"The Merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare

The past two months I read two of Shakespeare's history plays, "Henry IV Part I and II." History plays, as I have noted, are not my cup of tea. And since I can only manage to read one of his work a month, it is a bummer when I read one and don't enjoy it. After finishing "Henry IV Part II" I knew that I had to read something fun this month, a comedy, perhaps. I ended up with "The Merchant of Venice."

Antonio is the Merchant of Venice, but the story is not any more about him than it is about his friend Bassanio and the antagonist Shylock. Much in the same way that "Julius Caesar" is more about Brutus, and the Henry IV plays about Prince Hal. Bassanio is in love with an heiress Portia, and he needs money to cover his traveling expenditure in order to woo her. His friend Antonio is unable to help him, having lost his fortunes at sea. Bassanio then turns to Shylock the Jew for money with Antonio guaranteeing the loan. The condition is that if Bassanio fails to repay the debt in time, Shylock wiill cut out a pound of Antonio's flesh. Meanwhile, Shylock's daughter Jessica falls in love with Lorenzo, a friend of Antonio and Bassanio, and runs away with him. This further intensifies Shylock's hatred for Christians and results in his malice toward Antonio.

Shylock is painted as a evil character, but he has every reason to be. In Shakespeare's time Jews are strongly discriminated against. Shakespeare himself has made many racist remarks about Jews in several of his plays, which reflects the politics of the time. In the play, Shylock is even more poorly treated than his servant. There is always a tone of disdain when anybody talks to him, and not a single person expresses compassion toward his social condition. While his malice toward Antonio seems outrageously violence, it is not without a cause. For Antonio, despite his love for his friend and his willingness to die in the name of justice, has spat on Shylock for being a Jew. To modern readers, this hardly makes him seem a sympathetic character. Instead it is perhaps Shylock for who most moves the readers.

However, true to his style, Shakespeare allows his villain to speak for himself. One of the most remarkable things about the play is that, while the whole world of the play seems completely ignorant of its own racism, Shylock is offered this speech:

I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction. (Act 3 Scene 1)

He alone has the wisdom to see that all humans are equal, despite how inferior the Christians think of him. They deserve to be treated by him the same way that he is treated by them.

Another great aspect of the play is its representation of women. The women in the play are smarter than their men, and seemingly to hold a higher card in every situation. Portia designs a riddle that only her true love can solve it and win her for a bride. She shows herself from a start as a woman with a brain, outsmarting her princely suitors. Afterward it is she who comes up with the charade to save Antonio and to test her husband's love.

This play is absolutely remarkable, and in my opinion one of the Bard's best comedies. It is witty and thoroughly entertaining. I don't find the fool, Shylock's old servant Lancelot, as annoying as the fools in other plays; his contribution to the play is just the right amount. The last scene, in which Portia and Nerissa reveals their secret charade to their husbands, is one of the most delightful scenes of Shakespeare comedies. Despite its rather corrupted morals, this play is a wonderful work of literature.