Themes

• • Revenge is a powerful, corrupting, and destructive force in the play.

  Shylock wants to hurt Antonio because of Shylock's desire for revenge

  against the entire Christian community, "I hate him for he is a Christian

  He blames Antonio (as a symbol of all Christians) for persecuting and

  degrading him "I am as like to call thee so again/ to spit upon thee

  again...
• Shylock feels he is entitled to seek revenge in response to their

  dehumanization. He views this revenge as a natural human response to

  mistreatment. Because of his desire for revenge, Shylock will not consider

  altering the conditions of Antonio's bond in any way. By my soul I swear/

  There is no power in the tongue of man/ to alter me. Shylock's desire for

  revenge makes him behave in an emotional rather than a logical way, and

  he ends up losing

  everything as a result. Half his goods... to the gentleman who recently

  stole his daughter.
• Friendship drives most of the action in The Merchant of Venice.

  Bassanio needs money and turns to Antonio, who has already offered

  him substantial financial support in the past. Bassanio knows that

  Antonio has romantic feelings towards him, even though Bassanio has

  only a platonic (nothing attached) friendship for Antonio. This makes

  Bassanio doubly in debt to "Antonio To you Antonio I owe the most in

  money and in love Antonio immediately and unquestioningly agrees

  to do whatever he can to help his friend, including

  offering a pound of

  his own flesh to Shylock if he defaults on the loan.
• Antonio never rebukes Bassanio for leading him into the situation that

  later threatens his life. Instead, Antonio repeatedly says that he is

  happy to die for the sake of his friend. Give me your hand Bassanio;

  fare you well.

  • In return, Bassanio tells him that he would happily give up everything

  he has, including his marriage if he thought he save Antonio from

  shylock.• Thus, the play depicts friendship as one of the most intense and

  important emotional bonds humans can experience.
• The importance of friendship is also displayed between Bassanio and

  Gratiano and between Portia and Nerissa. Gratiano and Nerissa show

  great loyalty to and trust in their friends, and they even fall in love with

  each other after being brought together by their friends. The final

  double marriage means that the four friends will never have to be

  separated from one another, which further supports the importance

  placed on friendship.
• The Merchant of Venice highlights the complexities of wealth and treats

  this theme with ambivalence. (Two sides) Several wealthy characters are

  depicted as unhappy despite their vast fortunes. At the beginning of the

  play, Antonio is a prosperous merchant on the verge of

  more financial success, but he still suffers from a sense of melancholy. As

  he explains he cannot figure out why he is so miserable. I know not why I

  feel so sad (1.1) Likewise, Portia is a wealthy heiress but is displeased with

  the way her future husband has been chosen for her

  by her deceased father.
• The uneven distribution of wealth causes problems for several characters.

  Bassanio seems to be a noble person, but he suffers from a lack of

  money, forcing him to selfishly borrow from Antonio, while the vengeful

  Shy lock makes substantial profits by exploiting others.

  Moreover, wealth is presented as fickle (changeable) and liable to

  disappear at any moment. For example, Antonio is confident that he will

  have more than enough money to repay his loan, but he ends up losing

  his fortune. As Tubal informs Shylock: Antonio had a ship of rich lading

  wrecked on the narrow seas (3.1)