The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies,

1) the main plot, concerning a financial loan between the Venetian Antonio and the Jewish
moneylender Shylock;
2) the subplot, related to Portia, the wealthy heiress of Belmont, who will marry whichever suitor
picks the right casket when faced with a choice of three (made of gold, silver, and lead).
The “merchant” of the title is Antonio who borrows three thousand ducats for three months
from Shylock in order to help his friend Bassanio. Bassanio needs money to finance his trip to
Belmont to try his hand at Portia’s three caskets trial. Antonio is a wealthy man, but he has
invested all his money in three ships for foreign trade, so he can only repay the money to
Shylock when his ships return from their voyage; if he fails to pay up then, he will be obliged to
repay Shylock with a pound of his flesh. When Antonioʼs ships are declared lost at sea, he
cannot repay the debt to Shylock, who promptly demands his pound of flesh.
 The Merchant of Venice:
plot
In the meanwhile, Portia and Bassanio are engaged because Bassanio guesses that the lead
casket (scrigno di piombo) is the right one (whereas the princes of Morocco and Aragon both
choose the wrong caskets).
These two storylines running through the play, become united towards the end of the play,
when Portia disguises herself as a male lawyer in order to defend Antonio against
Shylockʼs knife. She is aided by her maid, Nerissa, who is engaged to Bassanioʼs friend,
Gratiano; Nerissa is also disguised as a man (Portiaʼs clerk). After trying, unsuccessfully, to
appeal to Shylockʼs ʻquality of mercyʼ, Portia changes tack, and saves Antonio on a legal
technicality: whilst his agreement with Shylock allows the Jewish moneylender a pound of
Antonioʼs flesh, it does not entitle him to a drop of the merchantʼs blood – and if he tries to
remove a pound of his flesh and makes him bleed, he will be liable. Shylock is defeated, and
Antonio saved.
 The Merchant of Venice:
plot
Moreover, Portia (disguised as a lawyer) points out that Shylock is a non-citizen of Venice who
has threatened the life of the citizen Antonio and is therefore subject to the death penalty.
However, the Duke of Venice spares his life but says that half of his property will go to the
State and half to Antonio. Antonio asks the duke of Venice to allow Shylock half of his wealth if
he converts to Christianity and to give the other half to Jessica and Lorenzo.
At the end, thereʼs one more romantic plot twist. Portia and Nerissa, before the trial, had
made gifts of rings to their betrotheds, Antonio and Gratiano. After the trial is over, to
express their gratitude to the lawyer and clerk for saving Antonioʼs skin, they both give their
rings to the lawyer (Portia) and ʻhisʼ clerk (Nerissa) as tokens of thanks.
To test (and have a bit of fun with) the two men, Portia and Nerissa, back in Belmont and out
of their male disguises, ask the returning Antonio and Gratiano where are the rings which
they gave them. The two men say they have lost them, and the two women produce new
ones – which are really, of course, the originals. As a final piece of good luck, Antonio learns
that not all of his ships were lost at sea, and the two couples celebrate their upcoming
wedding.
 Setting
The action takes place in two main locations: the city of Venice and Portia’s home at
Belmont. Each setting represents different aspects of the play.
In the 16th century, Venice was an autonomous trading town, seen by the English as a
symbol of wealth, but it was also associated with greed. Jews were forced to wear a red hat
to identify themselves and lived in the ghetto. The two views of Venice are expressed
through Shylock, the Jew who symbolises the greedy side and Antonio, the rich but
generous Christian merchant, who stands for the wealth of Venice. The town had strict laws
and was a world largely dominated by men.
Belmont is Portia’s estate, it is a world of ideal love where women seem to have more
power than in Venice. The house is the setting for the less serious scenes of the play and it
is is where the lovers come together. While Venice thrives on business matters, Belmont is
alive with music. The play’s happy conclusion is played out at Belmont, away from the
heavier atmosphere in Venice. Belmont is an idyllic place where love reigns, where a man
and a woman, a Christian and a Jew are brought together, and the Jew’s respect and
worldly possessions are restored to him
 Themes
• The struggle between the materialistic world and the world of mercy.
