《威尼斯商人》简介(英文版)

The Merchant of VeniceWilliam Shakespeare EnglandVenice, 1596. Melancholy Antonio loves the youthful Bassanio, so when Bassanio asks for

3000 ducats, Antonio says yes before knowing it's to sue for the hand of Portia. His capital tied

up in merchant ships at sea, Antonio must go to Shylock, a Jewish moneylender he reviles.

Shylock wraps his grudge in kindness, offering a three-month loan at no interest, but if not

repaid, Antonio will owe a pound of flesh. The Jew's daughter elopes with a Christian,

whetting Shylock's hatred. While Bassanio's away wooing Portia, Antonio's ships founder, and

Shylock demands his pound of flesh. With court assembled and a judgment due, Portia swings

into action to save Bassanio's gh critics tend to agree that Shylock is The Merchant of Venice’s most noteworthy

figure, no consensus has been reached on whether to read him as a bloodthirsty bogeyman, a

clownish Jewish stereotype, or a tragic figure whose sense of decency has been fractured by the

persecution he endures. Certainly, Shylock is the play’s antagonist, and he is menacing enough

to seriously imperil the -happiness of Venice’s businessmen and young lovers alike. Shylock is

also, however, a creation of circumstance; even in his single-minded pursuit of a pound of

flesh, his frequent mentions of the cruelty he has endured at Christian hands make it hard for us

to label him a naturalborn monster. In one of Shakespeare’s most famous monologues, for

example, Shylock argues that Jews are humans and calls his quest for vengeance the product of

lessons taught to him by the cruelty of Venetian citizens. On the other hand, Shylock’s coldly

calculated attempt to revenge the wrongs done to him bymurdering his persecutor, Antonio, prevents us from viewing him in a primarily positive light.

Shakespeare gives us unmistakably human moments, but he often steers us against Shylock as

well, painting him as a miserly, cruel, and prosaic Quick-witted, wealthy, and beautiful, Portia embodies the virtues that are typical

of Shakespeare’s heroines—it is no surprise that she emerges as the antidote to Shylock’s

malice. At the beginning of the play, however, we do not see Portia’s potential for initiative

and resourcefulness, as she is a near prisoner, feeling herself absolutely bound to follow her

father’s dying wishes. This opening appearance, however, proves to be a revealing introduction

to Portia, who emerges as that rarest of combinations—a free spirit who abides rigidly by rules.

Rather than ignoring the stipulations of her father’s will, she watches a stream of suitors pass

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her by, happy to see these particular suitors go, but sad that she has no choice in the matter.

When Bassanio arrives, however, Portia proves herself to be highly resourceful, begging the

man she loves to stay a while before picking a chest, and finding loopholes in the will’s

provision that we never thought possible. Also, in her defeat of Shylock Portia prevails by

applying a more rigid standard than Shylock himself, agreeing that his contract very much

entitles him to his pound of flesh, but adding that it does not allow for any loss of blood.

Anybody can break the rules, but Portia’s effectiveness comes from her ability to make the law

work for her. Portia rejects the stuffiness that rigid adherence to the law might otherwise

suggest. In her courtroom appearance, she vigorously applies the law, but still flouts

convention by appearing disguised as a man. After depriving Bassanio of his ring, she stops the

prank before it goes to far, but still takes it far enough to berate Bassanio and Graziano for their

callousness, and she even insinuates that she has been o Although the play’s title refers to him, Antonio is a rather lackluster character.

He emerges in Act I, scene i as a hopeless depressive, someone who cannot name the source of

his melancholy and who, throughout the course of the play, devolves into a self-pitying lump,

unable to muster the energy required to defend himself against execution. Antonio never names

the cause of his melancholy, but the evidence seems to point to his being in love, despite his

denial of this idea in Act I, scene i. The most likely object of his affection is Bassanio, who

takes full advantage of the merchant’s boundless feelings for him. Antonio has risked the

entirety of his fortune on overseas trading ventures, yet he agrees to guarantee the potentially

lethal loan Bassanio secures from Shylock. In the context of his unrequited and presumably

unconsummated relationship with Bassanio, Antonio’s willingness to offer up a pound of his

own flesh seems particularly important, signifying a union that grotesquely alludes to the rites

of marriage, where two partners become “one flesh.” Further evidence of the nature of

Antonio’s feelings for Bassanio appears later in the play, when Antonio’s proclamations

resonate with the hyperbole and self-satisfaction of a doomed lover’s declaration: “Pray God

Bassanio come / To see me pay his debt, and then I care not” (.35–36). Antonio ends the

play as happily as he can, restored to wealth even if not delivered into love. Without a mate, he

is indeed the “tainted wether”—or castrated ram—of the flock, and he will likely return to his

favorite pastime of moping about the streets of Venice (IV.i.113). After all, he has effectively

disabled himself from pursuing his other hobby—abusing Shylock—by insisting that the Jew

convert to Christianity. Although a sixteenth-century audience might have seen this demand as

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merciful, as Shylock is saving himself from eternal damnation by converting, we are less likely

to be convinced. Not only does Antonio’s reputation as an anti-Semite precede him, but the

only instance in the play when he breaks out of his doldrums is his “storm” against Shylock

(.132). In this context, Antonio proves that the dominant threads of his character are

melancholy and cruelty.3