The Merchant (play) wrote "Wesker’s point comes across clearly: that anti-Jewish prejudice is ingrained in English life." John Gross, another critic, stated that "As a humanistic sermon, "The Merchant" has much to recommend it. As a play, it lacks bite". "Shylock", a play by Mark Leiren-Young. The Merchant (play) The Merchant is a 1976 play in two acts by the English dramatist Arnold Wesker. It is based on William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice", and focus on the Jewish Shylock character, that play's principal antagonist. Wesker began writing the play after seeing a 1973 performance by Laurence Olivier. It premiered in Stockholm in
The Masque at Kenilworth and the ancient Greek poet Arion, who arrives astride a dolphin. A performance of the "summer night" scene from "The Merchant of Venice" is given, and then the Queen is sung lovingly to sleep. The "Merchant of Venice" scene is anachronistic, since Shakespeare was a young boy in 1575, but Chorley notes in his preface that Scott had also anachronistically used Shakespeare material. Chorley's effort was ridiculed as "trivial". In addition, Chorley faced much criticism over a misquote of "The Merchant of Venice" in No. 7, "Scene from "The Merchant of Venice"". Chorley's line reads: "Still quiring to the young-eyed