History YMMV / TheMerchantOfVenice

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Either that, or she's the ultimate heroine, brains and beauty combined, who bravely disguises herself as a boy to save her husband's best friend. She sympathizes with Shylock, trying to talk him into being merciful on a level they both relate to (as a Christian and a Jew, they both believe in the same God) and only felling him with the letter of the law when ''he'' insists that she follow the bond exactly as it was written. (In the LaurenceOlivier film, she looks genuinely sad after Shylock leaves the court scene -- and, after all, it wasn't her idea to insist on his conversion.) She tricks her husband out of his ring partly as a joke and partly just to see if she can do it -- and when she realizes that he only gave her the ring because Antonio insisted, she understands and forgives.

::: Which helps explain ''why'' he suddenly becomes hellbent on getting the flesh debt out of Antonio. Thanks to Jessica's treachery, ''that's all he has left.''

** The closing scene of the AlPacino film, with Shylock standing outside the synagogue as his fellow Jews file inside for services, looking on helplessly as the last man enters and closes the doors behind him, leaving Shylock standing alone in the street.
** Jessica is looking sadly out over the lagoon, fingering the turquoise ring -- apparently it was a different one that she traded for the monkey, and she feels guilty for abandoning Shylock.

:: Which helps explain ''why'' he suddenly becomes hellbent on getting the flesh debt out of Antonio. Thanks to Jessica's treachery, ''that's all he has left.''

* DesignatedHero: She probably wasn't intended to be originally, but Portia really comes off like this to modern audiences -- both for her role as the lawyer who makes Shylock lose everything, and in the whole ring subplot. She is a {{Jerkass}}, with not even a hint of a heart of gold. The other Christian characters come off like this too, to a certain extent
** But then again, all Portia knows is "my husband's best friend is in trouble for making a bad bargain with a sadistic man" (how else would Bassanio describe Shylock?) and wants to help. And a lot of modern women who have had unfaithful boyfriends support the ring plot -- Bassanio ''did'' promise to ''never'' give it away after all.

::: Which helps explain ''why'' he suddenly becomes hellbent on getting the flesh debt out of Antonio. Thanks to Jessica's treachery, ''that's all he has left.''

* AcceptableTargets: Jews and Blacks were this in Shakespeare's day. And note that Shakespeare was ''nice'' about it, compared to his contemporaries.
** Well, Jews were. People at this time hadn't really started to divide themselves up by skin color yet, mostly it was poverty and cultural differences. Hence the portrayal of Othello.
** There aren't actually any blacks in TMOV - the Moroccan prince is an Arab/Berber. Othello may be as well.
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: The character of Shylock is open to lots of it, largely because he's not drawn as unambiguously evil as other Jewish characters of the same time (Marlowe's ''The Jew Of Malta'' comes to mind.) Is he a greedy bastard who cares for nothing but money? Is he a hard-nosed businessman who knows that his only protection from those who would like to see him ruined is his reputation as a bastard? Is he the victim of repeated bullying and abuse who finally gets what he believes is a chance to take revenge on the person who has abused him the most -- and do it legally?
** Portia is one of Shakespeare's very best villains. After getting Shylock to give up his demand for the pound of flesh she, along with the Duke and Antonio twists the law around so much that Shylock has to give up all his wealth to the state and his ungrateful daughter (who, by the way, left his house by stealing his money AND a ring from Shylock's deceased wife), and also has to convert to Christianity, or die. Then she tricks her husband's ring from him, pretty much just so she can hold it over him as being "unfaithful."
*** Either that, or she's the ultimate heroine, brains and beauty combined, who bravely disguises herself as a boy to save her husband's best friend. She sympathizes with Shylock, trying to talk him into being merciful on a level they both relate to (as a Christian and a Jew, they both believe in the same God) and only felling him with the letter of the law when ''he'' insists that she follow the bond exactly as it was written. (In the LaurenceOlivier film, she looks genuinely sad after Shylock leaves the court scene--and, after all, it wasn't her idea to insist on his conversion.) She tricks her husband out of his ring partly as a joke and partly just to see if she can do it--and when she realizes that he only gave her the ring because Antonio insisted, she understands and forgives.

