merchant of venice Flashcards
Date of Composition
the second period in Shakespeare’s works. Somewhere between 1596 to 1598 he might have composed the Merchant of Venice. If you read the 12th knight and much ado about nothing are comparatively much better works in terms of quality therefore they might be the later written works.
Sources of the plot of the play
3 major stories running in the play: The bond story, the casket story, the rings story and the love story is the 4th minor story. Shakespeare never claimed that his works were original and he stated that his stories were an adaptation of him reading other people’s works.
The bond story- Il Pecorone is the Italian writer whose work was translated into English also and Shakespeare also had read latin in his schooling.
The casket story- Gesta Romanorum
The ring story: Shakespeare
The Love Story: Thread woven to connect the three.
Tragic Comedy or Romantic Comedy
Some element of tragedy could be found in several of Shakespeare’s plays. In the Merchant of Venice there is a tragic event associated with Shylock and Antonio who is the hero of the story (merchant of venice). Romantic comedy comes up through Portia, Bassanio, Nerissa and Gratiano. ( maybe Lorenzo and Jessica too)
The Themes of the Play:
1. The theme of judgement/justice
2. The theme of mercy
3. The theme of reality vs. Appearance
4. The theory of contrast between two cities in the same country, Belmont and Venice.
5. Theme of wealth and money lending.
6. Moral values and moral ideas such as friendship, sincerity, honesty, religious tolerance etc.
Thus the Merchant of Venice has a wide range/ panorama of themes running in the play.
main characters
In the Bond story the principal characters are Antonio, Shylock and Bassanio.
Portia and Bassanio are the main characters in Casket Story.
Portia, Bassanio, Gratiano and Nerissa and also to a certain extent Antonio in the rings story.
Lorenzo and Jessica are the main characters in the love story then Gratiano and Nerissa also contributed to it.
main characters
In the Bond story the principal characters are Antonio, Shylock and Bassanio.
Portia and Bassanio are the main characters in Casket Story.
Portia, Bassanio, Gratiano and Nerissa and also to a certain extent Antonio in the rings story.
Lorenzo and Jessica are the main characters in the love story then Gratiano and Nerissa also contributed to it.
antonio
His Temperamental Melancholy – He is wealthy merchant of Venice. He is a leading 1. citizen. He has a great respect in society. When he is first introduced in the play, He is in a melancholic mood and he is asked by his friends why he is melancholic? They are laughing and having fun around him, he says that there is no particular reason, he says it is his inborn nature, he gives himself reserved. That’s why it is called temperamental as it is his nature and not due to any particular reason. The ironical part is the people he gets along with who are always happy go lucky kind of persona. He is suffering from constitutional melancholy. He keeps thinking of giving up and does not wish to fight for himself. When everyone is fighting for him, he keeps giving up in Act 4 scene 1.
a. Profound affection for Bassanio – his capacity of friendship, his affection for him. Their friendship is another romanticized element in the play. It is glorified by Shakespeare. Bassanio has taken a number of loans from Antonio. Even in bond story Bassanio approaches Antonio for loan and despite his rivalry and despise for Shylock, he went to take a loan from Shylock for Bassanio and even put his life at stake in order to get a loan for his friend. Despite his nature, he feels happy and enjoys Bassanio’s company. His commitment to Bassanio is complete in all senses. In act 4 scene 1, he even gets ready to lay down his life for Bassanio.
b. A kind hearted and accommodating man – He is a wealthy merchant who is shelling out loans to people at very low interest rates, he doesn’t bully people into paying back the principal amount and asks them to pay back whenever it is possible. Whereas Shylock is almost opposite to him, and doesn’t treat people with respect, and gives loans on high flown interest rates.
c. His negative quality: His religious intolerance – the way he hates Shylock, which is a serious defect, he hates Shylock only because of his religion, i.e. he is a Jew. The extent of his hatred is that he spit on Shylock’s face, which is not correct. In Act 4 scene 1, he knows he’s about to die yet he keeps on calling him a “Jew” in a derogatory manner. He is very insulting throughout the scene. He is party to the decision which says that Shylock’s religion should be converted from Jew to Christianity. He keeps pointing out that Shylock is a Jew and he himself is a Christian, thus they should be treated differently.
d. Deficiency: He lacks sense of humour – his friends joke with him but he gets very upset instead of taking it lightly. He takes everything personally. He keeps demeaning himself. He wishes to be dead about everything.
