I READ “THE MERCHANT OF VENICE” THRICE

September 7, 2024 Opinion

Yes, not one, not twice, but thrice, it is not to impress anyone, I read the Shakespeare classic over and over because I didn’t understand a word he said the first time. I was a struggling English major, who was overwhelmed with the reading list given by a professor with a monotone. On the first read, I felt stupid; the old English format was overwhelming for a Jessica Zafra reader to digest in one sitting. On the second reading…I still felt like a schmuck, though in some parts, i understood… a little. I gave up on the second read and decided to wing it in class the next day.

Shakespeare had universal themes, I convinced myself, how hard can the discussion get, besides the professor with a monotone seemed like an easy obstacle to hurdle. My delusions of grandeur of “winging” Shakespeare were swiftly crushed, I realized the hard way that one cannot fake understanding of the scenes of the writing genius and yes, his themes are universal, but you would look like a fool if you pretend to have read his plays.

Another stark awakening was the professor with a monotone, whom I judged to be “easy” cannot be hurdled with flak… thus, I read “The Merchant of Venice” for the third time and finally got it least i again like a blubbering shuck when the professor with a monotone decided to have recitation just for the heck of it. The struggling English major who was me almost two decades ago remembers how I read and loved Shakespeare after that and how I came to love the professor with a monotone who stalked me most of my end days at university, all my major subjects were almost under her.

My favorite quote from the Merchant comes from Shylock saying “I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not take revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that.

If a Jew wrongs a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrongs a Jew, what should his suffering be by Christian example? Why, revenge! The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.” I read a lot more Shakespeare after that and a whole lot more classic novels. I graduated with an English major in the millennium, years after I was scheduled to walk the stage and today, I still read and remember Shakespeare… I was dubbed as his daughter by the professor with a monotone when I finally left the confines of university. I remember with a tinge of sadness the late Dr Teresita Azarcon, my professor with a monotone, the one which cannot be presented with flak; who called us sons and daughters of Shakespeare.