Cumberland, Richard. The Jew: A Comedy. Performed at the Theatre-Royal, Drury Lane.

(THEATER)

C. Dilly

London

1794

“Cumberland…tried to reverse the image of the Jew created by Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice… In the person of Sheva, Cumberland brought a new kind of Jew to the English stage. Sheva, like Shylock, is a usurer, hustled and insulted by the gentlemen of the town…But by the end of the play the audience is made to realize that not one of the unflattering epithets applies to him…In spite of touches of melodrama and sentimentality, The Jew did well on stage and had an influence on the more serious drama of the period.” EJ Vol. V, cols. 1169-70.