13:38 The Merchant of Venice

Day 13 of 38:38
The Merchant of Venice

So after hitting a couple of Shakespeare greatest hits this week, we get to finish off with another one full of controversy. The Merchant of Venice, a play which if you produce and have a talk-back, someone will inevitably stand up and ask, "Why you are performing this anti-Semitic play?" Is this play anti-Semitic? Or does this play present a sympathetic, full-fleshed out character in Shylock? Frankly, I don't find Shylock to be a sympathetic character. He is not likable. At all. Does this make the play anti-Semitic? Well, frankly, I don't think any of the characters are likable. Not a single one do I find commendable. Even Portia has rather racist comments to make. I think one could find this an anti-Semitic play if Shylock was the villain and the Christians were the heroes. And while anti-Semitic acts occur in the play, I don't think the Christians come off as heroic at all. I think Shakespeare's genius is too great for this play to be simply categorized.

In some ways, I almost prefer Marlowe's Jew of Malta. That play is more obvious than Merchant of Venice. All the characters are so apparently distasteful, that there is no way to gloss over it. I think when people stage Merchant, as when they stage Shrew, they often do their best to gloss over the nastiness, to turn the play into a romantic comedy. That is impossible to do with Jew of Malta. Though, to be fair, Marlowe's characters come across more as caricatures than do the characters of Shakespeare. That's a plus on Shakespeare's side, but it also enables people to ignore the more questionable aspects of these characters.

But maybe that is Shakespeare's point. Maybe racial and religious intolerance is slippy, maybe what we have to fear is not the obvious villains, but the not-so-obvious ones.  Racism and bigotry and hate exist in all sorts of people, even in the handsome leading man, even in the witty and brilliant woman, even in the frat kid that can always make you smile and laugh. It is easier to pretend that bigotry only exists among the uneducated, but believing in that dream only allows the more nefarious kinds of hatred to continue to exist. I'll avoid making any explicit modern day political connections, but I'm sure they are there to find.

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Favorite Female Character:
Portia
Favorite Male Character:
Gratiano

Laugh out loud:
Portia: Therefore, for fear of the worst, I pray thee set a deep glass of Rhenish wine on the contrary casket, for if the devil be within, and that temptation without, I know he will choose it.

"That's what she said!":
Gratiano Well, while I live, I'll fear no other thing
So sore as keeping safe Nerissa's ring.

How insulting:
Portia God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man.

Shakey loves his meta:
Antonio I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano;
A stage where every man must play a part,
And mine a sad one.

Oh, misogyny:


Racism, too:
Portia Let all of his complexion choose me so.

Boys are silly:
Portia I have within my mind
A thousand raw tricks of these bragging jacks
Which I will practice.

Favorite Moment/Line:
I love the sheer nastiness and tension of the court scene, but I found this passage particularly striking:

Bassanio Do all men kill the things they do not love?
Shylock Hates any man the thing he would not kill?
Bassanio Every offense is not a hate at first.
Shylock What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice?