Is The Merchant of Venice anti-Semitic?

Mr. prendrelemik continues: "Shakespeare has written him in that way, and goes further, to say he is acting the way he does because he is a Jew." As Danik might note, not directly. We might then note that as Professor Wilson suggested, R&J was fresh in the minds of the audience when MV was first performed. Thus it is that in the former there are several violent deaths and in the latter we find Shylock presenting his case before a formal court: "Some men there are love not a gaping pig; / Some that are mad if they behold a cat; / And others, when the bagpipe sings i'th' nose......."(MV4.1.46-8). These particular lines echo lines from Solanio in the first scene: "Now, by two-headed Janus / Nature hath fram'd strange fellows in her time; / Some that will evermore peep through their eyes / And laugh like parrots at a bagpiper / And other of such vinegar aspect........(MV1.1.50-54). Of course when Shylock is finished, Bassanio replies: "This is no answer, thou unfeeling man"(MV4.1.62). And Shylock's "I am a Jew" in Act 3, scene 1 is as the late Joseph Papp called such lines, one of the play's "show stoppers." These last two quotes may help explain Mr. prendrelemick's comment. As I have documented, this last quote plainly corresponds to Juliet's line "What's Montague?"(R&J2.2.40). And thus Antonio and Shylock are "strange fellows."

"Mr. prendrelemik continues: "Shakespeare has written him in that way, and goes further, to say he is acting the way he does because he is a Jew." As Danik might note, not directly."

I´m not sure if Danik would have noted that :D but never mind. And it would be good to have some news of prendrelemik.

But I like the part where Shylock explains himself for it is where Shakespeare permits him to explain his own point of view.

The lines from Antonio, "I pray you, think you question with the Jew. / You may as well go stand upon the beach......"(MV4.1.70-73), may also have been what prendrelemick had in mind. As we have seen, the lines also echo some from Romeo Montague. For his introduction, Professor Halio wrote: "THE MERCHANT OF VENICE is studded with both classical and biblical allusions, though how many were deliberately intended or unconsciously woven into the fabric of the dialogue is uncertain.......Some, of course, cannot be mistaken or missed.......Others may be more subtle, involving satirical or other purposes. But all of them extend the play's dimensions." Much the same may be said of allusions to ROMEO AND JULIET and the Sonnets. Therefore, when Shylock says "But more for that in low simplicity / He lends out money gratis"(MV1.3.39-40), the reader may recall Sonnet 66: "Tir'd with all these, for restful death I cry.........And simple truth miscall'd simplicity." This adds to the list of answers regarding why Shylock acts the way he does.

In post #102, mona amon noted Solanio's mimicry of Shylock: "It's difficult to explain why one finds something funny, but I did laugh at the 'My daughter! O, my ducats! O, my daughter! / Fled with a Christian! O, my Christian ducats!'"(MV2.8.15-16). There's something incongruous about the phrase "Christian ducats." Solanio's "laugh like parrots" from the first scene is useful here as some parrots are capable of mimicking human speech. If Shylock is a dog, then Solanio is a parrot. In Act 3, scene 5 we find Lorenzo's "I think the best grace of wit will shortly turn into silence, and discourse grow commendable in none only but parrots"(MV3.5.40-3).

Charles D. and Drkshadow03 note Shylock's much noted speech in Act 3, scene 1. The speech is prompted by Salerio's "Why, I am sure if he forfeit, thou wilt not take his flesh. What's that good for?"(MV3.1.46-7). In turn, Salerio is responding to Shylock's "There I have another bad match:...............let him look to his bond." This is his reply to "There is more difference between thy flesh and hers than between jet and ivory, more between your bloods than there is between red wine and Rhenish. But tell us, do you hear whether Antonio have had any loss at sea or no?" Editors have various opinions regarding the "Salads." All agree, though, that the two characters that Shylock speaks to here are the same two that Antonio speaks with in the first scene of the play. As I have documented, Salerio's "difference" speech corresponds to three images in R&J that in turn correspond to the black and white picture representing Chinese dualistic philosophy. At any rate, these two characters, then, indicate some semblance regarding Antonio and Shylock. They are each comic villains.

