The Bard's Challenge: Week Four

The Bards Challenge: Week Four

In this post:

Sonnets 10-13

The Merchant of Venice

Thoughts on The Merchant of Venice

Ahh, Merchant. It’s been about three years since I last read this play. Merchant is one another play that some people lump in with Shakespeare’s problems plays. Most don’t, but some do on account of the obvious issues of justice and mercy and Shylock’s unhappy ending. Merchant is clearly overshadowed and not 100% comedy. And guess what else?

I hated this play.

I don’t really hate it anymore, but it still doesn’t rank anywhere near the top of my favorite play list. I think it might have something to do with me watching the first five minutes of an old version of Merchant when I was about 11 years old, and being absolutely bored out of my mind. You see, the reason I watched the first five minutes of it then was because my father had to read it for a class he was taking, and he couldn’t get through it. That’s why I used to think Shakespeare was hard.

My “not liking” Merchant is an extremely stark contrast to the views of my aunt and old co-mentor. Both of them LOVE Merchant, and it might be interesting to think about why:

My aunt loves the Merchant of Venice because it was the first Shakespeare play she ever saw. (I THINK she saw it at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, but I can’t be sure.) The physical humor and banter were evidently hysterical in a way onstage that they really aren’t on the page. This just goes to show, Shakespeare is meant to be seen, not read.

On the other hand, my old co-mentor took the scholarly perspective and said she loves Merchant because of the themes of justice and mercy found in it. To this day I’m not sure if she said that just to make herself sound smarter or not.

Side note: Next time someone mentions a Shakespeare play to you, any play, I dare you to say something along the lines of “Oh yes, Merchant of Venice, I love that play! The underlying themes of justice and mercy and the broad perspectives and plausible understandings that can be gleaned from the problems and ambiguities of the human experience in that play absolutely fascinate me!” It will blow their minds and they will totally think you’re awesome. That, or you will be labeled a dork for the rest of you days.

All joking aside, though, we studied this play my first year of teaching Shakespeare. I still was not fond of the play at the time, but it was my co-mentors choice and I begrudgingly went along with it and began to go through the discussions and assignments with the class. Despite what it may seem, I’m really glad she chose that play. It helped me look at the play on a deeper level and realize that I DIDN’T hate it! And now, after reading it yet again, I realize it so deep I might just get lost inside of it.

Justice and Mercy:

“The quality of Mercy is not strain’d. . . It blesseth him that gives an him that takes.”

Justice and mercy is one of the most obvious themes within the play, and I’m not going to go into any depths with it. I do have one question that might be food for thought though: If Portia was so adamant about Mercy, why did she turn right around and condemn Shylock so harshly for his acts? I mean, Shylock was pretty bad, but I thought you like mercy?! What do you think?

Anti-Semitism:

Over the last century or so Shylock has become less of a villain, and more of a tragic character. A lot of plays try to put him forth in this tragic light. This is why many people think of Merchant as a Problem Play. Shylock does horrible things, but he also gets treated horribly. Do you think if he wasn’t treated so harshly that maybe he wouldn’t BE so harsh? 

Other themes/concepts I found in the play that interested me:

·         The three caskets

·         The rings

·         Money, (Shylock not willing to lend freely vs. Antonio giving everything he has)

Sonnets:

“Dear my love, you know

You had a father: let your son say so.”

~Sonnet 13

Well, not much has changed since we last checked on the fair youth. Still hasn’t had a kid, and Shakespeare still hasn’t stopped asking him to have one. I think in the next installment, (around sonnet 18) things will begin to get more interesting.

Your thoughts?

So what did you think of the play and/or sonnets? I’d really like to know what your reaction was to the play, (like it? Love it? Hate it? Undecided? )

Next Week:

·         Hamlet:

o   Give yourselves plenty of time for this one, It’s Shakespeare’s longest play and Hamlet is really long-winded. Try to put yourself in Hamlet’s shoes as you read this, ask yourself questions like: “what would I do if I found out my uncle killed my dad and married my mom less than a month later?” And then when you finish try to come up with a personal opinion of the way Hamlet acted. Do you agree with what he did?

·        Sonnets 14-18