merchant of venice portia essay

Portia Merchant Of Venice Essay

The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. The story revolves around the character of Portia, a wealthy heiress who is forced to marry a man she does not love. The play is full of suspense and drama, and has been adapted for stage and screen many times. Portia is one of Shakespeare’s most iconic characters, and her story continues to captivate audiences centuries after the play was first written.

Is Portia the finest female Shakespearean part? Portia is one of Shakespeares greatest roles for a actress, and she displays great wits and intellect in this play. Those are characteristics that no other female character has previously displayed. The Merchant of Venice was written by Shakespeare between 1595 and 1598, and some of the important characters include Antonio, Portia, Shylock, Bassanio, Lorenzo, Jessica Gratiano ,Nerissa Launcelot Gobbo ,and County Palatine.

The play is set in the city of Venice and the surrounding areas. The Merchant Of Venice is a story about Antonio, a Christian merchant who borrows money from his Jewish friend Shylock, to help his friend Bassanio woo Portia. The loan comes with a condition: if Antonio cannot repay the debt within three months, Shylock can take a pound of Antonios flesh.

When the time comes, Shylock demands his payment, but Antonio has lost all his ships at sea and cannot repay the debt. The Duke of Venice orders that Shylocks claim be heard in court, where Portia serves as judge. She disguises herself as a lawyer and uses her wit and intelligence to save Antonios life and defeat Shylock.

Portia is one of the most intelligent and well-spoken characters in all of Shakespeares plays. She is able to think on her feet and come up with a creative solution to the problem at hand. Portia is also a very strong woman who isnt afraid to stand up for what she believes in. Shes a true feminist heroine.

Portia is one of the best female Shakespearean parts because she is such a strong, intelligent and well-spoken character. The role presents a great challenge for any actress, but it is also an incredibly rewarding experience to play such a complex and multi-faceted character. If youre looking for a challenging and rewarding role, then consider auditioning for The Merchant Of Venice and playing the part of Portia. You wont regret it!

In The Merchant of Venice, Portia has a number of lengthy speeches in which she demonstrates her intellect by making fun of her suitors or expressing her love for Bassanio and affection for law. When Bassanio tells Portia about the bond, the sequence begins with In Belmont there is a lady richly endowed. This is demonstrated when Bassanio informs her about the outstanding quantity of money owed. She adds What, no more? after learning about the amount owing and instructs him to pay off six thousand dollars and deface the bond; then double it again.

Shakespeare also makes it clear that she is very beautiful by the way Bassanio and the other suitors talk about her. In The Merchant Of Venice, Shakespeare presents Portia as a strong and intelligent woman who is able to hold her own in a male-dominated society.

As Portia became aware that Bassanio was not as rich as the other suitors, she noticed something new about him. Portia had enough money to live on; she did not need a wealthy suitor, so she fell in love with the guy whom she thought might really care for her rather than just want to get richer.

When Bassanio informed her of the contract, however, Portia immediately agreed to assist Antonio with the cash and Shylock’s defeat. In the courtroom scene, when Portia pretends to be The Doctor Of Law and demands to help out, she gets a chance to demonstrate her wit and legal knowledge.

She easily defeats Shylock with her knowledge and rhetoric, and in the end, she gets Bassanio back, as well as a fair amount of money. Portia is one of Shakespeare’s strongest and most intelligent female characters.

When The Merchant Of Venice was first written, women’s roles were very different than they are now. Women were not allowed to participate in any form of business or economy, and their main purpose was to get married and have children. Shakespeare subverted these norms by writing Portia as a strong female character who is not only intelligent and well-educated, but also capable of besting men in court. This would have been shocking and controversial to audiences at the time, but it is one of the things that makes The Merchant Of Venice so timeless.

Portia is a great example of Shakespeare’s skill as a playwright. She is a fully developed character with her own motivations and desires. She is not simply there to help the men or to be a love interest; she is an active participant in the plot, and her scenes are some of the most memorable in the play. If you are interested in seeing a strong female character on stage, then you should definitely check out The Merchant Of Venice. You won’t be disappointed.

Shylock bargained for a pound of Antonio’s flesh, which Portia accepted. However, because she states that she is a trainee and well-versed in the law, she is permitted to do so. If Portia had no knowledge of the law, she would not have been able to help Antonio win his case against Shylock.