" Before you know it the general consensus is that no one should subject school children to this 'without context,'" wrote kiki1982. I do recall in high school one of the guys carrying a copy of this play when I was reading JULIUS CAESAR and that the same fellow had a copy of R&J the year before when I was reading MND. It seems that context has been regarded as important for some time. Even in Shakespeare's time successful writers, I should think, were rarely killed with daggers. Therefore, when Shylock says "Thou stick'st a dagger in me"(MV3.1.103), many in the audience in 1597 or so would have recalled the reports of Marlowe's death, though Shylock's speech is hyperbole, a figure of speech, an idiom and a literary device. YesNo quoted Greenblatt's comment on the dialogue between Shylock and Tubal: "This is the stuff of comedy, and it is certainly possible to play the scene for laughs." YesNo goes on to ask "How do you 'play the scene for laughs' given what happens to Shylock in the end unless the laughter originates from an underlying antisemitism?" If we also recall the lines from Juliet(see the recent post above #236), you most likely do not. If Antonio is noted as a second comic villain, as we see in AS YOU LIKE IT, one might laugh here and there, I suppose. If R&J is fresh in the minds of the audience, Nick Bottom tells us what to expect: "That will ask some tears in the true performing of it. If I do it, let the audience look to their eyes"(MND1.2.27-8).

Hi,
I'm just putting up these links about these courses that might interest you, Stanley, and other litnetters. They are free on line Harward courses about The Merchant of Venice and Shakespeare. One has to pau for the Certificate though, if one wants one:
https://www.edx.org/course/shakespea...venice-shylock
https://www.edx.org/course/shakespeares-life-and-work
https://www.edx.org/course/shakespea...hello-the-moor

Thanks for the suggestion. While considering the matter, I came across another Greenblatt book, THE SWERVE. Looks interesting. The "course," in another sense, that we're on here was set by the late critic John Gross in his 1994 book about Shylock: "I personally think it is absurd to suppose that there is a direct line of descent from Antonio to Hitler or Portia to the SS, but that is because I do not believe that the Holocaust was in any way inevitable." Here in the U.S., with the passing of Justice Ginsburg, we are reminded of the tribute she wrote when Justice Scalia passed on to eternity. The conclusion reads "It was my great good fortune to have known him as working colleague and treasured friend." Their determinations as Justices were often in opposition, and the one was Jewish and the other Roman Catholic Italian-American. This is something like what I've been carefully documenting in Shakespeare's play. In AS YOU LIKE IT, the two comic villains are reforming themselves late in the play. Back in the court scene in MV, we find Bassanio's question again: "Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?"(MV4.1.120). When Portia turns things around, then, part of the tension is the question of whether Shylock will meet the same fate as Christopher Marlowe. Back in ROMEO AND JULIET we find Romeo also threatening: " O, tell me, Friar, tell me, / In what vile part of this anatomy / Doth my name lodge? Tell me that I may sack / The hateful mansion"(ROM3.3.104-6). It is interesting that in the First Quarto is a stage direction: "He offers to stab himself, and Nurse snatches the dagger away."

"Here in the U.S., with the passing of Justice Ginsburg, we are reminded of the tribute she wrote when Justice Scalia passed on to eternity. The conclusion reads "It was my great good fortune to have known him as working colleague and treasured friend." Their determinations as Justices were often in opposition, and the one was Jewish and the other Roman Catholic Italian-American."
More than any relation to MV I liked you mention of this tribute.

Mr. Lake's notes, "Shakespeare is playing on racial stereotypes for laughs.........all comic writers play on one stereotype or another," are good regarding one side of the ducat. On the other hand, when the Duke says "Upon my power I may dismiss this court, / Unless Bellario, a learned doctor / Whom I have sent for to determine this, / Come here today"(MV4.1.103-6), part of the original context is Romeo's "This shall determine that"(ROM3.1.131), where Romeo is speaking of his sword. Of the play onstage Professor Halio wrote: "Unfortunately, scant information on THE MERCHANT OF VENICE as performed in Shakespeare's era has come down to us. The first known record of any performance appears on the title page of the first quarto(1600)." We do know that the author worked with a troupe of players. It is then possible that the actor who played the Prince in R&J may have played the Duke in MV. It is also thought that the leading actor in the company played Shylock and a young man played Portia. Richard Burbage went on to play Hamlet. Shakespeare himself may have played Antonio, or Bassanio. Imagine the "sweet swan of Avon" saying "When I told you / My state was nothing, I should have told you / That I was worse than nothing"(MV3.2.256-8).

