THE MERCHANT OF VENICE THEME OF RACE
In The Merchant of Venice, Judaism and Christianity aren't just religions – they're constructed as racial
(and even national) identities as well. In its portrayal of a bloodthirsty Jewish moneylender, the play
famously dramatizes 16th century racial stereotypes that are deeply unsettling, especially for modern
audiences. While there's no doubt the play depicts anti-Semitism, literary critics are divided over the
question of whether or not the play itself endorses racism.
Questions About Race
1. Characters like Antonio are unapologetically racist, but does the play endorse anti-Semitism?
2. Is Shylock ever portrayed as a character we should sympathize with?
3. Why doesn't Portia like the Prince of Morocco?
4. Why does Jessica flee her father's house?
Chew on This
 Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
 By portraying Shylock as a sympathetic figure and victim of racism, Shakespeare's play criticizes
bigotry and intolerance.
 The Merchant of Venice perpetuates anti-Semitism by portraying Shylock as a stereotypical
(according to 16th century standards) bloodthirsty Jewish moneylender seeking a pound of flesh
from a Christian character.
 The Merchant of Venice neither endorses nor critiques anti-Semitism; it merely portrays antiSemitism on the stage.
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE THEME OF WEALTH
Money is a very big deal in this play. (Big surprise there, right? The plot revolves around a
Venetian merchant who can't repay a loan to a hated moneylender.) In much of The Merchant of
Venice, the characters' attitudes toward wealth, mercantilism, and usury (lending money with interest)
function as a way to differentiate between Christians and Jews. The Christians in the play are portrayed
as generous and even careless with their fortunes. The money-grubbing Shylock, on the other hand, is
accused of caring more for his ducats than human relationships. At the same time, there's textual
evidence to suggest that Shakespeare calls these stereotypes into question.
Questions About Wealth
1. Is Bassanio using Antonio for his money? If so, is he aware of it? Is Antonio?
2. Is Portia a fully realized character or just an object of wealth? Does she realize that Bassanio
pursued her because of his problems with debt? Does it matter to her?
3. Describe the Christian attitude toward usury in the play.
4. How is Shylock's attitude toward money different from the attitudes of the Christian
characters?
Chew on This
 Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
 Although Shylock is made out to care more about money than human relationships, there's
plenty of textual evidence to suggest that this is not true.
 Bassanio may feel some affection (or even love) for Portia, but mostly he sees the rich heiress as
a meal ticket who can get him out of debt.
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE THEME OF FRIENDSHIP
"To you, Antonio, / I owe the most, in money and in love" (1.1.4). So says Bassanio as he prepares to
court his future wife. Like Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Merchant of Venice is interested in the
dynamics of male friendship, a bond that's often valued above all other relationships (especially
heterosexual romance and marriage). Antonio loves Bassanio enough to give his life for him – indeed it
seems that Bassanio's pursuit of a wife is the cause of Antonio's deep melancholy, which may suggest
that his affection for his friend is romantic in nature. In the end, though, The Merchant of Venice is a
Shakespearean comedy, which means that Bassanio's marriage to Portia replaces his bromance with
Antonio.
Questions About Friendship
1. Does Antonio's sadness have anything to do with his affection for Bassanio?
2. Is Bassanio a good friend to Antonio, or is he just a user?
3. How does Portia view the relationship between Antonio and Bassanio?
4. Does Portia resent Antonio, or does she genuinely want to help him? Does helping him serve her
purposes somehow?
5. Why does Antonio insist that Bassanio give up Portia's ring? (And why the heck does Bassanio
give it away?)
Chew on This
 Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
 Antonio's sadness at the beginning of the play stems from his affection for Bassanio, who is too
busy wife-hunting to pay attention to his friend.
 Bassanio loves Antonio more than his wife, which is why he runs off to Antonio's trial
immediately after his wedding and gives away Portia's ring.
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE THEME OF MARRIAGE
These days we tend to associate marriage with romantic love, but in Shakespeare's day that wasn't
necessarily the case. Marriage is portrayed in several different ways in The Merchant of Venice: as a
risky business venture, a mythological quest, a chance for an unhappy daughter to escape her father's
home, a way for a father to transmit his wealth to the man of his choosing, and even as a opportunity
for two men to become more secure in their friendship. What's even more striking about marriage is
that, even though it becomes the most important relationship by the end of the play, it's pitted against
the bonds of male friendship throughout.
Questions About Marriage
1. How is marriage presented in the play? Is it ever a result of love? Is it more often a result of
necessity and convenience?
2. Why does Bassanio want to marry Portia?
3. Why does Jessica want to marry Lorenzo?
4. Why do Portia and Nerissa so glibly forgive Bassanio and Graziano for giving away their rings?
Do the women take fidelity seriously? Do they think the men take it seriously, or that it's
inevitable that men will be unfaithful and women just have to put up with it?
