The Merchant Of Venice...is good

The Merchant of Venice is a unique combination of comedic devices while still containing a serious and tragic plot with many dark elements to it. One of the first important elements I saw was the desperation that several characters had to better them selves financially to pull themselves out of debt. The other way in which I saw desperation was the several bachelors going after Portia. We see Morocco and Aragon attempt to choose the correct chest in order to win over Portia, but fail leaving Bassanio as the winner. To get to this stage, Bassanio and Antonio get themselves into a sticky situation with the Jewish moneylender Shylock. To escape the predicament they are in, we see Portia’s immediate dedication to Bassanio by offering to pay off his debts and then some to free him from the situation.

Another big issue that is displayed in this novel that even makes the readers question Shakespeare’s intentions and points of views is the anti-semitism. Is Shakespeare merely trying to portray the society that they live in accurately by displaying the anti-semitism, or was he himself anti-Semitic? This is a question that we must ask ourselves through the text. I feel that Shakespeare was simply working to portray the time in which he was writing about and felt that that included anti-semitism. The movie and novel both show how Shylock is treated, and it is portrayed in a cruel way not defending the anti-semitism, which is why I think that Shakespeare himself was not anti-semitic.

Through all of the anguish, persecution, and hardships that Shylock faces, he finds a way to get back at the men who were horrible to him. He did this by trapping them into a loan that punished the non-payment with a pound of flesh. This also shows how much power Shylock has in this situation as a moneylender even though he is Jewish. So even though he is persecuted, their society still really needs him because he is able to do this important job specifically because he is a different religion. The Merchant of Venice not only displays societal, religious, and economic issues but also is a love story and portrays true dedication and friendship. This is truly one of the biggest mixtures of emotions and types of plays that Shakespeare did. (387)