Races, Nations, and Cultural Differences in Titus Andronicus and The Merchant of Venice

Abstract

Races, Nations, and Cultural Differences in Titus Andronicus and The Merchant of Venice This paper attempts at international and intercultural dialogues in Shakespeare's two racialized plays, Titus Andronicus and The Merchant of Venice. It is well-known that the contrast between the defeat of the Jewish usurer Shylock and the redemption of the Christian merchant Antonio dramatizes the deep-seated antagonism between Judaism and Christianity in both the interests of centralizing nation-states and an increasingly capitalist marketplace. Titus Andronicus, too, contrasts the thwarting of the Moor Aaron with the rehabilitation of the Roman Titus against the backdrop of religious and political disputes. Focusing on such conflicts and feuds, this paper is further concerned with the ways in which Elizabethan theatergoers perceived and constructed Englishness that had been clearly at odds with ethnic identities such as Jewishness and blackness. As far as the contemporary idea of identity politics are concerned, it is not easy to compare the question of the Jewish identity with the issue of black identity in the early modern context. However, to pay close attention to Shakespeare's strategic employment of racist languages and stereotypes in the two texts is not only to reveal the exclusive formation of the English identity, but also to pursue an emancipatory mode of thinking which dismisses the notion of an inherent or essential identity based on the shared experience of injustice. Considering that insightful comparative reflections on the two plays are still wanting, one of the aims of this paper is, not to sully Shakespeare's name, but to enrich his texts with more complex interpretations.