# data[].attributes.body
The popular saying originated from the Merchant of Venice. This wittingly plays on the fact that gold is not shiny, contrary to popular belief. Rather- a shiny alternative to gold known as fools gold (Pyrite).

# data[].attributes.body
Jessica is a name we see all to often in our modern society. It turns out Shakespeare invented the name Jessica in The Merchant of Venice.

# data[].attributes.body
In World War 2 the Nazis used Shylock (a stereotypical money lending Jew) as propoganda against Jewish people.

# data[].attributes.body
It is said that The Merchant of Venice was based off of a tale called "The Simpleton". In this a wealthy woman attempts to get her poor husband more money by going to a money lender. He demands a pound of flesh as collateral.

# data[].attributes.body
Shakespeare's mother's cousin Edward Arden was arrested for plotting against Queen Elizabeth I. He was held in the London tower and later executed. No evidence was found convicting him of the crime making it wrongful imprisonment and murder.

# data[].attributes.body
Shakespeare's tomb has remained untouched since 1747 after he had a poem etched in stating anyone that moved his remains would be cursed for the rest of their life. Would you risk it?

# data[].attributes.body
Shakespeare often wrote about death in his plays, however, one form of death that was most common was suicide. Shakespeare wrote about suicide 13 times in his plays. Was it good content or did it rouse a different part of Shakespeare we never got to see?

# data[].attributes.body
Anywhere from a simple theft to a murder could leave you swinging by your neck infront of a large crowd of people.

# data[].attributes.body
It's a nice morning in 1740 London and a cool breeze brushes your cheek as you open the window to your house. A man seeling papers on the corner is informing everyone of a show you won't want to miss. Realising you have no plans for that day, you head down to the town square to watch the show. On the stage you see some government officials and you see the face of the man all of London has been talking about for weeks. The men on the stage take their places and the crowd hushes instinctively at the same time. The platform below this infamous man drops and the show starts. The man shakes and squirms as the life is drained out of him. Finally the quiet wispers of the crowd go silent as a lifeless cadaver hangs motionless from a braided rope tied around his neck. The rope is cut and he falls to the ground. Everyone disperses from the square. On the way back home you see a vendor selling pie. You pull out your currency and pay for a fresh pie. Getting home you place the pie down and distribute it into 8 neat slices.

# data[].attributes.body
Shakespeare never published his own plays but his friends Henry Condell and John Hemminges published them, changing the future of the English language.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This article is about Shakespeare’s history plays. For a history of the reception of Shakespeare’s work, see Reputation of William Shakespeare.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Great British Mag content team updated the article 10 Strange facts about Shakespeare on 14 April 2021.
English playwright William Shakespeare is by far one of the most famous names in the theatre industry, yet there are still many facts about him that would shock and surprise you. Here are 10 strange facts to get you started.

1. Shakespeare's will was slightly strange

The only thing Shakespeare left to his wife in his will was the second-best bed in the house. His will reads: '"I gyve unto my wife my second best bed with the furniture". The "furniture" refers to the linen for the bed.

2. One of Shakespeare's relatives was executed

Edward Arden, a cousin of Shakespeare's mother, was arrested for reportedly plotting against Queen Elizabeth I, although there was no clear evidence that he was actually involved. He was then imprisoned in the Tower of London and executed. Ouch!

3. Shakespeare was not an Elizabethan playwright

Calling Shakespeare an Elizabethan playwright is actually incorrect. The majority of his plays were written after Queen Elizabeth I's death, making him a Jacobean writer.

4. Shakespeare often wrote about suicide

Shakespeare seemed to be fond of one particular kind of death - suicide. In fact, suicide occurs a whopping 13 times in Shakespearean plays.

5. Two of Shakespeare's plays have been translated into Klingon

Klingon is the language created for the Star Trek science fiction series. You can read Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing in the fantasy language.

6. Some moons were named after Shakespeare's characters

The moons circling around the planet of Uranus are mostly named after characters from Shakespeare plays, including Oberon, Ariel, and Juliet.

