Last performed in 1998
Synopsis | Smart Guide
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Synopsis
Half of the play is set in Venice, a lively, trifling city full of gallants, masquers, and idle talkers. Bassanio needs money for a trip to Belmont to seek Portia's hand. His wealthy friend Antonio wishes to help, but his resources are all invested. To supply Bassanio, Antonio agrees to a bond with Shylock, the forfeiture of which would be a pound of Antonio's flesh. Antonio expects the return on his investments long before the due date, but is overwhelmed by improbable catastrophe; and the Jew insists on his rights.
The other half of the play is set in beautiful Belmont, a nearby estate. The lovely, intelligent Portia is committed to her father's dying will: she will marry only the suitor who chooses correctly from three chests, one each of gold, silver, and lead. As Bassanio chooses the correct chest, word arrives of Antonio's fate. Portia sends her new husband with money to pay the Jew but there is little hope, for Shylock seeks not money, but revenge.
In the courtroom Portia, disguised as a young lawyer, defeats the villainous schemes of the Jew. The grateful Bassanio offers the lawyer money, but it is refused. When pressed, the lawyer agrees to a remembrance token and asks for the ring Bassanio is wearing—the ring Portia gave him on their wedding day and from which he promised never to part.
In The Merchant of Venice several plots and sets of characters examine the hierarchy of relationships, all of which deal with love. These range from the love of money, revenge, self, or ornamentation (we would say "possessions" or "things"), to the relationships between friends, servant and master, parent and child, and even husband and wife. To use a modern term, the play deals with priorities.
In Shakespeare's time the proper bond of male friendship was viewed as the highest sort of human relationship. Antonio is willing to bend his long-standing conviction against borrowing money with interest to help Bassanio. Even Portia recognizes this relationship. Upon learning of Antonio's problem, she insists that Bassanio go to his aid even before their marriage is consummated. As Shylock demands Antonio's life, the "noble merchant" is willing to die for having aided his friend Bassanio.
Portia knows her priorities. Although it puts her in an awkward position, she yields to her dead father's will in regard to whom she will marry. The first two suitors, their priorities fixed on self and their desires focused on ornamentation and material gain, choose wrong. When Bassanio, motivated by correct priorities, chooses the right casket, Portia properly gives herself and Belmont to her husband. Bassanio needs instruction regarding priorities. As the lawyer, Portia lectures him about bending the law and makes sure he understands the proper husband-wife relationship, as she tricks him into giving up the ring.
Shylock is the villain of this play not because of his nationality, but because his priorities are wrong: he loves money above all else. He would rather have his daughter dead if he could regain the ducats she took as she eloped. The other Jews in the play, Jessica and Tubal, do not share Shylock's miserly priorities and are not depicted in a negative light.
Shylock despises Antonio because he lends money gratis, which cuts into the usurer's profits. (Ethical writers in Shakespeare's day viewed lending for profit as evil. Antonio's practice of lending based on friendship and need, by contrast, is noble.) Just as Shylock despises Antonio for commercial reasons, Antonio despises the practices of profiting from those who are in need and condemns Shylock for being a hard-hearted loan shark.
Shylock's greed is matched only by his desire for revenge against a person who has thwarted his profits. Shylock rejoices when Antonio cannot repay his debt on time. Even when many times the original sum is offered, he rejects it. Revenge is so high in Shylock's hierarchy of values that he fully expects to legally kill Antonio.
A major theme of the play is justice versus mercy. Seeking revenge, Shylock demands his case be interpreted justly, to the letter of the law. Given repeated opportunities to show mercy, he refuses. Warned that without mercy all stand condemned by the law, Shylock retorts, "What judgment shall I fear, doing no wrong?"
When the law stops his vengeance and condemns him, it is Shylock who must beg for mercy. In response, both the court and Antonio are merciful, granting him not only his life but the resources to prevent him becoming destitute.
The court's final action, forcing Shylock to become a Christian, is controversial to some modern audiences. Given the themes of love and justice versus mercy developed in the play, the court's action is neither surprising nor disappointing. An Elizabethan audience would have seen Shylock's conversion not as a transgression of religious freedom, but as a loving alternative to Shylock's ultimate perishing in hell. Shylock's responses lead one to believe his will be a "conversion of convenience" permitting him to keep his life and money, but of no spiritual benefit, for his heart is unchanged. Shylock is thus a villain to be pitied, not one to be scorned.