Merchant of Venice

[ficwize]

I just saw the Merchant of Venice for the first time. (Yes, I am also shocked by the lack of education here.) I have a mix of reactions. All I knew of the play before was the "Has not a Jew..." speech which seems to be quite progressive for Shakespeare's time. Then I saw it in context and I... don't know anymore. Was it a mockery? Was it intended to be sympathetic? Or was Shylock supposed to be a simple villian, which he does not come across as.

Also, is it my slash glasses, or were Antonio and Bassanio supposed to read like a romantic couple?

Finally, I cried in the court scene. I also got heart palpitations and freaked out a bit when I though it might go badly...

I will be adding this to my Yuletide list this year.

Comments

[pargoletta.livejournal.com]

Shylock was a very progressive character for English theater of the time. Remember, there were almost no Jews in Elizabethan and Jacobean England, since they'd all been expelled in the 13th century. They were portrayed on stage as stock villains, as sort of generic Evil Others. If you needed an Outsider to kidnap children, plot, extort money, or do other nasty things to your characters, you made that Outsider character a Jew, and everyone got the point, even the groundlings.

Shylock is shown to have feelings, reactions, love his daughter, be somewhat justified in his actions, even if he goes too far. That would have been an astounding humanization of a stock villain at the time (1596, I think, or thereabouts). The modern equivalent would probably be if a U.S. filmmaker gave the same sort of treatment to a character who's a member of Al Qaeda.

The actual Jews who actually lived in actual cities in Italy at that time experienced wildly varying treatment depending on where they lived, and how the ruler of that particular city felt about them. Venice was busy locking them up in ghettos, while in Mantua, they were serving as court physicians and musicians. Go figure.

[ficwize.livejournal.com]

I regret that I didn't focus more of my history studies on earlier eras in Europe. I did have a broad English history course, so I knew that about England, but I have no idea what was going on in Italy at that point in time.

The modern equivalent would probably be if a U.S. filmmaker gave the same sort of treatment to a character who's a member of Al Qaeda.

I would very much like to see that.

Do you by chance write any fic for this play? *hopeful* Or know where I may find some?

[pargoletta.livejournal.com]

Do you by chance write any fic for this play? *hopeful*

Um . . . sort of. There is one Caroverse story that crosses over with The Merchant of Venice. It's called Not In One Bottom Trusted. The POV is Antonio, it's set about five or six years before Merchant of Venice takes place, and some of it is set in Venice.

Or know where I may find some?

Definitely check out the good folks at bard_slash. They've got some good stuff over there.

[ficwize.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links!

[pargoletta.livejournal.com]

Also, if you're interested, I saw this movie about a year and a half ago, and I wrote my own review of it.

[ficwize.livejournal.com]

I did read your review and I found it fascinating. I like the way you framed it around "careless people," but I cannot help but wonder what happens in the home of Bassanio and Portia in the years to come.

They clearly were both affected. Bassanio seemed almost submissive at the end of the movie, imo, and Antonio promised his soul to Portia if she would take care of Bassanio. I cannot help but feel like those folks are in for a world of hurt of their own making.

Antonio/Bassanio, whether sexual or not, is clearly the supreme pairing of the story and I just don't know how well it's going to work out for them when Portia/Bassanio becomes the default. Perhaps your comparison to the Great Gatsby is even more apt...

[pargoletta.livejournal.com]

but I cannot help but wonder what happens in the home of Bassanio and Portia in the years to come. . . I cannot help but feel like those folks are in for a world of hurt of their own making.

Oooo, one for the Story Idea Files!