Merchant of Venice

• The Merchant of Venice

  The story of a Jewish moneylender who demands that an antisemitic Christian offer "a pound of flesh" as collateral against a loan
• Act 1, Scene 1

  1. Bassanio asks Antonio if he can loan some money so that Bassanio can court Portia

  2. Antonio says that all his money is tied up in shipping investments, but that he will act as a guarantor on a loan for Bassanio
• Act 1, Scene 2

  • The will left by Portia's father instructs that she is not to be married until a suitor correctly guesses which of three caskets contains her portrait, under penalty that if a suitor guesses incorrectly, he will never marry anyone
• Act 1, Scene 3


  Shylock hates Antonio for his anti-Semitic remarks and criticism of Shylock's lending practices
• Act 1, Scene 3

  Shylock agrees to give Bassanio a three-month loan, with the understanding that if he fails to pay the money back, Antonio must give Shylock a pound of his own flesh
• Prince of Morocco

  Arrives to select a casket and attempt to earn Portia's hand in marriage
• Portia reminds the prince of Morocco

  He will never be able to marry anyone if he chooses incorrectly
• Launcelot

  Decides to leave Shylock's service and asks to become Bassanio's servant instead
• Gratiano

  Asks to join Bassanio on his trip to Belmont
• Jessica

  Asks Launcelot to deliver a message to Bassanio's friend Lorenzo, whom Jessica hopes to marry someday
• Lorenzo and his friends

  Plan to sneak Jessica out of Shylock's house by disguising her as Lorenzo's torchbearer
• Shylock warns Launcelot

  Bassanio will not be as good a master to him
• Shylock tells Jessica


  Lock all the doors and not look out any of the windows during the night
• Gratiano and Salarino


  Meet Lorenzo outside Shylock's home
• Jessica, in disguise


  Tosses down a chest full of gold and jewels, and then climbs down to join the men
• Prince of Morocco


  Incorrectly chooses the gold casket while trying to win Portia's hand, and hastily leaves Belmont
• Solanio and Salarino discuss Shylock's rage


  Upon learning that his daughter and his money are missing
• Solanio and Salarino worry about Antonio

  Because of rumors that his ships have been lost at sea, and he may not be able to repay his debt to Shylock
• Prince of Arragon

  Attempts to win Portia's hand, but he also chooses the wrong casket
• Portia receives word

  A new suitor has arrived from Venice, and she hopes that it is Bassanio
• Shylock

  Furious over Jessica's disappearance
• Antonio's fortunes

  Rumored to have been ruined by the loss of his ships
• Bassanio selects the correct casket

  1. Nerissa falls in love with Gratiano

  2. Couple decide to have a double wedding

  3. Bassanio returns to Venice to pay Shylock his pound of flesh
• Portia believes in the importance of helping Bassanio


  Portia and Nerissa go to Venice in disguise to help their new husbands
• Launcelot

  Expresses concern for Jessica's soul
• Jessica

  Claims she will be saved by her marriage to Lorenzo
• Lorenzo promises Jessica

  He will be as good a spouse to her as Portia will be to Bassanio
• 'Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, heal’d by the same means, warm’d and cool’d by the same winter and summer as a Christian is?' - Shylock
• Act 4, Scene 1: Antonio's trial


  1. Portia, disguised as a lawyer, wins the day

  2. Tells Shylock he may take his pound of flesh, but has no right to Antonio's blood

  3. Antonio allows Shylock to escape with half his estate if Shylock agrees to convert to Christianity and leave everything to his daughter and Lorenzo in his will
• Act 4, Scene 2

  1. Portia and Nerissa plan to return quickly to Belmont to beat the men home

  2. Gratiano arrives to give Bassanio's ring to Portia

  3. Nerissa decides to try to get Gratiano to give up his ring so the women can torment their new husbands back in Belmont
• Shylock: '"If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction"'
• Shylock's promise to Solanio and Salarino that he will outdo the evil that has been done to him
• At first, we sympathise with Shylock as he has suffered considerably at the hands of Christians due to his religion

  However, his promise to act even worse than those who have wronged him quickly changes the audience's reaction
• Shylock, Act 3 Scene 1;

  "I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases"

  
  

  Explanation: Shylock is reminding the audience, and the other characters, that Jews and Christians are the same. They have the same eyes, hands, organs and are hurt with the same weapons.
• Shylock, Act 4 Scene 1

  "Of what it likes or loathes..

  .../ So can I give no reason/ nor I will not/ More than a lodged

  hate and a certain loathing/ bear Antonio, that I follow thus/ A losing suit against him/ Are you answered?"

  
  

  Explanation: Shylock can not give reasons as to why he dislikes Antonio. By ending his speech with a simple question, Shylock's speech is seen as focused and controlled, like his quest for revenge.
• Shylock: '"You have among you many a purchased slave/ Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules/ You use in abject and in slavish parts/ Because you bought them/ Shall I say to you, 'Let them be free, marry them to your heirs/ Why sweat they under burdens?.....You will answer/ *The slaves are ours./ So do I answer you/ The pound of flesh which I demand of him/ Is dearly bought/ 'Tis mine, and I will have it".'
• Portia: 'The quality of mercy is not strained/ It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven/ Upon the place beneath... When is it seasoned, it blesseth him that gives and him that takes/ Though justice be thy plea, consider this: That in the course of justice none of us/ Should see salvation/ We do pray for mercy...'
• Portia's speech opens with her asking Shylock for mercy
• Portia's argument focuses on reason rather than emotion
• Portia warns Shylock that his quest for justice without mercy may result in his own damnation