What does ancient grudge mean in merchant of venice?
Answers
What is so problematic and troubling about this play for a contemporary audience?
We are an audience for whom the massacre of the Jews in the Holocaust lies not so far in the distant past, an audience whose hearts – political correctness aside – know the crime of such prejudice. And so what is generally perceived as Shakespeare’s anti-Semitic portrayal of Shylock the Jew can be confrontational. It is true that the undiluted anti-Semitic stance taken by the Christian characters in the play cannot be easily ignored and frequently leaves audiences disturbed and uncomfortable... yet we probably know Shakespeare well enough by now to know that it is not Shakespeare who is anti-Semitic, but the behaviour he is exposing through the Christian characters in the play that is. We know that nothing and no one escapes Shakespeare’s scrutiny and the spectacle he throws open before us on his stage is one that startlingly reflects back to us the less-than-loving way we have all been living our lives. If we feel uncomfortable then there is something there to be acknowledged, owned, and pondered on.
The action in The Merchant of Venice moves between the commercial metropolis of Venice and idyllic Belmont, the grand seat of the heiress Portia – both exotic settings for an Elizabethan audience. Venice was historically famous as a multi-cultural republic, a great maritime power, and a centre of European commerce and trade. This bustling and vigorous city was fuelled by the business of overseas trade, and the practice of usury, which facilitated the flow of capital, saw the Jewish community as central to its economic life. In such a context the citizens of this play do not hold back on living the high life, splashing their wealth around and partaking in extravagant entertainments, masques and revelling. Money is a conspicuous presence on stage, both as a subject of conversation and in the flirtatious wordplay and banter of the lovers’ wooing.