Associate's Lecture by Anita Allen (The Merchant of Venice)

Description

Dr. Anita LaFrance Allen, a professor of Law and Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, will give a lecture entitled "Cross Cultural Commerce in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Revisited" for the Department of Comparative Thought and Literature.

The Merchant of Venice is a case study in the pitfalls of cross-culture exchange -- focusing on Christians and Jews. As such, Shakespeare's play is pertinent to current reflections on the effects of cultural differences and cultural antagonisms on commerce. In the play, citizens and "aliens" are mutually contemptuous, trades often lack conscience, and many attractive trades are fraught with unforeseen peril. Merchant is deeply pessimistic about the personal satisfaction one can derive from international and cross-cultural commerce. The play is equally pessimistic about the possibility of justice for an "alien" who must rely on the legal institutions of a foreign power to resolve private disputes with that power's citizens. Why don't we stick to our own kind? Portia remarks that, "The brain may devise laws for the blood, but a hot temper leaps o'er a cold decree." Can law prevail over politics, be something other than a political tool for a dominant group?