For instance in Act 1 scene 1, Antonio, a Merchant, is worried by things that are not quite understandable to people around him, yet they assume that the trading items on transit are the causes of his sadness. He reassures them that's not the case since he'd invested in various ways that wouldn't risk his business. It is so obvious that in todays economy not so many people venture into single investment. One would want to be able to gain as much profit as possible, but the risks are inevitable and thus spreading them apart reduce the chances of going bankrupt hence increasing the lifespan of businesses.
In this play we see Antonio is dedicated to help Bassanio under a difficult circumstance, and is able to risk his life for the sake of Bassanio's love life. As I read this part, I had the "Arab Spring" in my mind, crazy huh? Well, you can put it this way. Bassanio represent people who have been oppressed for a long time and saw an opportunity of getting out of bondage, while Portia, Bassanio's future love would be compared to Democracy. Anyone in this world would like to enjoy the fruits of Freedom and Democracy without interruptions, and would do anything to have it. This doesn't come single handedly. It does require help from various sources,and that's why Bassanio asks for assistance from Antonio. Then Antonio depicts different countries that are stable but still threatened by instabilities of neighboring countries.
I look at it as if Shakespeare had Middle East in mind while writing this play. I would like to relate this play to Libya. It was a country which was under tyranny for decades. When it's citizens decided to rise against it, they asked for outside help which of course had different culture principles as depicted by Prince of Arragon, prince of Morocco e.t.c. Not everyone was for it but a few made their efforts, and were able to deliver Libyans from bondage but at cost of lives which Antonio had incurred in a different way.
Another thing that strike my mind, was religion and racial division in Shakespeare's time. The hatred between Jews and Christians is depicted in the most brutal way of all the times. We see cultural differences that wouldn't allow people dine together or intermarry. I would relate this to the conflict we have had with foreigners from where I grew up. I was born in a small village in the northern part of Kenya, where there was huge interactions between village dwellers and wild animals. Some people came from other parts of the world and fell in love with the animals. To show their "passionate" towards them, they bought and fenced large tract of land from the government and locked most of the animals inside, therefore taking them away from their niche. The symbiotic relationships that existed between the animals and humans were cut short. This lead to inter-communal conflicts, and people (animal saviors) who caused this don't have a solution to that, neither would they interact with the community so as to learn their cultural values, and the magnitude of the problem they had caused. This builds a lot of hatred, yet it can be avoided by a simple understanding of each others' culture and respecting them, and therefore Portia's (Lawyer) services won't be required in heaven, but with the ways things are, we might need. Wild animals/human relationship like the one below will never be experienced again in that village.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBpu4DAvwI8
