Merchant of Venice--2

So, I'm starting with The Merchant of Venice. I've read it a few times and I like it, but like everyone, I'm conflicted about it. Merchant is a good starting place because it is a good play (it's not Timon of Athens or Henry VI Part One), but it's also not one of the plays that makes you think "Oh God, I'm blogging about this? Why not put together a production of Faust starring Ron Jeremy?"
Still, though, it's a tough play. There's a lot of anti-Semitism in it, whether or not you can ascribe those views to Shakespeare. Officially, it's a comedy, probably because people get married at the end and no one dies. But it feels tragic and it's difficult to like any of the characters by the end. Maybe you like Portia okay, and Launcelot's pretty safe, and you pity Shylock. But the whole Venetian Christian posse comes off pretty poorly. And the only way to like Antonio, the titular character, is through an extremely interested queer criticism.
I had originally thought it might be fun to start with A Comedy of Errors, in homage to the departing Bush administration. I hope to avoid awkward political metaphors here, despite the fact that I'm reading Shakespeare's only important Jewish character while Israel and Hamas are attacking each other. Crap, I was also planning to read Othello next. Well, maybe I'm more concerned than I realized.