During her case, Portia appeared to side with Shylock by agreeing with his right to the bond. She stated, Why this bond should be forfeited; and lawfully by this phrasing, the Jew may claim a pound of flesh at any time during the year In this scene’s opening segment, it appears as if she will side with Shylock and assist him.

However, as the scene goes on, it becomes clear that she is siding with Antonio and trying to help him. The way she does this is by using her knowledge of the law to find a loophole that will save Antonio’s life. The loophole she finds is that the bond says that Shylock can take a pound of flesh, but it does not say anything about taking blood.

She tells the court that if Shylock takes any blood from Antonio, then he will be breaking the law and will be immediately put to death. This saves Antonio’s life and leads to Shylock’s downfall. Portia is therefore able to use her knowledge of the law to help someone in need and defeat someone who was trying to harm them. This makes her a very admirable character.

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Portia, The Merchant of Venice

Portia is a character in Shakespeare’s play, The Merchant of Venice . She’s not exactly like the characters usually classed as strong women in Shakespeare (like Rosalind or Lady Macbeth ) because she isn’t called on to make a stand on anything, do something courageous, or defy some of the obstacles stacked up against women in Elizabethan times. But she’s not one of the oppressed women either.

Portia is one of Shakespeare’s women who appear disguised as men through most of their presence on the stage. Apart from the dramatic function of this trick, Shakespeare used a gender switch as a way of putting less strain on the audience’s suspension of disbelief. The boy actor would come on as a woman then, soon after, disguise herself as a man and, being a male himself, appear more realistic, and that would be a little more comfortable for the actor – a boy playing a boy. He would do that through most of the play then reveal himself as a woman in the last scene.

Lynn Collins plays Portia in The Merchant of Venice

Portia, an only child, has recently lost her wealthy father, a citizen of Belmont. He has doted on her and, unusually for the time, educated her to the point where she has become a legal scholar. She is also beautiful, and knowing that because of her beauty and because of her wealth, she will be pursued by the good and the bad, many of them fortune hunters, he devised a scheme to try and ensure that she would end up with a worthy husband.

He has stipulated that wooers would have to choose one of three caskets –  gold, silver, and lead. One of them would contain her portrait and the first to choose that would be a suitable husband.

One of the suiters is the penniless Bassanio of Venice. He has borrowed the money to try his luck with Portia from his friend Antonio, a Venetian merchant.

Antonio has had to borrow the money to lend Bassanio from a Jewish moneylender, Shylock , as his ships are late and he won’t have the money until they arrive. Shylock has jokingly said that if Antonio is late with the payment the penalty will be a pound of his flesh. Antonio has agreed to that.

In the event, the ships are late. At the same time, Shylock’s daughter has eloped with a Christian and taken his money and jewellery. He is enraged by the way the Christians have behaved and demands his pound of flesh. He appeals to the Duke to hold a trial and give him his rights.

In the meantime, Bassanio has chosen the right casket and is engaged to Portia. He learns that the Duke of Venice doesn’t know how to deal with the case and asks Portia to disguise herself as a famous young law scholar and act as a judge in the case, which she does. There is a court case in which Portia shows a great deal of knowledge, creativity and intelligence, and while granting Shylock the pound of Antonio’s flesh, rules that it is illegal for anyone to shed a drop of Christain blood. He can cut his pound of flesh from Antonio’s body but he can’t shed any blood or cut an ounce more or less than the pound. Shylock is therefore defeated.

Portia’s main claim to fame in the halls of English dramatic literature is that she delivers one of the most famous monologues, filled with some of Shakespeare’s most beautiful poetry, expressing some of the wisest sentiments that exist in any play: The quality of mercy is not strained .

As a character in a Shakespeare play, Portia is interestingly different from most characters. She doesn’t actually have a dramatic role in the story, although that sounds ridiculous as her conduct of the trial and her judgment are hugely dramatic. However, she plays little part in the development of the main story. It is a story about Venetian society and the relationship between Christians and Jews with its set of characters that develop the story. There is a trial in the story and that’s where Portia comes in. She, an outsider, and Shylock, a major character in the main story, dominate this long scene.

