Blooms & Barnacles Why Stephen Talks about Shylock
Isn’t Carrotty Bess great?
Topics in this episode include why Stephen compares Shakespeare to Shylock, Shakespeare’s father John Shakespeare and his many business ventures, his legal troubles caused by some of those business ventures, Shakespeare’s corn-hoarding during a famine, the irony of Irish Nationalists being devoted to Shakespeare, Shakespeare’s role in providing propaganda for Britain’s colonial project, Mr. Deasy’s thoughts on Shakespeare, Chettle Falstaff, the time Shakespeare sued a guy over some malt, how The Merchant of Venice stoked Elizabethan antisemitism, plays that Shakespeare wrote to please various monarchs, James I and Macbeth, political propaganda found in Shakespeare’s comedies, and why Stephen’s point-of-view as an Irish person alters his interpretation of Shakespeare.
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On the Blog:
Decoding Dedalus: He drew Shylock out of his own long pocket.
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