Deconstructing the Transhistorical

Deconstructing the Transhistorical: a critique of contemporary productions of The Merchant of Venice discusses four stagings of Shakespeare's playtext observed in three theatrical cultures of the Anglophone world and argues that engaging productions of this script take into account its self-deconstructive character as one of its most crucial ordering principles. The critique draws upon Derrida's Deconstruction, stressing that, according to the acknowledged father of the movement, texts do have transcendental traces. It discusses themes such as anti-Semitism versus ethnic intolerance, homosexuality versus somody, carnivalization, and the representation of emotions.