Contents:

Commentary

The action of the play takes place in Venice and in Belmont. Belmont is imaginary, but Venice is real. The city is located on the sea coast in the north of Italy, and is in fact built over a lagoon. Its main streets are canals, and the only vehicles are boats. In the sixteenth century, Venice was the centre for international trade, importing goods from all corners of the earth, and exporting them in the same way. We are told that Antonio, the greatest of the merchants, is waiting for his ships to return from Tripolis, from Mexico, and England, from Lisbon, Barbary, and India.(3, 2, 266–7)

To be successful, a merchant had to invest his money wisely — and have luck on his side. Trading by sea was hazardous, and a sudden storm, or unseen rocks, could easily wreck a ship and drown the merchant’s hopes along with the cargo.

Act 1

Scene 1

When his friends see that Antonio is depressed, they immediately think that he is worried about his ships at sea. They are sympathetic, and Solanio does his best to make light of the situation by exaggerating his fears to make his friend smile. But Antonio is sad for some other reason, and when we meet his dearest friend, Bassanio, we begin to guess at this reason. Bassanio is a carefree young man, who cheerfully admits that he has spent all of his own money and a good deal of Antonio’s. However, Bassanio now has a scheme for acquiring more wealth. Before he gives any details, he explains his theory: a lost arrow (he says) can often be found by shooting another arrow in the same direction, and watching carefully to see where it falls. The theory is, as Bassanio acknowledges, a "childhood proof"; he believed it when he was a schoolboy, and now he wants to put it to the test again, spending more money in the hope of winning back what he has lost. This is not a very sensible, or responsible, way to act, but Bassanio emphasises his youth and innocence. Perhaps he hopes that Antonio will treat him as though he were a child, and ignore the irresponsibility of his demand for more money to spend.

Bassanio next tells Antonio of an heiress, who has already given him some unspoken encouragement. Her name is Portia, and Bassanio claims to have fallen in love with her. He may be speaking the truth, but it is clear that the lady’s wealth is a very attractive feature for him. Antonio promises aid, but all the money he possesses is tied up in his own business ventures. Still, his "credit" is good, and Bassanio can borrow all the ducats he needs to present himself to Portia as an eligible suitor, giving Antonio’s name as security — that is, promising that Antonio will repay the debt if he himself is unable to do so.

Our feelings towards Bassanio at the end of this scene cannot be wholly favourable, despite his youthful optimism. He has wasted a lot of money, both his own and his friend’s. It seems that he wants to marry Portia not just because of love but also because of her money. But he himself, perhaps unconsciously, shows what we should feel about him when he explains that his youth has been "something too prodigal". Repeated phrases throughout the play compare Bassanio with the Prodigal Son of Christ’s parable (St. Luke 15: 11–32), who spent all his inheritance in "riotous living". When he was penniless and starving, he went repentantly back to his father’s house, where he was welcomed with rejoicing. Bassanio has been "prodigal"; now he asks for a chance to redeem himself.

Like the Prodigal Son’s father, Antonio has shown the loving and forgiving generosity of his nature, but he remains a mysterious character. Early in the scene he tells Graziano that he thinks of the world as "A stage where every man must play a part, And mine a sad one". It is his changing relationship with Bassanio that causes his melancholy. Some Elizabethans thought — as the Greeks and Romans did — that the friendship between two men was a more spiritual bond, and should be more highly esteemed, than the love between a man and a woman. Knowing that Bassanio is interested in a lady (see lines 119–21), Antonio may be secretly grieving for the inevitable end to a friendship.

Scene 2

From the hearty, but anxious, masculine world of Venice, we move to the feminine peace of Belmont. Even here there is anxiety, as Portia’s opening sigh indicates. It is now Nerissa who tries to cheer Portia, but she cannot take her mistress’s mind off the situation where she is surrounded by suitors and yet "cannot choose one, nor refuse none". Shakespeare has to communicate to his audience a lot of information about the trial that Portia’s father devised for the men who wish to marry her. The information is given gradually, in five separate scenes, so that we seem to discover the facts just as the suitors do. For the moment, we are merely told that each candidate must make a choice between three caskets.

Nerissa explains why Portia must obey this somewhat absurd commandment when she says that "holy men at their death have good inspirations". It was proverbially believed that a good man would be divinely inspired, and might even speak prophetically, when he was close to death. To disobey or disregard such an utterance was almost sacrilege.

The two young women amuse themselves by gossiping about the suitors who have already assembled at Belmont. Although Portia and Nerissa are Italian, they share a sense of humour which is undoubtedly English. As they laugh about each man’s peculiarities, we can learn something of what the Elizabethan Englishmen thought of their continental neighbours — and also of how they could laugh at themselves. The "young baron of England" is a caricature of the Englishman abroad, in the twentieth century as well as in the sixteenth: the English have never been good at speaking foreign languages ! Nor is there a "national dress" for England, such as many other countries possess; the Englishman was always content (it seems) to imitate the costumes of other countries. The joke about the Scottish lord would have a topical significance for Shakespeare’s audience. At this time England and Scotland were separate kingdoms, and in their frequent quarrels the French always promised to aid the Scots (but rarely kept their promises).

