The Merchant of Venice discussion

Actually it didn't made me so interested while am reading it
I didn't like this book .. it's kind of boring somehow

I've always felt that it is a very unpleasant play. And I'm not even thinking of the anti-semitism that is so casually and uniformly present, though Shakespeare's remarkable empathic capacities are apparent in the play, especially in the speech he gives to Shylock. Of course Shylock is punished at the end, but then, so, in a way, is Antonio, the merchant of the title. The person he loves above all others is married, and to a woman who is willing to play such a trick on her husband that I've always wondered what kind of marriage that will turn out to be. I think the play is deeply suspicious of marriage and of romantic love. The young lovers seem to be motivated mostly by their desperate financial straits. Shakespeare's ravishing poetry (the lovely brief scene for Lorenzo and Jessica, the one couple that straddles the Jew-Gentile dividing line) points up the remarkable expediency of Bassanio's attachment to Portia, and the ridiculously superficial one between Gratiano and Nerissa. It is a deeply cynical play, and the darker strains of it are difficult to take.

I've just published a novel using the character of Antonio, who I think is one of the characters in Shakespeare who is obviously a man we'd recognize as gay, in our modern sense, though this was not a designation that Shakespeare would recognize. I can't agree that the play is boring. I do think it is unpleasant and cynical, but that it tells us unpleasant truths about how culture shapes, not to say warps, us.

Gilbert wrote: "...I've just published a novel using the character of Antonio..."

Tell us more.

Also, I'd certainly agree that Antonio seemed gay after seeing Jeremy Irons play the part. It explains a lot of the character's motivation.

thanks for asking. The novel is called "Fortune's Bastard, or Love's Pains Recounted." I invented Antonio's backstory, leaning on Harold Bloom's idea, in "Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human" that in his plays we can find the first iterations of recognizably modern personalities. Combining the Antonio in "Twelfth Night"- who rescues Sebastian, and memorably says that he loves him so much that he'll risk his life by entering Orsino's kingdom, with the "Merchant" Antonio, the novel tells his story. It begins at the death of Lorenzo in Florence in 1492, and the rise of Savonarola, who brought on a very repressive time. This is documented in Michael Rocke's fascinating book "Forbidden Friendships" which is about the ways same sex relationships were organized in renaissance Florence. The novel is a kind of erotic Shakespearean feverdream- attentive readers will notice plots and paraphrases borrowed from many of the plays. It is published by Chelsea Station Editions, and is available at our new mothership, Amazon. Let me know how you like it, if you take a look....

It's a while since I read 'The Merchant of Venice', and I did not see it as boring. Certainly there are unpleasant scenes, but to me the motivations and characters were interesting.

If you think the play is boring, Basma, you should try to watch the movie with Al Pacino as Shylock and Jeremy Irons as Antonio. It is absolutely stunning and will change your mind about Shakespeare.

The Merchant of Venice was, for me, the most interesting Shakespearean play I've studied/read. I did it in Grade 10 and was so tortured by what I saw as unfair treatment of Shylock and the strain on his relationship with his daughter (was it Susannah?) that it really kept my interest. I hated Portia, found her so holier-than-thou (or maybe I just hated that we had to memorize 'The quality of mercy...' speech.) :) But it was my favourite play.

it's boring and it does not add anything to me

I loved this play; it's right up there with King Lear, Hamlet, and Midsummer's. I loved the strength of Portia, she had a lot of courage to present herself as a man and as a lawyer. I have only read about ten plays so far, but I do see Portia as the strongest female character Shakespeare chose to write about. Cordelia, in Lear, has the virtues of honesty, loyalty, and forgiveness, but Portia has courage. This is why it is one of my favorite plays.

Hayley wrote: "The Merchant of Venice was, for me, the most interesting Shakespearean play I've studied/read. I did it in Grade 10 and was so tortured by what I saw as unfair treatment of Shylock and the strain ..."

One of Shakespeare's best. I agree.