Religious views of William Shakespeare his time in his sensitivity to the Islamic world and its inhabitants." According to the conclusion of Prof Matthew Dimmock, Shakespeare's depiction of Islam and Muslims "denied either scriptural congruence or religious coherence, embodied in the martially aggressive male." Shakespeare's works included several Muslim characters, including Aaron the Moor in "Titus Andronicus", the Prince of Morocco in "The Merchant of Venice" and Othello in the eponymous play. These works are said to have been inspired by several Moorish delegations from Morocco to Elizabethan England around 1600, such as that of Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud. Shakespeare also makes one explicit reference
The Merchant of Venice (opera) role of Shylock was sung by the baritone Lester Lynch. Lynch is an African American and this in the opinion of the critic of "The Guardian" gave the opera "a further racist edge...[and] a deliberately shocking contemporary resonance." The Bregenz production was recorded as a DVD by Unitel Classica in 2014, and issued together with a documentary DVD about the planning and development of the production directed by Mark Charles (Unitel 2072708-1/-2). Notes Sources The Merchant of Venice (opera) The Merchant of Venice is an opera by André Tchaikowsky (1935–1982) to a libretto, based on the Shakespeare play, by John