We are never allowed to see this "parcel of wooers", for Nerissa tells Portia that they have all decided to return home, not trying their luck with the caskets. There is no doubt that Portia is glad they are leaving. Nerissa reminds her of a young Venetian whom Portia met whilst her father was alive, and the promptness with which Portia recalls Bassanio’s name is enough to tell us that she remembers him with pleasure. Bassanio is described by Nerissa as "a scholar and a soldier". These qualities made up the ideal courtier in Elizabethan eyes, and the description may help to prepare us for a Bassanio who is rather different from the one we left in Venice.

Portia’s enthusiasm dies away, and her weary resignation returns, when she is told that a new suitor is approaching Belmont. It is the Prince of Morocco, and the title arouses her prejudice as she goes inside to prepare for his coming.

Scene 3

Meanwhile, in Venice, Bassanio has found a usurer who can lend the money he needs. Shylock is very cautious, repeating each of Bassanio’s demands to make sure that they are perfectly understood. His deliberation makes Bassanio nervous, and he shows irritation when Shylock says that "Antonio is a good man". The word "good" has different implications: Bassanio thinks that it refers to Antonio’s character, and he is angry that such a man as Shylock should presume to judge his friend. Shylock, having succeeded in annoying Bassanio, hastens to explain that by "good" he meant only "sufficient" — financially sound. The two disagree again over the interpretation of "assur’d", by which Bassanio means that Shylock may trust Antonio; Shylock says that he will indeed be "assur’d", meaning that he will take all precautions to protect himself and his money.

Bassanio’s polite invitation to dinner is refused by Shylock in words that introduce the theme of racial hatred: he thinks he would be asked "to smell pork", a meat forbidden to Jews by their religion. Shylock perhaps speaks these words "aside", not talking directly to Bassanio but uttering his thoughts aloud for the audience alone to hear them, just as only the audience hears the soliloquy in which Shylock reveals his attitude to Antonio. Religious feeling has some part in this attitude, but a minor one compared with the enmity he bears towards a business rival.

We learn that Antonio disapproves morally of lending money for interest (and it is a mark of his affection for Bassanio that he is prepared now to break his own rules). Shylock justifies his activities by telling the story of Jacob from the Old Testament (Genesis 30: 31–43). Jacob was angry with Laban, his uncle, and tried to outwit him, using his skill as a shepherd. He believed that the ewes, seeing the striped twigs in front of them when they conceived, would give birth to striped or spotted lambs, which Laban had agreed should become Jacob’s wages. This indeed happened, but whereas Shylock applauds Jacob’s cunning, Antonio (and most devout Jews) ascribes the success to the hand of God.

The merchant and the usurer engage in passionate argument. Shylock reveals the cruel insults he has had to suffer from Antonio in the past, but Antonio stands firm in his contempt for the Jew.

He refuses to borrow the money as a friend, but urges Shylock, with words that he will regret,

to lend it rather to thine enemy;

Who if he break, thou may’st with better face

Exact the penalty.

Shylock proposes "a merry sport" which Antonio, surprisingly, is willing to accept. He agrees to the forfeit that Shylock suggests — "an equal pound of your fair flesh" — to be given if the money cannot be properly repaid.

The words "kind" and "kindness" are repeated several times at the end of this scene. They have a surface meaning — "generous" and "generosity" — which Antonio accepts, and an ironic double meaning. If Shylock "grows kind" in this second sense, he will become even more like himself, true to his nature. And we have already, in his soliloquy, seen what this is.

Act 2

Scene 1

Prejudice is the subject of the short episode in Belmont, where we see Portia’s reception of the Prince of Morocco. The prince’s appearance shows that he is an exotic figure: a note, probably written by Shakespeare himself, describes him as "a tawny [brown] Moor, all in white". His first speech reinforces our sense that he is excitingly different from the Europeans that we have seen so far, but it does not change Portia’s mind. She is polite, but we understand, better than Morocco can, what she means when she tells him that, in her eyes, he is "as fair As any comer I have look’d on yet". We have heard what Portia thought of her other suitors. The Prince’s reply to this ambiguous remark does not encourage our good opinion of him. He boasts of his own valour and achievements in very exaggerated language, and so loses some of our sympathy.

We are given a new piece of information concerning the casket test. The men who choose wrongly must never again think of marrying. It is now clear why the earlier suitors left Belmont without trying their luck; Morocco, however, is not deterred, and prepares to make his choice.

Whilst Morocco is taking his oath in the "temple" — many great houses at this time had their own private chapels — Shakespeare returns us to Venice. The next five scenes will send Bassanio from Venice to Belmont, and introduce a sub-plot, connected to the main plot through Jessica, Shylock’s daughter. First, Shakespeare creates a role for the leading comedian of his acting company: he is to be Lancelot Gobbo, Shylock’s servant.