(#54) noted that Shylock's "plight as father and a person wronged are equally balanced by his passion for revenge." He also may be a grieving widower, like Romeo. The report that the actor playing Shylock wore a red wig, in Bevington's judgement a "doubtful tradition," is balanced by Bassanio's "The world is still deceived with ornament." Professor Kenneth Gross imagines asking Shylock "What could you have been thinking?" He soon asks "Who is Shylock? Shylock is Shakespeare. Shylock is Shakespeare and Shakespeare is Shylock." This is balanced by Antonio's reply to Portia's "You, merchant, have you anything to say?"(MV4.1.260), where we find the passion of Sonnet 144. If Shylock and Bassanio were portrayed on stage by Richard Burbage and Billy S., that Bassanio does not kill Shylock would have been noted by some in the audience as a dramatic contrast to the real life death of Marlowe.

"Professor Kenneth Gross imagines asking Shylock "What could you have been thinking?" He soon asks "Who is Shylock? Shylock is Shakespeare. Shylock is Shakespeare and Shakespeare is Shylock."

Just wondering if Shakespeare would have enjoyed that comparison.

"Thou art a scholar, speak to it, Horatio"(HAMLET1.1.42). Therefore, as Samuel Johnson might say, Professor Gross is following Shakespeare's instructions. "So have I heard and do in part believe it"(HAMLET1.1.147) is a solid answer to the Professor. Joining Charles D. and Hawkman's(page 4) chat we find in the RSC edition that Portia has 22% of the total lines in the play and Shylock and Bassanio each has 13%. Gratiano, Lorenzo and Antonio each has 7%. The question posed by the Professor, "What could you have been thinking?", corresponds to Hawkman's comment regarding Antonio: " What a twit!" Again, these are unhappy sports fans. Marchette Chute wrote of Portia and Shylock, "between them they create an extraordinary play." One will note that the minor characters were also written by Shakespeare. In HENRY V, the King, in disguise, encounters a character named Williams. In AS YOU LIKE IT, Touchstone has a brief chat with a character named William(AYL5.1). During the brief scene, the name "William" is spoken four times.

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On the other hand, Hawkman compared the character Alf Garnet from the 1968 British comedy show, the show that inspired the American counterpart Archie Bunker in the program ALL IN THE FAMILY, to MV. Talk show host Steve Allen imagined interviewing Shakespeare for his series THE MEETING OF THE MINDS. In the court scene, the Duke says to Shylock: "How shalt thou hope for mercy, rendering none?"(MV4.1.87). Professor Drakakis noted that this is an allusion to JAMES 2.13. It may also be an indication that Shylock's life is in danger. Therefore, Portia's purpose in the court scene might be characterized as arbitration. That is, she is there to save Antonio and Shylock too. In the conclusion, Portia says to Antonio: "Sir, you are very welcome to our house. / It must appear in other ways than words"(MV5.1.139-40). Drakakis notes that "she will shortly make good this promise by restoring Antonio to his merchandise." She also will shortly say "Then you shall be his surety. Give him this, / And bid him keep it better than the other"(MV5.1.254-5). She hands Antonio the ring that he had previously bid Bassanio give to the "young doctor of Rome." This echoes Shylock's "I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor"(MV3.1.110) and the Nurse's "Here, sir, a ring she bid me give you, sir"(ROM3.3.162). So I was wrong, in a previous post, Antonio is also given a ring though he has it for only a moment.

Regarding Shylock, Mr. yesno asked, "why is he so often called just 'the Jew?'" One answer is that as Hawkman suggested, the characters have something in common with the characters Alf Garnet and Archie Bunker. Another is that "Jew" rhymes with "Montague." As we have seen, Shakespeare suggests that the passions of Shylock and Antonio may be much like those of Romeo. Charles D. wrote that the clownish fool Lancelet's purpose is a "comic mirroring or parody of what is happening in the main plot." In his little play within the play(Act 2 , scene 2), he follows the advice of "the fiend." This is in keeping with the beginning of the play where Antonio is a "want-wit." And one might argue that the court scene is engaging, in part, because Antonio and Shylock are co-villains. That is, as Hawkman noted, Antonio is also blameworthy.

In AS YOU LIKE IT, the clownish fool says to young William: "I do now remember a saying: ' The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool'"(AYL5.1.31). Portia's "I have within my mind / A thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks, / Which I will practice"(MV3.4.76-8). This last passage must be noted if we are to consider the puzzle of how she and her cousin prepared for the court scene. Therefore, one might argue that Portia herself is, to some extent, the clownish fool even in the court scene. And Shakespearean baseball fans will suggest that Shylock hits a three run homer off relief pitcher Gratiano: "Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond, / thou but offend'st thy lungs to speak so loud. Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall / To cureless ruin. I stand here for law"(MV4.1.139-42).

