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2. Romans and Venetians on Grace and Exchange
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62 TWO Romans and Venetians on Grace and Exchange Few readers would dispute the importance of Christianity in The Merchant of Venice. Biblical references suffuse the play, providing Shylock with Old Testament citations and his Christian interlocutors with New Testament counterarguments. Critics may nevertheless be divided into two broad groups: those who read the play as an allegorical expression of Christian theology , and those who read the play as a criticism, even parody, of Christians who fail in their beliefs. The Merchant of Venice makes a sophisticated presentation of the difficulties involved in reconciling the radical commands of soteriology with the exigencies of social organization and thereby renders both readings possible. The play stages a conflict between the exigencies of social organization , analyzed by Mauss as a network of exchanges, and the radical commands of religious faith, which offers the subversive notion of a true gift. The characters call themselves Christians and are, in some sense, correct in their self-description, but the survival of the exchange networks that constitute their state and society demands that their commitment to grace be attenuated. If Romans and Venetians on Grace and Exchange 63 culture is based on reciprocal exchange, grace must appear countercultural . The radical choice in Doctor Faustus between belief in grace and in the diabolical pact finds quotidian expression in The Merchant of Venice, where grace and Christian universalism must be rejected, or at least diminished, in order that a society based on bonds, pacts, and reciprocal exchanges can maintain itself. Shakespeare’s Venetians build their society on the basis of distinctions that Saint Paul denies in his Epistle to the Romans. Sixteenth-century translations of and popular commentaries upon Paul’s letter demonstrate the doctrine of salvation by faith. Reformation soteriology and its understanding of grace and gift furnish a contrast with the reciprocal generosity described in Mauss’s The Gift. Two ideas of forgiveness, that of an exchange and that of a pure gift, collide in the play’s trial scene, in which the burden of offering free mercy is first shifted onto Shylock’s bending shoulders and then replaced by an exchange. In fact, the play is marked by an entire absence of Christian ceremony. Rather than the social order undergoing mystification as Christian ideology , it is presented most forcefully as independent of and even opposed to Reformation belief. A number of critics consider not only the non-Jewish characters but also the play itself to be Christian, and to express themes of mercy and salvation. These include Barbara Lewalski, famously, as well as Frank Kermode.1 Their argument enjoyed its fullest critical acceptance in the early second half of the twentieth century but continues to be made.2 The contrary thesis, which declares the Christian characters unworthy of the name, is even more timehonored , beginning with William Hazlitt and Heinrich Heine in the nineteenth century,3 and continuing with René Fortin and Crocker.4 In the readings of several critics, the social and cultural mores of a community calling itself Christian sharply contrast with and even displace what ought to be a Christian ethics. Neither position could command such wide support without textual evidence. While almost every character self-identifies as [3.239.57.87] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 16:59 GMT) 64 Forgiving the Gift Jewish or Christian, and even Morocco calls vaguely on “some god” before choosing a casket (2.7.13), not even Antonio, in what he believes to be the hour of his death, offers any sort of extended prayer. Two sacraments, Shylock’s baptism and the marriage rite between Bassanio and Portia, are anticipated only to be deferred. More importantly, the play more than once presents Christian practice as a self-conscious pretense. Preparing to join Bassanio on his voyage to Belmont, Graziano assures his friend of his good behavior: If I do not put on a sober habit, Talk with respect, and swear but now and then, Wear prayer-books in my pocket, look demurely— Nay more, while grace is saying hood mine eyes Thus with my hat, and sigh, and say “Amen,” Use all the observance of civility, Like one well studied in a sad ostent To please his grandam—never trust me more. (2.2.182–89) Graziano reduces religion to a facade of respectability. Similarly, Portia defends her absence from Belmont with the promise “To live in prayer and contemplation” (3.4.28). After her return to Belmont, Stefano repeats her alibi...