Scene 2

Comedy scenes such as this are the most difficult and unrewarding to read; they need to be performed, so that the actor can introduce the visual effects that the lines demand. When Lancelot pretends to be torn between his conscience and the devil, he might (for instance) jump to the left when the devil is speaking — because devils traditionally appeared on the left — and to the right when "conscience" replies. There could be humour in the difference between Lancelot’s appearance (as the miserly Shylock’s servant he would not be well dressed) and his grand manner of speech to the old man; this would emphasise the comedy of the "mistaken identity" situation. When Old Gobbo feels his son’s head and comments on his "beard", it is obvious from Lancelot’s reply that he has got hold of the hair tied at the back of his neck; and if Lancelot passes his father’s hand across his fingers, implying that they are his ribs ("You may tell every finger I have with my ribs"), the comedy will increase with the old man’s bewilderment.

The English language is a very complicated one, and Englishmen themselves are not always very good at speaking it! There are many words that sound grand — but sometimes the people who use them do not understand their meanings, or else confuse one word with another that sounds similar. This is especially likely to happen when the speakers are trying to create a good impression of themselves. Lancelot and his father are doing this when they address Bassanio. They are conscious that Bassanio is a gentleman, whilst they are only peasants, and they try to use what they think is the proper language of gentlemen. Even in the twentieth century, when class distinctions are much less clearly marked than they were in the sixteenth, the writers of television comedy still find subjects for laughter in our linguistic snobbishness. Lorenzo’s comment is valid today: "How every fool can play upon the word" (3, 5, 41).

Bassanio is in a good temper, and responds well to Lancelot’s fooling; he agrees to employ him and give him "a livery More guarded than his fellows". A "guarded" uniform — one decorated with yellow braid — was often worn by the professional fool in a gentleman’s household; perhaps this is the function that Bassanio intends for Lancelot when he becomes "The follower of so poor a gentleman".

Even though he admits he is poor, Bassanio is already behaving with his former extravagance, now that he has got Shylock’s money. He is planning to give a party before he leaves Venice. However, he shows a more sedate side of his character when Graziano asks to accompany him to Belmont. Graziano turns Bassanio’s solemn warning into comedy. He promises to behave in a way that is very sober, but at the same time quite ridiculous, and he probably accompanies his speech with exaggerated gestures.

Scene 3

Quickly, Shakespeare presents his new plot when Jessica gives to Lancelot the letter she has written to Lorenzo. The short scene takes the plot one small step further, and it also serves to increase our dislike for Shylock. We learn that his "house is hell", and that Jessica is "asham’d to be [her] father’s child", although she recognises that it is a "heinous sin" for a daughter to have such feelings.

Scene 4

The letter is delivered to Lorenzo when he and his friends are discussing their costumes for Bassanio’s party. It was quite usual, in Shakespeare’s time, for a small band of the guests at a grand feast to disguise themselves in elaborate costumes and entertain the other guests with a masque — a performance with singing and dancing. Page-boys carried torches for the masquers, and Lorenzo suddenly realises how he can steal Jessica away from her father’s house: she can be disguised as his page.

Scene 5

There can scarcely be a greater contrast than that between the lively young men planning their evening’s entertainment, and the surly Shylock. He takes no pleasure in the feast, but has decided to "go in hate, to feed upon The prodigal Christian" (yet another comparison of Bassanio with the Prodigal Son). Shylock is determined to do all he can to ruin Bassanio, and he even considers that Lancelot’s change of employer might "help to waste His borrow’d purse".

Scene 6

Graziano’s reference to the "penthouse" under which they are standing is one of many remarks in Elizabethan drama that help us to reconstruct, in imagination, the kind of stage that Shakespeare was writing for. It seems that there was always a balcony, which allowed "split-level" acting. In this scene the young men assemble on the main stage, underneath the "penthouse" formed by the balcony on which Jessica appears, dressed as a boy. She is shy, because in Elizabethan times women never wore men’s clothes. Her embarrassment is expressed with great delicacy, and it is easy to forget that Shakespeare and his contemporaries would probably have been a little amused by the situation. In many plays of this period the female characters put on masculine clothing, and a gentle comedy arises out of the fact that female characters were always played by boy actors: the boys dress up as girls, and then the "girls" turn into boys.

Waiting for Jessica has made the masquers late for the feast, and now Antonio comes in search of Graziano. The wind has changed, and it is time to set sail for Belmont.