And in AS YOU LIKE IT, Touchstone and young William are rival suitors of Audrey. The clownish fool threatens the life of William(Act 5, scene 1). In MV, the clownish fool says to Jessica: "so now I speak my agitation of the matter"(MV3.5.4). Professor Drakakis glosses "agitation:" " A possible malapropism, since the clown appears to substitute agitation for cogitation(Ecclesiastes, quoted in Furness, 182); but agitation neatly combines the sense of 'reflection' (OED 1: 'cogitation') and anxiety or perturbation(OED 4: 'agitation') both on Jessica's predicament and on her behalf." I tried to count the number of times he cites the Oxford English Dictionary(more than 700?), but here, I think, it is clear that Shakespeare is interested in the question of comedy vs. tragedy as topic. Scholars note that King Lear comments on the topic of adultery and the subject is central in OTHELLO. Therefore, it is also an implied subject here. Paris says to Romeo: "Can vengeance be pursued further than death? / Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee. / Obey and go with me, for thou must die"(ROMEO5.3.55-7). Romeo replies: "I must indeed, and therefore came I hither." This is the context in which MV was first performed.

If Sen. Graham and V.P. Pence are trustworthy, President Trump was playing the clownish fool after Shakespeare Wednesday. Did he not say "everybody knows" and then pause enough to allow us to sing " a turkey and some mistletow?" When Trump first suggested that the election was stolen, we patiently waited for more information. Given that Sen. Cruz said merely that the subject of fraud is a real concern, we can only conclude that the President has no more information. When I turned on the TV Wednesday afternoon, I was reminded of the storming of the Bastille in the French Revolution. Others will say it rather recalls the "first we'll kill all the lawyers" character . So, back to MV, in 1986, Professor Bloom wrote: " I know of no legitimate way in which THE MERCHANT OF VENICE ought to be regarded as other than an anti-semitic text agreeing in this with E.E. Stoll as against Harold Goddard, my favorite critic of Shakespeare." Of course, he later added that some of his students are very unhappy when he says this. And Rosalind says to Touchstone; "Peace, you dull fool, I found them on a tree."(AYL3.2.112). When Bassanio stands between Shylock and Antonio in the court, we will recall his "So may the outward shows be least themselves"(MV3.2.75). Drakakis and Bevington gloss the above: "external appearances or displays that may lead to deception(OED sb. 2 and 3b)" and " least represent the inner reality." Therefore, as Shylock stands before him, knife in hand, Bassanio must be prepared to both defend Antonio and disarm Shylock. And thus, we are left with the questions regarding the inner reality of Shylock and Antonio. One answer is that
Shylock and Antonio are grieving the loss of Leah. The last lines in KING LEAR tell us that this is the best answer.

In baseball, there is a phrase known as "fielder's choice." One might then regard Gratiano's "O, be thou damned, inexecrable dog"(MV4.1.127) as an editor's choice as some editor's prefer "inexorable" to "inexecrable." In my copy of CLIFF'S NOTES, we find the former without a definition. If one then looks in MERRIAM-WEBSTER'S DELUXE DICTIONARY, where we would expect to find "inexecrable," we instead find "inexhaustible." The first words regarding meaning are "not exhaustible." Therefore it is reasonable to define "inexecrable" to mean "not detestable." Professor Drakakis tells us that in the OED we find "inexecrable" is " used as an intensifier of 'execrable.'" All of this is reasonable. As I have documented, the author plainly has in mind Romeo's use of "inexorable" from the conclusion of R&J. Therefore there is no easy answer regarding both the "editor's choice" and the subject of this thread.

In Professor Bate's introduction we find: "The representation of Shylock as monstrous villain has played a part in the appalling history of European anti-semitism. But such a representation necessarily occludes the subtler moments of Shakespeare's characterization. A ring is not only the device whereby Portia and Nerissa assert their moral and verbal superiority over their husbands, but also the means by which Shylock is humanized........'I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor'......" Bate does note other comedies by Shakespeare, but leaves it to us to note Professor Wilson's recommendation of comparison to ROMEO AND JULIET. One might then rank Marchette Chute's "The MERCHANT OF VENICE is a romantic comedy, but of a most unusual kind" as the best introduction.

"The MERCHANT OF VENICE is a romantic comedy, but of a most unusual kind" I agree. At moments it is too dramatic for a comedy.

