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shakespearesgirl 's review for:
The Merchant of Venice
by William Shakespeare
For being one of the Bard's seminal works, I was actually quite unimpressed with this one. Maybe it's because without actors to shade the characters, almost everyone in the play comes off as anti-Semitic. Maybe it's because pop culture has lifted so heavily from Merchant of Venice that the plot is now predictable and trope-filled. Personally, I feel like it's a combination of these reasons, plus the fact that with each act, this play seems to change it's mind about what it is. Is it a buddy comedy (act one)? A play about an elopement (act two)? A romance? A courtroom drama? A bedroom farce? We never seem to settle on one idea.
Maybe my confusion is more due to the monumental weight of expectation I placed on this play. Merchant of Venice is supposed to be one of the more accessible, relevant, and important of Shakespeare's canon. I just didn't get it though. It was interesting, and kind of super gay, but the subplot--at least I think it's a subplot--that seems to suggest Bassanio and Antonio had a significant and probably sexual relationship was the the interesting part. Perhaps a reread with this idea in mind--that the throughline is the Antonio/Bassanio romance--might shed some better light on the play?
Maybe my confusion is more due to the monumental weight of expectation I placed on this play. Merchant of Venice is supposed to be one of the more accessible, relevant, and important of Shakespeare's canon. I just didn't get it though. It was interesting, and kind of super gay, but the subplot--at least I think it's a subplot--that seems to suggest Bassanio and Antonio had a significant and probably sexual relationship was the the interesting part. Perhaps a reread with this idea in mind--that the throughline is the Antonio/Bassanio romance--might shed some better light on the play?