Shylock
. He is a famous Shakespearean Character – a villain deserving some sympathy. He is known as one of the best-known characters written by Shakespeare. He is a victim of circumstance. His miserly is a trait of Jews, thus he cannot change it. The conversion of his religion is very wrong, and he has been victimized. Legally, Shylock is not wrong. Everyone in court is against him, he is fighting alone against everyone. It is character which is a masterpiece. You can empathise with him, and the person he is, is because of his religion. He is not a wrong-doer rather he is a victim of wrong-doing.
a. A hoarder by profession – he is a money-lender by profession. Exploiting people’s needs. The profession itself is discreditable. It is on his nerves as he takes high interest rates, to accumulate wealth for himself. He hates Antonio because he gives out interest with low or no interest rate, thus reducing his customers. He was a typical Jew.
b. His intolerance of Christians and miserly nature – he is completely intolerant of Christians, and he gets sadistic pleasure of thinking about killing one Christian person legally. He is so miserly, that he wishes to save his money of meal, when he is invited to a Christian party, thinking I’ll eat something other than pork, despite his hatred for Christians. He does not trust his daughter, servants with money, the servants are mistreated, not paid well and has been starved. When his daughter runs away he laments for his ducats instead of his daughter.
c. His deceitful and crafty dealings – States the bond story here, as he is exploiting Antonio and Bassanio’s needs in his own favour, as he was hesitant in the beginning, but he eventually comes up as a crafty plan and makes him sign the bond which would risk Antonio’s life.
d. Revengeful and bloodthirsty nature – in Act 4 scene 1, the money is doubled, 10 times, despite being miserly, he only wishes for the revenge and pound of flesh of Antonio, instead of money, everyone appeals, but he doesn’t listen, Portia’s mercy plea doesn’t move him as well.
e. His suspicious nature – he does not trust anyone; the daughter hates him and the servants detest him. His daughter runs away with a Christian with all his money. His relationships are not good with anyone.
f. His redeeming quality: He is capable of love & he is champion of his race – He laments his wife’s death and used to love her immensely, when the daughter gives away the wife’s piece of jewellery in turn of a monkey he laments it. This means he is capable of loving. He is the only person who is Jew in a Christian court, yet he holds his ground and makes his case.
g. He is comical yet fanatic – he has a comical aspect; this is highlighted when he is lamenting his ducats yet when he sees people are seeing he starts lamenting for his daughter. He is a bit fanatic as well. Which is a positive trait as he respects what he was so much, but it is a negative trait as well as he irritates others with that respect for his religion.
. Portia
. Her high position in the gallery of Shakespearean heroines – she creates a powerful impact on the mind of the audience. She tries to win over the evil plans of Shylock. She has a number of qualities, she has been created by Shakespeare with reference to the vices, and she is more likable as she has more redeemable quality than the vices.
a. Her sense of humour and a sparkling wit – when her character is introduced, she is shown a bit gloomy, but when her servant Nerissa comes to talk to her she comes out of the gloomy mood in a fraction of second. Throughout the story she is never gloomy or brooding, she always has a sense of humour and it is very evident in the ring story. She is very optimistic, and she knew the case was in Shylock’s favour yet she goes out to help thinking it might change something. She could have ended up marrying an old man or not marrying at all but she kept her optimism and she did not help Bassanio in picking the casket as she believed in optimistic outcomes. Her comments on her various suitors to Nerissa shows her comical sense.
b. Her devotion to her father’s memory – she could have married anyone yet she kept true to her father’s wishes, she is greatly encouraged by Nerissa in this. Even when she fell in love with Bassanio, she did not help him this shows her loyalty to her father.
c. Her essential wisdom – her dialogues with Nerissa throughout shows her wisdom, specially the initial one when she is in a gloomy mood, her wisdom when she attacks Shylock, her wisdom in the quality of mercy speech, her wisdom when she does not approach Bassanio straight away.
d. Her compassionate nature – She sends Bassanio with a huge amount of money to save Antonio, her famous mercy speech also shows her compassion, she says that she is one who only puts the facts and evidences, and would let the duke decide rather than giving a judgement herself, she does not pressure the duke.
