Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice

I took part in a staged reading or Merchant of Venice tonight, doing the part of Shylock. The play has a reputation for being somewhat anti-semitic, but it is not wholly deserved. In common understanding, Shylock is the villain, Antonio is the victim, and Portia is the hero. Clearly Shylock stepped over a line that he should not have crossed, but in the time spent working on this, I realized that the reason he did so was the continual abuse he suffered at the hands of Antonio. When Bassenio and Antonio meet with Shylock about borrowing money, Shylock talks about how Antonio has repeatedly spit on and cursed Shylock. Instead of showing any remorse, Antonio says he is likely to do so again. In his desire for revenge, Shylock goes too far. He starts by forgetting the "eye for an eye" prescription. That is not meant to condone revenge, but to put an upper limit on revenge. Shylock reacts to his physical and verbal abuse, not merely with physical and verbal abuse, but by effectively trying to take Antonio's life - clearly not on the same scale. He also forgets the dictum from Rabbi Hillel that what is hateful to oneself, one should not do to one's neighbor. Shylock then is effectively abused by Portia. She does give him a chance to withdraw his request for vengeance, but when he declines, she leads him to believe she is on his side before telling him of the negative consequences to himself of his actions. When he then wishes to change his mind, and tries three times to do so, she will not allow it, but strips him of his possessions and puts his life in the hands of the Duke. Now the Duke does show some mercy and his is does not lose his life, but still loses half his possessions (though those will go to his daughter eventually). Antonio, for all the abuse he inflicted on Shylock, suffers threats on his life for a period of time, but nothing more. Antonio in fact gets to use half of Shylock's money, though Shylock was in no way responsible for Antonio's losses. I feel pretty sure he will continue to abuse Shylock. Just my impressions.