More On Humor In Shakeare's Plays.

Like I said before, Shakespeare often inserted humor into his plays. And some of the humor is still funny today. Much of it is inappropriate or at least involves double entendres and sexual innuendos.

In his The Merchant of Venice, the duke of Venice along with Bassanio and Antonio try to talk Shylock out of taking his pound of flesh. They offer him many times the amount he was owed, in place of the pound of flesh. Surely he would accept that. But he still seems fixated on that pound of flesh. When they ask him why he replies

“Some men there are love not a gaping pig,
Some that are mad if they behold a cat,
And others, when the bagpipe sings i’ th’ nose,
Cannot contain their urine.”

Those lines are funny because they imply all kinds of hidden jokes and misconceptions people at the time had about Jews. I read somewhere that Shakespeare wasn't anymore antisemitic when he wrote that play than anyone else. He was maybe even a little less. And we can't ban everything that we might find inappropriate now. Besides these lines seem to be almost funny. Some men there are love not a gaping pig, meaning some people just don't like pigs. Who knows which? Is there any group that really seems to hate pigs? Hmm. (He also calls it a "gaping" pig, which seems to show his disdain for pigs making it more funny, as he says almost anyone could hate that animal.) They he goes onto say some men are mad if they behold a cat. Cats were thought of as the tools of the devil in Shakespeare's time. (Shakespeare didn't seem to hate animals, or like them really. Some people think he may have owned a dog.) And then he goes on with a third "random" example about bagpipes. Kind of like how on Star Trek Mr. Chekov always mentioned two fictional alien species, and then one real earth species or animal (just as Dr. McCoy finally stops him saying "Not the whole encyclopedia Mr. Chekov.")

I think it's still funny today. Because it's so ridiculous.

 

I guess thats what makes it good eh???

 

The above joke isn't even the best one, or my favorite from that play. There is another one later on in the courtroom scene.

Portia (disguised as Balthazar, a doctor of law) has to get home quickly, so that her fiancé Bassanio doesn't realize what happened. And then the duke turns to Portia and says “Sir, I entreat you home with me to dinner.” Because they are all grateful for what he/she did for them. And she did it for free, which is strange. She should have done it for some payment, don't you think? But she tell him “my mind was never yet more mercenary”. And when he won't take no for an answer she says “He is well paid that is well satisfied, and I, delivering you, am satisfied, and therein do account myself well paid.” He is well paid that is well satisfied was an old cliché in Shakespeare's time, IOW every good deed is its own reward. But Bassanio insists. So as a joke she tells him to give her his ring. Bassanio promised not to give the ring to anyone. It was a pledge of his love to his future wife, Portia. But she insists, so he gives it to her. But she reveals in the final scene that he never broke his promise. Because she was actually Balthazar, but in disguise.

Here is the whole scene on You Tube:

 

Thank you

 

And I don't know if I made myself clear. There's nothing overtly mean or intolerant in the some men there are love not a gaping pig scene. That's what makes it so funny. It's full of random examples Shylock thinks of. But his examples are a little weird, so they are also double entendres. Actually Shakespeare treats Shylock well in some parts of the play, almost like he wants you to feel sorry for him. Like when Shylock makes his famous "hath not a Jew eyes?" speech: