Some people may argue that The Merchant of Venice is too distressing and too sad to go see at the theatre. Shylock basically wants Antonio killed. It deals with prejudice and loss and the loss of identity. On the other hand, the Merchant of Venice is more than ever relevant, teaches us a lot and is thus more than ever worth seeing.
First of all, The Merchant of Venice is not a complete tragedy. There are some elements of comedy in it. There is the intrigue about the chests that Portia's suitors have to solve. Portia and Nerissa dress up as men at Antonio's trial without being recognised by their husbands to be. It should be seen as a tragedy/comedy. Life is not always 100% happy, so why should a play be ?
We have to remember that in Elizabethan times, Jews were universally hated. The audience couldn't feel any sympathy for Shylock's fate but instead find it laughable instead of tragic just because he's a Jew. Furthermore, the play is set in far away Venice, which makes it less real for an English audience and makes them less able to relate to the tragic elements of the play.
Elizabethan society was violent and rough. The audience was expecting a play to deliver strong emotions to be considered worth seeing. By witnessing characters suffer, the audience felt a kind of catharsis to the sufferings of their own lives.
Nowadays, our interpretation of the play is different. We can see it as very forward looking as Portia and Nerissa play a decisive role in saving Antonio, dressing up as men without being recognised by their husbands to be and even luring them into giving them the rings they had made them promise not to give away. It is a very early view of feminism taking place in Shakespeare's times !
The play also deals with discrimination and racism, exposing the life of the Jews in Venice's ghetto. It was really forward thinking in Shakespeare's times but is more relevant to a modern audience that can fully appreciate what discrimination means.
The Human portrayal of suffering that The Merchant of Venice offers (Antonio's anguish, Shylock's anger and final humiliation) gives the occasion to actors to display the widest range of their talent.
The character of Shylock only makes the play worth seeing. His speeches, through which he rebels against his Jewish condition but tries to show that he is a human being like the others, no less than a Christian (if you cut us, do we not bleed) shows remarkable courage that may inspire other human groups subjected to discrimination. He wants to be accepted as a human being, even though he's Jewish. His Jewishness is a complete part of his identity (he commits suicide when ordered by Antonio to convert to Christianity) but that doesn't mean that he sees himself as less than a Christian.
The Venice of The Merchant of Venice is a terrible place to live. Christians live on one side of the city, Jews on the other and hate one another. We witness what a society where one hates another just because of who he is would be like.
As soon as we see that Antonio will be unable to repay his debt to Shylock, we understand that trouble will ensue. Antonio took a lot of chances to help Bassanio, accepting Shylock's senseless bond and knowing that hating him he would be willing to proceed and obtain the pound of flesh that becomes legally his. It's a good reminder to us that one should be more cautious than Antonio.
The play also teaches us moral lessons, e.g. all that glitters isn't gold, best seen on stage.
It's an exciting play. There's of course the main plot, but also a subplot, the excitement of the trial scene, the intrigue of the chests, the one of the rings.
There are comical aspects in the play as well as the fact that Portia and Nerissa manage to dress up as men without being recognised by their husbands to be and to obtain from them the rings they had sworn not to give away.
The Merchant of Venice is far from being a comedy but it isn't an utter tragedy either. It teaches us some valuable moral lessons and makes us think as well. I really enjoyed reading it and seeing it performed as a film. It is a complex and rich play with many levels of reading.
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