Merchant of Venice Critics Flashcards
Peter Cash; Shakespeare’s 1st aim in the Merchant of Venice.
- “to present us with a comprehensive view of a flawed humanity”
Peter Cash; Shakespeare’s 3rd aim in the Merchant of Venice.
- “to assay human values in order to determine man’s sense of priorities”
Peter Cash; Shakespeare’s 4th aim in the Merchant of Venice.
- “to explore the difficulties that attend man’s moral choices”
Peter Cash; common human dilemmas.
- The play aims to “illustrate that there are common human dilemmas which - being impossible to resolve - first excite laughter, but ultimately inspire pity for our lapsed condition”
Harold Bloom; the play as a comedy, but still anti-Semitic.
“Shakespeare’s grand, equivocal comedy…is nevertheless a profoundly anti-Semitic work”
Peter Thomson; the juxtaposition of scenes from Belmont & Venice in Acts 1 to 3.
“Shakespeare’s strategy…to create suspense through the employment of ‘imminence’. What is about to happen in Venice or Belmont is constantly interrupted by a shift to the other place.”
William Hazlitt; comments on the portrayal of Shylock onstage as grotesque, and Shylock’s obsession with his revenge.
“a decrepit old man…brooding over one idea, that of his hatred, and fixed on one unalterable purpose, that of his revenge”
Stephen Greenblatt; Shylock’s use of language (idiosyncratic speaking style, repetition, etc.)
“Although Shylock shares a language with his Christian adversaries, he inhabits it ‘in a wholly different sense’ “
Michael L. Fleischer; the idea that Portia & Bassanio’s relationship plot is less important to the story than Shylock’s revenge plot (can be used whenever you feel that Portia & Bassanio’s relationship developments are unrealistic).
“The relationship between Shylock & Antonio is the dramatic core…the love story (between Portia & Bassanio) is of secondary dramatic importance”
Farah Karim-Cooper; the treatment of Portia & Jessica as male property in the play (whenever Shylock talks about Jessica as being his, or Portia talks about her father or being Bassanio’s).
“In the stories of Portia & Jessica, Shakespeare highlights the various conditions under which women were viewed as property in Elizabethan England.”
Anne Parten; Portia as capable & a character of action (any time she does anything in Act 4 / 5, & in Bassanio’s choosing scene).
“Portia…represents Shakespeare’s first effort to create a comic heroine capable of controlling & directing the action…around her”
Anne Parten; Portia as a stronger character than the men in the play.
“In constantly demonstrating her ability to beat men at their own games, Shakespeare allows Portia to emerge as a more potent character than any of her masculine companions.”
Harold C. Goddard; on Antonio’s feelings toward Shylock.
“Antonio has a no less savage detestation of Shylock…Antonio abhors Shylock because he catches his own reflection in his face.”
Anne Barton; Shylock as alien, different & opposed to the pleasure-seeking society of Venice due to his frugal nature.
“Shylock is an alien in a society whose religion, pleasures, aims & attitudes are radically different from his own. Restrained & frugal by nature, he holds the pleasure-loving life of the Christians in contempt. Even his economical, unadorned style of speech sets him apart from the Venetians.”
Warren D. Smith; Shylock not being a true Jew, but rather using his religion to justify his vengeance; showing no personal engagement with the faith.
“Shylock is perfectly willing to use the Jewish faith as a cloak for villainy.”
Lawrence Danson; On Antonio’s sadness as a manifestation of his love for Bassanio.
“Antonio’s sadness remains inexplicable…a competition between Portia & Antonio seems the inevitable result of the assumption.”
Cynthia Lewis; Idea that Antonio is a less present character.
“Antonio may be the least visible character ever to have had a play named after him”
Robin Russin; theme of appearance vs reality.
“greed masquerading as wealth & sophistication”
Robin Russin; Bassanio winning Portia (& comparing her to the story of Jason & the golden fleece).
“This fleece is not love, or even Portia’s golden hair, but her gold, plain and simple.”
Robin Russin; similarities between Portia & Antonio in their relationship with Antonio.
“how Portia and Antonio mirror each other […] in their attraction to and financial support of Bassanio”
Robin Russin; Shylock’s fate after the trial & prejudice.
“Shylock must give everything…not in any way an invitation for him to achieve either salvation or forgiveness: he remains an alien, not a citizen, and still without rights.”
Robin Russin; theme of appearance vs reality in Jessica’s & Lorenzo’s relationship.
“It is the money that matters to Lorenzo, and the chance to live like a wealthy Christian that matters to Jessica”
Emma Smith; love & money.
“Shakespeare shows how capitalism affects – and infects – emotional relationships”
