The Merchant of Venice probably my favorite play. It is better to watch them or at least listen to them than to read them. I haven’t read a Shakespeare play in decades but I love to watch them. The early BBC versions are good and have a lot of people who later became famous. For example Alan Rickman (Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet) and Derek Jacobi (Hamlet). I think that Ian McKellan got his start with the Royal Shakespearian Theater. There’s an amazing video of him doing MacBeth’s lament for his deceased wife.
But back to the Merchant of Venice - I read a long piece by Joseph Pearce that made the case that it was in no way an attack on Jews but on usury. But Shylock is an amazing character.
Merchant of Venice one of the only ones we did not read in 10th grade. We read one a week.
People who have problems with Shylock as a caricature should look at the other depictions of Jews from that time. It’s actually relatively sympathetic.
But it should not erase the fact that the play is, at its essence, very anti-Semitic. To play Shylock as a tragic figure instead of a villainous foil and thereby make Portia, Antonio and the others unsympathetic would render the play incoherent.