Although we see Portia as a virtuous, honest young woman, somewhat playful, and with a sense of humour, none of her characteristics play any part in the drama in the sense that Juliet’s or Cleopatra’s or Lady Macbeth’s qualities and personalities are organic to the drama. All we need from Portia is that she be a good lawyer. What kind of person she is is neither here nor there. Juliet’s impatience, Lady Macbeth’s ambition, and Cleopatra’s fickleness are major plot drivers: they are all central characters in the story of the play they are in. Portia is not.

Top Portia Quotes

It is a good divine that follows his own instructions. ( act 1, scene 2 )

If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches and poor men’s cottages princes’ palaces. It is a good divine that follows his own instructions: I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching. ( act 1, scene 2 )

He will fence with his own shadow. ( act 1, scene 2 )

I remember him well, and I remember him worthy of thy praise. ( act 1, scene 2 )

The brain may devise laws for the blood, but a hot temper leaps o’er a cold decree. ( act 1, scene 2 )

One half of me is yours, the other half yours, Mine own, I would say; but if mine, then yours, And so all yours. ( act 3, scene 2 )

Beshrew your eyes, They have o’erlook’d me and divided me; One half of me is yours, the other half yours, Mine own, I would say; but if mine, then yours, And so all yours. ( act 3, scene 2 )

How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world. ( act 5, scene 1 )

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. ( act 4, scene 1 )

See All The Merchant of Venice Resources

The Merchant of Venice | The Merchant of Venice summary | The Merchant of Venice characters : Portia , Shylock | The Merchant of Venice settings | The Merchant of Venice in modern English | The Merchant of Venice full text | Modern The Merchant of Venice ebook | The Merchant of Venice quotes | The Merchant of Venice monologues | The Merchant of Venice soliloquies

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A Summary and Analysis of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies, and is widely studied and has been subject to considerable analysis. Contrary to what many people think, the ‘merchant’ of the title isn’t Shylock (of whom more below) but the far less famous character, Antonio. So how well do we know The Merchant of Venice ? Below, we offer some words of analysis, but first, it might be worth recapping the plot of the play.

Plot summary

There are two main plot strands to The Merchant of Venice , both closely intertwined. The first involves Portia, the wealthy heiress of Belmont, who decides that she will marry whichever suitor picks the right casket when faced with a choice of three (made of gold, silver, and lead).

The second involves a loan the Jewish moneylender, Shylock, makes to Antonio, the merchant of the play’s title. These two plot lines are connected because Antonio borrows money from Shylock in order to help out his friend, Bassanio, who wishes to finance a trip to Belmont to try his hand at Portia’s ‘three caskets’ trial. (The princes of Morocco and Aragon both choose the wrong caskets, but Bassanio correctly guesses that the lead casket, and the two are engaged.)

The terms of the loan are as follows: Antonio will repay the money to Shylock when his ships return from their voyage; if he fails to pay up then, Shylock will be entitled to a pound of Antonio’s flesh. When Antonio’s ships are declared lost at sea, he cannot repay the debt to Shylock, who promptly demands his pound of flesh.

These two threads run through the play, becoming united towards the end of the play, when Portia disguises herself as a male lawyer in order to defend Antonio against Shylock’s knife. She is aided by her maid, Nerissa, who is engaged to Bassanio’s friend, Gratiano; Nerissa is also disguised as a man (Portia’s clerk).

After trying, unsuccessfully, to appeal to Shylock’s ‘quality of mercy’ (a famous speech which we have analysed here ), Portia changes tack, and saves Antonio on a legal technicality: whilst his agreement with Shylock allows the Jewish moneylender a pound of Antonio’s flesh, it does not entitle him to a drop of the merchant’s blood – and if he tries to remove a pound of his flesh and makes him bleed, he will be liable. Shylock is defeated, and Antonio saved.

And Shylock is well and truly defeated: he has to pay ‘damages’ to Antonio – half of his entire wealth – and is also forced to convert from Judaism to Christianity. However, Antonio gives the money he gets from Shylock immediately to Jessica, Shylock’s daughter, who had earlier eloped with Lorenzo, against her father’s wishes.

There is one last, romantic, twist to the plot: before the trial, Portia and Nerissa had made gifts of rings to their betrotheds, Antonio and Gratiano. After the trial is over, to express their gratitude to the lawyer and clerk for saving Antonio’s skin (literally), they both give their rings to the lawyer and ‘his’ clerk as tokens of thanks.

