‘The Merchant of Venice’

I’m watching “Merchant of Venice” with the family. What the hell was Shakespeare smoking when he got to Act 5?

The play is meant to be a romantic comedy, marked by the weddings of Bassanio and Portia, Gratiano and Nerissa, and (to a lesser extent) Jessica and Lorenzo; but the titular merchant is Antonio, who is not getting married to anyone. Beyond that it’s the conflict between Shylock and Antonio over the loan and its forfeit that form the most memorable scenes, create the most compelling character (Shylock) and grab the most attention.

By the start of Act 4, all three couples have married, and Act 4 itself concludes with an absolutely heart-wrenching scene where Shylock (having already lost his daughter) is humiliated by the court and forced to convert to Christianity; but instead of wrapping things up, Shakespeare takes us for a visit to the set of the Trippy Trip Von Triptrip Show, where Bassanio and Gratiano give away wedding rings to their wives in disguise and, having failed that test, need to regain their wives’ trust, and what the hell is that about. why are we adding 20 minutes to the story, and don’t give me what you’re smoking, Will, because you do better when you don’t have any of this in your lungs.

Some of this surely is cultural shifts complicating the story. To modern sensibilities, Shylock’s insistence on a pound of flesh is disturbing but we can get his anger because the anti-Semitism he’s experienced rankles us. Probably to the Elizabethan audience, he was just a bastard getting his due; though as for that, Shakespeare goes out of his way to give Shylock plenty of reasons in the text itself to explain his disdain for Antonio, so it’s not just a contemporary reading that makes Shylock a sympathetic character and moves the focus off Antonio and all the happy couples.

We watched the Joseph Fiennes (Bassanio), Al Pacino (Shylock) and Jeremy Irons (Antonio) version, and it ends with Shylock, devastated; and gives us a final scene with Jessica gazing at her late mother’s ring, suggesting she is regretting her decision to become a Christian and marry Lorenzo; but, you know, I can’t help but feel this play needed at least one more draft.