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Maurice Charney, writing in his book All of Shakespeare, begins his chapter on The Merchant of Venice by stating that this is ''an odd sort of comedy.'' He goes on to say that despite the fact that many critics try to argue that this play is not anti-Semitic, ''it is no good to try to discard the hate that energizes the play.'' Charney adds that ''Once you admit that The Merchant of Venice is blatantly anti-Semitic, you also have to admit that it has the most sympathetic defense of Jews in all of Shakespeare and probably in all of Renaissance literature.'' Charney also points out that it is through this play that audiences can see ''Shakespeare's skill in controlling the sympathies of the audience.'' Shakespeare does this to provide the audience with multiple points of view of his characters.

Norrie Epstein, writing in the book The Friendly Shakespeare, calls The Merchant of Venice a troubling play, for the same reason that other critics have come to this conclusion. It is difficult to say, after you have seen it, if it is ''a tragedy or a comedy, a love story or a tale of hate.'' Epstein's conclusion, however, is that in the end, ''in its infinite ambiguity, it is quintessential Shakespeare. No sooner have you reached one conclusion about the play than it's immediately contradicted in the next scene--or line.'' Despite the fact that Shakespeare's audiences in Elizabethan times enjoyed coming to the theater and ridiculing stock, stereotypical Jewish characters, as was a routine at that time, Epstein states that ''yet embedded within this caricature there's a real human being [in Shylock's character], and every so often Shakespeare lets him out.'' Shylock shows sadness, and he respects his own culture, Epstein writes. And he displays many other emotions in this play. ''He's like a survivor of the Great Depression who grows up valuing money more than love.'' Shakespeare's talent is demonstrated in that he is able to go beyond his ''age's prejudices'' and present ''the world from the alien's perspective.''

Like almost everyone else, Andrew Dickson, writing in his The Rough Guide to Shakespeare, found that audiences can view The Merchant of Venice fromtwo different perspectives: Antonio's and Shylock's. ''Both sides of the story are there in this brilliant and troubling play, and it's easy to feel that they're irreconcilable.'' But Dickson continues: ''It is impossible to sit on the fence when watching The Merchant, and the issues it raises about religious intolerance and conflict seem more pressing now than ever before.''

David Daniell, in his essay, ''Shakespeare and the Traditions ofComedy,'' praises the ambiguities in this play. He writes how various characters can be seen in two different lights: Bassanio as an adventurer or as a ''self-seeking'' bully; Shylock as a victim or ''as a villainous stage 'Jew'.'' Then Daniell states that this is a sign of Shakespeare's maturity as a writer. ''We are seeing clearly, now, one of the principles of mature Shakespeare, that of indeterminacy. The plays are more open, more patient of interpretation, than is comfortable.''

In Allan Bloom's book Shakespeare's Politics, the author writes that Shakespeare did ''not understand Judaism, for he saw it from the outside.'' But that was not the point of the play, Bloom contends. Shakespeare was interested in ''man's attempt to become man and man alone. He was of the conviction that it was of the nature of man to have varying opinions about the highest things and that such opinions become invested in doctrine and law and bound up with established interests. When confronted with one another, these opinions must quarrel.'' And that is what happens between Shylock and Antonio. They were men who believed in different things. They would never understand one another. ''The consequences of this must be either conflict or a bastardization of all that is noble and true in each of the separate points of view.'' Shakespeare was not willing to smooth the conflict over just to make a few people in his audience happy, Bloom writes.

Bibliography:

1) Bloom, Allan, with Harry V. Jaffa, ''On Christian and Jew: The Merchant of Venice,'' in Shakespeare's Politics, University of Chicago Press, 1964, pp. 13-34.

2) Charney, Maurice, ''The Merchant of Venice,'' in All of Shakespeare, Columbia University Press, 1993, pp. 41-9.

3) Daniell, David, ''Shakespeare and the Traditions of Comedy,'' in The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies, edited by Stanley Wells, Cambridge University Press, reprint, 1997, pp. 101-21.

4) Dickson, Andrew, ''TheMerchant of Venice,'' in The Rough Guide to Shakespeare, Rough Guides, 2005, pp. 217-27.

5) Epstein, Norrie, ''TheMerchant of Venice,'' in The Friendly Shakespeare, Penguin Books, 1993, pp. 97-109.

6) Shakespeare, William, The Merchant of Venice, edited by William Lyon Phelps, Yale University Press, 1957.

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