Apparently this is classed as one of Shakespeare's comedies, but I didn't find it that funny - although granted, Shakespeare's tendency to think of people fooling other people by dressing up as different people as being side-splittingly funny is something on which we differ. (I always end up thinking these idiots need glasses.) This strikes me as more of a drama.

Regardless, there's some fantastic stuff here - pretty much everything related to the trial, rather than the romances. Shylock's speech "Hath not a Jew eyes?" is an outstanding argument against bigotry, and in arguing for the quality of mercy, Portia is far more compelling than when she's fooling her blind idiot husband or seeing off a bunch of suitors. There's no getting away from the fact, though, that Shylock's the stand-out character of the play. He's kind of an anti-hero, and I don't want him to win, exactly, but I can't say that I'm all that excited to stand up for Antonio either. The last was stupid enough to make a bad bargain, and his clear history of anti-Semitic behaviour (he's more than happy to generally abuse Shylock before he needed him) is not endearing. He strikes me very much as a Ye Old Venetian version of the guy who treats his friends well but is a dick to the waiter, so frankly if all his flesh were carved off I can't see it being that much of a loss.

I was interested to read, in the introduction, that performances of this play have frequently ended after the fourth act - the act in which we see the last of Shylock. The reasoning being that once the most compelling character is gone the last act is just anticlimactic milquetoast wind-up, and you know what? They're not wrong.