The Prince of Morocco: Racial Perception in The Merchant of Venice Anonymous College

Art reflects the social context it was created in, and so can be useful in determining social opinions of different time periods. Live theatre is no different, and the way minority characters were written and portrayed on stage can be valuable to understanding how they were viewed by the larger majority at the time the play was produced. Their outward physical appearance is especially important, as their clothing and makeup determines the initial thoughts of the audience: whether they come on stage in blackface or covered head to toe in cloth, their characterization is significantly impacted. In many examples of portrayals of people of color, the characters themselves acknowledge their minority status at great length, and the rest of their actions in relation to the plot are largely related to that subject position. While the most obvious outsider in The Merchant of Venice is Shylock, the Jewish moneylender vilified for his insistence on the bodily harm of a man in his debt, a character with a much smaller role operated in a sphere similar to his. Named only as the prince of Morocco, this man sought Portia’s hand in marriage: a wealthy white woman who would be desirable for the purpose of increasing both wealth and class...