Merchant of Venice

• Portia


  • Strong-willed and witty, but has an intolerant side that might shock a modern audience
• Bassanio is talking about how great Portia is

  Audience gets to meet Portia for the first time and form their own opinions
• Scene 2 - Portia needs a husband

  1. Action jumps to Belmont

  2. Pace is much slower than Act 1, Scene 1, creating a calmer atmosphere

  3. Portia's complaint echoes Antonio's sadness

  4. Portia's father has left a will stating anyone wanting to marry Portia must choose correctly between a gold, silver, and lead casket

  5. Portia disagrees with the casket test and wants to choose who she marries
• Portia feels restrained and protests that she can't "choose" or "refuse" any of her suitors, suggesting she feels trapped by her father's will
• Portia's suitors

  • Different nationalities, emphasising how sought after Portia is as a wife
  • Portia mocks her suitors using 16th-century national stereotypes, creating humour and a light-hearted atmosphere
• Bassanio has been to Belmont before, hinting at Portia later falling in love with him
• Another suitor, a Moroccan prince, arrives

  Adds suspense, reminding the audience that Bassanio's quest to woo Portia is a race against time
• Prose

  Makes Portia and Nerissa's dialogue sound informal, adding to the relaxed mood of the scene
• Shylock agrees to the loan on the condition that he can have a pound of Antonio's "fair flesh" if it isn't repaid on time
• Shylock describes the gruesome forfeit as a "merry sport"

  But the audience knows he intends to "feed fat" the grudge he holds towards Antonio, creating dramatic irony and making him seem villainous
• Antonio willingly agrees to Shylock's terms, a significant turning point in the play as Antonio's life now depends on the safe return of his ships
• Prince of Morocco


  • Proud and imposing, uses comparisons to mythological figures to seem heroic, but his high opinion of himself makes him seem arrogant
• Prince of Morocco expects to be discriminated against because of his skin colour

  But then makes the mistake of choosing the gold casket in Act 2, Scene 7, being judgemental about appearances
• Scene 2 - Lancelet finds a new master

  1. Lancelet opens with a soliloquy, trying to decide if he should stop serving Shylock

  2. Scene provides light relief with humour, including Lancelet tricking his blind father and wordplay

  3. Lancelet uses hyperbole to make Shylock seem stingy and preoccupied with money
• Soliloquy

  When a character is alone on stage and speaks their thoughts aloud to the audience
• Lancelet and Old Gobbo speak in prose, showing their low social status, while Bassanio speaks in blank verse, helping to show his higher status
• Bassanio worries that Gratiano is "too wild" and "too rude" to go with him to Belmont, hinting at an unreliable side to Gratiano that is later hidden from Nerissa
• Shylock


  Angry at Jessica's betrayal and abandonment of him and their Jewish faith
• Shylock accuses Salerio and Solanio


  Of being involved in Jessica's "flight"
• Shylock: '"Damned" - referring to Jessica's betrayal condemning her soul'
• Shylock's desire for revenge


  Strengthened by Jessica's betrayal
• Shylock justifies his vengeful attitude by recalling how Antonio has always treated him unfairly
• Shylock argues that Jews are no different to Christians using a series of rhetorical questions
• Shylock's speech


  Implies that all people are ultimately at the mercy of forces beyond their control
• Portia explains the rules of the casket test to Bassanio
• Bassanio is "on the rack" as he contemplates his choice
• Bassanio's choice of casket is unlike the previous suitors
• A "young Venetian" has arrived at Belmont, hinting that Bassanio has come
• Shylock points out that it's only natural for him to seek revenge, as that's exactly what a Christian would do in the same situation
• Bassanio isn't hanging about - he wins Portia, but before you know it, he's on a boat back to Venice
• Passive verbs


  Fed, hurt, healed
• Valerie and Solanio are summoned to Antonio's house, leaving Shylock to speak with his friend, Tubal
• Shylock proves that money isn't all that matters to him when he tells Tubal he wouldn't have parted with the ring for a "wilderness of monkeys"
• Tubal has heard that Jessica is recklessly spending Shylock's money and has even traded his precious ring for a monkey
• Tubal has also heard that another of Antonio's ships has been wrecked, which creates a sense of foreboding as the audience realises that Antonio will be unable to repay his debt
• Shylock is "very glad" to hear of Antonio's ill luck and immediately sends Tubal to make plans for his arrest
• Portia encourages Bassanio to "pause a day or two" before taking the casket test, as she's worried he'll choose incorrectly and be forced to leave
• Portia gives Bassanio a ring, and tells him that to lose it would signify the "ruin" of his love for her. Her warning becomes more significant in Act 4, when she tricks Bassanio into giving the ring away
• Bassanio receives a letter from Antonio containing "a few of the unpleasant'st words/That ever blotted paper" - none of Antonio's ships have returned to Venice, and Antonio's life is in danger
• Even though Portia has never met Antonio, she offers to pay whatever it takes to save his life. She sees it as her duty as Bassanio's wife to help his "dearest friend"