The materialistic world: Venice is far from being the welcoming, friendly and
open-minded city-state we have spoken about in Othello.
Venice, which has long been associated to money, trade and commerce, here
is only seen as the symbol of a materialistic world, in which people are only
judged in terms of their financial worth.
Shylock is the embodiment of this cold materialism because he sees Antonio
only as a debtor and not as a person (for this reason he claims his pound of
flesh until the end, deaf to Portia’s appeals!);
In opposition to this cold world there’s the world of love and mercy
represented by Portia. As a matter of fact, she does not only defeat Shylock
thanks to a legal technicality (Shylock has no right to take Antonio’s blood),
but she also chooses as her husband the only one who will pick the casket of
lesser value (the right casket was the lead one, and not the gold nor the
silver one!).
 Elements of comedy
• The happy ending with the final double marriage (Portia and Bassanio and
Nerissa and Gratiano) and the group celebration outside Belmont is the
typical ending of comedies;
• Portia and Nerissa have fun of their respective lovers (they make their
future-husbands believe that they have lost their engagement rings) -> this
is a typical element of the comedy of errors;
• The presence of the “aide”/helper (= aiutante): Nerissa is Portia’s aide as
well as Gratiano is Bassanio’s aide because they help their friends to fulfil
their wishes.
• The male disguise of Portia and Nerissa is another typical element also
present in many other Shakespearian comedies as Twelfth Night (Viola), As
you like it (Rosalind) and many others.
 A problem play: is The Merchant of Venice
an antisemitic work?
The figure of Shylock has been discussed for a long time. Critics today still
continue to argue over the play's stance on the Jews and Judaism.
• On the one hand, Shylock is undoubtedly the villain who deserves to be
mocked and to be marginalized due to his lack mercy for Antonio. And his
greed seems to be stronger than his love for his daughter (he doesn’t allow
her to marry Lorenzo)
• On the other hand, he is a complex character and Shakespeare emphasized
his humanity by showing that his hatred of the Christian arose from the
mistreatment and abuse he suffered in a Christian society which considers
him an outsider, not a citizen. Readers and audiences feel pity and
compassion rather than contempt, especially if we consider him as a father
(who is betrayed by his daughter) and as a widower. Moreover, the final
enforced conversion finalizes his exclusion.
 Shylock Vs Antonio/
Jews Vs Christian society
Shylock and the Jews Antonio and Christian society
Greedy. Shylock is more interested in money than Antonio lends money free of interest and risks his
concerned about his daughter’s happiness. reputation and wealth for those he loves. Apparently,
But also isolated, kept in ghettos, humiliated, forced to Christians take into a greater account love, mercy and
wear a red hat and to convert to Christianity; jews give more value to human relationships and love.
couldn’t own properties and they symbolically demand But they are also:
to be considered as humans through Shylock’s famous Interested in money (Bassanio wants to marry Portia
monologue. first of all because he is in debt);
In the end, his insistence that he should have a pound of hypocrites because they speak about love, charity and
flesh rather than any amount of money show that his mercy, when they show no mercy for the jews (Antonio
resentment is much stronger than his greed. despises Shylock; the Christian society persecutes and
isolates the Jews).
 Shylocks monologue (act III, scene 1)
«He hath disgraced (mi ha maltrattato) me and hindered (defraudato di mezzo
milione) me half a million, laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned
my nation, thwarted my bargains (ostacolato i miei affari), cooled my friends
(allontanato i miei amici), heated mine enemies (saziato i miei nemici)—and
what’s his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands,
organs, dimensions (consistenza), 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? If you tickle us, do we not laugh?
If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If
we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a
Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what
should his sufferance (sopportazione) 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 (insegnamento)».