| Merchant of Venice William Shakespeare Not in my top tier of Shakespeare plays, but there are some interesting things here. Maybe the real point of this play is the need for forgiveness and mercy. Hurt people hurt people. Shylock seems evil - "the devil incarnate", one of the characters calls him, yet one of the most powerful moments in the play is his "Hath a Jew not eyes?" speech. He is badly, deeply wounded. All of the hate and bitterness and desire for death that he carries is a result of the way he has been slandered, abused, and injured by the people around him. Much of this abuse goes on during the play, though little of it by our hero, Antonio. Antonio clearly despises Shylock's way of making money - usury - and it's possible that his harsh words have nothing to do with Shylock's religion, only with his profession(though historians say it is nearly impossible to separate the two - Jews were usurers and usurers were Jews. There wasn't much else the government allowed them to do.) A forgiveness/mercy reading places at the center of the play both Shylock's speech, Portia's beautiful speech on the quality of mercy at the trial, and the decisions by the Duke and Antonio to have mercy upon Shylock when the tables turn. Perhaps, as some critics have said, Antonio's condition that Shylock become a Christian is not an attempt to rob him of his identity, but to make him like the rest of them, and thus welcome him in. Doubtful that it works - it's hard to see Shylock leave, nearly ill at the end, and know that there is really no justice for him. His wounds are real. The romantic comedy element of the play really isn't that great -- especially the ring manipulation at the end. Not only is it tiresome, it's absolutely clunky to have Graziano and Nerissa mirroring their masters. There are some interesting things swirling around the chests. When the right chest turns out to be "Who chooseth me must give and hazard a much all he hath," this seems to reinforce the theme of mercy and forgiveness taking place in the foreground. Though I was disappointed that Bassanio didn't enlighten us as to how this was the truth of marriage, the message is nonetheless there, if subtle. |