Chew on This
 Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
 Marriage is not a romantic affair in the play, and neither men nor women are under the
impression that it is. All of the marriages in the play exist for convenience or necessity. Romance
can follow, but it isn't a requirement, which may be why partners seem willing to forgive each
other and compromise.
 Even though Antonio repeatedly tries to insert himself between Bassanio and his new wife,
Portia makes sure that her husband's best friend becomes the third wheel in the relationship.
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE THEME OF JUSTICE
Because Venice's economic stability depends on foreign businessmen like Shylock, the city has laws in
place to protect their legal rights. Although the law is on his side when the Jewish moneylender goes to
court and demands his "pound of flesh," Shylock is expected to show mercy. Instead, he insists on
getting his pound of flesh. Throughout the play, Judaism is associated with the Mosaic code (from
Leviticus and Deuteronomy in the Old Testament), with its strict emphasis on justice and following the
letter of the law. Christianity, on the other hand, is associated with the New Testament's emphasis on
God's mercy and offer of salvation.
Questions About Justice
1. What is Portia/Balthazar's argument for Shylock to be merciful to Antonio?
2. Why does Shylock insist on getting his pound of flesh in the courtroom? What does his pursuit
of his bond suggest about his character?
3. Is Shylock's forced conversion to Christianity supposed to be an act of "mercy"?
4. Is there justice for any of the characters at the end of the play? Is justice a natural or necessary
part of the play's resolution?
Chew on This
 Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
 The Merchant of Venice is inherently unsatisfying as a play because there is no sense of justice.
Shylock is simply removed from the proceedings, and the broken romances are repaired in an
unrealistic fashion by Portia and Nerissa forgiving of their husbands. Antonio is never called to
account for his wrongs, and there is little character development, as characters never realize
their flaws and transform themselves.
 The Merchant of Venice is a realistic play because life isn't always fair, and things don't always
wrap up neatly. If Shakespeare had provided a clean and just resolution to all of the play's
tensions, he would have been undermining and simplifying the complexity of the difficult topics
dealt with in the play.
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE THEME OF LOVE
Love in The Merchant of Venice comes in a variety of forms. There's love between family members,
between friends, and of course, between lovers. Still, love is more notable for its absence than its
presence in the play. Love often goes hand in hand with betrayal. Bassanio says he "loves" Portia, but
he courts her for her money. At times, the same seems true of Lorenzo's interest in Jessica. Women
seem happy to give love, but they do so with a shred of cynicism. Antonio clearly loves Bassanio
(whether romantically or not), but he ultimately must subordinate this love to Portia's more formal
marriage with him. Love is regulated, sacrificed, betrayed, and generally built on rocky foundations in
the play.
Questions About Love
1. What kinds of love are there in the play? Is any love held up as more valuable or enduring than
another? Are all types of love presented as equally realistic?
2. What exactly is the nature of the love between Bassanio and Antonio? Is it shared, equal, or
completely misunderstood? Do both men feel the same way about each other?
3. Does Antonio really see his love in competition with Portia's love for Bassanio? In the end, when
he wagers his soul as a guarantee of Bassanio's faithfulness to Portia, is he giving anything up?
Chew on This
 Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
 Portia does not love Bassanio. Based on her citing the Hercules myth, we know she knows he
was using her to get to her money. Because she's a practical woman, she's convinced herself to
care for him anyway. She's making the best of a bad situation, which is why she's willing and
interested in asserting her power over him at the end of the play.
 Even though he is too gruff to express it, Shylock truly loves his daughter Jessica. When she
deserts him, leaving him entirely alone in the world, he is transformed from a mildly grumpy
man into an actively malicious one.
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE THEME OF ISOLATION
The Merchant of Venice is riddled with characters who feel a deep sense of isolation. The characters
clash on a variety of levels, as they come from different backgrounds and life situations and have
different points of view. The most potent isolation is caused by religious estrangement. Shylock is
isolated because he is Jewish – his religious beliefs and cultural values remain fundamentally at odds
with those of his fellow Venetians. Antonio is isolated by his relationship with Bassanio; their interaction
seems to be defined and limited by what could be romantic love on Antonio's part. Isolation is a fact of
life for the characters, and it proves to be fairly insurmountable, coloring all of the characters'
interactions.
Questions About Isolation
1. To what degree is isolation self-imposed in the play? Do characters more often choose isolation
or have it thrust upon them?
2. What types of isolation are there in the play?
3. How does isolation function in the play? Does it inspire characters to cooperate or rebel? How?
4. Is Antonio isolated?
5. How does Antonio's relationship with Bassanio function in terms of isolation? Is either isolated
with respect to the other?