To test (and have a bit of fun with) the two men, Portia and Nerissa, back in Belmont and out of their male disguises, ask the returning Antonio and Gratiano where the rings are which they gave them. The two men say they have lost them, and the two women produce new ones – which are really, of course, the originals. As a final piece of good luck, Antonio learns that not all of his ships were lost at sea, and the two couples celebrate their upcoming wedding.

Venice has a long-standing association with trade, commerce, and money. The materialistic world of this city-state regards people only in terms of their financial worth, and Shylock embodies this cold materialism in the extreme. To him, Antonio is only a debtor, so much flesh, from whom he can extract his pound if Antonio is unable to repay his loan. The great clash in The Merchant of Venice is between money and love, as both Shylock’s trial and Portia’s very different ‘trial’ – the test of the three caskets – demonstrate.

Against this heartlessly materialistic worldview is set the world of mercy and compassion, expressed in the two most famous speeches from The Merchant of Venice : Portia’s ‘The quality of mercy is not strained’ and Shylock’s own ‘Hath not a Jew eyes? If you prick us, do we not bleed?’

The valorisation of wealth and gold above all else is also famously rejected and criticised in Portia’s three caskets: gold and silver seem to promise the suitor wealth (in the form of Portia’s inheritance), but it is only by rejecting these in favour of the relatively worthless lead that Bassanio proves his worth as a potential husband to her.

However, the plot of The Merchant of Venice doesn’t entirely reject the world of money: Antonio borrows money from Shylock in an act of friendship (to help his relatively poor friend Bassanio travel to Belmont to undertake Portia’s three caskets test), but it’s also a financial reality that money is needed to be in the ‘race’.

And it’s worth noting that mercy doesn’t triumph over materialism at the trial: Shylock is deaf to Portia’s appeals, and his contract with Antonio can only be defeated on a technicality which speaks the only kind of language Shylock recognises.

And Shylock is the key to the whole play, as the confusion over him being mistaken for its title character demonstrates. For Harold Bloom, in a persuasive analysis of The Merchant of Venice in his book Shakespeare: The Invention Of The Human , The Merchant of Venice presents a number of difficult problems.

First, there’s no denying it is an anti-Semitic play; second, for Bloom, Shylock should be played as a comic villain and not a sympathetic character for the play to have ‘coherence’ and make full sense; third, to play Shylock this way would no doubt exacerbate the play’s anti-Semitic properties.

Many recent productions of The Merchant of Venice have certainly depicted Shylock more sympathetically than he was probably played when the play was first staged, in the 1590s which gave London not only Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta (whose title character, Barabbas, is a cartoon villain too exaggerated to be taken with complete seriousness) but also the execution of the Portuguese Jewish immigrant Roderigo Lopez, physician to Queen Elizabeth I, who was accused of plotting to kill the Queen (he was, almost certainly, innocent).

If the casual anti-Semitism that was widely tolerated as recently as the early twentieth century is anything to go by, Shakespeare’s original audience would probably have viewed Shylock as a money-grubbing villain.

But as is so often with Shakespeare’s characterisation, the character can be interpreted more sympathetically (his famous ‘If you prick us, do we not bleed?’ speech is one example of where we can find evidence for this interpretation), and this is the line most modern productions of the play have taken. And it must be a hard-hearted reader or spectator who can watch Shylock being forced to convert to Christianity (by Antonio) and not feel a twinge of uneasiness.

What’s more, the parallels between Antonio and Shylock arguably don’t end with that popular misconception over who the title character is. Antonio is just as money-driven as Shylock, and – as his insistence that Shylock be made to convert to Christianity shows – not exactly overflowing with Christian charity. This is the mentality that Venice seems to engender: a world of financial interests, account books, and hatred and mistrust of others.

The Merchant of Venice has become Shylock’s play, eclipsing all else, and whilst there may not be much else besides him that makes the play interesting, the one exception here is Portia, who is one of Shakespeare’s finest female roles from the 1590s.

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4 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice”

Definitely one of Shakespeare’s problematic plays. I view it more as a tragi-comedy and believe Shakespeare provided ambiguity towards Shylock in that he did not lampoon him but gave him full characterization. Perhaps Shakespeare wanted the audience to see beyond the culture and see a person.

Problematic indeed! Thank you for your most interesting exploration of the issues.

