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    The Merchant of Venice
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    The Merchant of Venice
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    The Merchant of Venice
    Audiobook2 hours

    The Merchant of Venice

    Written by William Shakespeare

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    About this audiobook

    Another in the great Caedmon Shakespeare series from the 1960s. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic scenes, and is best known for Shylock and the famous 'pound of flesh' speech.

    Shylock, a greedy Jewish money-lender, has lost his beloved daughter when she elopes with a man who belongs to a virulently anti-Semitic society. Shylock seeks a literal 'pound of flesh' from the Merchant of Venice – Antonio when he fails to pay the debt. Portia defends Antonio from Shylock's legal suit. Shylock ends by renouncing his faith and his fortune.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins Publishers
    Release dateDec 9, 2010
    ISBN9780007423903
    Author

    William Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest dramatist in the English language. Shakespeare is often called England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon.”  

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    Reviews for The Merchant of Venice

    4/5

    1,958 ratings24 reviews

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    • 3/5
      This is not my favorite Shakespeare play - at times, its great, but generally, not I found a bit weird, even when accounting for when the play was written in the late 1500's.I think my biggest issue is how Shylock is treated - Shakepeare gives him this great monologue about how he is human and worth respect, but than at the end, Shylock is forced to convert to Christianity. So, why give Shylock this great speech. As for the rest of the story, its a fairly standard Shakespeare - Cross Dressing, Money problems, innocent maids needing to be saved, etc etc.
    • 4/5
      When the merchant Antonio is approached by his friend, Bassanio, for a loan, he doesn't have money in hand to loan. He's expecting a large profit upon the arrival of ships from various centers of trade, so he borrows the money from Jewish lender Shylock. If Antonio can't repay the loan by the due date, instead of interest, Shylock will take a pound of flesh from Antonio. Meanwhile, Bassanio is off to court Portia. Bassanio is lucky in love, but Antonio is very unlucky in business. All of his ships are lost, and Shylock is demanding his pound of flesh. Bassanio is distraught at having put his friend Antonio in this position. Fortunately, Portia has a plan...This is more like two different plays instead of a unified drama. Portia and her suitors begin as a separate story line, finally connected to the main plot through Bassanio's arrival. I think Polonius delivered his famous monologue to the wrong character in the wrong play. Antonio, Bassanio, and Shylock could all have benefited from his advice to “neither a borrower or a lender be”!
    • 5/5
      I am apparently the only person on the planet who does not believe that Merchant of Venice is anti-Semitic. Shylock is a man living in a world where law and custom consider him as less than human and he is filled with anger. His cruelty is his tiny way of lashing out. He wants revenge, and he prizes that above money. Is his intended (though thwarted) violence horrifying and shocking? Sure it is. It is the twisted malignant violence that grows in the heart of a man caged and stunted, of a man forced to be inhuman. When you prick him, he doth bleed. And the true evildoers in this tale are not Jews. Shylock is the victim. (Jessica is a whole separate story.) This is the story of a man stripped of manhood, a man whose essence is ground to dust under the boot heels of people who call themselves Christians. That Shakespeare, he knows a tragedy when he sees one.
    • 3/5
      I just can't hang with anti-Semitism. Shakespeare is as brilliant as ever, but this was too much for me.
    • 5/5
      Great, friendly edition that attempts to grapple with the numerous issues this play presents.
    • 4/5
      It has a lot of similarities to "The Comedy of Errors," but its genre is more a mix of comedy, drama, and romance, than a plain comedy. There were several relationships to keep track of. Overall, I found the dilemma of contracts and Shylock's character interesting, but the play felt less satisfying than its companion.
    • 5/5
      I think Shylock is one of Shakespeare's most powerful characters, even though the plot of this play is unusually cracked-out, even for the Bard.
    • 2/5
      I don't really get this one. If Shylock is supposed to be the sympathetic character his vindictiveness towards Antonio isn't given enough support to be understandable. If Portia is then it's racist garbage. Either way I have to say I'm not feeling it. The ring subplot is cute I guess.
    • 2/5
      It was ok.
    • 3/5
      A very interesting drama, it is well to watch many different performances to see the many nuances which can be ascribed to this play. From base racism and bigotry, to pathos and compassion. Was Shylock a caricature? Was he greedy and grasping, or was he maligned, persecuted and misunderstood? Lots of food for thought here.
    • 4/5
      Holds up quite well upon re-reading. Although I'm now too old to play Portia, I still love her. Shylock gets a bad rap, but that's zeitgeist for you. At least Shakespeare tries to give background for him and he's not just pure evil (for no reason).
    • 4/5
      In which a charming and entertaining romantic comedy is intertwined with a very grim portrait of a wronged outcast who has lost the ability to forgive.
    • 3/5
      Had a tough time rating Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice." I actually found it to be one of Shakespeare's stronger stories and his frequently used disguise device works well and cleverly here. Portia is a pretty strong and clever female character, which I enjoyed all the more for its rarity amongst Shakespeare's works.The play was difficult to read, however, because of the anti-Semitic aspects that really permeate the text.
    • 5/5
      Those hypocritical bastards! Once a comedy, now a tragedy for those of us who aren't anti-Semitic. Although given the global financial crisis, perhaps a comedy once more if you replace "the Jew" with "the banker".
    • 2/5
      It has been read and over-read for school till it has lost all its dramatic value for me. But the true fact of the matter is that Shylock is an everlasting character who will never erase himself from common memory.
    • 5/5
      Its Shakespeare! What more do you want me to say. He's wonderful!
    • 4/5
      This play was hilarious. I enjoyed it.
    • 4/5
      I read Merchant exactly 25 years ago and recently had the opportunity to read it again. I mostly enjoyed the play and was all set to give a solid four-star rating, when that foolish final scene left a bad taste in my mouth. After the profound pathos of Shylock's defeat, the silly-at-best conventions of Shakespearean comedy make for a particularly discordant ending.
    • 5/5
      Wonderful; one of Shakespeare's best. Shylock and the Merchant are fascinatingly complex characters - they each have motives and reasons that makes it hard to dismiss either one as simply a villain. Light, dark, comic, tragic, wonder, ribaldry - this one has it all.
    • 5/5
      This is a classic, and a great piece. I often think about the book, its very memorable and quotable. Even if you hate Shakespeare, at least you'll be able to recognize any allusions to it in other books. The plot is really good, and the characters are amazingly well made. The writing is impeccable and it is surprisingly easy to understand (for Shakespeare that is).
    • 5/5
      My favorite Shakespearean work. He wrote it as a comedy, and it fits...but is it really entertaining? In this day and age, the subject matter may not be as "happy" as it once was thought. I particularly find it interesting to think about how Shylock might be portrayed: as a stereotypical Jew or as a prominent Venetian merchant.
    • 5/5
      Probably my favorite Shakespeare play. I loved it even as an assigned reading mission in high school. I've since read it again and have it seen performed on several stages. Shylock remains one of the most memorable literary characters in the "theater" of my mind.
    • 5/5
      My personal favorite of Shakespeare's plays, MERCHANT features some of the most real characters in all of literature. While the plot is extreme, the dialogue rings true, and you believe the ridiculous circumstances because of the strength of the writing. I never weary of it.
    • 4/5
      Fascinating in terms of its portrayal of Shylock and what we can glean from it about attitudes at the time. I also love Portia, one of Shakespeare's more witty and intelligent heroines.