Jessica (The Merchant of Venice) critics have historically viewed the character negatively, highlighting her theft of her father's gold, her betrayal of his trust, and her apparently selfish motivations and aimless behaviour. In her 1980 survey, "In Defense of Jessica: The Runaway Daughter in "The Merchant of Venice"", Camille Slights calls out Arthur Quiller-Couch's opinion in the 1926 "The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare" as an extreme but representative example: Slights sees this as a consequence of sympathetic readings of Shylock, where the play is seen primarily as exposing Christian hypocrisy, and his actions merely natural responses to ostracism and prejudice. In such a reading Jessica's
Morris S. Levy Morris S. Levy Morris S. Levy is a film, television, and theatrical producer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and raised in Great Neck, NY. He is the founder and President of M.E.G.A. Films (Morsly Entertainment Group and the Arts), a New York based production company. He often films in Great Neck as well as all over the New York City area. His films have appeared in the Sundance Film Festival ("The Ten"-starring Paul Rudd, Winona Ryder, Jessica Alba and Liev Schreiber), the Cannes Film Festival ("Seduced and Abandoned"-starring Alec Baldwin, Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain), and the Tribeca Film