About this title: This edition presents a fresh examination of the text and all the important aspects of its significance and meaning. It is based upon the first printed edition, the Quarto of 1600. This edition has been collated against the second quarto, the Pavier Quarto of 1619 (falsely dated 1619), as well as against the First Folio of 1623, from which some stage directions have been adopted. A selective collation records all substantive variations from the control-text (Q), and major variants in Q2 and F. In addition, a running commentary on the text includes some new interpretations of particular ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
"First, the positives. The beautiful use of language stands out, as there are a number of moments in the play that really do transcend the narrative. Of course, that includes Shylock's famous "If you prick us, do we not bleed?" soliloquy, but for my money, the greatest lines come from Portia's mouth in Act IV, scene 1. Her comments on the relationship between mercy and justice express a profound truth about the right use of power. I also really appreciated the clown character, Launcelot, especially his dialogue with his father which, while it doesn't advance the plot at all, makes for a wonderfully funny scene midway through the play.
On the downside, the narrative flies back and forth between weighty life and death matters to comic scenes involving Bassanio and Portia. This is a difficult line to walk, and I'm not sure the play succeeds at every turn. Most significantly though is the play's comic approach to what is truly a tragic story. Sure everyone couples off in the end and we can all elbow each other in the side as Gratiano looks forward to getting Nerissa into bed. But what is most saddening is that Portia, who gives such a beautiful speech on mercy, along with the rest of her so-called Christian friends, have no idea of their own role in creating the break with Shylock. Antonio's incessant name-calling and spitting only occurs off stage and before the events of the play actually begin, but they fundamentally inform Shylock's attitude toward Antonio. Sure, mercy is always the better choice, but that's easy to say for people who have transgressed and now hold all the power. That fundamental reality makes it difficult to find the play much more than a tragedy about the self-absorbed lives that constitute Christianity in Shakespeare's Venice."
"Shylock is one of those characters where you don't know if you should feel sorry for him or if you should think that he is a jerk. In my opinion, it is the mark of a truly talented author to be able to write any character that successfully treads that thin line between good and bad. Additionally, Portia rocks as a strong female character. I saw this play performed, and it definitely brought out the realism in the characters. This play is not one of my favorites and I do not strive to read into all the Jewish arguments within the play, but it is most definitely a memorable play (unlike some of the comedies and histories that get jumbled together in my mind)."
"I love Portia. Particularly her dry humor and her ability to gracefully self-efface. The rest of the play is diverting silliness, but Portia really powers through. Even when she's engaging in the usual comedy antics, depriving Bassanio of his ring in order to feign offense later - a pointless piece of situational comedy, if you ask me - and yet Portia rises above it. It should have seemed pointlessly cruel or catty (or should that be shrewish?) just like the trick the ladies pull in Love's Labour's Lost. But instead Portia's gentle remonstrances come from a place of real affection for her husband. Bassanio isn't a particularly vivid character, but Portia does all the work selling me on the authenticity of their loving relationship.
Shylock? Besides the much-ballyhooed "If you prick us?" speech, I'm not sure I see any nuance on the page. There is something unsettling about his anger, its single-minded intensity, the way it supersedes the loss of his daughter rather than springing directly from it, which in my mind would be the more sympathetic way of providing Shylock with motivation. I don't think there's any quibbling about it - Shylock is meant to be the villain of the piece, straight-up Absolut Villainy. Maybe Shakespeare really has just grown in poetic powers so exponentially that even when he deliberately sets out to create a stereotypical mustache-twirler (ala Richard III) he's now incapable of rendering such a monster without endowing him with his own brand of convincing emotional logic. But there's not enough of that present for me to accept Shylock as a tragic anti-hero, but certainly I admit that there's something there, enough for a talented performer to latch on to and exploit."
"Merchant of Venice was a strange book for me because i was confused if it was a comedy or a tragedy. Shakespeare's comedy is just weird. The comedy back then is completely different from now, and it is harder for me to capture his ideas than an expert. Other than that, I really liked the different issues, like mercy vs kindness, and for me as the contraversial one, Christian vs Jew. I thought the scene where Shylock gives up to become a Christian is the most intense scene i have ever seen in Shakespeare. I enjoyed this book more the Romeo and Juliet."
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