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The appropriation of Shakespeare by the German educated middle classes is a well-known phenomenon. What perhaps is less well known is how often German theaters performed The Merchant of Venice. Andrew Bonnell points out that during much of the Imperial and Weimar periods, it ranked second or third among all the Shakespearean repertory in terms of the number of its performances. Against this background the author has chosen to look at the reception of Shylock in the hope of making a contribution to the study of German anti-Semitism. He follows the evolution of the role from the appearance of Shylock as a stock Jewish moneylender in the eighteenth century through the more psychologically nuanced performances on the late Imperial and Weimar stages. Actors playing Shylock had to decide which aspect of this ambivalent character to emphasize: the cruel, vengeful, and rapacious moneylender or the wronged father and victim of oppression, who pleads for his common humanity. Naturally some of the strongest performances stressed the ambivalence or drew connections between Shylock's vengefulness and his mistreatment by the Christian population. The role...