[~ A7lA DoNiA ~]

Injustice in The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice is horrid, cruel, and one of the most popular plays of Shakespeare. After a close reading of the play, I find it impossible to think of Shylock negatively; he is just better quality stuff than any of the Christians in the play. The Christians are truly vile, heartless, money-grabbing monsters, and when Shylock makes his final exit, destroyed by defeat, one should sense that our Christian brothers are at last completely ashamed of themselves.



I was hesitant to have anything to do with The Merchant of Venice after I first read it; all possible intrigue had dissolved as I read passages such as the following:



"He hath disgraced me and hindered me half a million, laughed

at my losses, mocked my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my

bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies, and what's his

reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands,

organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? ...If you prick

us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you

poison us, do we not die?" (III.1.49-55, 58-60)



This passage tears at my very soul!!! This play was to me a biting farce written to satisfy a bloody crowd.



While researching for this paper, I found two seemingly opposing facts about The Merchant of Venice - the Shakespearean play which have sparked the most controversy. This play is the most controversial and the most studied play in Israel. It is difficult to understand how this play could be beloved by the very people who are struck down. Apparently there are various readings of The Merchant of Venice which I had not considered.



Perhaps the play is neither pro-Jewish, nor pro-Christian. Sure, Shylock is painted as a money-hungry Jew throughout the Merchant,



"My daughter, O my ducats!

My ducats, O my daughter!"



Shylock is enraged his daughter has eloped with a Christian, but perhaps he is more concerned with the fate of his money.



Antonio, a Christian, has borrowed money from Shylock and refuses to pay it back. Here the reader may find a Jew-hating man who publicly spits on Shylock, and suffers from the grief of an unfullfilled homo-erotic relationship. Plainly, it can be seen that the Christians in this play are far from holy or perfect.


The illustrations which show neither the Jew nor the Christian to be perfect are countless. I feel better reading the play now that I have the option to view Shakespeare as a man of his time who was able to step away from the prejudices of the world in which he lived, and present injustice as he saw it.

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