Scene 7

Whilst all the activity of Jessica’s elopement was taking place in Venice, the Prince of Morocco at Belmont has dined, and sworn an oath never to look for a wife if he fails the casket test. At last we see the caskets that we have heard so much about. Each one bears an inscription, which Morocco reads aloud. The gold and silver caskets make promises, but the leaden one is menacing. Morocco refuses to be threatened, and passes to the silver casket, which assures him that he "shall get as much as he deserves". We heard in Act 2, scene 1 that he has a good opinion of himself, and he is naturally tempted to choose silver. The golden casket, however, offers "what many men desire", and Morocco decides that this refers to Portia, because "all the world desires her". It would be an insult to Portia (he concludes) to associate her with lead, or even with silver; so he opens the golden casket.

The casket contains a skull, the emblem of death — which indeed many unhappy men do desire. Shocked and saddened, the Prince of Morocco departs immediately.

Scene 8

In Venice, Shylock has discovered that his daughter is missing — and she has taken a lot of his money with her. Solanio gives a comical account of the Jew’s confusion, when Shylock apparently did not know which loss to lament more. It is important that we do not see Shylock here, because his distress might create too much sympathy for him. Instead, we join Salerio and Solanio in their laughter.

But not everything in this scene is comic: there is bad news for Antonio. A ship has been wrecked in the English Channel, and it may well be his. The conversation becomes sober, as the two friends think of Antonio’s generosity — "A kinder gentleman treads not the earth" — and remind us of his great affection for Bassanio:

"I think he only loves the world for him".

Scene 9

Yet another suitor, the Prince of Aragon, has arrived at Belmont; he repeats the three promises that he has sworn to keep, and goes to make his choice of the three caskets. Like the Prince of Morocco, he reads the inscriptions, and speaks his thoughts aloud. The Prince of Aragon is excessively conscious of his social position, and insists that he is different from other men: he will not "jump with common spirits", and look in the golden casket for "what many men desire". He is attracted by the promise of the silver casket: "Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves". For a time he meditates on the subject of nobility and merit, deploring the fact that "low peasantry" (men of humble birth) can be found among noblemen — "the true seed of honour". Having convinced himself that he deserves to win Portia, he opens the silver casket. We are not surprised that this is the wrong choice, for Aragon has convinced us that he is far too conceited — although perhaps he deserves something better than "the portrait of a blinking idiot".

As soon as the Prince of Aragon has left, news is brought that another suitor is approaching. He has already made a good impression on Portia’s servants with the "Gifts of rich value" that he has sent to announce his coming; and we recognise the extravagance that is characteristic of Bassanio. Portia and Nerissa are hopeful.

Act 3

Scene 1

The optimism of Belmont gives place to the darkening atmosphere of Venice. There is still no confirmation that the ship wrecked in the English Channel is indeed Antonio’s, but Solanio believes the rumour to be true. Shylock also has heard the report, and his anger over his daughter’s flight is forgotten for a moment as he gives expression to his hatred and resentment of Antonio. He has had to suppress his feelings for years, but now they explode violently. His passion increases, and so too does the sympathy of the audience. He appeals to common humanity: "Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands . . . if you poison us, do we not die?" He becomes almost a hero, and certainly a human being — then suddenly he changes back into a monster: "and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?"

Salerio and Solanio are fortunately saved from having to reply to this tirade; they leave Shylock with another Jew, Tubal, who has news of Jessica.

Shylock experiences another confusion of emotions as Tubal imparts various pieces of information in an incoherent manner. Jessica is spending her father’s money recklessly, and in exchange for a pet monkey she has given away the ring that was a token of betrothal from her mother to her father. Grief and anger conflict with malicious glee when Shylock hears of Antonio’s misfortunes, and it is clear that he will take revenge for the loss of his daughter and his ring when he claims the forfeit from Antonio.

Scene 2

Portia is happy in Bassanio’s company, and she tries to persuade him to stay at Belmont for a few days before making his choice of the caskets. Her happiness is mingled with modesty, for she is too shy to tell Bassanio that she loves him. Bassanio too has fallen in love, but he cannot endure the uncertainty and feels that he must try his luck as soon as possible. So Portia orders Nerissa and the servants to stand aside, away from the caskets. Portia and Bassanio seem to be alone on the stage. Music is playing, whilst Portia watches the man she loves as he tries to make the decision that will bring happiness to both of them.

The song that helps to create a magic atmosphere also introduces Bassanio’s meditation on appearance and reality. He is speaking only to himself; Portia does not hear him, just as he did not hear her speech before the song. The audience, of course, knows which casket Bassanio must choose, because Shakespeare has already shown us the contents of the gold and silver caskets.

Portia is almost overcome with delight when Bassanio selects the "meagre lead"; and when Bassanio finds "Fair Portia’s counterfeit" in the casket he is ecstatically happy. He praises the picture rapturously, and for a time cannot believe his luck.

A rather more materialistic note is heard in the metaphorical language when Portia wishes to "stand high in [Bassanio’s] account", and offers him "the full sum" of herself; it is repeated when Graziano refers to the " bargain" of their faith. But to balance this there is the ritual moment when Portia gives away all that she owns (including "this same myself") and as a token places a ring on Bassanio’s finger. Bassanio accepts the token, and binds himself to Portia:

when this ring

Parts from this finger, then parts life from hence.

