From The Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors, ed. Charles Wells Moulton, 8 vols. (London: Moulton Publishing, 1901), 1: 484-87.
MERCHANT OF VENICE
1596-98
THE | EXCELLENT | History of the Mer- | chant of Venice. | With the extreme cruelty of Shylocke | the Jew towards the said Merchant, in cut | ting a just pound of flesh. | And the obtaining | of Portia by the choyse three Caskets. | Written by W. SHAKESPEARE. | Printed by J. Roberts, 1600. -- TITLE PAGE OF FIRST EDITION, 1600.
The Play it self, take it all together, seems to me to be one of the most finish'd of any of Shakespear's. The Tale indeed, in that Part relating to the Caskets, and the extravagant and unusual kind of Bond given by Antonio, is a little too much remov'd from the Rules of Probability: But taking the Fact for granted, we must allow it to be very beautifully written. There is something in the Friendship of Antonio to Bassanio very Great, Generous and Tender. -- ROWE, NICHOLAS, 1709, Some Account of the Life &c., of Mr. William Shakespear, p. xix.
With all my enthusiasm for Shakspeare it is one of his plays that I like the least. The story of the caskets is silly, and except the character of Shylock, I see nothing beyond the attainment of a mortal: Euripides, or Racine or Voltaire, might have written all the rest. -- WALPOLE, HORACE, 1788, Letters, vol. IX, p. 124.
I always consider the "Merchant of Venice" as concluding with the punishment of Shylock in the fourth Act; and a finer catastrophe does not occur in any drama, ancient or modern. The fifth act may be considered as a light afterpiece; but it is an afterpiece by Shakespear, and in his best manner. -- PYE, HENRY JAMES, 1807, Comments on the Commentators of Shakespear, p. 77.
"The Merchant of Venice" is one of Shakspeare's most perfect works: popular to an extraordinary degree, and calculated to produce the most powerful effect on the stage, and at the same time a wonder of ingenuity and art for the reflecting critic. Shylock, the Jew, is one of the inconceivable masterpieces of characterization of which Shakspeare alone furnishes us with examples. It is easy for the poet and the player to exhibit a caricature of national sentiments, modes of speaking, and gestures. Shylock however is everything but a common Jew: he possesses a very determinate and original individuality, and yet we perceive a light touch of Judaism in everything which he says and does. We imagine we hear a sprinkling of the Jewish pronunciation in the mere written words, as we sometimes still find it in the higher classes, notwithstanding their social refinement. In tranquil situations, what is foreign to the European blood and Christian sentiments is less perceivable, but in passion the national stamp appears more strongly marked. All these inimitable niceties the finished art of a great actor can alone properly express. -- SCHLEGEL, AUGUSTUS WILLIAM, 1809, Dramatic Art and Literature, tr. Black, Lecture XII.
Portia is not a very great favourite with us; neither are we in love with her maid, Nerissa. Portia has a certain degree of affectation and pedantry about her, which is very unusual in Shakespear's women, but which perhaps was a proper qualification for the office of a "civil doctor," which she undertakes and executes so successfully. The speech about Mercy is very well, but there are a thousand finer ones in Shakespear. We do not admire the scene of the caskets: and object entirely to the Black Prince, Morocchius. We should like Jessica better if she had not deceived and robbed her father, and Lorenzo, if he had not married a Jewess, though he thinks he has a right to wrong a Jew. -- HAZLITT, WILLIAM, 1817-69, Characters of Shakespear's Plays, p. 193.
Shylock is abhorred and execrated; but the skill of the poet has endued him with qualities which preserve him from contempt. His fierceness, cruelty, and relentlessness are dignified by intellectual vigour. His actions are deliberate, they are the emanations of his bold and masculine understanding. Let the art with which he negotiates his bond be contemplated, consider his coolness, his plausible exaggeration of the dangers to which Antonio's property is subjected; his bitter sarcasms and insulting gibes; all efforts of the mind to induce a belief of his indifference and to disguise his real design: follow him into court, behold him maintaining his superiority in argument, unmoved by insult and unawed by power, till disappointment leaves him nothing to contend for and anguish stops his speech, and then let his claims to intellectual distinction be decided on. -- SKOTTOWE, AUGUSTINE, 1824, Life of Shakspeare, vol. I, p. 325.
In the management of the plot which is sufficiently complex without the slightest confusion or incoherence, I do not conceive that it has been surpassed in the annals of any theatre.... The variety of characters in the "Merchant of Venice," and the powerful delineation of those upon whom the interest chiefly depends, the effectiveness of many scenes in representation, the copiousness of the wit, and the beauty of the language, it would be superfluous to extol, nor is it our office to repeat a tale so often told as the praise of Shakspeare. In the language there is the commencement of a metaphysical obscurity which soon became characteristic; but it is perhaps less observable than in any later play. -- HALLAM, HENRY, 1837-9, Introduction to the Literature of Europe, vol. II, pt. ii, ch. vi, par. 50.
