Movie pitch: Venice is a cutthroat place… literally. A merchant makes a devilish deal with a sleazy loan shark, and risks his life for a loan. A wealthy heiress masquerades as a man and finds true love. This intense dark comedy will show you the true meaning of justice and mercy.
Rated R for some racial slurs, violence, drinking, and language.
My two cents
I feel that this play is meant to make people uncomfortable. Shylock as a character enjoys unsettling the Christians particularly when he mocks their own hypocrisy. At the same time he is a remnant of offensive stereotypes that still influence our culture. The play demands an audience that can discern the fact that Shylock is not bad because he’s Jewish, he’s bad because he’s persecuted for being Jewish.
Famous Lines
- “All that glitters is not gold.”
- “Hath not a Jew Eyes”
- “The quality of mercy is not strained.”
For more quotes and analysis of the characters, click here: http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/merchant/index.html
General Data
Title: The Merchant Of Venice
Playwright: William Shakespeare
Year Written: approx. 1595
Source: Il Pecarone (Italian source) https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/il-pecorone-an-italian-source-for-the-merchant-of-venice
Genre: Elizabethan Comedy: Prose/ Verse
Play Data
Structure: Five Acts, 18 scenes, 3,185 lines (uncut)
Setting: Venice Italy, late 16th century.
Characters: 18 characters- 6 definite male characters, 3 female characters, plus sailors, attendants, a priest, and officers.
Character Notes
Artwork
http://www.english.emory.edu/classes/Shakespeare_Illustrated/MerchantPaintings.html
Figure 1: Shylcok
Figure 2: Portia
Figure 3: Bassanio and the Three Caskets
Figure 4: Shylock
Figure 5: Shylock and Jessica
Modern parallels
Zootopia- a big city woman trying to do a man’s job (in law enforcement no less), who pleads for understanding and equality. Also, the hero isn’t perfect.
Summary
Business is a fickle thing in Venice. Antonio the merchant is out of cash to lend his young friend Bassanio, so he gets the money from a Jewish moneylender named Shylock, who makes Antonio promise a pound of his flesh if he cannot pay Shylock back. Bassanio takes the money to Belmont in the hopes of marrying the wealthy and beautiful Portia. The two of them fall in love but there’s a twist- no one can marry Portia unless they solve a puzzle left by her father in his will: he places three chests or caskets in front of Bassanio- choose right, Portia and her money are his. Choose wrong, and Bassanio loses everything. Even worse, Shylock has been howling for revenge against Antonio, ever since his daughter Jessica stole his money and married a Christian. Will Bassanio win Portia’s love? Will Antonio be forced to pay his debts in blood? Will Shylock choose justice or mercy?
Famous Speeches:
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. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance 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. - Act III, Scene i.
For Educators:
This play is probably best suited for AP high school English or college. Its themes of greed, religious hypocrisy, and anti-Semitic prejudice are hard for young students to appreciate.
Concerns for Directors
- attitude towards Jews
- Time/ Place
- How to
- Who is the villain?
Resources/ Lesson plans for teachers
Full play (annotated): https://shakespeare-navigators.com/merchant/index.html
Royal Shakespeare Company (Summary, lesson plans, photos): https://www.rsc.org.uk/the-merchant-of-venice/
American Shakespeare Center (Summary, discussion questions, photos): https://americanshakespearecenter.com/events/the-merchant-of-venice-2017/
Folger Shakespeare Library:
https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/the-merchant-of-venice/
The Globe Theater: https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/discover/blogs-and-features/2022/04/08/hath-not-a-jew-eyes/
Wisecrack Summary:
Discussion Questions
- Discuss the role money plays in the world of the play, from merchants to moneylenders to a rich heiress, lots of money changes hands in this play for better or worse. Does monetary gain motivate any of the characters and how does it inform their actions?
Podcast
The Shakespearean Student 