Years ago, noted actor Dustin Hoffman played the role of Shylock in a Broadway production of Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice." That generated a certain amount of controversy, given the fact that "The Merchant of Venice" is a decidedly anti-Semitic play. Shylock is nothing but a collection of hoary Jewish stereotypes, as well as a melodramatic stock villain a la Snidely Whiplash. It's not hard to imagine audiences in Shakespeare's day booing and hissing at him as he performed the Elizabethan equivalent of tying a damsel in distress to the railroad tracks.
But Hoffman, himself Jewish, was lauded for performing the role in a way that turned Shylock into a three-dimensional person, generating a degree of sympathy for the character and his cultural plight. Ever since then, every production of "The Merchant of Venice" has taken a similar approach, which is entirely appropriate. Modern audiences, to their credit, refuse to tolerate ignorant slander of groups of people because of their race or religion.
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