When I saw this Play at Drury Lane, there stood behind me in the box a pale, fair Briton, who at the end of the Fourth Act, fell a-weeping passionately, several times exclaiming, "The poor man is wronged!" . . . When I think of those tears I have to rank "The Merchant of Venice" with the Tragedies, although the frame of the piece is decorated with the merriest figures of Masks, of Satyrs, and of Cupids, and the Poet meant the Play for a Comedy. . . . Wandering dream-hunter that I am, I looked round every where on the Rialto to see if I could not find Shylock. . . . But I found him nowhere on the Rialto, and I determined to seek my old acquaintance in the Synagogue. The Jews were then celebrating their day of Atonement.... Although I looked all round the Synagogue I nowhere discovered the face of Shylock. I saw him not. But towards evening when, according to Jewish belief, the gates of Heaven are shut, and no prayer can then obtain admittance, I heard a voice, with a ripple of tears that were never wept by eyes. It was a sob that could come only from a breast that held in it all the martyrdom which, for eighteen centuries, had been borne by a whole tortured people. It was the death-rattle of a soul sinking down dead-tired at heaven's gates. And I seemed to know the voice, and I felt that I had heard it long ago, when, in utter despair, it moaned out, then as now, "Jessica, my child!" -- HEINE, HEINRICH, 1838-56?, Sammtliche Werke, vol. v, p. 324.
One of the most popular, and, at the same time, noblest productions of our great master, unites all the charms and excellencies of Shakspeare's style.... But not merely does Shakspeare's wonderful skill in delineating character shine forth in this piece in the most brilliant light, the composition, arrangement, and unfolding of the intricate plot are equally wonderful. -- ULRICI, HERMANN, 1839, Shakspeare's Dramatic Art, pp. 300, 301.
"The Merchant of Venice," in our opinion, was written neither to glorify friendship, nor to condemn the usurer, nor, finally to represent any moral idea rich and manifold as are the moral allusions which the thougthful reader carries away with him, together with the aesthetic enjoyment of this work of Art. The essential and definite aspect of life here illustrated admonishes us that lasting success, sure, practical results can be secured only by a just estimate of things, by prudent use and calm endurance of given circumstances, equally far removed from violent resistance and cowardly concession. Strong feeling and clear, good sense holds the scales in the pervading character of the whole Drama, fortune helps the honest in so far as they boldly and wisely woo its favour; but rigid Idealism, although infinitely more amiable and estimable, shows itself as scarcely less dangerous than hard-hearted selfishness. -- KREYSSIG, F., 1862, Vorlesungen uber Shakespeare, vol. III, p. 381.
"The Merchant of Venice" marks the perfection of his development as a dramatist in the completeness of its stage effect, the ingenuity of its incidents, the ease of its movement, the poetic beauty of its higher passages, the reserve and self-control with which its poetry is used, the conception and development of character, and above all the mastery with which character and event are grouped round the figure of Shylock. -- GREEN, JOHN RICHARD, 1874, A Short History of the English People, ch. vii, sec. vii.
I chose Shakespeare's Portia, then as now my ideal of the perfect woman, -- . . . the wise, witty woman, loving with all her soul, and submitting with all her heart to a man whom everybody but herself (who was the best judge) would have judged her inferior; the laugher-loving, light-hearted, true-hearted, deep-hearted woman, full of keen perception, of active efficiency, of wisdom prompted by love, of tenderest unselfishness, of generous magnanimity, noble, simple, humble, pure true, dutiful, religious, and full of fun, delightful above all others, the woman of women. -- KEMBLE, FRANCES ANNE, 1876, Old Woman's Gossip, Atlantic Monthly vol. 37, p. 713.
Shylock ranks as one of the most perfect characterizations in Shakespeare. How complete in every respect! How vividly does he rise up before us! Not merely his physical appearance, but his entire spiritual nature stands forth in the plainest lineaments. In fact, we feel as if we know him better than we could possibly have done in real life. The Poet has laid open the most hidden recesses of character, has portrayed him in the most diverse relations, with a truth and fulness unapproached and unapproachable. We ask ourselves -- whence this completeness, this richness, this concreteness, of characterization? If we wish to see the infinite difference upon the same subjects compare Shylock with the best efforts of other dramatists. Take L'Avare, by Moliere. Placed by the side of Shylock, how meager and unsatisfactory! Can we get at the ground of this extraordinary superiority? -- SNIDER, DENTON JAQUES, 1877, Systems of Shakespeare's Dramas, vol. I p. 325.
But it is of little moment to consider how far away from Shakespeare has been the Portia of the English stage, as we gather from its annals. Rather should we try to form a clear and definite conception of her character, and of her influence upon the main incidents of the play, by a conscientious study of her in the leaves of the great master's "unvalued book." This, then, is how she pictures herself to my mind. I have always looked upon her as a perfect piece of Nature's handiwork. Her character combines all the graces of the richest womanhood with the strength of purpose, the wise helpfulness, and sustained power of the noblest manhood. Indeed, in this instance, Shakespeare shows us that it is the woman's keener wit and insight which see into and overcome the difficulty which has perplexed the wisest heads in Venice. For, without a doubt, as it seems to me at least it is to her cultivated and bright intelligence, and not alone to the learned Bellario, her cousin, that Bassanio is indebted for the release of his friend Antonio. -- MARTIN, LADY (HELENA FAUCIT), 1880, On Some of Shakespeare's Female Characters, p. 30.
The character of Shylock is one of Shakespeare's most perfect creations, even though he devotes comparatively little space to its elucidation. The conception of this figure is as grand as the perfection of art with which it appears upon the scene. The very first words he speaks are characteristic, and still more the manner in which he speaks them; and at each one of his utterances we seem to see the man before us, and we ourselves supply the gestures, the play of expression, which accompany his speech. As in his "Richard III." Shakespeare has here furnished the actor with a worthy and most grateful task. -- TEN BRINK, BERNHARD, 1892-95, Five Lectures on Shakespeare tr. Franklin, p. 185.
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