Jessica, Sarra, Ruth: Jewish Women in Shakespeare’s Venice

In this essay I juxtapose and compare the character of Jessica and the historical figure of Sarra Copia Sulam, an early seventeenth century intellectual living in the Ghetto of Venice. Working against the grain of inquiries that try to establish more or less convincing parallels between the actual history of the Jews of Venice and the text and context of Shakespeare's 'Jewish' play or even fantasize about Shakespeare visiting Venice, I am looking at how the play presupposes the place (as a non literary source) and how fact and fiction collide, interact, merge in the Ghetto of Venice, with a special role played by Jewish women, literary characters and historical individuals. Jessica and Sarra help me explore the entanglements and tensions between liberal, Jewish, and feminist interpretations of The Merchant of Venice. I conclude with a reflection on the role of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the US supreme court justice who presided over the mock appeal to Shylock that took place in Venice in conjunction with the first ever performance of The Merchant of Venice in the Ghetto in 2016, the year of the 500th anniversary of the institution of this iconic Jewish quarter and the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.