In the book "Shakespeare and the Jews" by James Shapiro, (1996), he wrote about how many playwrights in the day, including Marlowe, wrote about things like their "stench" and the "odd cast of the eye". There weren't many Jewish people living in London at the time of Shakespeare. In the 1590s, Elizabeth survived an assassination attempt by her physician, who was Jewish. Consequently, many of the Jewish people who lived in London at the time had to either convert to Christianity or go into hiding. It would not have been impossible for Shakespeare to encounter Jews in his day to day business dealings, and according to Shapiro, Shakespeare would often visit booksellers to sit and read books for hours at a time (not unlike people you see at the Barnes and Nobles, sitting in the leather chairs with a stack of books by their side) so at the very least he could have read a story or play similar to MoV, but just added the Shakespearean sub-plots. Shapiro often notes in his books about Shakespeare was that the genius of Shakespeare was that things could be seen from many different angles (aka educational levels) and all still be correct. According to Shapiro, Shakespeare, also being a shrewd businessman, knew that inciting a post-show debate to an ending or a motive would often result in a return visit, people would go to the plays multiple times to try to satiate their curiosity. The negative characteristics at the end of MoV, to an audience in Shakespeares day, been a happy ending to some and a cautionary tale to others.