* AndTheFandomRejoiced: In the most recent stage and film adaptation, AlPacino was cast as Shylock, with JeremyIrons as Antonio. Both were excellent, but most critics agree that Pacino has redefined the role, setting the new standard to beat for decades to come.
* DesignatedHero: She probably wasn't intended to be originally, but Portia really comes off like this to modern audiences--both for her role as the lawyer who makes Shylock lose everything, and in the whole ring subplot. She is a {{Jerkass}}, with not even a hint of a heart of gold. The other Christian characters come off like this too, to a certain extent
** But then again, all Portia knows is "my husband's best friend is in trouble for making a bad bargain with a sadistic man" (how else would Bassanio describe Shylock?) and wants to help. And a lot of modern women who have had unfaithful boyfriends support the ring plot--Bassanio ''did'' promise to ''never'' give it away after all.

* HoYay: Antonio and Bassanio
** {{Kissing Cousins}}: It was explicitly mentioned early on in the play that Bassanio is Antonio's cousin.

* TearJerker: When Shylock learns his daughter has traded a ring of his for a monkey. It is Shylock's only possession that has purely sentimental value.

** Which helps explain ''why'' he suddenly becomes hellbent on getting the flesh debt out of Antonio. Thanks to Jessica's treachery, ''that's all he has left.''

*** There's actually another scene after that which links to the first example. Jessica is looking sadly out over the lagoon, fingering the turquoise ring -- apparently it was a different one that she traded for the monkey, and she feels guilty for abandoning Shylock.

* UnfortunateImplications: Playing Shylock as tragic and DrivenToVillainy rather than a dyed-in-the-wool villain simply opens up a ''different'' set of un-PC implications: it makes the three women of the play (Portia, Nerissa and Jessica) into sadistic harpies and can be seen to imply that a smart woman is an evil woman.

** Any production that does "the wailing" for the courtroom scene. When Shylock leaves the courtroom after having lost everything, the action stops as you hear him scream and wail at losing, essentially, his identity.

** Some productions have fun with this by having Shylock begin the play costumed and made up as a stereotypical GreedyJew surrounded by white clad, angelic Christians, and then, as the play goes on, gradually changing their make-up and wardrobe so that by the end, Shylock is humble and angelic whilst the Christians are basically PuttingOnTheReich.

** On the other hand, in such an interpretation Antonio is still an anti-Semite who has abused Shylock in the past, and Bassanio and Gratiano are morons who promptly surrender the tokens of love just given to them by their ladies to what they think are a pair of men on a whim. So really ''nobody'' comes off looking too nice.

* AcceptableTargets: Jews and blacks were this in Shakespeare's day. And note that Shakespeare was ''nice'' about it, compared to his contemporaries.

** Is Antonio in love with Bassanio, and essentially being asked to finance his own heartbreak? Is Bassanio a callous dunce cruelly taking advantage of his best friend's romantic feelings for him?

** Is Launcelot a lovable [[TheFool fool,]] or an anti-semetic jerk prone to [[ItAmusedMe alarmingly insensitive humor?]] Are he and Jessica LikeBrotherAndSister, or is he in love with her and jealous of Lorenzo? Is Lorenzo legitimately jealous of him in turn, or just joking, or does he ''know'' that Launcelot had a thing for his wife and smugly rub it in his face?