Graziano and Nerissa announce their intention of imitating Bassanio and Portia; and the happiness of the moment is complete.

It is now time to change the direction of the scene, and Shakespeare switches the mood with a bawdy joke (in prose).

The arrival of Salerio, Lorenzo, and Jessica is a welcome surprise, but the letter that Salerio has brought from Venice "steals the colour from Bassanio’s cheek". Things have gone very badly for Antonio: he is ruined. Salerio can tell of Shylock’s eagerness to claim his bond from Antonio, and Jessica is able to bear witness of her father’s fiendish malice: "he would rather have Antonio’s flesh Than twenty times the value of the sum That he did owe him". Portia is more than able to pay back the three thousand ducats, but we can take no comfort from her offer. The situation seems hopeless, and when Antonio’s pathetic letter is read aloud it destroys the last remaining scrap of the happiness established in the scene.

Scene 3

A short scene shows us what the letter described. Antonio, in the custody of a gaoler, meets Shylock. The Jew will hear no please for mercy, and Antonio knows that it is useless to speak to him. Solanio hopes that the Duke will be able to intervene in the dispute, but Antonio knows the importance of strict justice in the mercantile world of which Venice is the head. This is a subject that will be mentioned at Antonio’s trial.

Scene 4

Lorenzo has been telling Portia about Antonio, and Portia has decided that she and Nerissa will go away for a few days, leaving Belmont in the care of Lorenzo. She sends a servant to her cousin in Padua, asking for some "notes and garments". We understand the request for clothes when Portia explains to Nerissa that they are going to dress up as men, and that she herself will imitate all the mannerisms of a brash young man — including the voice that is "between the change of man and boy".

Scene 5

The next scene, still at Belmont, does nothing to develop any plot. But it encourages the audience to imagine that enough time has passed to allow Portia and Nerissa to travel from Belmont to Venice; on a practical level, it gives the actors time to change from their female dresses to the male costumes required in the following scene. In addition, it provides an opportunity for the comedian, in the part of Lancelot, to deliver some more of his word-play jokes. Lancelot, of course, accompanied his new master when Bassanio came to Belmont.

Act 4

Scene 1

The trial scene in The Merchant of Venice is the most famous scene in English drama. It has given a phrase to the English language: people who have never read the play — and perhaps never even heard of it — understand what it means to want one’s "pound of flesh".

The conversation between the Duke and Antonio, before Shylock comes on to the stage, shows the hopeless resignation with which Antonio faces Shylock’s wrath. The Duke makes a further plea for mercy, but Shylock is unmoved. He will admit that his hatred for Antonio is irrational and emotional: just as some people hate cats, or the sound of bagpipes, so (he says)

can I give no reason, nor I will not,

More than a lodg’d hate and a certain loathing

I bear Antonio.

Antonio is not intimidated, and shows his contempt for Shylock’s "Jewish heart". Bassanio offers to repay twice the money that he borrowed, but Shylock will not yield, and reminds the court that the pound of flesh is his by law. If the Duke refuses to grant this, it will appear that "There is no force in the decrees of Venice". We remember Antonio’s words (3, 3, 27–31), and realize that, if the law is not observed, Venice will suffer in its reputation as the centre of international trade.

The Duke has made a final attempt to save Antonio legally. He has asked for the opinion of a famous lawyer, Bellario, and the court waits to hear this man’s judgement. Bassanio is optimistic, but the tension of the situation has made Antonio even more resigned to his fate; he almost feels that he deserves to die.

The lawyer’s clerk has brought a letter from Bellario, and whilst the Duke reads the letter, Shylock sharpens his knife. Graziano cannot bear to see this sight, and he begins to abuse Shylock. The Jew appears to be unaffected by his insults, for he knows the strength of his position: "I stand here for law".

Bellario is sick, and cannot come to Venice; instead he has sent a legal colleague, "a young doctor of Rome", who is fully acquainted with the case. The audience recognises this "doctor": it is Portia, and the "clerk" was Nerissa. The other characters of the play, however, cannot penetrate the disguise.

Portia upholds Venetian law, but she urges Shylock to show mercy. She describes the "quality of mercy" as a divine blessing, which benefits both the man who shows mercy and the man who receives it. The petition in the Lord’s Prayer, "forgive us our trespasses", comes to mind when Portia explains how mercy belongs to God; if this were not so, the whole human race would be damned for its sins. But this is Christian doctrine, and Shylock’s religion is of the Old Testament, which emphasises the importance of the law, just as Shylock does now: "I crave the law".

Once again Bassanio offers the money; again Shylock refuses it; and once more we are reminded that a general principle lies beneath this particular instance:

’Twill be recorded for a precedent,

And many an error by the same example

Will rush into the state.