6. Jessica straddles two worlds in the play. Is she isolated from both? From either? Does she
choose one side? What evidence do we have that she is comfortable or uncomfortable with her
decision, if she makes one?
Chew on This
 Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
 Even though Shylock has some friends (like Tubal) he's isolated from most of the characters in
the play, even his own daughter.
 Bassanio is the only character who is not isolated in the play. He stays friends with his friends
and is never as much of an enemy to Shylock as the others are. Bassanio avoids isolation by
being relatively innocuous.
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE THEME OF CHOICES
In The Merchant of Venice characters must choose between lovers, friends, and family, personal comfort
and societal norms. The explicit choices, like Portia's casket lottery, provide a frame for the entire play.
The game to win Portia's hand is explicitly built on chance and the choice of her suitors. Bassanio is
faced with choosing correctly or foregoing his chance to ever have a wife again.
There are more abstract choices in the play as well. Antonio must choose between preserving his
personal happiness as Bassanio's closest friend and enabling Bassanio to win a woman who will come
between them. The greatest choices are often about the way people treat each other. Shylock chooses
to doggedly pursue his pound of Antonio's flesh because Antonio, among others, has chosen to treat
him like a dog. Antonio chooses, in the end, to deprive Shylock of his livelihood and his religion. He also
chooses not to pursue his relationship with Bassanio, instead relegating himself to a minor role in Portia
and Bassanio's lives.
Questions About Choices
1. Do characters choose their dispositions? Do they feel that they have the ability to change at
will?
2. Do any characters choose to transform themselves over the course of the play?
3. Shylock has the option of choosing to get his money back or to persecute Antonio. Why does he
choose the latter? What does he hope to gain? Did he ever really intend to kill Antonio?
4. Is Bassanio conscious of the choice between Antonio's friendship and Portia's love? Does he
have to choose between them, or can he have both? How do those two characters influence his
choice? Does Bassanio even make a choice in the end?
5. Portia is introduced in the play as having no choice in whom she marries. Does she love Bassanio
because she realizes she has no choice in the matter?
6. Does Portia exert any influence over Bassanio once they are married, or is her role as a wife
naturally subordinate to him?
7. Are Portia's unorthodox choices, like cross-dressing and the ring subplot, intended to give her
power over her own life?
Chew on This
 Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
 Shylock is backed into a corner in Venice and has no choice but to lash out against the
characters who constantly antagonize him.
 Mercy is a choice that all of the characters could have made in order to resolve tensions.
Because none of them ever chooses to be merciful, they constantly fall victim to each other's
plots.
Themes
Prejudice and social injustice and whether such attitudes
and behaviour are ever justified.
Some related scenes:
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Act 1 Scene 3: Bassanio asks to borrow three thousand ducats from Shylock, Shylock reminds
him and Antonio of past mistreatment and Antonio agrees to the bond.
Act 3 Scene 1: Shylock speaks of his bitterness at being treated as an outcast ('Hath not a
Jew eyes...'), regrets the loss of the turquoise ring his wife gave him, and is excited to hear that
Antonio has lost another ship.
Act 4 Scene 1: In the trial scene Shylock demands his pound of flesh and when Portia finds a
legal loophole he loses half his wealth and is required to convert to Christianity.
Revenge, justice and forgiveness and the possibility of
mercy as a response to injustice.
Some related scenes:
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Act 1 Scene 3: Bassanio asks to borrow three thousand ducats from Shylock, Shylock reminds
him and Antonio of past mistreatment and Antonio agrees to the bond.
Act 3 Scene 1: Shylock speaks of his bitterness at being treated as an outcast ('Hath not a
Jew eyes...'), regrets the loss of the turquoise ring his wife gave him and is excited to hear that
Antonio has lost another ship.
Act 4 Scene 1: In the trial scene, Shylock, isolated, demands his revenge while Portia argues
that 'the quality of mercy is not strained.'
Money and Love and how obsession with money can preclude
love and loyalty.
Some related scenes:
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Act 1 Scene 3: Antonio's support of his friend Bassanio contrasts with Shylock's bitterness
over past mistreatment, including Antonio's lending of money without charging interest.
Act 2 Scene 2: Lancelot explains why he wants to leave Shylock's service and work for
Bassanio. He plays a trick on his blind father and then asks for his blessing.
Act 2 Scene 3: Jessica describes her shame in being her father's child and her plans to elope
with Lorenzo.
Act 2 Scene 6: Jessica elopes with Lorenzo, taking with her a casket of gold and jewels.
Act 2 Scene 8: Shylock discovers his daughter has gone, with his ducats.
Act 3 Scene 2: Bassanio rejects the gold casket in favour of the lead and wins Portia. Gratiano
announces his engagement to Nerissa and Jessica and Lorenzo arrive in Belmont.