7. No one's dared to go close to Shakespeare's tomb since 1747

Shakespeare had a poem sketched into his tomb in Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon. It says anyone who moves his bones will be cursed. Consequently, his grave has gone untouched since 1747.

8. One of Shakespeare's plays is never performed by modern theatre companies

One of Shakespeare's plays has been completely lost to history. There is evidence that he wrote a play called Cardenio which was performed in England, but no known copy of the play exists.

9. Shakespeare never published any of his own plays

Thankfully his friends John Heminges and Henry Condell did it posthumously and saved the world of theatre.

10. Shakespeare turned to sonnets because of a plague

He only stopped writing plays and turned to sonnets because the plague caused all theatres to be shut down. Maybe you could say the plague wasn't so bad after all?

You may also want to read
Popular English words that get shortened 7 foreign foods that Brits love What Brits say vs what they actually mean

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10 strange facts about playwright William Shakespeare

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Great British Mag content team updated the article 10 Strange facts about Shakespeare on 14 April 2021. English playwright William Shakespeare is by far one of the most famous names in the theatre industry, yet there are still many facts about him that would shock and surprise you.

# data[].attributes.body
Wikiembeds
UKHist embeds
GREATBRITMAG embeds

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
THEATER

Credit... The New York Times Archives

This is a digitized version of an article from The Times's print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.

Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions.

Shylock has traditionally been one of Shakespeare's most provocative and analyzed characters. In his new book, "Shylock: A Legend and Its Legacy," to be published this week by Simon & Schuster, John Gross traces the history of the character and the play, "The Merchant of Venice," from their origins to modern times. In this excerpt, Mr. Gross, the theater critic of The Sunday Telegraph of London, explores how Shylock was used as a propaganda tool in Nazi Germany.

We have no way of knowing what was in Shakespeare's mind when he began writing "The Merchant of Venice." Even if we had, what he intended and what he accomplished are not necessarily the same thing. "Never trust the artist, trust the tale." Still, we can take a reasonable guess at his intentions, and we can reasonably assume that they were at least partly fulfilled.

Shylock is meant to be a villain. There can be arguments about his motives and his personality, but there can be no serious argument about his behavior. Given the opportunity -- one that he himself has created -- he attempts to commit legalized murder.

He is also a Jewish villain. He did not have to be. Christians were moneylenders, too, and the story would have worked perfectly well with a Christian villain. What would be almost inconceivable on the other hand would be for him to be Jewish -- in a play written in the 16th century -- and for it not to count, except in some minor or attenuated sense. Jewishness is one of his primary characteristics; he emphasizes it himself, and it is emphasized for him by everyone with whom he has dealings.

His Jewish villainies, moreover, are strictly traditional. He is a usurer; he is cunning and cruel; he pursues a vendetta against Christians -- or against their noblest available representative. Behind his plot against the altruistic Antonio, who must face the consequences of having signed a defaulted loan, lie fantasies of ritual murder that ultimately go back to the Jews' supposed role in the Crucifixion.

As a villain, Shylock was supposed to be a hate figure. As the villain in a comedy, whose designs were thwarted, he was, paradoxically, someone to be taken seriously. Invested with Shakespearean power and, in time, with Shakespearean prestige, Shylock the Jewish villain became part of world mythology. He may not have added anything to existing stereotypes, but as the most famous Jewish character in literature he helped to spread them and to keep them vigorously alive. He belongs, inescapably, to the history of anti-Semitism.

The year 1933 was one of the great dividing lines of history. Anti-Semitism of the most vicious kind had become the official policy of one of the most advanced nations in the world. Whatever other cultural changes they inflicted, the Nazis retained the traditional German respect for Shakespeare -- "unser Shakespear" ("our Shakespeare").

During the period in which the Nazis held power, almost all his plays were produced in Germany, some of them many times over; in September 1939 he was the one author exempt from the official ban on enemy dramatists. His works were extolled for the lessons they offered in patriotism, the need for strong leadership, the overriding claims of the state. Eventually, it is true, a number of them were suppressed: "Othello," for example, on racial grounds, "Antony and Cleopatra" because it was "too perverse and effeminate." But in general the esteem in which he was held never wavered.

