• Written by William Shakespeare around 1597, The Merchant of Venice is a "comedy" about a bitter and detested Jewish moneylender (Shylock) who seeks revenge against a Christian merchant who has defaulted on a loan.

• Merchant's controversial and painful subject matter has earned it a reputation as a "problem play" that continues to ask a series of difficult questions 400 years after it was first staged.

• For Shakespeare, writing to an English audience about a Jewish moneylender might have seemed unusual.

• Officially, there were no Jews in 16th century England because they had been banished in 1290 under the Edict of Expulsion.

• Some studies suggest there were fewer than 200 Jews in Elizabethan England (only about 100 have been identified by historians).

• Most of these Jews were outwardly practicing Christians and many of them were probably Marranos (Jews who practiced their religion in secret).

• Antonio – a Christian merchant of Venice

• Bassanio – Antonio's friend, in love with Portia

• Gratiano, Solanio, Salarino, Salerio – friends of Antonio and Bassanio

• Lorenzo – friend of Antonio and Bassanio, in love with Jessica

• Portia – a rich heiress

• Nerissa – Portia's waiting maid- in love with Gratiano

• Shylock – a rich Jew, moneylender, father of Jessica

• Tubal – a Jew; Shylock's friend

• Jessica – daughter of Shylock, in love with Lorenzo

• The story takes place entirely in Venice, Italy.

• Although there’s no evidence that Shakespeare ever travelled abroad, he often set his plays in foreign lands, and Italy was his most-used destination.

• The Italian cities of Rome, Venice, Padua, Verona, Mantua, and Milan, all make appearances in Shakespeare plays such as: The Tempest, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Much Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar, and Romeo & Juliet.

• Bassanio, a young Venetian of noble rank, wishes to woo the beautiful and wealthy heiress Portia of Belmont.

• Having squandered his estate, Bassanioapproaches his friend Antonio, a wealthy merchant of Venice and a kind and generous person, who has previously and repeatedly bailed him out, for three thousand ducats needed to subsidize his expenditures as a suitor.

• Antonio agrees, but since he is cash-poor - his ships and merchandise are busy at sea - he promises to cover a bond if Bassanio can find a lender, so Bassanio turns to the Jewish moneylender Shylock and names Antonio as the loan's guarantor.

Bassanio Portia

Antonio

Shylock

• Shylock, who hates Antonio because of his Anti-Judaism and Antonio's customary refusal to borrow or lend money with interest, is at first reluctant, citing abuse he has suffered at Antonio's hand, but finally agrees to lend Antonio the sum without interest upon the condition that if Antonio is unable to repay it at the specified date, he may take a pound of Antonio's flesh.

• Bassanio does not want Antonio to accept such a risky condition; Antonio is surprised by what he sees as the moneylender's generosity (no "usance" – interest – is asked for), and he signs the contract.

Bassanio

AntonioShylock

• Meanwhile in Belmont, Portia is awash with suitors. Her father left a will stipulating each of her suitors must choose correctly from one of three caskets – one each of gold, silver and lead. If he picks the right casket, he gets Portia.

• The first suitor, the Prince of Morocco, chooses the gold casket, interpreting its slogan "Who choosethme shall gain what many men desire" as referring to Portia.

• The second suitor, the conceited Prince of Arragon, chooses the silver casket, which proclaims "Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves", imagining himself to be full of merit.

• Both suitors leave empty-handed.

Portia

Morocco Arragon

• At Venice, Antonio's ships are reported lost at sea.

• This leaves him unable to satisfy the bond. Shylock is even more determined to exact revenge from Christians after his daughter Jessica had fled home and eloped with the Christian Lorenzo, taking a substantial amount of Shylock's wealth with her, as well as a prized turquoise ring which was a gift to Shylock from his late wife, Leah.

• Shylock has Antonio brought before court demanding that he be paid, not with money, but with the pound of flesh Antonio agreed upon, to be cut from his living body.

Antonio Shylock

• Between these two wildly disparate plotlines, mixing both high comedy and disturbing tragedy, audiences can easily become uncomfortable, or confused by what they’re supposed to be feeling while watching the play.

• However, in the hands of a masterful director and actors, the two halves of the story compliment each other, each one relieving the tensions created by it’s opposite storyline.

• And the character of Shylock, who for years was seen as an Anti-Semitic caricature, is now seen as one of the most complex, and sympathetic villains in Shakespeare’s oeuvre.

You have too much respect upon the world:

They lose it that do buy it with much care.

The Merchant of Venice. Act i. Sc. 1.

I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano,—

A stage, where every man must play a part;

And mine a sad one.

The Merchant of Venice. Act i. Sc. 1.

I do know of these

That therefore only are reputed wise

For saying nothing.

The Merchant of Venice. Act i. Sc. 1.

God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man.

The Merchant of Venice. Act i. Sc. 2.

I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you.

The Merchant of Venice. Act i. Sc. 3.

I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.

He hates our sacred nation, and he rails,

Even there where merchants most do congregate.

The Merchant of Venice. Act i. Sc. 3.

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.

The Merchant of Venice. Act i. Sc. 3.

A goodly apple rotten at the heart:

O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!

The Merchant of Venice. Act i. Sc. 3.

All that glisters is not gold.

The Merchant of Venice. Act ii. Sc. 7.

Must I hold a candle to my shames?

The Merchant of Venice. Act ii. Sc. 6.

But love is blind, and lovers cannot see

The pretty follies that themselves commit.

The Merchant of Venice. Act ii. Sc. 6.

If it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge.

The Merchant of Venice. Act iii. Sc. 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, 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.

The Merchant of Venice. Act iii. Sc. 1.

The villany you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard, but I will better the instruction.

The Merchant of Venice. Act iii. Sc. 1

There is no vice so simple but assumes

Some mark of virtue in his outward parts.

The Merchant of Venice. Act iii. Sc. 2.

The quality of mercy is not strain’d,

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

’T is mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown;

…It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,

It is an attribute to God himself;

…Therefore, Jew,

Though justice be thy plea, consider this,

That in the course of justice none of us

Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render

The deeds of mercy.

The Merchant of Venice. Act iv. Sc. 1.

• The Merchant of Venice contains one of Shakespeare’s most powerful speeches, called “The Quality Of Mercy” – it’s given by Portia, who, disguised as a young, male lawyer, is arguing the case against Shylock.

• It is saying that Mercy, like the rain, falls on everyone. No matter what the person is or has done, they are still given mercy. Kings fear it because it doesn't make them better than everyone else and both God and Humans can offer mercy.

• Here’s an example of a young girl reciting the speech from memory, as you might hear it in the play:

• The Merchant Of Venice has been a popular subject for adaptions on film and television, with twenty films being made, the first in 1908! Other notable films include:

• A 1973 version with Lawrence Olivier

• A 1980 version for the BBC’s Complete Works of William Shakespeare series.

• A 2001 television adaption directed by Trevor Nunn.

• Despite it’s many good qualities, it’s still considered a difficult play to stage, and it often engenders controversy over its sensitive racial subject matter.

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