but articulating my topic to others really helped me understand it better.
That's what I got. It might be a little long, but it's good.
I hope you (and/or future students) find this helpful! Good luck, Fall 2013 students!
A helpful overview of your process. Thanks.
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