The Merchant of Venice

We happened to receive a letter from A well-known book by the great William Shakespeare.

It was delivered to us a day ago and was lost within the pile.

We believe, the book sent it across, to remember the greatest screenplay writer of all time. This letter belongs to a book, for which William Shakespeare had the vision to be portrayed with great impact. So, it did, it left a mark on the minds of the privileged and underprivileged equally.

The words from the book encourage you to give it a read, also pushing others into a state of nostalgia because it is always familiar to the ones who have already read it.

Hello Reader,

Here we meet again. Another hope I see in you, yet a little perplexed you seem. Open me up, make my pages your friend, spruce up the place and sit down.

I enclose the popular most characters of history, which I wasn’t sure I’d turn out to be, the popular one. William, the ‘Bard of Avon’ was a man of fascination. He has put in details related to human conflicts and comportment. I was meant to be enacted, so I was, in the 16th Century (1605) at the court of King James, for the first time. I was recognized, but I never knew I’d be given numerous adaptations down the line.

I am not one of the plays that one can simply overlook. My external simplicity, it encapsulates dilemmas inextricable to the human condition. The words, forced me to question why was I written, especially in a time where Jews were hated- why did Shakespeare write something so provocative? The purpose of my creation remains the biggest unknown till date.

Divided into acts, I purposefully focus on the peaks and valleys of human behavior.

“The story revolves around the condition — Shylock asking for a pound of Antonio’s flesh if the loan isn’t repaid within three months.” Nostalgic, isn’t it?

Anyway, In a time where Christianity was revered and deemed to be perfect, in Elizabethan England, by presenting a Jewish antagonist, in-humanizing him, not only decimates some of the archetypal Jewish tropes but, throws light on the universality of the human experiences. Your experiences.

You should definitely be questioning who is right and who is wrong at every turn and then questioning yourself for why you made that decision and would Shakespeare’s audience make the decision differently? What has been the catalyst for this change in worldviews?

I’ll leave you pondering upon that, hoping for your well-being.

Wishing you a very happy World Book Day. Never stop learning.

Your’s Loving
The Merchant of Venice
Shelf 2, Hall fifteen
The Library.

Written by Harsh Srivastava