The Merchant of Venice
In this lively comedy of love and money in sixteenth-century Venice, Bassanio wants to impress the wealthy heiress Portia but lacks the necessary funds. He turns to his merchant friend, Antonio, who is forced to borrow from Shylock, a Jewish moneylender. When Antonio's business falters, repayment becomes impossible--and by the terms of the loan agreement, Shylock is able to demand a pound of Antonio's flesh. Portia cleverly intervenes, and all ends well (except of course for Shylock).
Stats for nerds
3recommend
24mentions
24people
2008–2026years
13% recommend83% neutral4% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- It's a tragedy that most English classes don't have field trips. Going to an actual Shakespeare play would probably change many people's minds than having to direct it in book form.
What clicked for me was after being forced to read The Merchant of Venice in grade 9, I suddenly saw all the cultural references ("I want my pound of flesh" or "All that glisters is not gold") in movies, music, etc. I remember watching Strange Brew and somebody mentioned that it's basically Hamlet and you can't unsee it once you realize which movie character is matched to which Shakespeare character.
Over the years I've been to several adaptations of A Midsummer Night's Dream and it was a ton of fun every single time.
- I am generally a lover of history, but Shakespeare's comedies are just too "weird" for me. The plots that tend to rotate around some elaborate disguise etc. just cannot "roll me in".
I attended a local adaptation of the Twelfth Night a few days ago. The actors really did their best, but the plot felt like product of a brain injury to me. I wonder what has changed since the 16th century, as obviously Shakespeare's humor was genuinely popular back then.
It is a different story with the tragedies. The Merchant of Venice was very visceral even for 21st century audience. As if troubles of people (be it debt or anti-Semitism) changed less over time.
- Seems I'm in the minority but I loved the literature we read in school - still remember Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men, The Merchant of Venice, ... with great affection many years later.
I was already a prolific reader though; perhaps I had good teachers (I don't remember them as such, not bad, but not great).
- I think you got your timelines mixed up in your effort to portray me as a neo-Nazi.
I know Russians are responsible for everything wrong in the world ever, but when I say that there is a rich tradition of antisemitism in Europe, I mean since at least the time of Shakespeare. Merchant of Venice kind of thing.
In Germany, Nazis didn't just invent antisemitism out of thin air. They exploited a common sentiment held by the working class. If you think that's due to Russian propaganda, well, we are also under your bed. Be very afraid.
Lastly, there is a trend lately to label "problematic" any sentiment of insufficient piety towards all things Semitic. This is a great culture, but it has shown that like any other great culture it is capable of genocide.
- I don’t understand what is novel here. Anything that you have to pay for today (making new cheese) and recoup the costs at a later date (selling aged cheese) will mean that a lot of money is “locked up” for a period of time, and in order to pay for day-to-day work you’ll need even more money to last you until the product is sold.
If you don’t want to bear 100% of the risk you turn to the financial markets to sell some of the product today (futures contract) or borrow the money to pay back later.
Edit: Ah, the value is marketing for the bank:
> “[Operating a cheese aging facility] allows Credem to be perceived as a bank that cares about the community, cares for the region, and cares for the producers,” he says. “Lending is something that people don’t really like in Italy. They think of usury, going back to Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Many people still perceive lenders and banks that way. So for a bank to be able to set up this infrastructure, and to showcase their value to the community, it’s significant.”
Edit 2: Parmesan Cheese Price Graphs: https://www.clal.it/en/?section=prod_prezzi_parmigiano
- Jews were historically associated with practices like moneylending largely due to the religious quirks I mentioned.
Go forward a few centuries and you have things like Shakespeare's moneylender from the Merchant of Venice, Shylock. This was no accident. It reveals both the reality of the time and attitudes towards Jews. This was such a powerful literary figure that the word "shylock" entered the lexicon.
Anyway here's another history [1]:
> The Jews came principally from Rouen - a great center of Jewish life in Northern France. It is well known that William brought them over as so called "feudal Jews" to be Royal serfs, the king's own chattels, providing him with financial services and income ...
> Though their principal function was to be money lenders, the London Jews did in reality they did follow a variety of other trades and callings
[1]: http://www.jtrails.org.uk/trails/the-city-of-london/history
