The Character of Shylock as a Cultural Mark: Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Bakathir's The New Shylock

Abstract

This study aims to depict the image of the Jew by two different authors of various periods of time. Undoubtedly, the Image of the Jew had been discussed and depicted in many plays of famous and prominent authors, especially during The Renaissance Era, such as Christopher Marlowe in his brilliant artistic work The Jew of Malta. In addition to, William Shakespeare’s glorious piece of art The Merchant of Venice which is described by Dr. Mahmoud Shetywi, in his article “The Merchant of Venice in Arabic” as the play that is considered till now as the most prominent Elizabethan comedy that has been studied, performed and adapted by many universal and Arab modern and contemporary authors ; who one of them is the Yemeni author and playwright Ali Ahmed Bakathir with his adaptation of The Merchant of Venice which is called The New Shylock , in which he relates the traditional Elizabethan image of the Jew to the issue of (The Arab – Israeli Conflict). So, this study endeavors to show the genius dramatic techniques, that are used by both authors and the effect of Shakespeare on Bakathier. The New Shylock can be considered an adaptation of The Merchant of Venice with modern modifications and new concepts that serve the purpose of Bakathir. Accordingly, the researchers will rely on the theory of adaptation in excavating the treasures of both texts. Moreover, there are various (psychological, political, social and anthropological) aspects of depth that they tried to convey within their creation of the character of Shylock and what does this character really imply of the essential issues, to criticize and relate them to their own societies and times.