Harry Golden made a good case about how Merchant is about tolerance. He pointed quite convincingly that the play works on two levels: superficially antisemetic, but actually portraying the Christians in the play as the bloodthirsty ones. I’ll have to go back and reread it.
Of course it’s tough to read the play with any but modern eyes, so maybe we’re all reaching, but it seems plain to me that Merchant is quite far from anti-semetic. It’s been some time since I read it, but I seem to recall that the only character that doesn’t do something awful is Antonio’s boyfriend (Bassanio, maybe?). Everybody else in the play is a dick, but Shylock is the least offensive and, unlike all the Christians, he’s actually been wronged. Shylock seems to have the attitude that it’s been years of slights, taunts, and discrimination for him, but he’s finally got one of the bastards on the hook and he’s not letting him wriggle away. Query what Shylock would have done if he was allowed to take his pound of flesh – my Shakespeare professor thinks he would have refused it. It’s not that Shylock wanted to kill Antonio – he merely wanted to be treated no differently than a Christian would have.
–Cliffy