The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reading this play after The Jew of Malta does give an insight into Shakespeare’s temperament in my view. Marlowe’s villain is a caricature that nonetheless delights the audience with the audacity of his evil plots. Marlowe’s flamboyant personality and unorthodox opinions shine through. Shylock is also clearly a villain, but Shakespeare cannot help but fill out the sense of grievance that motivates his desire for revenge. He is in successive scenes abhorrent, pitiful and a figure of fun. Shakespeare is a man that sees all the angles. The ambiguity of his depictions in his plays I suspect reveals the reticence of his judgements in real life.

The Merchant of Venice isn’t quite as finely balanced as more political plays like Richard II or Julius Caesar. Antonio, the titular Merchant, is clearly a more heroic figure than Shylock, even if he does spit at and berate him. The play contrasts the self-interested practice of usury with Antonio and Bassanio’s open-hearted generosity. The financial metaphors for love that abound in the play ironise this liberality, but ultimately the play celebrates it. Shylock’s greatest sin may be his miserliness. It is incumbent on the fortunate to give and forgive freely.

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