peaccenicked
15th March 2002, 18:24
Merchant of Venice:
The Clash of Feudal and Commercial global Capitalism
David M. Boje
Updated December 17, 2000; This was a presentation of the 1999 Academy of Management session, "Reclaiming Indigenous Knowledge."
David Boje and Grace Ann Rosile, as Bassanio and Portia
The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare, 1597 - year play is said to be first performed) presents us with a model of Princely Leadership (Boje, 2000) that is relevant to today's Business student. To me this play is a critique applicable to today's global corporate model of financial capitalism, with the relocation of Third World sweat labor and resources to First World consumers and adventurer-investors, who stay-at-home, conveniently oblivious to what goes on. Shakespeare brilliantly demonstrates, what I call the Theatrics of Leadership through art, poetics and biting critique to portray a conflict between courtly (feudal) usurer's capitalism and bourgeois merchant (commercial and financial) capitalism, the triumph of the new forms of adventuring over the old in the 16th century. Accumulation and hoarding to the financial or merchant capitalist is the ultimate sin; better to keep on betting and investing and moving factories and plantations to ever-cheaper places of labor exploitation; it is the way the modern transnational capitalism game is to be played. The Merchant of Venice is the story of the rise of modern bourgeoisie capitalism over the feudal condition of accumulation; but the final act has yet to be staged on the stage of global capitalism. There is also much to be learned about leadership, in this case, the alienated leader who makes monetary wagers of high risk, instead of actually going on an adventure.
My thesis (following Nerlich, 1987 a, B) is that this play is about England, not Venice. Shakespeare wants to keep his head and stages the play in Venice, so he is free to satirize England. I will defend this thesis by pointing out historical facts and circumstances of Shakespeare's day.
more.....
http://cbae.nmsu.edu/~dboje/pages/orderform.html
(Edited by peaccenicked at 6:30 pm on Mar. 15, 2002)
The Clash of Feudal and Commercial global Capitalism
David M. Boje
Updated December 17, 2000; This was a presentation of the 1999 Academy of Management session, "Reclaiming Indigenous Knowledge."
David Boje and Grace Ann Rosile, as Bassanio and Portia
The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare, 1597 - year play is said to be first performed) presents us with a model of Princely Leadership (Boje, 2000) that is relevant to today's Business student. To me this play is a critique applicable to today's global corporate model of financial capitalism, with the relocation of Third World sweat labor and resources to First World consumers and adventurer-investors, who stay-at-home, conveniently oblivious to what goes on. Shakespeare brilliantly demonstrates, what I call the Theatrics of Leadership through art, poetics and biting critique to portray a conflict between courtly (feudal) usurer's capitalism and bourgeois merchant (commercial and financial) capitalism, the triumph of the new forms of adventuring over the old in the 16th century. Accumulation and hoarding to the financial or merchant capitalist is the ultimate sin; better to keep on betting and investing and moving factories and plantations to ever-cheaper places of labor exploitation; it is the way the modern transnational capitalism game is to be played. The Merchant of Venice is the story of the rise of modern bourgeoisie capitalism over the feudal condition of accumulation; but the final act has yet to be staged on the stage of global capitalism. There is also much to be learned about leadership, in this case, the alienated leader who makes monetary wagers of high risk, instead of actually going on an adventure.
My thesis (following Nerlich, 1987 a, B) is that this play is about England, not Venice. Shakespeare wants to keep his head and stages the play in Venice, so he is free to satirize England. I will defend this thesis by pointing out historical facts and circumstances of Shakespeare's day.
more.....
http://cbae.nmsu.edu/~dboje/pages/orderform.html
(Edited by peaccenicked at 6:30 pm on Mar. 15, 2002)