I started reading this on sept 6th 2024 for engl 345: shakespeare

compared to the rest of shakespeare's plays, this one is okay but not great. i was not thoroughly entertained and don't feel the need to ever see a production. but i also don't hate it.

Entertaining, funny, and quick paced.

This is such... An amazing story.
It's both wonderful and devastating at the same time.
I myself am Jewish, and so could relate to Shylock in that way, but also resented his vindictive ways.
It created such a torn view for me that I can't help but love the story,
as anything that can make me feel so strongly about something is certainly worth investigating further.
Ah well, thanks much, and if you are at all interested at the cultural mindset towards Judaism in Shakespeares time, you need look no further!
-Tessa

How many of you read this in high school? I would say a good majority of us did. And then we probably had to do it again in college. Right? And then we wondered why we would want to do it again. And yet there is something to be said about how this classic has something significant to be shared. A learning lesson we can gain. It is a play. And typically we don't read plays we act them. And yet this play deals with relevant issues - racism, love, secrets and loans. Modern world issues, even if it wasn't written in the modern age. It may have been written as a comedy in Shakespeare's time, but to the modern reader, it isn't so much a comedy but a tragedy and shows something that is so wrong with our world. (As an example why is the debt ceiling being held hostage in this very moment?) We already know that racism is wrong and shouldn't be tolerated. At. All. And yet it is rampant. Today. Yet in this play it shows how those that face prejudice just let it happen and don't even try to stop or overcome it. Was Shakespeare a racist by making Shylock the worst character - the modern banker? Shylock seems set on revenge against those who had abused him in society. While we acknowledge this as an onlooker we forget to be grateful that our society is just a little better than presented. And yet I can't help but ask the question: Are we better today? It is obvious in this story that money comes before love. So many moral dilemmas played out in this play. So, yes, reading this in high school and college - good places to start. Shall we begin again? We seem to be forgetting some important learning lessons in helping our society today.

Went through a Shakespeare phase, and read a bunch of the guy's plays out of interest. This was one of them. I found the racism pretty hard to deal with.

First read: December 12, 2010