I'm particularly torn with this assignment. I enjoyed reading Act 5 and I thought it tied together the last strands of the play's plot in a unique and well thought out way. However, I think it was just a tad too long. It doesn't take much to say "They got back home. Antonio has money again. Husbands and wives probably had sex after their shenanigans." I mean I just said it in 3 sentences. However, I do think it was necessary to have this act end the play. The show was intended to be a comedy and the previous act seemed so intense and depressing that everyone in the audience needed a proverbial "cool-down" and a "happy ending" but I think it was a little drawn out. I don't know if Shakespeare intended it to be so the audience would forget the cruelty toward Shylock or just forget Shylock all in all. I know I did. But then the question is should we forget about Shylock? I know he was a bad guy and the play was supposed to be a happy thing, but it seems to may have been taken to far. On a completely different note, I really enjoyed how Shakespeare played up the fact that the husbands basically said they would rather have their loving wives and their own lives be taken instead of Antonio's. Honestly, I would have done the same thing. Plus, Portia's character definitely wouldn't ake that lying down so it added to her personality. I don't think the quarrel between Jessica and Lorenzo was incredibly important and it could have been left out altogether.

I guess the gist of my blog is that it was a good ending, but there were some things that could have been left out to make it a little shorter.

*Tina