People who have read the “Merchant of Venice” by Shakespeare will agree with me that the story is a heady mix of banking of the times, religion and Letter and Spirit of both the contract and its interpretation. That the characters of the story and the entire plot could have undercurrents of modern banking system does not seem apparent. Allow me to elaborate....
A short summary of the story for the benefit of people who have not read the play is as follows...
We have Bassanio who wants to wed Portica. She is far away and his friend Antonio who has helped him before agrees to finance his trip. Antonio a merchant has goods at sea and hence liquidity is low. He goes for short term loan from Shylock a Jewish moneylender on the terms that it’s either repayment on due date or a pound of flesh. Well in a twist of fate news comes that Antonio’s goods are lost to sea. The due date passes by and Bassanio gets Portico who in disguise gets to preside over the case of Shylock the Jew vs Antonio the Christian. These two hate each other for religious reasons. By this time Antonio’s ships though some are lost, most return back and he becomes solvent again. He offers to pay double but Shylock refuses and insists on his pound of flesh. Portica interprets the contract in Letter and not in Spirit and says that he can have pound of flesh but no blood. In the end due to various religious and city laws Shylock is forced to convert to Christianity and forfeit the claim and also give up half of his estate to the city and the rest of it to Antonio and the merciful Antonio asks for the share of Income while giving the principle back to Shylock.
Now the Jewish religious texts say that you should not take interest from a fellow brother. The same approximate interpretation was encouraged by the church for Christians of the time. Now Christians were more than Jews in number. Now let’s see the effect on different people by these circumstances.
It’s a known fact that you need credit to run a business. Jewish interpretation of the Torah and the Talmund was that “brother” means a fellow Jew. With a majority of credit demand from Christians, Jews went into money lending to Christians and flourished while following the Letter of the Religion. Christians saw the growing financial clout of Jews and there was a general animosity between them. Shakespeare was a Christian and a bard and not a saint so we can forgive his use of a Jewish villain in the form of Shylock and his interpretation of the contract in Letter and not in Spirit. Also the portrait of evil, scheming, religiously biased reinforces the conventional view of the times. Also the subsequent events of the play have a distinct Pro Christian flavour.
Now we come to the Christian side of the affair. The Medici family is considered the first banking conglomerates. They were considered the wealthiest family in Europe and they produced 3 popes and a few rulers of France. Michelangelo and a great many renaissance painters owe their daily bread to the Medici family. So Giovanni de Medici the man who started it all and got the family the wealth is known for a few things. One thing very famous is that his bank embraced the double entry accounting system which is the foundation of all modern accounting. Another thing that is not generally known is that he may be attributed the creative accounting practice of recording interest as transaction fees. This creative step may have been the foundation of its early success as it allowed them to lend and borrow from public while following the “letter of the religion” of the time. They could penetrate the Christian market. Again the “spirit” was lost is incidental.
One of its biggest depositors and later creditor was the Catholic Church. Perhaps the three popes from the family were later kind enough to change the perception and allow interest to be charged. The Rothschild family may owe its later "bond" fortune to the developed banking system that the Medici family left behind.
So, back to Merchant of Venice and its symbolism...
Shylocks character a symbol of Jewish power of money and his intention to take his pound of flesh instead of 100% ROI another confirmation of their famed interpretation by letter and not by spirit.
Porticas interpretation can be seen as a symbolism of good over evil and using Shylock own tools to do the good.
Antonio’s magnanimous offer of 100% ROI and later when Shylock gets trapped, his offer to let Shylock keep Antonio’s half of Shylock estate in return of converting to Christianity another way for Shakespeare to show how sin can be vanquished.
The overriding theme of the interpretation of contract in Letter and not in Spirit may have its origins in the root of the Modern Banking. Follow the letter of religion if not its spirit.
There are three religions that owe their creation to Abraham the first prophet and the prime believer in Monotheism - Judaism, Christianity and Islam. All three have had interpretations of not charging interest. Even Islamic banks of the day, to be competitive, have a profit or loss sharing principle or a return on deposit that is termed a “gift” and the reason for the gift is not given in public interest.
I came accross the Banking Connection when watching the programme Ascent of Money on Fox History and Entertainment..It seems that there is a book by the same name...Searching for it now :-)
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