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Section A : Drama Chapter - 1 : The Merchant of Venice About the Author William Shakespeare was born on 26th April, 1564. He was the son of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. He was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway and they had three children. William Shakespeare was an English poet and a playwright. He is regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. He wrote 37 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems. His plays are divided into four main categories: comedies, tragedies, histories and romances. His characters were always fresh and life-like. About the Play The Merchant of Venice written by the great Elizabethan dramatist, William Shakespeare, between 1596 and 1598, is a comedy exploring the themes of love, money, prejudice and social injustice. The play is classified as the comedy, because it shares the basic elements typical of all Shakespeare s comedies. However, in words of Nicholas Rose, There appears in [The Merchant of Venice] such a deadly spirit of revenge, such a savage fierceness and fellness, and such a bloody designation of cruelty and mischief, as cannot agree either with the style or characters of comedy. Bassanio, a noble but penniless Venetian, asks his wealthy merchant friend Antonio for a loan so that Bassanio can undertake a journey to woo the heiress, Portia. Antonio, whose money is invested in foreign ventures, borrows the sum from Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, on the condition that, if the loan cannot be repaid in time, Antonio will forfeit a pound of flesh. Antonio is reluctant to do business with Shylock, whom he despises for lending money at interest unlike Antonio himself, who lends money without charging any interest; Antonio considers that lending at interest violates the very spirit of Christianity. Nevertheless, he needs Shylock s money in order to be able to assist Bassanio. Bassanio goes to Belmont and is able to successfully fulfil the terms of Portia s father s will by selecting from three caskets the one that contains her portrait. Two previous wooers, the Princes of Morocco and Arragon, have failed the casket test by choosing what many men desire or what the chooser thinks he deserves ; Bassanio knows that he must paradoxically give and hazard all he hath to win the lady. Bassanio and Portia marry; news arrives that Antonio s ships have been lost at sea. Unable to collect all his loan, Shylock attempts to use the signed bond to enforce a terrible, murderous revenge on Antonio: he demands his pound of flesh. Part of Shylock s desire for vengeance is motivated by the way in which the Christians of the play have conspired together to enable his daughter Jessica to elope from his house, taking with her a substantial portion of his wealth, in order to become the bride of the Christian Lorenzo. Shylock s revengeful plan is foiled by Portia, who disguised as a lawyer, turns the tables on Shylock by a legal quibble: he must take flesh only, and Shylock must die if any blood is spilled. Thus, the contract is cancelled, and Shylock is ordered to give half of his estate to Antonio, who agrees not to take the money if Shylock converts to Christianity and restores his disinherited daughter to his will. Shylock has little choice but to agree. The play ends with the news that some of Antonio s ships have arrived safely. The character of Shylock has been the subject of modern scholarly debate over whether the playwright displays anti-Semitism or religious tolerance in his characterization, for, despite his stereotypical depiction as a shrewd and greedy moneylender, Shylock is depicted as understandably full of hate, having been both verbally and physically abused by Christians, and he is given one of Shakespeare s most eloquent speeches ( Hath not a Jew eyes? ). Shylock is the embodiment of justice. His nature knows no mercy as none is ever shown to him. In business and religion, Shylock is under a ban. The object of centuries of injustice and abuse, he is the very incarnation of hatred. He holds rigidly to the law, for the reason that it is all the protection he has, and for the further reason that his religion is one of stern obedience to form. He would murder Antonio, legally, because Antonio stands for all that he hates, and personally, because of Antonio s ill-treatment of himself. Shylock is no stupid, brutal, miserly thief. Shakespeare has made him the mouthpiece for rallying against the anti-christian traits of those who proclaim themselves to be Christians. Meanwhile, Shakespeare seems in Portia to have realized his best conception of womankind. There is in her a sweetness and dignity and tenderness that characterizes her as belonging to the highest type of womanhood. Wherever she moves there emanates, the grace of one to the manor born, the embodiment of wealth and
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