* TearJerker: When Shylock learns his daughter has traded a ring of his for a monkey. It is Shylock's only possession that has purely sentimental value.
--> "It was my turquoise; I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor. I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys."
** Which helps explain ''why'' he suddenly becomes hellbent on getting the flesh debt out of Antonio. Thanks to Jessica's treachery, ''that's all he has left.''
** Any production that does "the wailing" for the courtroom scene. When Shylock leaves the courtroom after having lost everything, the action stops as you hear him scream and wail at losing, essentially, his identity.
** The closing scene of the AlPacino film, with Shylock standing outside the synagogue as his fellow Jews file inside for services, looking on helplessly as the last man enters and closes the doors behind him, leaving Shylock standing alone in the street.

** Did Morocco and Arragon really love Portia, or were they just in it for the money? Was Portia racist toward one or both of them? Was Portia's father really wise to set up the casket test, or was it inherently flawed? Did Portia have the song played to help Bassanio cheat?

* DesignatedHero: She probably wasn't intended to be originally, but Portia really comes off like this to modern audiences--both for her role as the lawyer who makes Shylock lose everything, and in the whole ring subplot. She is a JerkAss, with not even a hint of a heart of gold. The other Christian characters come off like this too, to a certain extent

* LawfulEvil: Shylock tries to use the letter of the law to extract bloody vengeance on Antonio. His trade of usury would also have been seen as an evil practice that was nonetheless legal in his society.

** Did Morocco and Arragon really love Portia, or were they just in it for the money? Was Portia racist toward one or both of them? Was Portia's father really wise to set up the casket test, or was it inherently flawed? Did Portia have the song played to help Bassanio cheat--and, if she did, was it right or wrong of her do do so?
* In fact, there are so many alternate views of characters that every production seems to take on a different combination, and no staging of ''Merchant'' ever tells quite the same story.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: The character of Shylock is open to lots of AlternativeCharacterInterpretations, largely because he's not drawn as unambiguously evil as other Jewish characters of the same time (Marlowe's ''The Jew Of Malta'' comes to mind.) Is he a greedy bastard who cares for nothing but money? Is he a hard-nosed businessman who knows that his only protection from those who would like to see him ruined is his reputation as a bastard? Is he the victim of repeated bullying and abuse who finally gets what he believes is a chance to take revenge on the person who has abused him the most -- and do it legally?

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: The character of Shylock is open to lots of AlternativeCharacterInterpretations, largely because he's not drawn as unambiguously evil as other Jewish characters of the same time (Marlowe's ''The Jew Of Malta'' comes to mind.) Is he a greedy bastard who cares for nothing but money? Is he a hard-nosed businessman who knows that his only protection from those who would like to see him ruined is his reputation as a bastard? Is he the victim of repeated bullying and abuse who finally gets what he believes is a chance to take revenge on the person who has abused him the most -- and do it legally?

** Is Launcelot a lovable [[TheFool fool,]] or an anti-semetic jerk prone to [[ItAmusedMe callous humor?]] Are he and Jessica LikeBrotherAndSister, or is he in love with her and jealous of Lorenzo?

** Is Gratiano endearingly roguish and impolite, or is he just plain unbearable? Did Nerissa really love him enough to want to marry him, or did she just make a bet with him and get more than she bargained for?

** Did Old Gobbo ''really'' fall for that lame trick of Launcelot's, or did he just play the game and then deliberately refuse to recognize his son, effectively turning the tables?

* AndTheFandomRejoiced: In the most recent stage and film adaptation, AlPacino was cast as Shylock, with JeremyIrons as Antonio. Both were excellent, but most critics agree that Pacino has redefined the role the same way DavidTennant did as {{Hamlet}}, setting the new standard to beat for decades to come.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Shylock, himself. He has the least amount of stage time of any main character, not even appearing at all after the trial in Act 4, but today he is the single most remembered character of the entire play.

* UnfortunateImplications: Playing Shylock as tragic and DrivenToVillainy rather than a dyed-in-the-wool villain simply opens up a ''different'' set of un-PC implications: it makes the three women of the play (Portia, Nerissa and Jessica) into sadistic harpies and can be seen to imply that a smart woman is an evil woman.