The Merchant of Venice (Abridged) Audiobook

" The characters in this play are some of the worst I have ever read. Almost all of them lack intelligence and depth. I mean, the part with the caskets, come on. Absolutely pathetic. My high school English class, full of absolute morons, understood that the picture was in the lead one as soon as they were mentioned, yet the characters in the play cannot figure it out. Also, who was going to make the suitors leave, never marry and never tell. The people who read this and go that was clever cannot be serious. Well, that was only problem one. Two is that everything in the play is absolutely trivial. Nobody cares about who marries who, and money this and money that. If you asked me what I thought of this play I would tell you this: The characters are shallow, the plot is trivial, and the the themes were poor. The only up was the few memorable quotes. "

" Not many people if any would consider any of Shakespeare's works cute, so I'll be the first. I don't know why but this play just made me giggle quite a bit. Not as much as 'A Midsummers Nights Dream' but still it was humorous despite the seriousness. "

" Shylock is 1 of the most complicated villains in literature, grotesquely wrong in his pursuit of his pound of flesh, but wronged by the anti-Semitic society he is living in. "

" My favorite Shakespeare play. Being Jewish, reading a role that is so controversial, yet so legendary, reminds me just how revolutionary William Shakespeare really was. "

" "All that glisters is not gold." "

" Funny parts, but not the best comedy Shakespeare wrote. MY synopsis "Jews Jews Jews Jews Jews. Moneymoneymoney Jews. Lets force them convert to Christianity after assaulting and insulting them all the time. The End" "

" Nice read, good as far as shakespeare goes, but AMSND is still better. "

" Okay, so I technically "read" this book, even though I skimmed it and read a lot of it on SparkNotes. I never enjoy required reading. "

" Terrible memories of this literature. But you COULD say it wasnt half bad.. "

" A fascinating play by an even more fascinating playwright. "

" Pretty good so far...I haven't figured out where it's going yet. "

" For our Shakespeare class. Really enjoyable experience talking about laws of the land, laws of God. The figures Antonio and Shylock represent... "

" Strange to think that Shylock was a comic figure to the Elizabethans. I think he was so much more to Shakespeare himself! "

" The Merchant of Venice has to be the worst book I have ever read. "

" It's Shakespeare...what more can I say. A literary genius. "

" Another one of my all time favorites. "

" very funny indeed. really liked the ending, and fighting for a good cause(Portia being a lawyer because she wanted to help Antonio without getting anything in return). i'd like to think that there are still people like that who would do some things without expecting anything in return. xD "

" Merchant of Venice is making a comeback in popularity. It's the play, other than Othello that deals so closely with racism. I think that it's one of Shakespeare's more curious works and that it would be very different if he had of stopped at Act 4 (I think it would be better). "

" I still have to finish the tail end of this...you know how you have to be in the right mindset to read Shakespeare? Anyway, it's good with lots of classic lines and speeches (you know, "a pound of flesh" and all that) but there are othe plays I prefer, like Hamlet! "

" Really interesting play -- is it anti-Semitic? Is it not? Who's the real villain? Makes you think. "

" I really enjoyed this! Portia was a cool character, and I loved all the cleverness throughout the play. Comedies are awesome! That said, the anti-semitism was jarring, and like TOO pointed. I'm sure we'll get to that in class, we aren't finished analyzing it. "

" Strange that my high school included this play in freshman English. Not exactly a rousing introduction to Shakespeare. In fact, I was so unimpressed, I refer to him as "the author of..." in my essay! "

" This story is captivating and hilarious. William Shakespeare can really keep my attention with this story. "

" This book has actual Shakespeare's words on one page, and a modern English version on the facing page. It makes it much easier to understand. "

" Reading this book made me fully appreciate Shakespeare's works. And at the end of it all, I could not help but pity Shylock. "

" So I'm reading this for school and I actually like it so far. I've just finished Act IV scene 1 and I'm preforming Shylock's soliolquy in Act III on Thursday. Overall, I've liked it and can't wait to read more Shakespeare this summer! "

" It has been read and over-read for school till it has lost all its dramatic value for me. But the true fact of the matter is that Shylock is an everlasting character who will never erase himself from common memory. "

" Of the very very few works by Shakespeare that I've read, this is the best. "

" I enjoy reading Shakespeare although it can be a bit laborious at times. Thank goodness they aren't very long! This play had a profound message about mercy and justice. "

" One of my favorite Shakespeare plays! The racial and religious prejudice theme is so relevant today. I empathize with Shylock's character each time and I think this play really shows how Shakespeare was so ahead of his time. "

" i thought the play will end that shylock has taken his pound of flesh from antonio but it came as a suprise that the court ordered him to instead pay antonio for thretening his life. "

" A comedy? Really? Very dark. Could have been the Pulp Fiction of its time if Bill threw in some actual killing. "

" Awesome...GREAT ending...this is what surprise endings are made of!!! "

" Great play! It makes me still enthusiastic to read next line. "

" Poco divertente dal punto di vista della commedia, ma istruttivo e bello, scorrevole e dolce verso la fine. Shakespeare rimane un mito del teatro. "

" Yeah... I read it before we actually had to for English, so I have to read it again. Whatever, it's a good book. "

" Being an English major/English teacher, I enjoy almost all Shakespeare. Merchant of Venice is one of the first plays I read (high school) and I enjoyed it mostly for the vivid characters Shakespea created, especially Shylock, who garnered my ire and my sympathy. "