A review by smartinez9
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

3.0

Very mixed feelings. Not at all sure what to rate this. Aside from the beautiful language, Portia’s ability to fool literally everyone and find power for herself when others try to deny her, and some of Shylock’s famously moving monologues (“If you prick us, do we not bleed,” etc.), the anti-Semitism is difficult to overcome. The demonization of Shylock is certainly heavy-handed and deliberate enough to suggest that Shakespeare was consciously critical of it and Antonio’s past abuse of him, but Shylock’s eventual conversion and loss of property, along with Antonio’s reestablishment as a successful merchant, is hard to swallow. I understand that retrospect makes this play not work as the comedy it was intended to be, but I would argue that even within the text itself and the context from which it was written, the acknowledgement of Shylock’s mistreatment at the hands of Antonio, his abandonment by his daughter, and eventual forfeit of his property because as a Jew he is not considered a citizen doesn’t sit right.

I do find the title interesting, however, given Antonio’s peripheral position in the play and outsized influence.