The Merchant of Venice with F. Murray Abraham

In this episode, F. Murray Abraham examines ''The Merchant of Venice'' and efforts through the years to rescue England’s greatest playwright from any taint of anti-Semitism. The actor, who won an Obie in 2011 for his off-Broadway performance of Shylock, reveals Shakespeare probably never met a Jewish person, as three centuries before his play was written, England expelled its Jewish population. As members of London’s Globe Theatre prepare to revisit the work, American literary historian Stephen Greenblatt analyses the moral implications of Shylock’s intense trial scene, while actor Jonathan Pryce discusses the stage play’s relevance in today’s climate of intolerance.