Being the other in the theater through the character of Shylock in the Merchant of Venice

Theatre is an art of illusion just as Tolstoy described in his definition of art and especially theatre. During the creation of the character, the actor benefits from the "other" in order to create that illusion. As for, Aristo claims that humankind enjoys Imitation. You need "another" element for imitation and this naturally brings out the "other". The "other" is the most important imitation element that the artist benefits from and that exists in all forms of art. As it is known, there isn't any art forms without the "other". The other is sometimes the imitated artwork and sometimes the participant or audience that evaluates that art piece. This situation shows us that all of these terms are in an integrated structure with each other. In this study, starting from the concept of the "other" and over the character of Jewish Pawnbroker Shylocke in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, the "other" concept in theatre is examined. Also, different forms of "being the other" are told by using different sources through the conditions of the time that the play takes place, the plot of the play and religion, moral structure, sense of justice belonging to the character, Shylocke. The purpose of the study is to point out the status of "other" in theatre over the character of Jewish Pawnbroker Shylock within William Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. Keywords: Theatre, Other (the "other"), Shylock, Shakespeare