Simple answer: It's Venice as in Venezia, Italia, an almost mythical Roman Catholic City State where the English believed that money lending by Christians was against the law but permitted by Jews.
Shylock couldn't be a Christian.

For further read the appropriate parts of: https://library.ndsu.edu/ir/bitstrea...=1&isAllowed=y

Professor Bate also wrote: "Shakespeare often returned to a triangular structure of relationships in which close male friendship is placed at odds with desire for a woman. The pattern recurs not only in several of the plays but also as the implied narrative of the Sonnets." "I would be friends with you and have your love"(MV1.3.137), says Shylock. I think we have not yet noted indications that Shylock desires Portia. Romeo's last lines seem to be mostly spoken to Juliet, though he believes that she is dead. Of course she is alive, as is Portia. Shylock flatters Portia: "O wise young judge, how do I honor thee!"(MV4.1.228). It is also ironic: "O noble judge! O excellent young man!"(4.1.252). Gratiano follows Shylock's example: "O upright judge! Mark, Jew. O learned judge!"(MV4.1.321). Earlier in the play, Morocco has said of Portia: "all the world desires her"(MV2.7.38). The above, then, is yet more proof.

Gratiano follows Shylock's example: "O upright judge! Mark, Jew. O learned judge!" Isn´t Gratiano being ironic here?

As writer C.J. Box might say: "maybe." We have yet another conundrum. In the first scene, Gratiano says: "Let me play the fool"(1.1.82). The intentions of the clownish fool are often uncertain: "Your 'if' is the only peacemaker; much virtue in 'if'"(AS YOU LIKE IT5.4.100). Gratiano seems to follow Bassanio's example: "You must not deny me. I must go with you to Belmont"(AYL2.2.161).

Remember the wisdom of the Shakespearean fools!

Gratiano's line: "Let me play the fool"(1.1.82), echos Nick Bottom: "An I may hide my face, let me play Thisby too"(DREAM1.2.45) and "Let me play the lion too: I will roar that I will do any man's heart good to hear me; I will roar that I will make the duke say, 'Let him roar again, let him roar again.'"(DREAM1.2.64-6). Later, of course, the Duke will say: "I wonder if the lion be to speak"(DREAM5.1.157), and in response to Hippolyta's "This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard," "The best in this kind are but shadows,; and the worst are no worse, if imagination amend them"(DREAM5.1.216). This, then, contrasts with Hamlet's "purpose of playing" speech.

Hamlet's "purpose of playing" speech is early in Act 3, scene 2 of HAMLET. Returning to Professor Gross's suggestion, "Shylock is Shakespeare," we might note again Professor Bate's comment, "the collection called SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS stitches together multiple poems with very different origins and styles to make a single narrative. But this narrative should no more be read back literally into Shakespeare's life than should the narrative of that other lovely boy, Viola/Cesario." One might then return to the epilogue in THE TEMPEST. There we find the character Prospero speaking directly to the audience, yet one also may regard the speech, in part, as Shakespeare himself as Professor Greenblatt put it, peeking out from behind his mask.

The first lines in TWELFTH NIGHT are spoken by Orsino, whom Professor Bate tells us is "the conventional Elizabethan sonneteer." Therefore, one might suggest that the author is inviting us to compare Orsino to Antonio, who speaks the first lines in MV.

And there is a character named Antonio in TWELFTH NIGHT. It then is a straight forward matter to "read back literally"(see#269 above) and identify the Antonio in MV with Sonnet 144.

The aside from Shylock in Act 1, scene 3 is often noted as problematic. If one notes the original context of the play, that is, it follows ROMEO AND JULIET, Shylock's "I hate him for he is a Christian," recalls Tybalt's "What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word / As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. / Have at thee, coward!"(ROM1.1.68-70). Little wonder, then, that scholars use such phrases as "endlessly ironic" and "undoubted ironies" to introduce MV.

And Shylock's "But more"(MV1.3.40) recalls Romeo's "Here's much to do with hate, but more with love"(ROM1.1.174). Therefore, one might regard Orsino's speech that begins TWELFTH NIGHT as Shakespeare suggesting that one have music playing in the backround when reading this play and the criticism.

"Stanley2- The aside from Shylock in Act 1, scene 3 is often noted as problematic. If one notes the original context of the play, that is, it follows ROMEO AND JULIET, Shylock's "I hate him for he is a Christian," recalls Tybalt's "What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word / As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. / Have at thee, coward!"(ROM1.1.68-70). Little wonder, then, that scholars use such phrases as "endlessly ironic" and "undoubted ironies" to introduce MV. "
Well, maybe one can say that both cases show prejudice. But in both cases there is much more involved.

