Word: shylock
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...common vice, as we see in the long history of human cruelty. Yet once we realize that our own consciousness is a product of our brains and that other people have brains like ours, a denial of other people's sentience becomes ludicrous. "Hath not a Jew eyes?" asked Shylock. Today the question is more pointed: Hath not a Jew--or an Arab, or an African, or a baby, or a dog--a cerebral cortex and a thalamus? The undeniable fact that we are all made of the same neural flesh makes it impossible to deny our common capacity...
...Operation Shylock by Philip Roth. The uncontested master of comic irony comes up with another ticklish situation: a writer named Philip Roth journeys to Israel to confront a Philip Roth imposter who is trying to persuade Jews to go back to Europe and re-establish Yiddish culture. This new Diaspora aims to avert an Arab-engineered Holocaust by returning Israelis to the countries of their ancestors. Seriously funny about Middle East madness, Roth riffs with an abandon not seen since Portnoy's Complaint...
Shakespeare didn't call his play Shylock: The Jew of Venice. The title character is Antonio, who rashly wagered his flesh as collateral for a loan. Shylock was simply Antonio's banker, whose humiliation--by lovely, quick-witted Portia--is irrelevant to the romantic intriguing that consumes most of the plot. But Shylock's injured majesty and his rough treatment by the play's putative hero and heroine have hijacked The Merchant of Venice and made it a showcase for great actors. In a production in which Laurence Olivier, say, or Dustin Hoffman took on Shylock, does anyone remember...
...Pacino Merchant of Venice. Director Michael Radford, going heavily for brooding atmosphere, has shrouded the canal town in dank mists until the Adriatic could be the river Styx. He has also wrapped the play in historical perspective, noting the sorry plight of Jews in 1596 Venice. This makes Shylock's demand for a pound of Christian flesh his righteous revenge for all the spittle and slander he has absorbed. Pacino emphasizes Shylock's gnomish outsider status: the victim as hero. And though he has a few oratorical geysers, he mostly understates his venom. Pacino seems to recall, from his early...
...film's end, Shylock gets one last glowering close-up, as if to say, "It was Portia's legal victory. But it's my movie." The angry little man is right. --By Richard Corliss