Reviews for The Merchant of Venice (Naxos Classic Drama)

The average rating for The Merchant of Venice (Naxos Classic Drama) based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2007-05-12 00:00:00 Gregory Tanner Many years ago I believed this play to be an early experiment in tragi-comedy featuring Shylock, a nemesis of almost tragic proportions, who--both because of the sympathies he evokes and the evil determination he represents--unbalances the play, making the last act in Belmont seem like a hollow exercise in formal completeness. More recently, I believed that Shylock was essentially a comic villain, one dark splash on a predominately sunny canvas that embodies f0r us the fallen world of Venice transformed by the magic of Portia's Belmont. (I also believe our knowledge of the Holocaust makes it impossible to appreciate the play fully in this way). Now-after my recent re-reading--I'm no longer sure what to think. For one thing--taking the title seriously this time--I feel that Antonio the merchant, both in his unexplained sadness, his love (whether erotic or paternal or both) for Bassanio, and his unredeemed solitariness, is extremely important to the meaning of the play. I think that Antonio and Shylock, in their preoccupations and loneliness, are similar, but that Antonio--unlike Shylock--is able to look beneath the surface of things, to peer beneath "our muddy vesture of decay" and hear the music of the spheres as it echoes in the human heart. Thus Antonio becomes capable of love and mercy through choice, in much the same way that Bassanio chooses the right caskets and Portia chooses the mature way to respond to Bassanio's giving away of her ring. Shylock, however, by willingly suppressing his compassion for another and insisting strictly on justice puts himself beyond mercy and beyond love.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-10-18 00:00:00 Ilia Ilia The pretty islands of Venice, in the shallow lagoon, atop the blue, Adriatic Sea, as the blazing rays of the Sun, shine down, on the brilliant colors of the homes, the calm canals full of boats , with cargo, from faraway lands, a glorious past, but an uncertain future, the rise of Portugal, worries the people. The city once powerful, a short distance from the Italian mainland, vastly wealthy, is in decline...Antonio, the most successful merchant in Venice, and a gambler in commerce, his ships float in the unpredictable oceans waves, always bringing him back riches , to the lucky man. His cousin, and best friend , Bassanio, not so much, he has a bad habit of spending not only all his money, but quite a lot not in his pockets ( a concept still popular in modern times ). As they say, a friend in need, is a friend indeed, Bassanio asks Antonio for a loan, but unfortunately his kinsman has everything tied up, but wait a short while, soon his ships will come in, and Antonio will be richer than ever. Bassanio can't, there is a woman involved, he needs plenty of ducats, to impress the lady Portia, who lives on shore, Belmont, that he is well off, not a penniless seeker of gold , through marriage to her. Only the moneylender Shylock, can do this, Christians in the middle ages, considered it unchristian, getting interest from loaning money... so intelligent Jews, dominates this trade and did very well. The wise Shylock ( who despises Antonio, a rival, and the merchant does not love him either), will not have anything to do with the reckless Bassanio, but Antonio, that's different, an excellent reputation in business. 3,000 ducats agreed to, a contract signed by Antonio, with a funny line about a pound of flesh taken from The Merchant of Venice, if he can't repay back the loan, with interest, in three months. Simple, his ships have always brought back precious merchandise, making huge profits, much over the cost of his investments, but the mammoth seas, are exceedingly treacherous, and unfeeling, news arrives, a shipwreck off Tripoli, another in the English Channel, others, fall under the stormy waves, never to be seen again, sink in the cold waters, to the unknown bottom of the abyss. Antonio, is ruined, like his ships, Shylock demands not his money, but the pound of flesh from his hide, even the Duke, of the city, is helpless, a contract is a contract, bad for business if not enforced ...His cousin has been better served by the gods, married to the wealthy , smart, independently-minded, beautiful, Portia, but Antonio, still needs a good lawyer, now, the hesitant Bassanio returns to Venice, with his wife's support, on their wedding day. Nerissa, Portia's maid, married Gratiano, her husband's friend, the two secretly follow them to the city, dressed as men. Their new, unperceptive, maybe even vacuous husbands, know not these gentlemen...Portia, a pretend attorney, with whatever legal knowledge, she acquires ( but an intellectual giant), must save Antonio from an undoubted death...The Jewish Shylock, makes the best statement ever, against racism... "If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die?"