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Siskoid

I've never really been attracted to The Merchant of Venice, mostly because the antisemitism crucial to the play is upsetting, but in 1980's BBC production, Warren Mitchell's ambiguous performance as Shylock I think reveals the Bard's true intentions. The play is really about religious hypocrisy, with so-called "good" Christians abusing a "villainous" Jew who, if he really is a villain and not trying to teach a lesson (the harshness of his revenge is scalable), has been radicalized by decades of this abuse. He seems justified. The mercantile concerns of the play overwhelm even if the "comedy"'s love story, and again put the lie to the characters' ideas of love and honor. I mean, if lending money is a sin, but borrowing money is not, one has to ask who this Christian God is and whether he looks like a golden calf. So to me, Portia is the villain of the play, not Shylock. She may be the cleverest character in the play, but she's no Rosalind or Viola, cross-dressing proclivities or not. She's a manipulator of men, ungracious to her Muslim suitor, and the ruiner of all. The final scenes in Belmont, necessary to resolve the comedic mode, leave a sour taste in your mouth, Shakespeare already experimenting with the genre. The BBC production is quite theatrical, with painted backdrops that work by virtue of making everything look like Renaissance illustrations. It improved my relationship with the play in a way that the more recent Al Pacino picture did not.

6 years 10 months ago