"The Merchant of Venice" enjoyed special popularity from the outset. In 1933 there were no less than 20 separate productions; between 1934 and 1939 there were another 30. The emphasis was in every case strongly anti-Semitic (how could it have been otherwise?), and there were commentators on hand to make sure that audiences did not miss any of the implications.

In 1935, for instance, a newspaper in Konigsberg carried an essay to coincide with a production in the local theater. The writer conceded that at first sight there was something worrying about a play in which a Jew was portrayed as hard-working and thrifty, and the Christians could easily be mistaken for irresponsible idlers. But Shylock, properly understood, was cowardly and malicious, while in the trial scene both Antonio and his friends acted with a selflessness that proved their true worth. At the climax, two opposing worlds stood revealed, and "the secret of these worlds has only now become clear to us, since we now know that they are the expression of racial opposites." Without being fully aware of what he was doing, Shakespeare had depicted the essence of the situation, "and unfurled a problem that is of the highest relevance to us today."

There was no need, after all, to resort to textual innovations or directorial tricks to raise tension inside a theater. It was enough to recall events in the world outside: the same hostile portrayal of Shylock was liable to seem far more charged after 1933 than it would have been before.

When the director Paul Rose staged the play in Berlin in 1942, he nonetheless felt it necessary to whip up additional animosity. Rose's production had a commedia dell'arte flavor; it emphasized the festive aspects of the story -- so much so that for a time the critic of the official Nazi newspaper, the Volkischer Beobachter, was afraid that the playwright's message was going to get lost in "the play of hands, feet and bodies." But everything turned out well. In the trial scene the message reasserted itself, "like an accusation against the race." Rose had scattered a number of extras in the audience, to shout and curse when Shylock appeared: "The voice of the people chimed in from the gallery, their angry cries and shrill whistles echoed from the stalls."

The most notorious "Merchant of Venice" of the Nazi years was the production that opened at the Burg theater in Vienna in May 1943. The play was put on at the express command of the gauleiter, or district leader, for Vienna, Baldur von Schirach. The director, Lothar Muthel, had been a member of the Nazi party since 1933; Shylock was played by Werner Krauss -- a great actor, probably best remembered today for his appearance in the film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari."

By 1943 there were very few Jews left in Vienna. In the course of the previous year most had been deported amid horrifying and pitiful scenes. And Baldur von Schirach was proud of the part he had played in their removal. Krauss had been a much-acclaimed Shylock in the 1920's, but even more to the point he had lent his talents to the 1940 film "Jew Suss," in which he had played all the Jewish roles -- one nastier than the next -- apart from that of Suss himself.

"Jew Suss" marked a new stage in Nazi propaganda. It had been made, on Goebbels's instructions, when the Final Solution was already taking shape; it was repeatedly shown in occupied territories on the eve of roundups and "actions" to intensify anti-Jewish feeling and dispel any possible sympathy for the victims.

Lothar Muthel claimed that he wanted to present "The Merchant of Venice" as a "fantastical comedy," and Krauss insured that it was comedy of the most sinister kind. According to one critic, his first entrance was enough to make the entire audience shudder: "With a crash and a weird train of shadows, something revoltingly alien and startlingly repulsive crawled across the stage." Another account was more specific:

"The pale pink face, surrounded by bright red hair and beard, with its unsteady, cunning little eyes; the greasy caftan with the yellow prayer shawl slung round, the splay-footed, shuffling walk; the foot stamping with rage; the clawlike gestures with the hands; the voice, now bawling, now muttering -- all add up to a pathological image of the East European Jewish type, expressing all its inner and outer uncleanliness, emphasizing danger through humor."

In 1948 Krauss appeared before a de-Nazification court in Stuttgart. One of the documents he produced in his defense was a letter he had received from Bernard Shaw, asserting that to hold him responsible for the crimes of the regime he had served was "vindictive stupidity." In spite of this, he was convicted as a "minor offender" and fined. But it did not take him long to work his way back to respectability. During the 1950's he received a number of high honors, both from the state and from the German theatrical profession.

