Comparative essay on the Shakespheare’s The Merchant of Venice with Al pacino’s film adaptation
The merchant of Venice is a play and one of the popular books written by William Shakespheare and has been performed in theatres across the world for many years. The play has been adapted to several films including the Michael Radfrod’s Al pacino and RSC. The play revolves around Shylock, a rich money lender who is depicted in the play as greedy and vengeful jew. He lends money to Antonio who is a good Christian merchant who in turn lends to his good friend Bassanio. Bassanio tells Antionio how he is in love with Portia who had just lost her father. Portia’s father had left a will that a man who picks the correct casket out of three can marry her. Antonio lent the money Bassanio who intends to use to woo Portia. Shylock before lending the money to Antonio, gave out very strange terms to the loan as he was nursing a grudge against him. Antonio did not meet the payment and his life was threatened. Bassanio and Portia comes to his rescue. Both the play and film brings out the major aspects of comparison and contrast that are to be discussed.
The main character Shylock in the Shakespheare’s The Merchant of Venice is depicted as greedy ,vengeful and over protective father. Over the years he has been seen as evil and heartless monster. The Al pacino’s Shylock, is neither seen as wholly bad nor too good. He comes out as a man with his own faith and the one who is determined to seek revenge from his oppressors.
Both the play and the film recognizes that Shylock (Al pacino) do not have the right to the pound of flesh as he claims. He insists that if he is denied it would be a direct attack on him as a person by the society.
In the movie scene, the number of people in the during the trial is by far larger than mentioned in the play, unless the word others pointed out so. The crowd in the film played a role of verbally abusing Shylock apart from the ones with the red caps who were noticeably silent. The crowd has been used also to represent the persecuted Jewish people. They were among the silent people.
Al pacino in the movie remains relaxes throughout the court proceeding. He speaks slowly and appears composed until when he feels that is rights are threatened. He shouts “the pound of flesh which I demand/ is dearly bought, is mine and I will have it” (IV.i. 99-100). Al pacino repeats the phrase “is mine” three times loudly and angrily.
The staging of The Merchant of Venice at the RSC is quite different as the setting is in an old Venice, characterized by presence of merchants and prostitutes. The dark scene is opened by Portia who appears in beautiful new dresses in every scene. During the court session, Bassanio throws in a lot of gold coins as a debt settlement to recue Antonio. The coins remain uncollected until when Shylock and Antonio went for them.
There are several themes that are brought out both in the film and the play, some more pronounced than others. Prejudice is evident in The Merchant of Venice. Many people view the play as anti-semitic. Antonio is a Christian who is seen as a good and generous person. On the other hand, Shylock is depicted as a cruel and a greedy Jewish merchant. This play has more than anti-semitism, in fact, it is observed that Shylock justifies his intentions to seek revenge for being persecuted. It is also shown that Christian are also on a mission to seek revenge.
Greed is a theme that stands out in the play as well as in the film. Bassanio in the first act admits that he is in debt because of loans he takes from others. He also admits that he takes the loans without repaying. It is also true that his attraction for Portia is not for love but for her wealth
The play uses Shylock to reveal the hypocrisy in Christians. When Shylock tries to seek revenge, he is termed as a greedy and evil but the Christians also went on to seek revenge and did more of what Shylock intended to do, he is also persecuted. Several characters also portrayed the theme of loyalty. Bassanio borrowed Antonio a large sum of money and promised to repay but he did not fulfill his promise. When Basanio borrows Antonio money for the second time, he gave him. This shows loyalty to their friendship. This loyalty is returned by Bassanio towards the end of the play when he goes home to get money to save his friend Antonio from his debt. Jessica expresses loyalty to his father in the sense that she later feels regretful by running away with Lorenzo while dressed as a boy. She says “…I am ashamed for exchange” to mean she regretted for having exchanged her love and loyalty to her father for love to Lorenzo.
The movie and the play brings out the theme of revenge using Shylock and Antonio. Shylock appears to be very determined to get his revenge for the persecution by the Christians represented by Antonio. He lends money to Antonio to eventually get his revenge by claiming a pound of flesh. The Christians displayed their hypocrisy during the trial. The Duke tells Shylock that everyone expected him to forego the pound of flesh and have mercy on Antonio. Later, when Shylock loses the case, the Christians deny him the same mercy they were pleading on Antonio earlier.
Some themes in the play appear to differ with the same theme in the film. Shylock in The Merchant of Venice has for a long time been interpreted as commercially minded which brings out the theme of greed. In the Radfrod’s film, Alpacino is painted as a man whose intention in lending the loan and placing harsh term is not entirely for selfish gains but it was to enable him have his revenge for injustices done to him.
In the film there are scenes that were added that were not part of the play. Towards the end of the play in the court, when Shylock removes the scales from his bag to way the pound of flesh, Antonio faints. Shylock appears to on the screen with horror on his face looking at Antonio lying on the ground. His faced showed concern, an indication of the humanity of character. This addition cleared the allegation that he was an evil man. The crowd in the court as in the play, is far bigger than that depicted in the movie. The crowd composed of hooligans full of verbal abuses and another small group of the minority Jews huddled silently in one section. This shows how the Jews endured mistreatments in the face of the Christians.
Conclusion
The shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice and its perfect film adaptation of Radfrord’s Al pacino is a combination that clearly brings out the themes as origilally plotted by Shakespheare. The film also helps in understanding more of the heavily worded play through creative characters and visual displays.