The Merchant Of Venice

Author: William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Written: c 1596-1597
Editors: Jonathan Bale and Eric Rasmussen
Publisher: Modern Library (2010 Edition)
Bought from: Book Depository


Introduction

This is one of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies. However, for me, the humour is undermined by the anti-Semitism that runs through the play.


What is it about?

The play is set in Venice, possibly in the 16th century itself. Bassanio asks his friend Antonio for a loan so that he can woo the heiress Portia. Antonio needs what today would be called a bridging loan and he goes to Shylock although there is clearly no love lost between them. Shylock sees an opportunity to get back at Antonio. He lends the money to Antonio interest-free but on the condition that if Antonio defaults, Shylock will take a pound of his flesh. Antonio does indeed default and it is up to Portia in the guise of a lawyer to save the day - she finds a legal technicality and turns the table on Shylock.

The eponymous Venetian merchant Antonio is little more than a plot device. His character is not fleshed out at all. It is not clear what drives him to accept Shylock’s onerous term for the loan (leading to modern speculation that it is his love for Bassanio). The one thing that is explicit about him is his hatred of Shylock - he has a habit of abusing, spitting at and kicking Shylock (1.3.105-118). After all he goes through, he is left all alone while 3 pairs of lovers celebrate at the end of the play. No happy ending for him!

Bassanio is nominally the lead male character. But I think he is truly the lamest hero Shakespeare ever created. It is possible that his pursuit of Portia is really driven by her wealth. He may even have taken advantage of Antonio’s friendship (love?) to get the funds to woo Portia. And last but not least, it is entirely possible that he would not have chosen the right casket without some nudging from Portia’s singer (3.2.65-74).

The main female lead is Portia. In the Rumpole books and tv series written by John Mortimer, the eponymous barrister refers fondly to his one-time favourite pupil and later High Court Judge as the “Portia of our Chambers”. However, the Shakespearean Portia evokes a more ambiguous feeling. Her bravura court room performance with the famous speech (“The quality of mercy is not strained / It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven / Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: / It blesseth him that gives and him that takes” (4.1.188-191) is admirable. Yet, one cannot help but detect a nasty streak in her. After she outwits Shylock, she has the chance to show the same mercy she preached only moments earlier. Instead, she brings the full weight of the Venetian legal system to bear on Shylock. Shylock is forced to convert to Christianity and is financially ruined. Mercy indeed!

Portia also shows her racist attitude in her interaction with a Moorish (ie. black) suitor. She says “If he have the condition of a saint and the complexion of a devil, I had rather he should shrive me than wive me” (1.2.111-113).

Is the play anti-Semitic? Whatever Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote the play, The Merchant of Venice certainly can be interpreted as anti-Semitic. There is no disguising the fact that Shakespeare has made Shylock very much the villain of the play. He is depicted as a vindictive, cruel and avaricious money-lender who values his wealth more than his daughter. The other characters describe him and other Jews using extremely abusive language. And Shylock does himself no favours in his speech and action. In one of the most famous passages from the play, he starts off with a heart-felt plea for acceptance and tolerance before descending into self-justification for his determination to extract his pound of flesh :

“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. ”
          (3.1.49-62)

One of the main themes of the play is disguises and false fronts. Antonio is depressed but refuses to say why. Bassanio needs Antonio’s (financial) help to impress Portia. Portia’s suitors have to choose from 3 caskets whose outer appearances belie their hidden contents. Shylock detests Bassanio but feigns civility to lure Bassanio into accepting his terms for the loan. Portia disguises herself as a man (one of Shakespeare’s many cross-dressing female characters) to defend Antonio. She even - while in disguise - plays a prank on her husband Bassanio. This theme is repeated with the caskets which Portia's suitors are faced with. Inside the golden casket is a message that says, “All that glisters is not gold” (2.7.67).


What about the book?

Each of the books in the RSC Shakespeare series published by The Modern Library comes with very informative footnotes, helpful scene-by-scene analysis and, best of all, commentary on past and current productions that comes with interviews with leading directors and actor. The books are also very reasonably priced. Best of all, the introductions are not overly long and focus on a few talking points for each play. The paper quality is not particularly good though. Also, the covers are not very attractive.


Finally …

This can only be called a comedy if you find the institutionalized humiliation and deprivation of Shylock funny. The Merchant of Venice is definitely NOT one of my favourites.


Et cetera

The message in the golden casket paraphrases a saying that is still popular today. There is a poem that carries a somewhat similar message in J. R. R. Tolkien’s novel The Lord of the Rings. It reads:

“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.”