Why people recommend it
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare is a famous Elizabethan comedy and drama exploring complex themes of mercy, justice, and societal prejudice in Renaissance Europe. On Conversations with Tyler, Henry Oliver mentioned the play to compare its thematic treatment of mercy to Measure for Measure, and also cited a specific piece of dialogue as an example of surreal language in Shakespeare's writing. Separately, on No Stupid Questions, Stephen Dubner brought up The Merchant of Venice during a discussion about whether audiences should separate classic art from the problematic views of its creators, noting that prominent literary critic Harold Bloom famously characterized the play as a profoundly anti-Semitic work.
Who recommended it
- Henry Oliver Discussed
- Stephen Dubner Discussed
Henry Oliver — 2 mentions
Discussed
“OLIVER: I think, basically, it picks up where The Merchant of Venice leaves off. It takes the problem of mercy.”
Discussed
“OLIVER: It’s a bit like in The Merchant of Venice, when Shylock famously says, “I had that ring of Leah when I was a bachelor.”
Stephen Dubner — 1 mention
Discussed
“what about Shakespeare wait what did Shakespeare do he wrote Merchant of Venice okay Harold Bloom maybe the most prominent literary critic of the past generation at least he called Merchant of Venice a profoundly anti-semitic work”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
Other mentions (2: passing, ad reads, own books)
Passing
“well she was um of of Italian descent um as you can tell and in fact the name bosano appears in different places including Merchant of Venice”
Passing
“I'm thinking of a passage in the book of The Prophet Jeremiah where the Prophet is complaining to God. He's saying, 'You give me your word and I speak it, and everyone hates me and insults me.”