USE OF GÉRARD GENETTE’S HYPERTEXTUALITY IN THE WORKS OF HOWARD JACOBSON'S SHYLOCK IS MY NAME AND SHAKESPEARE'S THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

Abstract

The paper deals with the lives of Jews and their relation with literature. It also compares the writings of popular classic playwright William Shakespeare and the twentieth-century novelist Howard Jacobson and their take on Jews. It emphasizes the importance of history and its need to provide the readers with a crucial perspective for understanding the current problems of Jews. The collective consciousnesses of Jews are well explained through Gérard Genette’s concept of Hypertextuality. This research takes the play The Merchant of Venice as hypo text and attempts to narrate the Jews' side of the story in the hypertext Shylock is my Name. It enlightens how the historic narration is used as a tool to manipulate and change the lives of a particular ethnicity forever. The 
prejudiced view fixated on Jews by non–Jews in the past still affects the present generation. The villainous portrayal of Shylock by a reputed Playwright like William Shakespeare resulted in labelling all the Jews as greedy, vengeful and heartless. Howard Jacobson seeks justice by including Shylock in his novel and characterizing him as someone who had been misjudged and manipulated 
in the past. Shylock had been shown as a guide to Simon Strulovitch, a twentieth-century confused Jew and made the reader clear that it is not the individual that gets ashamed but the whole clan endlessly. Jacobson's writing proved that until someone changed the narration of non-Jews on Jews, they remain the victim in the future as they were in the past.