Newtown Native To Lead Shakespeare Discussion

By Nancy K. Crevier

Shakespeare lovers who have been attending the Shakespeare Festival lecture and film series at C.H. Booth Library that began in the fall are in for a treat this month. Dr George Geckle, professor emeritus, department of English Language and Literature at the University of South Carolina, will lead the library’s lecture on The Merchant of Venice on Tuesday, January 8, at 7 pm.

Dr Geckle is the author of Measure for Measure: Shakespeare: The Critical Tradition; Twentieth Century Interpretations of Measure for Measure; as well as several other writings on literary subjects. He is currently working on a book on Shakespeare and Marlowe: Ideology, Text, and Performance, and publishes reviews of Royal Shakespeare Company (England) productions in Shakespeare Bulletin: A Journal of Performance Criticism and Scholarship.

A 1957 graduate of Newtown High School, Dr Geckle was born and raised here and has maintained ties with the town during the ensuing years. He is pleased to have been asked to share his expertise locally.

 He left Newtown to attend Middlebury College in Vermont in 1957, then moved on to graduate school in Charlottesville, Va., and Madison, Wis., before settling down in South Carolina, where he has taught for nearly 40 years. He became interested in Shakespeare as a college student, and in graduate school decided that he would focus on Shakespeare. “I had considered James Joyce, but to spend 40 years on Joyce, I would have gone mad. Shakespeare is much more interesting, anyway,” Dr Geckle said.

Married to the late Judy Carroll of Newtown, and with his brother Bob Geckle still residing in the family home on Queen Street, Dr Geckle has found many reasons to return to Newtown over the years.

“I heard about the Shakespeare Festival from my sister-in-law, Carol, and from Janet Woycik, as well. It will be good to come up to Newtown to see everyone and take part in this event,” said Dr Geckle in a recent interview with The Bee.

The Merchant of Venice will offer a challenge to both himself and the readers, said Dr Geckle, being viewed as one of Shakespeare’s most controversial plays. “It is believed that Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice as a comedy, but it is no longer considered to be a comedy,” he said. The controversy lies in one of the play’s main characters, the moneylender and Jew, Shylock.

The tale hinges on the adversity between Antonio, a Venetian merchant, and Shylock. Antonio loans money to his friend, Bassanio, who wishes to court the wealthy Portia; but Antonio’s money is tied up in trade ships, so he enters into an agreement with the moneylender Shylock to borrow the money for Bassanio. As part of the agreement, Antonio agrees that should he default, Shylock is entitled to a pound of flesh in repayment. As Bassanio and Portia celebrate their betrothal, news reaches them that Antonio’s ships have been lost and that he must forfeit the pound of flesh to Shylock. Bassanio returns to Venice, as does Portia, disguised as a male lawyer. She is selected to preside at the trial to determine if Shylock will be rewarded his pound of flesh. In a duel of wits, Portia turns the tables on a loophole in the contract. Shylock not only does not get a pound of flesh, but is charged with attempting to harm a Venetian citizen, loses his fortune, and worst of all, must convert to Christianity. It is therein that the play comes under scrutiny from scholars.

“There is an animosity between the character Antonio and Shylock because Shylock is a usurer. Christians of Shakespeare’s time looked down on usury, even though most of them took part in the borrowing of money themselves,” Dr Geckle said.

The Shylock character was presented in an unfavorable light, and even today, said Dr Geckle, the debate continues as to whether or not Shakespeare’s play promoted anti-Semitism intentionally. “There is still prejudice and controversy,” he said. What readers of The Merchant of Venice must remember, said Dr Geckle, is that at the time Shakespeare penned the play, Jews had been expelled from England and had to practice religion in secrecy. “Shakespeare’s audience would have been mostly anti-Jewish and Anglo,” he said. “A lot of critics have argued that if the play is anti-Semitic, was Shakespeare also anti-Semitic, or did he just write a play with anti-Semitic characters?”

Dr Geckle feels that Shakespeare did want to present Shylock as the bad guy; however, over the years, Shylock has instead been seen as a victim of Christians, with the Christian power sector coming down on the poor, alien Jew. “Since the Holocaust, it’s one of those plays where you can’t portray Shylock as the truly evil villain,” he explained.

The play is about religious prejudice, hate, and the inability of people to think rationally, Dr Geckle said, issues that continue to be relevant to today’s readers and playgoers. “But the play is also really a boy-meets-girl play, and if you step back and look objectively, it’s really Portia’s play,” he said. Over time, however, it is the character of Shylock that has emerged as a “major, major role,” Dr Geckle said, noting that actors clamor for the part.

Dr Geckle will address The Merchant of Venice through readings from the play, from the writings of other Shakespearean scholars, and via video excerpts from several English productions, particularly the 1987 production starring Anthony Sher, and the one he believes influenced a later production starring Dustin Hoffman. Earlier films made by the BBC in the 1970s and 1980s will also be discussed at Dr Geckle’s lecture, as will the production starring Sir Lawrence Olivier and a more recent one directed by Trevor Nunn in 1999.

 He admires how beautifully structured The Merchant of Venice is, as are most of Shakespeare’s plays, said Dr Geckle. “There are three props Shakespeare uses in this play: one, the three caskets of Portia; two, the bond or agreement between Shylock and Antonio; and thirdly, the ring that Portia gives Bassanio. Shakespeare utilizes all of these props and resolves all of these issues by the end of the play.” Still, he admitted, the anti-Semitic overtones continue to prevent people from appreciating the other aspects of the play.

“Every time The Merchant of Venice is played, Jewish people would prefer it not be,” he noted, adding that Shakespearean scholars such as Yale’s Harold Bloom and Arnold Wesker consider the play to be “irredeemably anti-Semitic,” and capable of evoking a very visceral response from those of Jewish ancestry.

“It will be interesting to see the reaction of the audience at the library, and I hope that people will come away from the lecture with the feeling that this is very controversial and that there is a lot of stuff to think about. People will see parallels between today’s world and problems and that what Shakespeare wrote about then is still relevant today,” said Dr Geckle.

He suggested that those attending the lecture read the play prior to the presentation. He plans to make himself available following the presentation to continue conversation with those who are interested, as he suspects that the hour-long program may not be enough time to fully discuss The Merchant of Venice. “Once I get going on Shakespeare, the adrenaline gets going,” he said. “I look forward to being at the library. It will be fun.”

 

Dr George Geckle will present his lecture Tuesday evening, January 8, at 7 pm. For more information, contact the library at 426-4533. The Merchant of Venice film will be screened at the library on Tuesday, January 15, at 7 pm.