That is, with Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare was using a current popular plot--similar to how every studio in Hollywood will churn out a robot film or a social commentary film or a film about bugs in the same year.
And yet, Shakespeare's version of a "popular plot" has strong characters and a hint at another side to the equation. It can--and has--been endlessly interpreted.
The Romeo & Juliet relationship, Lorenzo and Jessica, has a certain pathos. The Antonio-Bassanio relationship can be interpreted as having an underlying homoeroticism.
I wrote a book years ago in which Antonio and Shylock have a kind of son-father relationship. They don't perceive each other in those ways but they are constantly orbiting each other, looking for opportunities to clash. Antonio ends up with Portia (who discovers that marrying a man, Bassanio, who needs money, after practically feeding him the answer to a riddle might be a tad dull). They both go looking for Shylock.
If I wrote the story now, I might make Antonio and Shylock lovers after Shylock moves into Antonio's pensionne and takes over his trading business. ("Diversify! Diversify!")
The point is, THAT relationship--that frenemies, enemies to enemies, enemies to lovers relationship--is the relationship that pulls in viewers. Portia is interesting in her own right but she becomes MORE interesting when she is forced to negotiate between these two men.
Unique play in which 2 strong male leads make all the difference.
