Shylock ou la Loi paranoïaque : Le Marchand de Venise de Shakespeare.

Shylock, the Jewish usurer of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, made a contract with Antonio, a wealthy merchant, stipulating that if he does not repay him the three thousand ducats he borrowed from him, Shylock will remove a pound of flesh from the place he chooses on his body. The fact is that Antonio will not be able to honour his contract. Shylock, who was humiliated, insulted a thousand times by Antonio, finally finds the opportunity to take revenge. He is adamant about applying the Law "at the letter". Much more than his relationship to money, it is this relationship to the Law that will question us here. We will see that Shylock, a rigorous defender of the law, identifies with the law itself: he thinks he is the law, he really is, and nothing can change his mind. We will also see that in his radical determination, in his rage, in his hatred towards Antonio, there is something of the order of a paranoid claim. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]