Indeed, and the first lines in R&J read: "Two households, both alike in dignity, / In fair Verona, where we lay our scene / From ancient grudge break to new mutiny"(ROM1.1). Shylock's "I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him"(MV1.3.44), then, may be another example of "new mutiny." Professor Bevington wrote that Shylock "approvingly cites Jacob's ruse to deprive Laban of his sheep(1.3.69-88)." Professor Kermode is not so sure: "Was Jacob cheating when he made sure by a trick that the lambs would be parti-colored, and so due to him?" One then might recall Nick Bottom's speech that begins: "When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer"(MND4.1.199-216), where Bevington notes: "Bottom garbles the terms of 1 Corinthians 2:9." Bevington also suggested that "However much we may come to sympathize.......Shylock remains essentially the villain of a love comedy." The other day, a movie version of RICHARD 3 was shown on TV. The first lines there are spoken by Richard, played by Ian McKellen. One might borrow from Lancelot(MV2.2) and say that Richard "is the devil himself." Therefore , as Antonio speaks the first lines in MV, the audience is invited to consider Antonio and Shylock as co-comic villains.

Professor Bevington's introduction attests to the wide range of subject matter in the play. When we encounter the terms "romantic comedy," we should study what they mean. What is essential, though, is a matter of discussion. Shylock, as we have seen, is associated with characters in other works. Egeus in MND, Romeo in R&J and even Nick Bottom and Ms. Juliet Capulet, each is plainly associated with Shylock. And Antonio? Dick 3(if I may borrow from P.B.) and as Professor Bate noted, Prospero's usurping brother in THE TEMPEST. Further review is required to note that Antonio too is associated with Romeo and THE SONNETS.

The "melancholy Jaques"(AS YOU LIKE IT2.1.26), echoes Antonio's "I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano, / A stage where everyman must play a part, / And mine a sad one"(MV1.1.77): "All the world's a stage / And all the men and women merely players....."(AYL2.7.140). One might quote a comment from Duke Senior from his first conversation with Jaques: "Most mischievous foul sin in chiding sin. / For thou thyself hast been a libertine, / As sensual as the brutish sting itself, / And all th' embossed sores and headed evils / That thou with licence of free foot hast caught / Wouldst thou disgorge into the general world"(AYL2.7.64-9). And yet Duke Senior had expressed his desire to speak with him: "Show me the place. / I love to cope him in these sullen fits, / For then he's full of matter"(AYL2.1.67).

Bevington's introduction to A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM is interesting. As we have seen, Shylock's reply to Portia's "The quality of mercy" speech echoes a line from Egeus: I beg the law, the law, upon his head"(MND4.1.154). "Egeus is as heavy a villain as we are likely to find in this jeu d'esprit," says the Professor. Shylock, like Egeus, brings his problems to the local Duke. In MV, the Duke enlists the aid of Portia's cousin, who in turn, it seems, is already at work with Portia on the matter. Hawkman(post #50) notes the "most memorable lines" in the play. One might then add to the list Portia's "Tarry a little; there is something else"(MV4.1.303). Any discussion of this play seems to bring that line to mind.

Antonio's "The weakest kind of fruit / Drops earliest to the ground, and so let me"(MV4.1.115-16) echoes Mercutio: "Now will he sit under a medlar tree / And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit / As maids call medlars when they laugh alone"(ROM2.1.34-36). It is interesting that Bevington and Bate prefer "did" to "do" in Lancelet's s line "If a Christian did not play the knave and get thee, I am much deceived"(MV2.3.11), Though both Q1 and F1 read "doe." Therefore, Jessica may be Antonio's biological daughter. We recall Sonnet 129: "All this the world well knows, yet none knows well / to shun the heaven that leads men to this hell."

The first scene in AS YOU LIKE IT ends with a speech from Oliver, Orlando's brother, where we find: "I hope I shall see an end of him; for my soul, yet I know not why, hates nothing more than he"(AYL1.1.155-6). This plainly echoes the first line in MV: "In sooth I know not why I am so sad." Historian Michael Wood suggested that there are too many unanswered questions left at the end of the play. Rather, one may choose to be a fan of Team Antonio, Team Shylock or Team Portia. Still, Antonio and Shylock are co-comic villains, or as Professor J. Dover Wilson suggested, Shakespeare's sympathy is no less for Shylock than the spitting Antonio.