Day 35: What I Learned: The Merchant of Venice

Sock Monkey Merchant of Venice, by David Jones (fineartamerica.com)

The Merchant of Venice is a complicated play, made particularly complex by the fact that the cultural values of its original audience (and, one can assume, its author) are (hopefully) very different from those of modern audiences. The character of Shylock, and all Jewish characters in the play, are treated as godless outcasts and reviled villains. True, Shakespeare gives Shylock some good lines and plenty of cause to be sympathetic, but he also makes him obsessed with money and sometimes just plain evil. So Shakespeare isn't doing much to dissuade his audience from their anti-Semitism. Plus in the end, all of the Christian characters live happily ever after and all of the Jewish characters are forced to convert to Christianity and give up their personal fortunes. And those Christian characters were REALLY mean throughout the whole play, so I wasn't cheering for them to be fine in the end.

But Shakespeare's audiences would have been because his audience would have regarded Jews as villainous characters who should be reviled and, if possible, converted. So it's a difficult play to read becuase that core concept is so abhorrent. I just wished that Antonio and his friends, who had been mean anti-Semites the whole play could have gotten a little comeuppance. I wasn't rooting for Antonio to actually have to give up his "pound of flesh" (well, not really) but I didn't expect him to get to have all of Shylock's money AND his not have to pay his debt AND have his lost ships returned AND get to ride off in the sunset with his best friend (his VERY best friend, *wink wink* *nudge nudge*) his new rich wife. It's just too much reward for a character who acted like such an ass. 

I also think it's interesting that the very last scene of the play (I'm sorry if I'm ruining it for you...but it has been out for, like, 400 years now) involves Portia and Nerissa obsessing over the rings they gave Bassanio and Gratiano, until both men agree that they will treasure the rings with their lives from now on. Except that Shylock was given no end of grief for valuing too highly the ring that Jessica stole--the one that was his gift from his dead wife, no less--and was accused of being a greedy miser for it. But it's the same damn thing! Argggghhh! That part made me crazy.



So...great lines, memorable quotes, but yeah, it's totally anti-Semitic and it's very hard to get past that, even by trying to "re-imagine" the play to be LESS anti-Semitic. I see Shylock and Jessica as both quite sympathetic characters (Jessica much less so) and I hate the wrongs that are done to them (particularly Shylock). And Shakespeare did include some great speeches for Shylock--"Hath not a Jew eyes?" and all that--to make him much more complex and not just a one-dimensional stereotype. But Shakespeare also chose to have a hero's end for the Christian "mean girls" and leave Shylock destitute and humiliated, AND it's a comedy, so he obviously meant us to be rooting for Antonio and crew. 

Jeremy Irons as Antonio in The Merchant of Venice (2004)

I haven't watched the movie version with Al Pacino yet (I mean it stars Al Pacino, I'm not waiting for Al Pacino to come over to watch it with me...though that would be awesome) but I'm pretty sure Antonio isn't meant to be that sympathetic considering he's played by Jeremy Irons. Has Jeremy Irons ever had a role in which you rooted for him? Ever? Maybe I'll go watch that now.