The Merchant of Venice

License for library and classroom use outside of the US and Canada. For purchase in the US and Canada, please visit our distributor Films for the Humanities and Sciences

"I loved your film. I've never seen a production that had such a strong, sympathetic Portia and your focus on her was exactly right. I think it's so good to have your production out there because almost every other production diminishes her. You had terrific actors and you used them so well. I found it very moving." Professor Phyllis Rackin author of Shakespeare and Women and Shakespeare's English Chronicles. 

With The Merchant of Venice, it's very easy to lose sight of what's important. The conflict between Antonio and Shylock is so visceral, so primal, it can easily overshadow the rest of the play. The play is sometimes so dark, the clowns and fools are not allowed their due. Often, some of the 'objectionable' lines are altered or cut. The most common, and unforgivable sin though, is to lose track of the fact that this is Portia's story. This is the story of a young noble woman in love with a man she cannot marry. First her father through his will, then Antonio with his summons of Bassanio to Venice, and finally Bassanio's betrayal thwart her goal of wedding, and bedding, the man of her choice. Hers is the true Herculean struggle of the entire drama.