Exactly where the play now stands depends on one's wider reading of European history. I personally think it is absurd to suppose there is a direct line of descent from Shylock's enemies to Hitler, but that is because I do not believe the Holocaust was in any way inevitable. I do believe, on the other hand, that the ground for the Holocaust was well prepared, and to that extent the play can never seem quite the same again. It is still a masterpiece; but there is a permanent chill in the air, even in the scenes where Portia presides, even in the gardens of Belmont.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
THEATER; Shylock and Nazi Propaganda (Published 1993)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
THEATER This is a digitized version of an article from The Times's print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions.

# data[].attributes.body
Source: New York Times

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, written in 1596-97, was not initially one of the Bard's more popular plays, but since the 17th century it has been adapted into several operas and more than a dozen films, including a Maori (indigenous New Zealander) version.

The Merchant of Venice is counted among Shakespeare's comedies, though its darker themes and the complex characterizations of Portia and Shylock tend to tilt it toward tragedy. Although the play is often revived, its anti-Semitism challenges critics and viewers. Still, its themes of the role of religion in moral actions and the distinction between appearance and reality cause modern viewers to reflect seriously on the centuries-old play.

1. The expression "all that glitters is not gold" originated in The Merchant of Venice.

"All that glitters ("glisters" in The Merchant of Venice) is not gold," meaning that not everything that looks valuable is, is only one of the commonly used phrases that came from Shakespeare's play. Others include:

"with bated breath" (with great anticipation)

"a pound of flesh" (something owed that must be paid back, no matter what the cost)

"a blinking idiot" (a fool)

2. Shakespeare's source for The Merchant of Venice may have been an Italian tale called "The Simpleton."

Shakespeare's main source for The Merchant of Venice was probably an Italian tale in a collection called Il Pecorone, or The Simpleton. It's unclear if Shakespeare would have read the story in Italian or in a translation. The Simpleton tells of a wealthy woman whose husband needs money. His friend borrows the money for him from a Jewish moneylender, who demands a pound of flesh as payment. This agreement is reflected in the arrangement made between Shylock and Antonio in The Merchant of Venice.

3. English King James I loved The Merchant of Venice.

The first recorded performance of The Merchant of Venice was on February 10, 1605, before King James I at court. After the first performance, the king commanded that another be performed the following Tuesday, indicating that he enjoyed the play. These are the only two recorded performances of the play during Shakespeare's lifetime, but the printed title page of the play states it was "diuers [divers, or many] times acted by the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants [servants]," meaning that it was often acted by the Lord Chamberlain's players, a group of actors.

4. The Nazis used The Merchant of Venice as propaganda.

Shylock, the Jewish villain of The Merchant of Venice, is characterized as cruel and cunning. Though Shakespeare gave him sympathetic characteristics, the Nazis believed the play was in line with their virulent anti-Semitism. There were 50 productions of the play in Germany between 1933 and 1939. The most notorious production was in Vienna in Nazi Austria in 1943; one critic wrote of Shylock's entrance that "With a crash and a weird train of shadows, something revoltingly alien and startlingly repulsive crawled across the stage."

5. A film version of The Merchant of Venice starring Orson Welles was never released because Welles claimed the negative was stolen.

In 1969 actor/director Orson Welles began filming a television adaptation of The Merchant of Venice for CBS. However, the network withdrew its financial support for the project, and it was never finished. Welles claimed the negative for the film was stolen, but in fact it was the version of the film that included the sound that went missing. After discovering the original script and director's notes, editor Stefan Droessler put together a version of the film that was shown at the Venice Film Festival and displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2015.

6. Some readers find a gay subtext in the relationship between Antonio and Bassanio.

Some critics have interpreted the love between the characters Bassanio and Antonio as homoerotic in nature. When Antonio leaves Bassanio to marry Portia, Antonio's friend Salarino says:

I saw Bassanio and Antonio part:
And even there, his eye being big with tears,
Turning his face, he put his hand behind him,
And with affection wondrous sensible
He wrung Bassanio's hand; and so they parted.

