Just back from seeing Merchant of Venice on the silver screen. It is amazing how badly behaved nearly all of the characters are. Shylock, mostly referred to as “the Jew” and addressed as “Jew,…”, is bitter and unwilling to forgive all the times the Christians have spit on him. Shylock’s daughter is ungrateful for all of his loving care and trust and happy to run off and never see the old man again for the rest of her life. The young Christian gentleman is typified by Bassanio, who squandered his fortune on high living and who decides to find a rich chick to marry so that he can pay his debts. The rich chick Portia impersonates a judge so that she can help the rest of the Christians cheat Shylock out of the 3000 ducats he lent for the fortune-hunting expedition plus the rest of his wealth. The only person in the entire play who behaves creditably is Antonio, the actual Merchant of Venice in the title.
It is tough to argue with a cast that includes Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons. Teenage boys will also want to feign an interest in classic theater in order to get into this film, which covers a period in history where all women displayed either beautiful cleavage or entirely bare breasts.
[Those who complain that Shakespeare painted the Jews in a negative light should be reminded that Shakespeare almost certainly never met a Jew. The Jews were expelled from England in 1290, with their property confiscated by the king. Shakespeare finished Merchant of Venice in 1597. Jews were re-admitted to England in 1655.]
I get the impression that Shakespeare was working on two levels in _The Merchant of Venice_. On one level, he was appealing to the antisemitism of his audience by telling a story of the Good Christians foiling the wicked plot of the Bad Jew. On another level, he was telling his Christian audience, “You know how you always complain about Jews being greedy and merciless? Guess what, guys, you’re _just as bad._”
Jews were re-admitted into England by Oliver Cromwell. Despite regular attempts to smear his name by an unusual teaming up of Royalists and Irish Catholics, Cromwell actually stood up for persecuted religious minorities such as Quakers at potentially great personal cost.
Since the Earl of Oxford wrote the plays, and he a world traveler (oddly enough, Oxford had spent time in all the places the plays touch during his travels), he certainly knew his share of all peoples. 😉
see also the elegant “Shackespeare and the jews” of James Shapiro and “The kidnaping of Eduardo Mortara”. After these readings who is merciless? The jew or the gentile ?