Toby Lelyveld, a literary critic, argues that "possibly the most distorted images of Shylock were the ones undertaken by those performers who were the least equipped to represent him--the women and children who, for reasons that could never seem sensible, appeared as Shakespeare's Jew" (124). One such "worst" for Lelyveld is Catherine Macready's Shylock of 1850. Although Lelyveld does not denigrate Macready explicitly, he refers to her portrayal as a "dramatic curio" (this kind of condescending remark is what I call a good example of "damning with faint praise").

I personally find Lelyveld's remark puzzling, if not misguided, given the gender-bending in The Merchant of Venice. After all, Portia disguises herself as a male legal advocate, and in Elizabethan dramatic performances, female roles were played by males. So why not have a female play Shylock?

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