948 shakespeare, William
“bring[ing] down the rate of usance . . . in Venice”
(1.3.38–39). Perhaps his most vicious thoughts of
money relate to his daughter’s betrayal and theft of
his wealth. Placing the value of human life below
his fortune, he proclaims; “I would my daughter
were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear!
Would she were hearsed at my foot, and the ducats
in her coffin” (3.1.76–78). Shylock later affirms that
life and money are interchangeable. Threatened
with the total loss of his fortune, he begs for death,
arguing that “you take my life when you do take
the means whereby I live” (4.1.373–374). Shylock’s
confusion of money and human life allows one of
Shakespeare’s trademark puns, when children chase
him crying, “his stones, his daughter, and his ducats”
(2.8.24), evoking the Elizabethan use of stone as a
euphemism for testicle. Still, the main consequence
of confusing money with human beings is to rein-
force the distorted world of Merchant, where Shy-
lock’s money has supplanted Christian values and,
indeed, Christian life.
Even the political and social systems are ren-
dered impotent by Shylock’s current powers. The
duke tries in vain to convince Shylock to relent in
his plans to take Antonio’s flesh. Portia, disguised
as “a young and learned doctor” of laws (4.1.144),
asserts the intrinsic supremacy of Christian char-
ity. Bassanio offers 10 times the value of the loan
in restitution. Shylock dismisses every alternative
path, claiming that if he does not receive the default
price (a pound of Antonio’s flesh), the very survival
of Venice and its government would be threatened.
Of course, Portia counters his threat, bringing the
play to its climax with her own reading of the law:
“If thou dost shed one drop of Christian blood, thy
lands and goods are by the laws of Venice confiscate”
(4.1.306–308). However, it is often overlooked that
Portia cannot actually restrain Shylock from kill-
ing Antonio. She can only make the consequences
so severe that he relents his quest for revenge. The
power does not shift back to Christian civiliza-
tion until Shylock discharges it. After he does, the
traditions of comic drama assert themselves in full,
reestablishing the supremacy of Christian civiliza-
tion as, first, the duke pardons Shylock despite the
latter’s own lack of mercy; second, much of the
source of his power, his wealth, is taken from him;
and third, and most poignant, Shylock is forcibly
converted to Christianity. Thus, the threat has been
entirely eliminated; the wealthy, vengeful Jew is now
a middle-class, “content” Christian.
The disruption of social class is not limited to
Shylock’s power, however. Though he is the char-
acter most remembered in the play, The Merchant of
Venice was written as a comedy, and social disrup-
tion is not only the brutal threat of the vengeful
Jew. Gobbo, who betrays his master, Shylock, and
becomes the servant of Bassanio, is curiously the
least amusing of the Shakespearean clowns (his
confusion of reproach with approach being an ama-
teurish malapropism compared to his colleagues
in other plays). Salanio mocks Shylock as he rails
against his prodigal daughter—“[t]here is more dif-
ference between thy flesh and hers, than between
jet and ivory” (3.1.33–34). Bassanio chooses the
correct box and gets Portia’s hand, only because he
chooses lead. While the lead box, which calls upon
the opener to “give and hazard all he hath” (2.7.16),
is a reasonable choice (it demands a devoted, selfless
suitor), Bassanio only mentions its material, which
is a poor one for a lady to be locked inside. Jessica,
Nerissa, and Portia reverse their exterior genders to
accomplish their goals. The final scenes of the play
feature Portia and Nerissa’s new husbands, Bassanio
and Gratiano, nearly losing their loves to the “men”
they have already lost the tokens of their loves to,
their rings. Of course, the comic structure results in
the ultimate happy ending, as the ladies reveal the
truth of their deception and true love prevails, in
one of the most ambiguously brief denouements in
Shakespeare’s oeuvre.
Ben FislerSHakESPEarE, wiLLiam
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1600)
Composed between 1594 and 1598 and first pub-
lished in 1600, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the
most beloved of Shakespeare’s comedies. Across
the ages, it has been produced in every period style
from Elizabethan to hip-hop. Directorial treat-
ments have ranged from honeyed fairylands that
even children can view to hard-core, erotic rock
noir productions.