VERY CLEAR SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS. THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING ME TO READ IT AS ONE PART OF MY READINGS

Wouldn’t thou allow such mercy to Shylock if he show an ounce of pennant thought, or would it rather be rendered he suffer the harsh justice he demanded upon Antonio that you, in your fraudulent identity, chastised him for. You ask that Shylock grant mercy, but you refuse him such the like. Surely, you present him the harshest of consequences. Perhaps, opportune his chance of recompense and change of heart. Allow the man his beliefs and as well an example to present to his like minded. Allow him at least the the humane existence, some mere portion of fortune. There must be thoughts and consistency of mercy , although through consequential reasoning, placed upon both arguments.

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Portia - Shakespeare's 'The Merchant of Venice'

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Portia in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is one of the Bard's most beloved characters.

The Love Test

Portia's fate is determined by the love test her father gives to her suitors. She is unable to choose her own suitor but is forced to marry whoever passes. She has wealth but has no control over her own destiny. When Bassanio passes the test, Portia immediately agrees to divest all her riches, property, and power over to him in order to be his loving and dutiful wife. She is passed from one man’s control—her father’s—to another—her husband’s:

"As from her lord, her governor, her king. Myself and what is mine to you and yours Is now converted: but now I was the lord Of this fair mansion, master of my servants, Queen o'er myself. And even now, but now, This house, these servants and this same myself Are yours, my lord’s" (Act 3 Scene 2, 170-176).

One wonders what is in it for her... other than companionship and, hopefully, love? Let’s hope that her father’s test really is foolproof, in that the suitor is proven to love her through his choice. As an audience, we know the lengths to which Bassanio has gone to win her hand, so this gives us hope that Portia will be happy with Bassanio.

"Her name is Portia, nothing undervalued To Cato’s daughter, Brutus’ Portia. Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth, For the four winds blow in from every coast Renowned suitors, and her sunny locks Hang on her temples like a golden fleece, Which makes her seat of Belmont Colchis’ strand, And many Jasons come in quest of her" ( Act 1 Scene 1, 165-172).

Let’s hope Bassanio is not just after her money but, in choosing the lead casket, we are to assume he is not.

Character Revealed

We later discover Portia’s true grit, resourcefulness, intelligence, and wit through her dealings with Shylock in court, and many a modern audience might lament her fate at having to go back to court and be the dutiful wife she promised to be. It is also a pity that her father did not see her true potential in this way and, in doing so, he may not have determined his ‘love test’ necessary but trusted his daughter to make the right choice off her own back.

Portia ensures that Bassanio is made aware of her alter ego; in disguise as the judge, she makes him give her the ring that she has given him. In doing so, she can prove that it was she posing as the judge and that it was she who was able to save his friend’s life and, to and extent, Bassanio's life and reputation. Her position of power and substance in that relationship is therefore established. This sets a precedent for their life together and allows the audience some comfort in thinking that she will maintain some power in that relationship.

Shakespeare and Gender

Portia is the heroine of the piece when all the men in the play have failed, financially, by the law, and by their own vengeful behavior. She swoops in and saves everyone from themselves. However, she is only able to do this by dressing up as a man .

As Portia’s journey demonstrates, Shakespeare recognizes the intellect and abilities that women have but concedes that they can only be demonstrated when on a level playing field with men. Many of Shakespeare’s women show their wit and cunning when they are disguised as men. Rosalind as Ganymede in As You Like It is another example.

As a woman, Portia is submissive and obedient; as the judge and as a man, she demonstrates her intelligence and her brilliance. She is the same person but is empowered by dressing as a man and, in doing so, she hopefully gains the respect and equal footing she deserves in her relationship:

"If you had known the virtue of the ring, Or half her worthiness that gave that ring, Or your own honour to contain the ring, You would not then have parted with the ring" (Act 5 Scene 1, 199-202).

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Merchant of Venice — Portia and Bassanio Relationship in ‘The Merchant of Venice’

Portia and Bassanio Relationship in 'The Merchant of Venice'

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Published: Aug 14, 2023

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Portia’s selfishness in her relationship with bassanio.

