Merchant of Veniceas Allegory

Peter J. Leithart, March 06, 2004

Watching the closing courtroom scene of The Merchant of Venice, I was struck by how allegorical it is. First, there's Antonio, threatened with death for a debt that really was incurred by Bassanio. Second, he's threatened by a Jew. Third, Shylock says something like "his blood be on my head," the line that was deleted from the Passion. And the whole thing is in a setting where the issues are the conflict of justice/law and mercy, the outcome being that Venice is both just AND the justifier of Antonio.