The Merchant of Venice is in the form of a play, so it is not in the traditional novel form, it is written by the classic playwright William Shakespeare. It has five acts and focuses on multiple storylines, but the most important of which is that of Antonio. Antonio is a venetian merchant (ugh the name of the play) who puts all of his assets into a number of trade ships. His very good friend, Bassanio, asks him to loan him some money so he can court an heiress named Portia, but Antonio can't make the loan because all his money is tied up in trade ships, this is where the story really starts to build.
In order to get the money Antonio suggests taking a loan from Shylock, a Jewish, basically swindler, who charges insanely interest on the loans people take from him, this greed becomes very important to the demise of Shylock. As a result of taking the loan Antonio basically agrees to be Bassanio's collateral incase the loan cannot be repaid. Shylock requests if the loan cannot be repaid Antonio must give a pound of his flesh. I found this to be very interesting because Shylock hates Antonio so much that instead of seeking more money from the loan he would rather see Antonio suffer.
Later on, it is rumored that the trade ships Antonio had invested in had crashed, so he cannot repay the money he owes Shylock. This where we see the wise feminine lead Portia come into play. Portia had studied law and disguises herself up as a man when Antonio goes against Shylock in court over the loan. Portia then finds a loop-hole in the contract that saves Antonio from having give up his skin and even causes Shylock to lose everything. I like how even Shakespeare can recognize the wisdom women possess, Portia was probably my favorite character throughout this play. She was wise and strong and a secret bad-ass, everything a dynamic character should be.
Throughout the play there are many side love stories that draw away from the main plot, but it's Shakespeare so I expected as much. If you can get through the side stories this is actually not half-bad for a Shakespearean work. The main take away I took from the ending of this play is that greed and revenge can cause you to lose everything, like what happened to Shylock. One minute he was sitting pretty and then he lost it all. Now, I'm not saying I would read this again because the language in which it was written was hard to follow at times, but if I were to read it again I would definitely have a better grasp on what was happening.
In order to get the money Antonio suggests taking a loan from Shylock, a Jewish, basically swindler, who charges insanely interest on the loans people take from him, this greed becomes very important to the demise of Shylock. As a result of taking the loan Antonio basically agrees to be Bassanio's collateral incase the loan cannot be repaid. Shylock requests if the loan cannot be repaid Antonio must give a pound of his flesh. I found this to be very interesting because Shylock hates Antonio so much that instead of seeking more money from the loan he would rather see Antonio suffer.
Later on, it is rumored that the trade ships Antonio had invested in had crashed, so he cannot repay the money he owes Shylock. This where we see the wise feminine lead Portia come into play. Portia had studied law and disguises herself up as a man when Antonio goes against Shylock in court over the loan. Portia then finds a loop-hole in the contract that saves Antonio from having give up his skin and even causes Shylock to lose everything. I like how even Shakespeare can recognize the wisdom women possess, Portia was probably my favorite character throughout this play. She was wise and strong and a secret bad-ass, everything a dynamic character should be.
Throughout the play there are many side love stories that draw away from the main plot, but it's Shakespeare so I expected as much. If you can get through the side stories this is actually not half-bad for a Shakespearean work. The main take away I took from the ending of this play is that greed and revenge can cause you to lose everything, like what happened to Shylock. One minute he was sitting pretty and then he lost it all. Now, I'm not saying I would read this again because the language in which it was written was hard to follow at times, but if I were to read it again I would definitely have a better grasp on what was happening.