A Little Chat About Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice

From University of Iowa's website

I love Coe's English department. But you probably already knew that. This year though, I am extra excited for our English department. We are having so many great speakers and I am jazzed. I love having an active discussion in a classroom setting, but I also love sitting in on a guest lecture or listening to a poetry reading.

The first event of the fall semester was from a guest lecturer who doesn't live too far away from Cedar Rapids. Her name is Miriam Gilbert, also known as Dr. Gilbert, and she taught for 44 years in the English department at the University of Iowa. Dr. Gilbert retired last year and is now on a whirlwind tour, lecturing in the United States and across the ocean. Her specialty is Shakespeare, which is perfect. To top that off, Dr. Gilbert also has a second home in Stratford-Upon-Avon (aka the birthplace of Shakespeare). 

When Gina introduced her, she talked about the first time she heard Dr. Gilbert speak. It was a lecture on Othello (one of my favorite plays) at the Newberry Library in Chicago (where my good buddy Millie is studying right now through an ACM program). Gina said this talk was transformative to Gina and the way she taught her classes. She was thrilled Dr. Gilbert was here to speak to us. 

Dr. Gilbert spoke to a pretty full Kesler auditorium. The topic of the lecture was the character Shylocke in The Merchant of Venice. Shylocke is a Jew, and Dr. Gilbert spoke about the how that label creates this character and how various people have portrayed Shylocke over the years. 

It was a fascinating talk. Dr. Gilbert was an engaging speaker and had a powerpoint with quotes, photos, and video clips to help explain her thesis. I learned more about Jewish stereotypes during Shakespeare's time and we even jumped into the text to see how the text painted a picture of Shylocke. She focused on this spectrum that various Shylockes played by various actors fall into. The last question she left us with is do we consider Shylocke a man with a knife or a man with a daughter? It was a powerful question after her interesting lecture and gave me a lot to think about. 

I am so glad the English department brought Dr. Gilbert to campus and just another reason why I love my major.