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Ten discussion questions for Grace Tiffany’s The Turquoise Ring 1. How does the character Shiloh ben Gozan compare to Shakespeare’s Shylock or to the received notion of Shakespeare’s Shylock? 2. Similarly, how does Tiffany’s Jessica compare to the Jessica of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice? Is she a less or more sympathetic character, or is she the same character? What about the other characters whom Tiffany modifies (Launcelot, Bassanio, Antonio, Graziano, Portia, Nerissa)? Can you identify characters from other Shakespeare plays who pop into the action of the novel? 3. Why do you think Tiffany begins with Leah’s story and ends with Xanthe’s (both of which are not derived from Shakespeare’s play)? Do these two characters have something in common? Compare them. 4. Is Shiloh an unambiguous hero? Or is he a tragic hero (that is, one who possesses a fatal flaw or tendency and thus makes a fatal mistake, and causes his own trouble)? 5. What does Tiffany have to say about the interaction of Catholicism, Protestantism, and Judaism in Europe at this period in history (the second half of the sixteenth century)? Discuss especially the situation of the anusim, or secret Jews, in Spain. Are they good or “real” Jews, or are they something else? Do you sympathize with the conversos? Are there good Christian characters? 6. Along these lines: Tiffany has much to say about Judaism in this novel, but she herself isn’t Jewish. Does that fact compromise the authenticity of her story? Also, are Islamic culture and religion as important to the story as are Christianity and Judaism? How do they figure in plot, characterization, and major ideas of the book? 7. Is Nerissa an all-out slut? Is she a stereotype, or at all original as a character? By the way, is Portia’s and Nerissa’s relationship lesbian in nature? 8. On page 334, Xanthe asks Nerissa whether there are “men who will do what they vow.” Discuss how keeping one’s word (or not), as well as simple truth-telling (or the lack thereof), is important to the novel. 9. One of the things Tiffany provides in her adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is not only a prologue but an epilogue to Shakespeare’s story. Discuss what happens in The Turquoise Ring to Shiloh after the fateful courtroom scene (which Tiffany has, in any case, radically changed). Is the ending uplifting? Hopeful? Cynical? What is the meaning of Xanthe’s final vision on page 355? 10. This novel is
set more than four hundred years in the past. Is it a historical “period
piece” or does it speak to issues – of religious dissension,
economic trade relations between nations, homophobia, racial prejudice,
and family conflict – that are important today? |
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