e. Her modesty, humility and feminity – she has good sense of reasoning, she has great wit and sense of intelligence, yet she is modest. She is always a graceful woman and dresses accordingly. The time when Bassanio opens the right casket and she is overcome with love for him, the way she kisses him and the speech she makes, shows her feminity and she surrenders herself completely to the man she loves. This is her modesty and humility. In ring story she doesn’t take the ring and sakes its her duty, when praised by Antonio she denies that is her modesty and humility, she trusts Jessica and Lorenzo completely with her estate and assets when she travels. She is a generous disposition and when finding out about Antonio she tells Bassanio to take as much money as he wants, she is the one who goes as a lawyer to help Antonio.
f. Her negative traits: she is a Christian to the core – she shows in her speech that she believes in the difference between Jew and Christians. She is a little intolerant of Jews.
g. She is the epitome of perfection and graciousness, she is on a pedestal in the story whereas all the other characters are menial in comparison to her.
. Bassanio
. He is the hero of the casket Story – he is not the hero in the absolute in the absolute sense of play, he is certainly the romantic hero who is able to win the love of the heroine and marries her.
a. He is a young prodigal who is always in need of money - when he is introduced he is need of money, he owes a lot of money to Antonio, he despite having so many loans on his head is shameful to ask for another loan, and he has the gall of saying to Antonio, that if you give me this loan it will pave way to getting back the previous loans as well. He wishes to return the money thus he is not a trickster; he is happy go lucky man who goes around partying with his friends. Antonio’s affection for him shows that he is a good person who doesn’t trick or exploit people. He came back for Antonio which proves his good nature.
b. Ardent and Romantic lover with a poetic nature – Bassanio is a romantic Lover having something of a poet in him and this gets reflected when he talks to Antonio about Portia when he says that she is fair and fairer than the fairest. He compares her to the most beautiful women of the earth and says that she is the most beautiful of the beautifullest. He talks about her beauty, skin etc. The echoes of the love song that he sings in the last part of the Merchant of Venice makes him an imaginative, poetic and expressive hero.
d. His love for gaiety: Bassanio has a dual nature. It is because he is equally comfortable with a man as melancholic as Antonio. Antonio makes the other friends uncomfortable and Antonio also feels uncomfortable around Bassanio’s friends. Bassanio is constitutionally jovial but he knows how to keep quiet, talk less and understand his psyche. He is extravagant with Salenio, Gratiano, Lorenzo but jovial and well gelled with people such as Antonio. He spends more than he has and is extravagant. He never shows any nature which matches Bismal, agonized, painful or a sad nature. He is very handsome to look at, has exquisite mannerisms and combined with his excellent humour and witty manner of speaking you shall find Portia starting to love him even before he makes the right choice of the casket. His prodigality is a very small flaw in comparison to the qualities that he possesses. Thus Shakespeare has created a character that has his vices who improves himself, reforms himself over time.
e. Not at all a Shallow man: He is not a trickster and knows that there are loans he has to return. If he was shallow he would not have chosen the right casket. This was evident during his speeches when he chose the casket. He knows that appearances can be deceptive and though so because a woman of Portia’s character will not merely be won by appearances and chooses bronze even though Portia gave no hints with regards to the casket. He only parts away with the ring in the end when Antonio urges him otherwise he wouldn’t have given his ring to the disguised Portia.
f. His sincerity in friendship: He is equally happy when he is with a melancholic Antonio and knows that he can depend on him. He immediately returns back to Venice, 10 times the amount, willing to give his life for Antonio even though Bassanio is a young married rich man, helps Lorenzo settle in Belmont, Supporting Gratiano whom he keeps reprimanding everytime but doesn’t leave him alone. Friendship of Bassanio and Antonio has been romanticized too and they stand by each other.
