Shakespeare Project 2020
I believe this may have been my very first Shakespeare play back in high school. I'm not sure I was a fan of it then, and it doesn't rank up there with my top choices even today.
This is listed as a comedy not because its funny but because it doesn't fit into the histories or tragedies (no one dies!) And it is a controversial play with scholars debating whether it is antisemitic or not. One must remember that antisemitism was common at that time (Jewish people had been expelled from England in 1290 and were not permitted to return until 1657). And while Shylock is not a likeable character, he isn't any worse than the others and he can be depicted as a sympathetic character.
There are some famous lines that come out of this play:
II.7
Prince of Morocco (reading from a scroll): "All that glisters is not gold."
III.1
Shylock: "...I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs,
dimensions, senses, affections, passions, fed with the same
food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same
diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by
the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick
us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh?
If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us,
shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we
will resemble you in that...."
IV.1
Portia:"The quality of mercy is not strain'd;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes."
And then some not so famous lines that I enjoyed:
I.1
Antonio: "In sooth, I know not why I am so sad.
It wearies me; you say it wearies you;
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn;..."
I.1
Bassanio: "Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing,...
...His reasons are as two grains
of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff: you shall seek all day
ere you find them, and when you have them they are not
worth the search."
I.2
Portia:"...It is a good divine that follows his own
instructions; I can easier teach twenty what were good to
be done than to be one of the twenty to follow mine own
teaching...."
I.3
Antonio:"...The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart."
III.3
Shylock:"...Thou call'dst me dog before thou hadst a cause,
But, since I am a dog, beware my fangs:..."
III.5
Lorenzo:"...Go in sirrah; bid them prepare for dinner."
Launcelot:"That is done, sir; they have all stomachs."
IV.1
Shylock (in response to him not showing mercy to Antonio):
"...You have among you many a purchas'd slave,
Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules,
You use in abject and in slavish parts,
Because you bought them; shall I say to you
'Let them be free, marry them to your heirs -
Why sweat they under burdens? - let their beds
Be made as soft as yours, and let their palates
Be season'd with such viands'? You will answer
'The slaves are ours.'...
V.1
Gratiano: "Why this is like the mending of highways
In summer, where the ways are fair enough."
I appreciate the courtroom scene and Portia sticking to the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law to avoid Antonio having to pay back his bond with his flesh:
IV.1
Portia:"...This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood:
The words expressly are 'a pound of flesh'
Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh;"
Even though Shylock's life was spared and he was given back 1/2 his goods by the mercy of the Duke and Antonio, I thought the final punishment to Shylock was unduly harsh:
IV.1
Antonio:"...He presently become a Christian;..."
There's a lot to unpack in this play, so while its not my favorite and can be problematic, I did enjoy revisiting it!
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