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iholcomb4790 's review for:
The Merchant of Venice
by William Shakespeare
challenging
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is a tough one to review. On the one hand, this is one of the stronger comedies. Bassanio and Portia’s romance is arguably the strongest I’ve read thus far. The competition of choosing the correct chest to win the right to marry Portia feels like it has inspired countless fantasy knock-offs, and the verse is just so well written.
On the other hand, this play is chock full of anti-Semitic tropes that are played up for laughs, and Shylock goes from being the creditor to being forced to convert to Christianity, lose half of his possessions, and leave the rest (upon his death) to Lorenzo, the guy who stole his daughter and converted her to Christianity as well, and we’re all supposed to be okay with that because he’s Jewish.
All of that said, I read this in college, and I understand why. This play is necessary because Shakespeare was a flawed human who was just as biased and prejudiced as anyone, and there should be discourse on reconciling the Bard’s legacy with his human flaws. Trying to ignore this play’s existence would be just as bad as putting on a production of this play with zero changes, as doing the latter would endorse the anti-semitism .
I do think it would be interesting to see a production of this play that turns the play into a tragedy, with Shylock as the central protagonist.
On the other hand, this play is chock full of anti-Semitic tropes that are played up for laughs, and Shylock goes from being the creditor to being forced to convert to Christianity, lose half of his possessions, and leave the rest (upon his death) to Lorenzo, the guy who stole his daughter and converted her to Christianity as well, and we’re all supposed to be okay with that because he’s Jewish.
All of that said, I read this in college, and I understand why. This play is necessary because Shakespeare was a flawed human who was just as biased and prejudiced as anyone, and there should be discourse on reconciling the Bard’s legacy with his human flaws. Trying to ignore this play’s existence would be just as bad as putting on a production of this play with zero changes, as doing the latter would endorse the anti-semitism .
I do think it would be interesting to see a production of this play that turns the play into a tragedy, with Shylock as the central protagonist.