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The Merchant of Venice

William shakespeare, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Merchant of Venice: Introduction

The merchant of venice: plot summary, the merchant of venice: detailed summary & analysis, the merchant of venice: themes, the merchant of venice: quotes, the merchant of venice: characters, the merchant of venice: symbols, the merchant of venice: literary devices, the merchant of venice: quizzes, the merchant of venice: theme wheel, brief biography of william shakespeare.

Historical Context of The Merchant of Venice

Other books related to the merchant of venice.

• Full Title: The Merchant of Venice
• When Written: 1596–8
• Where Written: England
• When Published: 1623
• Literary Period: The Renaissance
• Genre: Comedy/tragicomedy; Revenge tragedy
• Setting: Venice, and the nearby country estate of Belmont
• Climax: The trial of Antonio, the merchant, and Shylock, the Jewish moneylender
• Antagonist: Shylock

Extra Credit for The Merchant of Venice

"Which is the merchant here? And which the Jew?" Modern audiences of Merchant of Venice often mistake Shylock for the "merchant" of the title—which actually refers to Antonio.

1. Shakespeare ( AQA GCSE English Literature )

Revision note.

The Merchant of Venice question is part of Paper 1, Section A of your GCSE. For this, you are required to write one essay-length answer to one set question. This can seem daunting at first, but this page contains some helpful information, and links to more detailed revision note pages, that will enable you to aim for the highest grade. This page includes:

• A summary of The Merchant of Venice
• A brief overview of what is required in the exam

The Merchant of Venice characters

The Merchant of Venice context

The Merchant of Venice themes

The Merchant of Venice quotes

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The Merchant of Venice summary

The Merchant of Venice was written by William Shakespeare during the late 16th century. It depicts the story of Antonio, a merchant from Venice, who fails to repay a substantial loan borrowed from a Jewish moneylender named Shylock.

It is classified as a comedy and is similar to other romantic comedies by Shakespeare. The play is largely known for its dramatic scenes and for the character of Shylock. Shylock is renowned for demanding a "pound of flesh" as retribution. The play also includes two famous speeches: one from Shylock about the nature of humanity and Portia's speech on mercy. It contains many of the typical conventions of comedy such as marriage, misconception, and disguise and gender. For more on the conventions of tragedy, see The Merchant of Venice: Writer’s Methods and Techniques page. 

The play is about Antonio, a merchant, who owes money to Shylock, a vindictive moneylender. Antonio borrows the sum on behalf of his friend, Bassanio, to woo and marry a woman named Portia. After Antonio's trading ships sink, he cannot repay the debt, prompting Shylock to demand a pound of flesh as per their agreement. However, Portia, disguised as a man, intervenes during the trial and saves Antonio. As a result, Shylock is instructed to convert to Christianity and Antonio recovers his wealth from his sunken ships. For a more detailed summary, please see The Merchant of Venice: Plot Summary page . 

How is The Merchant of Venice assessed in the exam?

• Your GCSE Paper 1 requires you to answer two questions in 1hr 45min. That means you have approximately 52 minutes to plan, write and check your Merchant of Venice essay
• Paper 1 is worth 64 marks and accounts for 40% of your overall GCSE grade
• The Merchant of Venice essay is worth 34 marks in total, because it also includes 4 marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar
• Section A of Paper 1 contains The Merchant of Venice question and you are required to answer the one available question on the play
• Your question will also include a printed extract of about 25 lines from the play
• It is a closed-book exam, which means you will not have access to a copy of the text (other than the printed extract) in your exam
• The question will require you to analyse and write in detail about an aspect of The Merchant of Venice
• Your answer will need to address both the extract from the play that you will be given, and the play as a whole

For a much more detailed guide on answering The Merchant of Venice question, please see our revision notes on How to Answer the Shakespeare Essay Question .

The characters you should focus on when revising The Merchant of Venice are:

When considering a Shakespeare play or any other text, it is crucial to remember that characters are intentionally crafted by the writer to serve a specific purpose. In many cases, these characters embody certain concepts or beliefs, and the writer, such as Shakespeare, uses them to reflect on and examine these ideas. For more details on how Shakespeare uses his characters in The Merchant of Venice, please see The Merchant of Venice: Characters revision notes page. 