The statement is harsh, but it is correct. Portia has earned Shylock’s praise "A Daniel come to judgement". Daniel was "a young youth", according to "The Story of Susanna" in the Apocrypha. He was inspired by God to give judgement when the chaste Susanna was accused of adultery by two lascivious "elders" who had tried to rape her.

Portia continues to win Shylock’s approval as she instructs the court about the penalty that Antonio must pay. The knife is sharpened, and the scales are ready; Antonio prepares for death. He speaks a few words of comfort to Bassanio, ending with a wry jest about the debt:

For if the Jew do cut but deep enough,

I’ll pay it instantly with all my heart.

The tension is broken, but only for a moment, when Bassanio and Graziano refer to their wives. The "lawyer" and his "clerk" are amused.

Just when Shylock is ready to cut into Antonio’s flesh, Portia stops the proceedings. She reveals to Shylock the single flaw in his carefully worded bond: he is entitled to his pound of flesh, but has made no provision for a single drop of blood.

Graziano exults over Shylock, repeating ironically all the words of praise that the Jew bestowed on the "learned judge", and agreeing that he is indeed "A second Daniel". Like Portia, Daniel was not expected in the court, and the verdict he gave saved Susanna and condemned her accusers. The comparison is more apt now than it was when Shylock introduced it.

Shylock realises that he cannot have his pound of flesh, and he tries to take the money that Bassanio is still offering. Now it is Portia’s turn to be inflexible, and she insists that Shylock can have "merely justice, and his bond". When Shylock proposes to leave the court, Portia calls him back. The law of Venice has a strict penalty that must be paid by any "alien" — foreigner — who tries to murder a Venetian. Shylock has thus offended, and for this crime his possessions are confiscated and his life is in danger. Antonio, of course, shows his generosity. Half of Shylock’s wealth is forfeited to him, but he is willing to renounce his personal share and take the money on loan, keeping it in trust for Lorenzo, "the gentleman That lately stole his daughter". He makes two conditions: firstly, Shylock must become a Christian; and, secondly, he must make a will leaving all that he possesses to Jessica and Lorenzo. Shylock is utterly defeated. He asks for permission to leave the court, and indicates his agreement to Antonio’s conditions: "send the deed after me And I will sign it".

For a long time Bassanio has been silent, perhaps because the events have affected him very deeply and prevented him from sharing in Graziano’s expressions of triumph. Sometimes Graziano’s speeches seem rather cruel, for although Shylock undoubtedly deserves punishment, it is hard that he should lose everything, including his right to believe in the Jewish faith. Graziano, however, shows the character that Bassanio rebuked him for before the two men went to Belmont — "bold of voice" and with a "skipping spirit" (2, 2, 173; 179). Bassanio and Antonio are more dignified in their behaviour.

It is only necessary now to pay the "lawyer", and then Bassanio can take Antonio home to Belmont, to meet his new wife. The "lawyer" refuses payment, then suddenly catches sight of a ring on Bassanio’s finger, and requests this as a keepsake. It is the ring that Portia gave to Bassanio, telling him that if he should ever part with it for any reason, it would "presage the ruin of [his] love". Remembering this, Bassanio refuses; the "lawyer" departs, apparently angry. Antonio begs Bassanio not to withhold the ring, and Bassanio cannot refuse the friend who risked so much for him.

Scene 2

Graziano hurries after Portia to give her Bassanio’s ring. Nerissa, still disguised as the lawyer’s clerk, whispers to Portia that she will use a similar trick to get her own ring from Graziano. The two girls laugh in anticipation of their husbands’ embarrassment when they return to Belmont.

Act 5

Scene 1

Moonlight and music emphasise the tranquillity of Belmont and its contrast with the harsh legal world of Venice. Lorenzo and Jessica are relaxed here, and Jessica’s escape from the "hell" of her father’s house seems to be almost as remote in time as the mythological lovers who are recalled by the moonlight. The mood of the scene is saved from being over-romantic when the couple start to tease each other, and when the messengers break in with their news. Harmony is restored, however, when Lorenzo and Jessica are alone again. Lorenzo starts to explain the theory of the music of the spheres, which Plato (a Greek philosopher) described. The music was made as the spheres touched each other in their constant motion, but could not be heard by human ears, which are deafened by the noises of earthly life.

Portia’s musicians appear, probably on the balcony, to "draw [their mistress] home with music". The beauty of Lorenzo’s speech (when he describes the "patens of bright gold", and the "young-eyed cherubins") blends with the playing of the musicians to re-create, in human terms, the heavenly harmony. Lorenzo and Jessica fall silent; perhaps they are asleep.

Portia and Nerissa come from the opposite side of the stage as they approach Belmont from Venice. Their chatter breaks into the music, and the dream world becomes real. A trumpet announces the arrival of Bassanio, just as day is breaking. The missing rings provide a final gentle comedy, as the two embarrassed husbands try to justify their actions to wives who are trying to hide their amusement.

