The Merchant of Venice

Antonio is the title character in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. He is a middle-aged bachelor and merchant by trade who has his... financial interests tied up in overseas shipments when the play begins. He is kind, generous, honest and confident, and is loved and revered by all the Christians who know him. Even Portia, who sees Antonio as a rival for her husband’s affections, reveres his character and appreciates — with reservations — his willingness to die for Bassanio. Antonio manifests his piety by cursing and spitting at Shylock . Act 1 When we first see him commiserating with his friends Solano and Salerio he is pondering the unknown source of his depressive state: In sooth I know not why I am so sad. It wearies me, you say it wearies you; But how I caught it, found it, or came by it, What stuff ‘tis made of, where of it is born, I am to learn And such a want-wit sadness makes of me That I have much ado to know myself. ' His friends try to guess the origin and nature of his condition by questioning him. First they inquire as to whether or not he is worried about his investments.
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Release date:2004

Directed by:Michael Radford

Rated:

Runtime:138 minutes

The Merchant of Venice is a 2004 romantic drama film based on Shakespeare's play of the same name. It is the first full-length sound film version in English of Shakespeare's play; most other versions are videotaped productions made for television. There had been a British early sound nine-minute... short subject production of the trial scene in 1927, with Lewis Casson as Shylock and Sybil Thorndike as Portia. The 2004 adaptation follows the text very closely, only missing occasional lines. The director, Michael Radford, believed that Shylock was Shakespeare's first tragic hero, who reaches a catastrophe due to his own flaws: thus the film does not show Shylock purely as a villain, but partly also as a victim. It begins with text and a montage of how the Jewish community is abused by the Christian population of Venice. One of the last shots of the film also brings attention to the fact that, as a convert, Shylock would have been cast out of the Jewish community in Venice, no longer allowed to live in the ghetto. The film is a co-production between the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Luxembourg.
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