Merchant of Venice Act I

How is it going with watching and reading The Merchant of Venice. My intention was to show Othello this week, but I could not get a copy of the movie. On Sunday I decided to change the syllabus a bit and substitute The Merchant. This means that we will cut The Tempest for next year and still do Othello in its place as one of the Detailed Study texts. In some ways it is better placed there anyway because the poetry and dramatic situations in Othello lend themselves really well to close analysis. And what is more, I have found that The Tempest is not very well liked by students. Although it is quite a spectacular play on stage, the ideas are rather philosophical and even theological and many find it difficult. On the other hand, The Merchant , I think could work quite well because it pairs quite nicely with Othello . Both are set in Venice and both delve into the culture of the time, looking at Venice as a military and trade centre. At the time Venice was also very cosmopolitan and both Othello and Shylock are outsiders and as such are subject to the racist attitudes expressed by the mainstream of the society. The plays both address the issues surrounding racism--issues that are of course still relevant today. Afterall, Crash won best picture at the Academy Awards on Monday night. It is also a good choice because of the new film with Al Pacino. But remember it is a very controversial play. Did Mr. Walmark tell you to check out the lPS Masterpiece Theatre site on The Merchant? It has a good character map and a good synopsis of the plot and some excellent links to essays and commentary.