Lester Crocker addresses these questions in an overview of ethical thought in eighteenth-century France.

The history of the interpretations of The Merchant of Venice, both on the stage and in critical comment, and of the reactions it has evoked in its readers or viewers, is surely unique in the Shakespeare canon. Interpretations of Hamlet are numberless, but the contentions expend themselves within the intellectual realm. The Merchant of Venice reaches down into deep emotional levels, involving commitments and shrouded reticences of the soul. When conscience and the play come together, a drama takes place. Sigurd (...) Burckhardt has clearly perceived the problem, without exploring it. “Audiences,” he writes, “persist in feeling distressed by Shylock's final treatment, and no amount of historical explanation helps them over their unease.” We cannot join unreservedly in the joyful harmonies of the last act. “Shylock spooks in the background, an unappeased ghost.”. (shrink)

This is an interesting group to look at, according to Crocker, because French Enlightenment thinkers straddled two vastly different time periods.

Features biographical information on the French philosopher and writer Jean Jacques Rousseau, provided by Sanderson Beck. Discusses Rousseau's political writings, including "The Social Contract.".