ENTRY of ‘a book of The Merchant of Venice or otherwise called The Jew of Venice’ in the Stationers’ Register on 22 July 1598 probably represents an attempt by Shakespeare’s company to prevent the unauthorised printing of a popular play: it eventually appeared in print as ‘The Comical History of the Merchant of Venice’ in 1600, when it was said to have ‘been divers times acted by the Lord Chamberlain his servants’; probably Shakespeare wrote it in 1596 or 1597. The alternative title — The Jew of Venice — probably reflects Shylock’s impact on the play’s first audiences.

The play is constructed on the basis of two romantic tales using motifs well known to sixteenth-century readers. The story of Giannetto (Shakespeare’s Bassanio) and the Lady (Portia) of Belmont comes from an Italian collection of fifty stories published under the title of Il Pecorone (‘the big sheep’, or ‘dunce’) and attributed to one Ser Giovanni of Florence. Written in the later part of the fourteenth century, the volume did not appear until 1558. No sixteenth-century translation is known, so (unless there was a lost intermediary) Shakespeare must have read it in Italian. It gave him the main outline of the plot involving Antonio (the merchant), Bassanio (the wooer), Portia, and the Jew (Shylock). The pound of flesh motif was available also in other versions, one of which, in Alexander Silvayn’s The Orator (translated 1596), influenced the climactic scene (4.1) in which Shylock attempts to exact the full penalty of his bond.

In the story from Il Pecorone the lady (a widow) challenges her suitors to seduce her, on pain of the forfeiture of their wealth, and thwarts them by drugging their wine. Shakespeare more romantically shows a maiden required by her father’s will to accept only a wooer who will forswear marriage if he fails to make the right choice among caskets of gold, silver, and lead. The story of the caskets was readily available in versions by John Gower (in his Confessio Amantis) and Giovanni Boccaccio (in his Decameron), and in an anonymous anthology (the Gesta Romanorum). Shakespeare added the character of Jessica, Shylock’s daughter who elopes with the Christian Lorenzo - perhaps influenced by episodes in Christopher Marlowe’s play The Jew of Malta (c.1589) — and made many adjustments to the stories from which he borrowed.

Choose famous people or well known characters to actor in your production of The Merchant of Venice.

ANTONIO, a merchant of Venice

BASSANIO, his friend and Portia’s suitor

LORENZA }

GRAZIANO }

SALERIO } friends of Antonio and Bassanio

SOLANIO }

SHYLOCK, a Jew

JESSICA, his daughter

TUBAL, a Jew

LANCELOT, a clown, first Shylock’s servant and then Bassanio’s

PORTIA, an heiress

NERISSA, her waiting-gentlewoman

BALTHASAR }

STEFANO } Portia’s servants

Prince of MOROCCO }

Prince of ARAGON } Portia’s suitors

DUKE of Venice

Shylock, the money-lender who is hated because he is a Jew, explains how prejudice works. He calls it "affection" (a sense quite common in Shakespeare’s day), and shows the relationship between prejudice and the emotions:

affection,

Master of passion, sways it to the mood

Of what it likes and loathes.

If we are prejudiced, we may dislike someone for no other reason than that he is different from us in nationality, religion, colour, or social class. In England today there are laws that attempt to control the effects of prejudice: it is an offence in law, for instance, for an employer to refuse a job simply because the applicant is coloured, or female, or Jewish. If The Merchant of Venice were a new play, written today, it would probably be censored by the Race Relations Board. The topics it presents — racial hatred, colour prejudice, class distinction, and the position of women in society — are all capable of provoking intense feelings in an audience; but this would not be the reason for the censor’s disapproval. He would be suspicious of Shakespeare’s attitude to these matters, as it is communicated through the characters and the action. Shakespeare seems to accept the prejudices of some of his characters. Only occasionally do they ever question the justice of their positions, and usually a satisfactory answer is to be found in subsequent events of the play.

Portia is one character who, at the beginning of the play, resents the situation in which she is placed. Her father, who is now dead, devised a test for selecting the man that his daughter should marry; in Portia’s words, "the will of a living daughter [is] curbed by the will of a dead father". English girls today would find this intolerable, but Portia only grumbles: she does not rebel. Fortunately for Portia, the right man makes the right choice, and she is given to the man she loves. Portia does not think to question a man’s right to the ownership of all his wife’s possessions; in fact, she seems glad when she tells Bassanio,

But now I was the lord

Of this fair mansion, master of my servants,

Queen o’er myself; and even now, but now,

This house, these servants, and this same myself

Are yours, my lord’s.

Only for the past hundred years has a woman in England been allowed to keep her own property when she marries, and even now there is some discrimination against the sex. Because I am a woman, I cannot borrow from a money-lender unless some man will act as guarantor for me, just as Antonio does for Bassanio.