. Gratiano:
a. His copious talk, his wit and his contribution to the comedy of the play: Gratiano is an extremely talkative, witty person with a keen sense of humour. He has infinite capacity to talk and cannot keep quiet as he often speaks out of turn. He is never short of words and every remark that he makes is amusing in one way or the other. Bassanio who is serious and does not like these types of talks is not able to stand Gratiano’s talks. He finds it like chatter in his ears and gets irritated by it. Gratiano immensely contributes to the comedy element of the play.
b. His satirical comment on the silent and the reserved man: Gratiano and Antonio are introduced at the same time on the stage. Gratiano there wonders how could a man be so sad? A man whose blood is warm should never sit still and emotionless. Gratiano is like a jester on the stage unlike Antonio and he states that he dislikes those men who like to sit silent to appear thoughtful and wise. He is also the man who wants others to be quiet when he talks and he talks a lot too. He dislikes Antonio because of his sad, melancholic nature.
c. His witty promise to Bassanio: When gratiano wants to travel with Bassanio to Belmont and Bassanio tells him to exercise restraint he says that he will only abuse occasionally, he would try to put his best and put his grace at the dinner table and he puts up with a poker face. He will always keep quiet and utter very few words. He does end up doing the opposite though.
d. His bitter, fierce and abusive wit: For example his speeches during the trial, his wit in that scene was bordering on tragedy. It is ironical and sarcastic. It has an incisive quality which is supposed to hurt Shylock. There is a lot of mockery and ridicule in this scene. He says that Shylock should be given a rope to hang himself. His wit is bitter, violent and fierce. He calls Shylock a damned, cursed dog who must have been a wolf in his previous life in a cunning womb thus insulting his mother too.
e. The wide range of his wit: He could be funny, witty and could be painfully witty too. He can be simply jovial and also can be bitterly sarcastic and abusive. He can be wrathful and also happy. Search more on google.
f. Knowledge of the world and the wisdom resulting therefrom and his marriage with Nerissa: His visit to Belmont doesn’t go futile. He is able to win Nerissa as his wife and there is no condition for him the way there was for Bassanio to win Portia. He was just able to persuade Nerissa to marry him. He is a pleasing man who turns out to be loving, a caring husband to Nerissa with whom he is very wise while talking. Gratiano also makes certain comments about his own wisdom. He talks about how a ship sails, how a horse races.
. Lorenzo:
. Lorenzo:
a. His achievement in winning the heart of a Jewish girl: Lorenzo is a Christian young man who is able to capture the heart of Jessica who is the daughter of Shylock the Jew. He is smart, dashing, handsome with an active mind (not intelligent but active). He is quite daring also because a christian marrying a jew in that period was a very daring move. He also contributes to the romance of this play but not at the same level as Bassanio
b. An adventurous man truly in love but not very scrupulous: He dared to fall in love with a Jew and is willing to face the music because of Jessica. Luring a jewish girl to marry a Christian was considered immoral. He also agrees to the Jessica’s escape from his father’s house which was done via a masked procession below Shylock’s house. He isn’t very scrupulous because when Jessica was taking the money from Shylock’s safe he didn’t discourage her and rather let her take all the money. There is a worldly and mercenary ingredient in Lorenzo too. Money is welcome to Lorenzo just as it is to Bassanio. He should not have encouraged Jessica to come with the money but he has no regard for that. His marrying Jessica which was immoral also shows his unscrupulous nature.
c. Sense of humor, artistic temperament and wit: He is witty when he talks with his friends, he is artistic in nature when he is in the love scene with Jessica when he talks about Cressica and Credo where he shows some poetic skills also. When Gratiano makes the comment about people actually being the silent type of people who want to show themselves as thoughtful, Lorenzo says that yes he is the silent man and thoughtful and wise only because Gratiano doesn’t let anyone else talk. He talks about music and its effect on animals etc during his talks with Jessica too.
d. His praise of Antonio and Portia’s favourable impression of him: Lorenzo expresses a high opinion of Antonio though he doesn’t like his melancholic company. Portia also sees Lorenzo as a gentleman who is a friend of Bassanio and then starts trusting him. Portia leaves Lorenzo with caretaking her house and property when she leaves Belmont. Overall, he is a very likable person who contributes to the romantic scene by his love with Jessica and also to the comedic elements by using his wit and humor.