Understanding what context actually is can be tricky at GCSE. Examiners understand context not as historical information, or biographical facts about a writer, but as the ideas and perspectives explored by a writer through their text. Therefore, The Merchant of Venice context you should explore in your essay response is not information about medieval Italy, or facts about William Shakespeare, but ideas about:

• Prejudice and intolerance
• Love and friendship in the Elizabethan era
• Wealth and power

Lots of these ideas and perspectives are universal, so your own opinions of them are valid and will be rewarded in an exam. For a detailed breakdown of the contextual topics listed above, see The Merchant of Venice: Context page. 

Understanding the themes that Shakespeare explores in The Merchant of Venice is one of the best approaches any student can take when revising the play. This is because to get the highest mark on your exam, you need to take what examiners call a “conceptualised approach”: a detailed and perceptive exploration of Shakespeare’s ideas and intentions. The main themes explored by Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice are:

• Justice and mercy
• Love and friendship

Shakespeare explores numerous other themes in The Merchant of Venice beyond those mentioned above and you are encouraged to examine these themes too. However, the above list makes a great place to start and detailed breakdowns of each of these themes can be found on The Merchant of Venice: Themes page.  

Although you are given credit for including quotations from The Merchant of Venice in your answer, it is not a requirement of the exam. In fact, examiners say that “references” to the rest of the play are just as valid as direct quotations: this is when students pinpoint individual moments in the play, rather than quoting what the characters say. In order to select references really successfully, it is extremely important that you know the play itself very well, including the order of the events that take place in the play. This detailed act-by-act breakdown of the plot will help you to revise the chronology of The Merchant of Venice.

However, it can also be useful to revise a few – very well selected –  quotations from the play that can be used in a variety of essays on different themes and characters. Luckily, we have made that selection for you! For a ‘translation’ and detailed analysis of each of these quotations, see The Merchant of Venice: Key Quotations page.

Please see our revision pages on the Shakespeare exam for guides on:

• Structuring The Merchant of Venice essay
• The Merchant of Venice methods and techniques
• How to include context in The Merchant of Venice essay
• Understanding The Merchant of Venice mark scheme
• A Shakespeare model answer

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Corporeality and Incorporation: The Body in Literature and Culture Pre-1800 (Graduate Student Conference)

UCI Premodern Graduate Humanities Conference 2025: February 14, 2025

Call for Papers

Corporeality and Incorporation: The Body in Literature and Culture Pre-1800

“By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is aweary of this great world.”

- Portia, Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice

The concept of embodiment was central to the way in which early cultures conceptualized human relationships—political, social, religious, economic, and affective. The body appears in global literature and culture pre-1800 as a tool for political creation, a vessel for religious experience, a space for identity construction and conflict, and a catalyst for community, among myriad other functions. Premodern communities were formed, ruptured, and reformed around the categorized and hierarchized body; corporeal appearance, ability, and experience became crucial markers of developing sociopolitical categories like race, gender, and class. The process of incorporation into community raises fraught questions about bodily agency, boundedness, and vulnerability. Premodern texts negotiate the debts of care and service that individuals owe to their communities, and what communities should offer in return. The body is also used as a vehicle of knowledge production and a lens through which different disciplines (philosophical, scientific, medical, and others) develop theories of the world. This conference is interested in exploring global premodern understandings of the body, experiences of incorporation, and the way in which these things intersect, commingle, and create tension. 

Topics could include but are not limited to: 

Embodied hierarchies: race, gender, sexuality, social status, (dis)ability, etc.

Reproduction, aging, and bodily change

Body politic(s): law, power, state formation, conquest, empire, and resistance

Body, subjectivity, and agency

Religion, ritual, and embodiment 

Community care and control

Medical humanities 

Bodily violence, trauma, and vulnerability

Death, decay, and abjection

Affect and sensory experience: pain, pleasure, desire, hunger, etc.

Physical appearance: beauty, clothing, manipulation, image construction, etc.

Non-human bodies: interspecies embodiment, post-human embodiment, ecology

Textual bodies: writing, reading, and creation

The body in movement: labor, sport, play, dance, performance

The 2025 UCI Premodern Graduate Humanities Conference will be held in person on February 14, 2025 on the campus of the University of California, Irvine (hybrid is possible, but in-person presentations are preferred). Please submit proposals via the form linked below by  November 11, 2024 . In your proposal, include a title, brief abstract of no more than 200 words, and a short biography including your university and department affiliation. We also encourage three-person panel proposals consisting of a 200-word description of the panel theme, as well as abstracts and bios for each of the individual papers. We invite abstracts from disciplines across the humanities including literature (in any language), visual arts, history, drama, anthropology, classics, and more.

