The Merchant of Venice (Vol. 66) | Richard Abrams (essay date 1996)
Richard Abrams (essay date 1996)
SOURCE: Abrams, Richard. “The Gaping Pig—and Worse: Shylock's Christian Ducats.” In Afterimages: A Festschrift in Honor of Irving Massey, edited by William Kumbier and Ann Colley, pp. 163-74. Buffalo, N.Y.: Shuffaloff, 1996.
[In the following essay, Abrams explores the theme of sadness in The Merchant of Venice, noting that disappointment is Shylock's most telling characteristic.]
My topic is sadness in The Merchant of Venice—Jewish sadness, ultimately, though it is with Antonio's sadness that the play begins.
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, whereof it is born, I am to learn. And such a want-wit sadness makes of me That I have much ado to know myself.
(1.1.1-7)1
Of course there have been attempts at explanation. Antonio anticipates...
[The entire page is 4931 words long]
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