The different social classes are clearly indicated in The Merchant of Venice, but the linguistic "markers" that Shakespeare uses are not as familiar to a twentieth-century audience as they were to Shakespeare’s contemporaries. The pronouns "you" and "thou" are very significant, and almost imperceptibly define the relationships between the characters. "You" is neutral, formal, and polite, whilst "thou" is affectionate, condescending, or contemptuous. Bassanio always speaks to Antonio as "you", but to Graziano as "thou"; Antonio mostly uses the formal word, but with Bassanio he allows himself the occasional "thou" of affection, and with Shylock the dismissive "thou" of contempt. As long as Old Gobbo believes that he is speaking to a young gentleman, he adopts the "you" which is appropriate when addressing a superior; but when he knows he is speaking to his son, his recognition is expressed through the pronoun: "I’ll be sworn if thou be Lancelot . . ."

It is by such small details that English social status is revealed. To show excessive care for position is ill-mannered, and the Prince of Aragon’s lengthy discourse on rank shows him to be merely vulgar: he is himself the "blinking idiot" that he finds in the casket.

Subtlety has no place, however, when colour is the object of the discrimination, and the Prince of Morocco wastes no words. He speaks proudly of his dark skin, the "shadow’d livery of the burnish’d sun", and in his dignity we can feel Shakespeare’s admiration for the character he has created and the people whom the Prince represents. Yet he is unacceptable as a suitor for Portia; her conversation with him leaves few doubts in our minds, and her relief when he chooses the wrong casket is unmistakable: "Let all of his complexion choose me so".

The Prince of Morocco confronts Portia with a powerful argument against prejudice. Find a fair-skinned northern prince, he urges her, and let the two of them "make incision" in their flesh. From both bodies, the blood that flows will be red. The argument is taken up in a later scene by Shylock, and the opening lines of Shylock’s speech are often quoted to demonstrate Shakespeare’s lack of prejudice and refusal to discriminate against individuals on grounds of race or religion.

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, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?

But this can only serve as evidence when it is taken out of context — removed entirely from the play. The Merchant of Venice confirms Shylock as a villain, as monstrous a creature as any in the drama of Shakespeare’s time. Indeed, English drama since the seventeenth century has failed to produce Shylock’s equal.

The Jew was a figure hated and feared by the Elizabethans, but the reasons for their hatred are not at all simple. Superstition was a main one, arising out of medieval legends such as that of St. Hugh of Lincoln, a little boy who was said to have been crucified by Jews. True religious hostility was rare, but religion gave the English Christians a good excuse for persecuting the foreigners who had come to live amongst them. Dislike of the aliens was intensified by the prosperity of some Jews, whose success in business enterprises sometimes made the native English dependent on the immigrants. Parallel cases of suspicion and jealousy are not hard to find in the modern world.

Shylock’s viciousness transcends his Jewishness, and it would be unfair to cite this character as an example of Shakespeare’s racial prejudice. But we can find this surrounding Shylock’s daughter. We are sympathetic to Jessica, yet we are never allowed to forget that she is a Jew. The reminders are always affectionate, and sometimes funny — as when Lancelot reproaches Lorenzo for converting Jessica, "for in converting Jews to Christians you raise the price of pork". Laughter can take away the cruelty of prejudice, but it helps to reinforce in an audience the awareness of difference.

Antonio the merchant of the play’s title. He is a good and generous man, who promises to pay Shylock the money borrowed by Bassanio or else allow Shylock to cut off a pound of his flesh. His part in the play is rather a passive one, and he reveals his character mainly in his generosity to his friend and in his hatred of the Jew.

Bassanio a younger man, who has already spent all his own money and now hopes to restore his fortunes by marrying an heiress. He needs to borrow money so that he can appear rich when he courts Portia, and it is for his sake that Antonio enters into the bond with Shylock. Bassanio is made to show good judgement when he makes his choice of the leaden casket and so wins Portia for his wife.

Graziano a young man with a reputation for wild behaviour. He accompanies Bassanio to Belmont, and wins the love of Portia’s lady-in-waiting, Nerissa.

Lorenzo He is in love with Jessica, and plans to steal her from her father’s house.

Portia the most important character in the play. She is an heiress, and is in love with Bassanio; but her father has devised a test with three caskets, and Portia must marry the man who chooses the right casket. Portia is intelligent as well as beautiful; dressed as a lawyer she goes to Venice and saves Antonio from being killed by Shylock. Her home is Belmont, and the peace and harmony here contrast with the tense business world of Venice.

Nerissa Portia’s lady-in-waiting, who falls in love with Graziano. When Portia goes to Venice as a lawyer, Nerissa accompanies her, dressed as a lawyer’s clerk.

Shylock a money-lender, who is hated for his greed and because he is a Jew. He is Antonio’s enemy, and when Bassanio’s money is not repaid he demands the pound of flesh that Antonio promised as a forfeit.

Jessica Shylock’s daughter; she disguises herself as a boy in order to run away from her father’s house, where she is unhappy. She is in love with the Christian Lorenzo.