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The Merchant of Venice

William Shakespeare

Book Overview: 

William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is a comedy about Bassanio, an impoverished gentleman, who uses the credit of his friend, the merchant Antonio, to borrow money from a wealthy Jew, Shylock. Antonio pledges to pay Shylock a pound of flesh if he defaults on the loan, which Bassanio will use to woo a rich heiress, Portia. A subplot concerns the elopement of Shylock's daughter Jessica with a Christian, Bassanio's friend Lorenzo. In its focus on love and marriage, the play shares certain concerns with Shakespeare's other comedies. Yet its depiction of the tensions between Jews and Christians in early modern Venice - and its highly dramatic trial scene in Act 4 - create darker currents in the play.

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Book Excerpt: 
. . .May I speak with Antonio?

Bas. If it please you to dine with us.

Shy. Yes, to smell pork; to eat of the habitation which your prophet, the Nazarite, conjured the devil into![23] I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you.—What news on the Rialto?—Who is he comes here?

Bas. This is signior Antonio.

[Exit BASSANIO.

Shy. (aside.) How like a fawning publican he looks?
I hate him, for he is a Christian:
But more, for that, in low simplicity,
He lends out money gratis, and brings down
The rate of usance here with us in Venice. (E)
If I can catch him once upon the hip,[24]
I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.
He hates our sacred nation: and he rails
Even there where merchants most do congregate,
On me, my bargains, and my well-won thrift.
Which he ca. . . Read More

Community Reviews

(view spoiler)[(hide spoiler)]
"الرجل الذي لا يشعر بالموسيقى ولا يهزه الطرب إنما هو مفطور على الغدر والاحتيال, حركات نفسه قطوب كقطوب الظلام، وأهواؤه سود كأهواء الجحيم. وقصارى القول إنه رجل يحذر شره ويتقى أمره "

قرأت ترجمة خليل مطران, فيها ألفاظ صعبة كتير, لدرجة إنه تم تغيير بعض الكلمات لصعوبتها عند تمثيلها على مسرح حديقة الأزبكية

Although the most famous speech from this piece is, deservedly and understandably, Shylock's 'prick us' monologue, I think that the more useful speech to talk about what I felt about the play is Portia's only slightly less famous 'quality of mercy' speech in the court room scene:

The quality of mercy

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

شايلوك أيها الطفيلي الاناني:تسمح لي امنحك انحناءة شكر رقيقة!فانت سبب حبي للادب
شايلوك ايها المرابي الشره:لن انساك مهما قرأت..فساظل اقيس شر البطل من خيره عليك
شايلوك ايها المخادع الماكر: تذكرني دائما بجملة"أخذ الحق صنعة"و ان المرأة اذا أرادت..تنتصر على من هو أسوأ منك

شيلوك المرابي الذي يبني ثراؤه على

As a wise woman in the comments of this review once said, this is a great and underrated work by Billy Shakes depending on how you read the anti-Semitism within it.

As in, on the one hand, this is witty and smart and filled with sex jokes.

But on the other hand, the villain is a Jewish stereotype.

It'

شايلوك أيها الطفيلي الاناني:تسمح لي امنحك انحناءة شكر رقيقة!فانت سبب حبي للادب
شايلوك ايها المرابي الشره:لن انساك مهما قرأت..فساظل اقيس شر البطل من خيره عليك
شايلوك ايها المخادع الماكر: تذكرني دائما بجملة"أخذ الحق صنعة"و ان المرأة اذا أرادت..تنتصر على من هو أسوأ منك

شيلوك المرابي الذي يبني ثراؤه على

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 exer

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