Submission form: https://forms.gle/6JBUnhxJGxN3Hk5j8  

Please reach out to [email protected] if you have any questions.

Merchant of Venice

By william shakespeare, merchant of venice essay questions.

In what ways does The Merchant of Venice defy the comedic genre?

While The Merchant of Venice is firmly placed in the genre of comedy, it is a unique comedy in that it features many tropes of early modern tragedy – namely, the gruesome predilections and rhetorical skill of its central antagonist, the long-winded soliloquies interrogating major philosophical concepts, and the bleak, anxious tone that characterizes most of the play before its "twist" of a conclusion. As such, many interpret the play as an ambiguous take on the nature of prejudice and the tragic consequences it can have (though they do materialize in this play in particular).

To what extent is Shylock a true antagonist?

A major contributing factor to the play's ambiguous tone is its antagonist, Shylock. Shylock is both a selfish, money-hungry, vengeful schemer and a victim of prejudice at the hands of the Christian characters. As such, the play encourages its audience to question wether Shylock can be considered a pure villain or pure victim throughout. While he is inarguably the play's central antagonist, his character development over the course of the play asks the audience to reflect on where that antagonism may have been generated.

What, or who, triumphs at the end of the play?

Generally speaking, it is the Christian characters who triumph at the end of the play, specifically Antonio as he is freed from his contract with Shylock. However, Portia's speech during the trial (when she is disguised as Balthazar) suggests that the real victor in the play is mercy, or qualities of the righteous Christian soul. Mercy was and continues to be associated with Jesus Christ, and in speaking about the importance of mercy between Shylock and Antonio, Portia suggests that the teachings of Christianity will triumph in the end.

Why does Shylock demand a pound of Antonio's flesh instead of money?

During the trial, Shylock refuses to accept 6,000 ducats from Antonio (double the amount of the original loan). While Shylock is portrayed as a money-hungry miser throughout the play, he rejects this offer and continues to demand the pound of flesh from the original contract. This moment suggests that Shylock is not motivated entirely by money or financial gain. On the contrary, it seems his dedication to receiving the pound of flesh stems from his deep desire for revenge on a member of the Christian community, after he has suffered years of abuse at their hands for being Jewish.

How does the play comment on gender?

In one of the play's more lighthearted plots, Portia and Nerissa disguise themselves as male officials of the Venetian court in order to intervene on Antonio's behalf. While cross-dressing was always entertaining on the early modern stage, Portia's confidence that she can sway the court serves as commentary on the relationship between gender and power. Portia suggests that masculinity – and the power associated with it – is itself performative, and that it only takes a male disguise for a woman to be taken seriously among men.

Merchant of Venice Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Merchant of Venice is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Explain Portias tactics. Why does she appear to support Shylock at first?

When Portia arrives in court, she asks, "Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew?" (4.1.169). Indeed, given the confusion so many people have with the title, it is often this very question which is asked. Scholars have tried to attribute her...

Describe merchant of venice as romantic comedy

While the story hits upon the tragic element of despair, The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, is a comedy because lovers are separated, characters are in disguise, and the story has a happy ending.

ACT III SCENE 3: What do you think Shylock means when he says, “it is my humour”?

This could be defined as "this is what I feel like doing".

Study Guide for Merchant of Venice

Merchant of Venice study guide contains a biography of William Shakespeare, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Merchant of Venice
• Merchant of Venice Summary
• Merchant of Venice Video
• Character List

Essays for Merchant of Venice

Merchant of Venice literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Merchant of Venice.

• The Victorious Woman in Measure for Measure and The Merchant of Venice
• Father-Daughter Relationships in The Merchant of Venice
• Mercy and the Masquerade: Trial and Performance in The Merchant of Venice
• Christianity and Judaism in The Merchant of Venice: Imperfect Faith
• The Anti-Semitic Question in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

Lesson Plan for Merchant of Venice

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Merchant of Venice
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Merchant of Venice Bibliography

E-Text of Merchant of Venice

Merchant of Venice E-Text contains the full text of Merchant of Venice

• List of Characters

Wikipedia Entries for Merchant of Venice

• Introduction