Later, when Antonio believes he will die, he says to Bassanio:

Say how I loved you, speak me fair in death;
And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge
Whether Bassanio had not once a love.

Whether the men's love is ever consummated is uncertain, but Shakespeare makes it clear that they love each other "more than life itself."

7. Shakespeare invented the name Jessica in The Merchant of Venice.

Shakespeare gives Shylock's daughter the name Jessica. Before that time, the name didn't exist. It may have been based on the Biblical name Iscah, who was Abraham's niece. That name might have been spelled Jescha in Shakespeare's time.

8. In 2016 The Merchant of Venice was performed in its actual setting-the Jewish ghetto in Venice.

In 2016 a group called The Merchant in Venice commemorated the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death and the 500th anniversary of the formation of the Jewish ghetto in Venice by performing The Merchant of Venice in the place where it was actually set. The ghetto (from geto, meaning "foundry") was originally a place where Jews were segregated from the rest of the population, but it has now been restored and revitalized. The play was performed in multiple languages with a multinational cast.

9. Some critics feel The Merchant of Venice is too anti-Semitic to be redeemed.

In 1998 critic Harold Bloom wrote, "One would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to recognize that ... The Merchant of Venice is nevertheless a profoundly anti-Semitic work." The villainy of the Jew Shylock and his forced conversion to Christianity has appalled readers and viewers for centuries. Some scholars believe Shylock is redeemed in his speech "Hath not a Jew eyes?" However, playwright Arnold Wesker retorted that anti-Semites like Shylock because he fits the "myth they love" but also gives a redemptive speech: "They can breathe freely as he utters his apologia to help them feel merciful and generous while enjoying their cherished image of the cruel Jew."

10. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg presided over a mock trial featuring Antonio and Shylock.

In October 2016 Ruth Bader Ginsberg was the presiding judge at a mock appeals trial in the Venice ghetto. The trial sought to right the possible miscarriage of justice resulting from the clash between Shylock and Antonio in The Merchant of Venice. Actor F. Murray Abraham performed Shylock's "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech, and lawyers represented each side. The judges gave a unanimous verdict, giving Shylock back his property and money and overturning his forced conversion.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Merchant of Venice Things You Didnt Know | Course Hero

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, written in 1596-97, was not initially one of the Bard's more popular plays, but since the 17th century it has been adapted into several operas and more than a dozen films, including a Maori (indigenous New Zealander) version.

# data[].attributes.headline
“...language always occurs in a context - you can speak Elizabethan words, but to speak the language you have to put on the mindset...”― John Geddes, A Familiar Rain

# data[].attributes.subject
“...language always occurs in a context - you can speak Elizabethan words, but to speak the language you have to put on the mindset...”― John Geddes, A Familiar Rain

# data[].attributes.headline
“The great ages did not perhaps produce much more talent than ours,' [T.S.] Eliot wrote. 'But less talent was wasted.”― Jonah Lehrer, Imagine: How Creativity Works

# data[].attributes.subject
“The great ages did not perhaps produce much more talent than ours,' [T.S.] Eliot wrote. 'But less talent was wasted.”― Jonah Lehrer, Imagine: How Creativity Works

# data[].attributes.headline
“What, you egg? / [He stabs him.]”― William Shakespeare, Macbeth

# data[].attributes.subject
“What, you egg? / [He stabs him.]”― William Shakespeare, Macbeth

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"If 't be true mine own w'rds w're gold, then thy ears wouldst beest smelting pots and thy mind a mis'r. Or if 't be true thee hath found mine own w'rds base, then an alchemist beest."
― Stewart Stafford

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"If 't be true mine own w'rds w're gold, then thy ears wouldst beest smelting pots and thy mind a mis'r. Or if 't be true thee hath found mine own w'rds base, then an alchemist beest." ― Stewart Stafford