I really enjoyed this read-through, but it’s fascinating to me that this is the most performed play. It just seems less straightforward than some of the other comedies. There’s this strange medieval romance kind of storyline which almost feels borrowed from a different play. Unlike say *Much Ado*, the villain is the best character (does he have the most lines?). It’s a romantic comedy, but it’s full of themes about justice and proportion and contracts. I imagine that the racism is more uncomfortable to us than it would have been to Shakespeare’s audience, but it adds complexity nonetheless to a pretty complex play.
I would stress that performance data doesn't seem *very* reliable to me, but it makes sense to me. Hamlet is a weird choice for most performed play also. I will write more about this, but I think while the racism is more uncomfortable to us that the trial scene must have been more uncomfortable to contemporaries as an indictment of Christian values, but I am not yet entirely sure what I think of that.
Yes! I have been wondering about the trial. Shylock is a villain because he’s disproportionately vengeful (there’s some motif about proportion, scales, weight, a pound of flesh that I haven’t quite worked out), but he’s also allowed by Shakespeare to make some pretty good points. He is much more wronged than most villains, and he correctly points out the Christians’ hypocrisy. Is that just my modern sensibilities? It sure seems like Shakespeare has it all there on the page.
I like 17. Pragmatic Shakespeare.
Yes!!
I really enjoyed this read-through, but it’s fascinating to me that this is the most performed play. It just seems less straightforward than some of the other comedies. There’s this strange medieval romance kind of storyline which almost feels borrowed from a different play. Unlike say *Much Ado*, the villain is the best character (does he have the most lines?). It’s a romantic comedy, but it’s full of themes about justice and proportion and contracts. I imagine that the racism is more uncomfortable to us than it would have been to Shakespeare’s audience, but it adds complexity nonetheless to a pretty complex play.
I would stress that performance data doesn't seem *very* reliable to me, but it makes sense to me. Hamlet is a weird choice for most performed play also. I will write more about this, but I think while the racism is more uncomfortable to us that the trial scene must have been more uncomfortable to contemporaries as an indictment of Christian values, but I am not yet entirely sure what I think of that.
Yes! I have been wondering about the trial. Shylock is a villain because he’s disproportionately vengeful (there’s some motif about proportion, scales, weight, a pound of flesh that I haven’t quite worked out), but he’s also allowed by Shakespeare to make some pretty good points. He is much more wronged than most villains, and he correctly points out the Christians’ hypocrisy. Is that just my modern sensibilities? It sure seems like Shakespeare has it all there on the page.
oh yeah I think the play is VERY scornful of the Christians, what I am unsure about is contemporary reaction
Is there a rescheduled zoom discussion for this?