Jessica
a. Her strong dislike for her father’s nature and temperament: Jessica is the daughter of Shylock but is ashamed of having him as her father. She finds the atmosphere of her father’s home very suffocating and intolerable. She is a sensitive girl with an artistic temperament. She is not able to understand the miserly, unforgiving and merciless nature of his father. She runs away with a bag full of father’s money and jewellery and decides to marry a Christian even though his father is a shrewd Jew. This is considered to be extreme but the audience is forced to take a lenient view of it because of Shylock’s nature who is imposing all kinds of restrictions on his daughter and her movements.
b. A beautiful, wise and faithful girl: Lorenzo is impressed by her Beauty, wisdom and she appears to be faithful to Lorenzo. She is a charming girl with a strong sense of humour with the same qualities as Lorenzo; poetic, artistic, sense of humour. Lorenzo is so much in love with her that he is going to place her in his constant soul for his entire life. For the sake of Lorenzo she doesn’t mind giving away her own religion and becoming a Christian. Her artistic and poetic temperament manifests itself in the moonlight scene at Belmont where she is in conversation with Lorenzo about the beauty of the night. She appears in favourable light because of her wide knowledge and the way she uses it according to the occasions. She talks in terms of mythological stories when Lorenzo talks in that manner. Her responsiveness to the music in the play also shows her artistic nature along with her sensitiveness to other things.
c. Her essential feminity and modesty: She is a modest girl, though she takes initiative in running away with Lorenzo, the reason is that she is very desperate to get away from her father’s house. She arranges for boy’s clothes to disguise herself and she feels ashamed when she is in that costume. She is happy that Shylock cant see him in the darkness and she cant be seen without her feminine form. She appears to be well dressed, modest and well mannered in her approach. She has a strong sense of humour and wit which is very clear from the fact that she is in the company of Launcelot Gobbo who is a servant in her home and she feels sorry for Gobbo as she would no longer be there. She always makes good jokes with Gobbo and is very witty while talking to him.
d. Arguments against and for her flight from home: There are schools of thought around her leaving her home. She is guilty of leaving his father and damaging his reputation when Shylock as a father did not expect her daughter to do so after raising her. She has made his father ashamed by doing such an act and running away with her money. This was a frowned upon act in those times. Today women have achieved rights equal to men and have started exerting their rights. Today a woman wont be stopped by her parent’s will and wants to marry as per her own choice. Her conversion to Christianity also got very mixed opinions as she could have chosen to remain a Jew even after marriage.
e. Her contribution to the plot and its atmosphere: She contributes to the romantic element of the play and she adds to the interesting part of the plot. She is the romantic interest of Lorenzo and is a key character in the moonlight scene, her personality there was also very eminent. She adds on to the views of jewish and Christian hatred by running away with a Christian. Her disguising as a male added to the plot of the story as a significant event and she inspired Lorenzo as a beautiful and wise woman. She enhances Portia’s image in her eyes as she is totally free of jealousy. She could be a woman comparable to Portia although not to her extent as Portia doesn’t disregard her father’s wish while Jessica does. Portia was ready to let go of Bassanio too for the sake of her father’s will. All and all she is a likable character adding to the variety of cast in the play.
narrisa
a. A miniature Portia though without Portia’s beauty and wealth: She significantly draws upon her character from the traits of Portia but lacks her wealth, beauty, stature. Portia and Nerissa can often be found in dialog with one another with Nerissa participating equally.
b. Her capacity to make aphoristic (something said in a shortened style, in a quotation) remarks: She is Portia’s witty mistress who speaks in quotational remarks. She can be compared to Birbal/Tenali Rama from the Indian culture who used to talk less but talk valuable.
c. her sense of humor and wit: Has a strong sense of humor as can be seen in the ring storyline. Check internet for more.
d. A copy of Portia and a well matched couple with Gratiano: She feels almost as happy as Portia in acquiring Gratiano in his life. If Bassanio had chosen the wrong casket then even Nerissa would not have married gratiano. She tends to mimick Portia but with discretion and not very openly. She is very confidential and has mistress like beauty and modesty. Even in the trial scene she complements portia by being her maid in attendance and never hesitated in going to the trial scene dressed as a man.
. Launcelot Gobbo
He is a jester in the play who is a fool of a crude quality when compared to Gratiano who is of a higher quality. Launcelot Gobbo isn’t given much attention in the play. The work that he does for the play is comparing the Christian household with the Jew Household where he isn’t given proper meals, salary isn’t given on time and no care is provided. When he transfers to Bassanio’s house the conditions there are much better. He also connects the pieces in the 4 storylines. His jokes are very hilarious still and Jessica enjoys them as Jessica lives in a very strict and depressing environment.
