Plays are complicated, personally I do not like complicated things, I usually get stress and bored. If I would have read the play alone I would have not understand it and have gotten stressed and bored about it, but the movie helped me appreciate the play, and both the movie and talking about it in class helped me understand it. Without this I would not have liked The Merchant of Venice but understanding it and analysing it was fun and helped me see different perspectives.
In The Merchant of Venice there were different interesting topics to analyze/notice, such as Portia dressing up as a man so she can defend Antonio showing sexism, how justice isn’t always completely achieve because there are situations where both sides are wrong and right in the play this included topics about racism and classism, and the relationship between Antonio and Bassanio which Shakespeare made us doubt about with different actions and conversations that could get confused with homosexuality.
The relationship between Bassanio and Antonio was discussed in class a few times, viewing different perspectives I believe that this connection they seemed to have is seen as a father-son relationship. During the play Shakespeare shows different situationships in which they show how much they care about each other. Like Antonio helping Bassanio get the money he needed to pursue Portia’s hand, knowing the risk if he did not pay back, showing his support and how he would put a lot at risk to help Bassanio. Or how Bassanio the minute he found Shylock would take a pound of flesh of Antonio got worried and tried to get to Antonio as fast as possible so he could try to help him whatever it cost. Antonio’s mood seemed better when Bassanio was around him, and it was clear Antonio wanted to make Bassanio satisfied with his life. This types of situationships showed how good of a relationship they had with each other.
The Merchant of Venice shows different interesting topics which are entertaining to analyze. Issues such as classism, racism, prejudice, injustice, and more are noticed. All this made it an interesting read. I hope in the future we get to read more plays that have a movie as well making it easier to understand the play.