The Merchant of Venice

“Let me play the fool,

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come,

And let my liver rather heat with wine

Than my heart cool with mortifying groans.” 

Gratiano concludes that if the world is merely a stage—a common Shakespearean metaphor and one Antonio endorses—then there is little purpose in playing a melancholy individual. Compared to all other parts, Gratiano says, it is best to play the fool because it is the most fun. Yet Antonio and Gratiano’s insistence that the world is a stage is predicated on the notion that humans choose which part they play. This is complicated by Shylock, who can be viewed as a hero or a villain depending on one’s perspective.

“To you, Antonio,

I owe the most in money and in love,

And from your love I have a warranty

To unburthen all my plots and purposes

How to get clear of all the debts I owe.” 

If the audience takes Bassanio at his word, his highest allegiance is to Antonio rather than Portia. From this perspective, his wooing of Portia is designed primarily to procure a fortune so he can pay his debts to Antonio. Theirs is only one of the relationships in The Merchant of Venice that is transactional in nature. Furthermore, this quote adds support to the theory that Antonio and Bassanio are romantically involved.

“But this reasoning is not in the fashion to choose me a husband. O me, the word ‘choose’! I may neither choose who I would, nor refuse who I dislike. So is the will of a living daughter curbed by the will of a dead father.” 

This quote reflects the extent to which men, even in death, may exert their will on the women in their lives. Portia’s lack of control and agency makes her one of the play’s more sympathetic characters, despite numerous examples of questionable behavior and motives. The fact that she cannot expect fair treatment because of her gender gives her something in common with Shylock, who cannot expect fair treatment because of his religion.

“I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you.”

Shylock elucidates the social position of Jews in 16th-century Venice and, by extension, the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras during which Shakespeare wrote. Because Shylock is treated as a second-class citizen, he participates in mainstream Christian society, but only to a point. Ultimately, he relies on his own community and is right to distrust Christian nobles like Bassanio and Antonio. This is consistent with a reading of the play that casts Shylock as a tragic hero rather than a villain.

“Mark you this, Bassanio,

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose!

An evil soul producing holy witness

Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,

A goodly apple rotten at the heart.

O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!”

The notion that appearances can be deceiving is one of the most common themes found in The Merchant of Venice. Here Antonio is referring to Shylock, yet the irony is that Antonio’s words better describe himself and his Christian peers. Throughout the play they claim to value mercy and grace, and they do so using the eloquent language of the moral and social elite. Their actions, however, frequently betray these values.

“What should I say to you? Should I not say,

‘Hath a dog money? Is it possible

A cur can lend three thousand ducats?’ Or

Shall I bend low and in a bondman’s key,

With bated breath and whisp’ring humbleness,

Say this: ‘Fair sir, you spet on me on Wednesday last,

You spurned me such a day; another time

You called me dog; and for these courtesies

I’ll lend you thus much moneys’?” 

As a member of a hated and marginalized community, Shylock must fight to maintain his dignity when dealing with noblemen like Antonio. Antonio has done nothing but insult Shylock with anti-Semitic barbs and threaten his livelihood and that of his family. Keeping this in mind, Shylock’s insistence that Antonio offer up a pound of flesh for collateral—grotesque as it is—reflects the moneylender’s defiance in the face of hatred and discrimination.

“O father Abram, what these Christians are,

Whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect

The thoughts of others!”

Shylock points out the extent to which hatred of an outside group is often rooted in a projection of one’s own moral failings. To varying degrees, the Christian characters all engage in morally suspect behavior, including deceit, profligacy, and cutthroat business tactics. Rather than confront these behaviors in themselves, the Christian characters treat Jews like Shylock as scapegoats for everything they hate in themselves and their own society.

“Mislike me not for my complexion,

The shadowed livery of the burnished sun,

To whom I am a neighbor and near bred.

Bring me the fairest creature northward born,

Where Phoebus’ fire scarce thaws the icicles,

And let us make incision for your love,

To prove whose blood is reddest, his or mine.” 

Blood is a motif Shakespeare revisits throughout the play, particularly with respect to non-White, non-Christian characters. Here, the prince of Morocco preempts Portia’s racist attitudes toward his darker skin by emphasizing that his blood is as red as that of any of her White suitors, if not redder. Speeches like this, which emphasize the shared humanity across all races and religions, fly in the face of many of the principal characters’ efforts to dehumanize marginalized individuals.

“I am not bid for love. They flatter me.

But yet I’ll go in hate, to feed upon

The prodigal Christian.” 

Shylock makes a joking reference to one of the ugliest pieces of anti-Semitic propaganda in Western history: the blood libel. As early as the 12th century, Europeans spread the hateful lie that Jews routinely engage in the ritualized murder of Christians for the purpose of drinking their blood. This abominable conspiracy theory has proven surprisingly durable, persisting well into the 21st century, particularly in Russia and the Middle East.

“All that glisters is not gold—

Often have you heard that told;

Many a man his life hath sold

But my outside to behold.

Gilded tombs do worms infold.” 

The theme of deceptive appearances emerges once again, this time in the context of the three caskets suitors choose as they attempt to woo Portia. It is perhaps ironic that the prince of Morocco is the one who chooses the gold casket based on appearances, given that only a few scenes earlier he warned Portia not to judge him by his dark skin because his blood runs redder than any of her White suitors. Finally, the popular expression “all that glitters is not gold” is a derivative of this quote, testifying to the enduring nature of the text.

“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.”

Shylock undermines the Christian characters’ hateful belief that Jews like him care only for material goods. Of all the valuables Jessica stole, the loss of the turquoise ring is most devastating to him, given that it was a gift from his late wife Leah. That this example of sentimentality comes when Shylock is in conversation with Tubal, another Jew, is no accident. It is a rare and welcome moment when Shylock is shown interacting within his own community rather than acting as an outsider in Christian society. Among his own people, Shylock shows a vulnerability he cannot afford to express when dealing with anti-Semites like Antonio.

“Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal. It was my turquoise, I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor. I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys.”

Shylock undermines the Christian characters’ hateful belief that Jews like him care only for material goods. Of all the valuables Jessica stole, the loss of the turquoise ring is most devastating to him, given that it was a gift from his late wife Leah. That this example of sentimentality comes when Shylock is in conversation with Tubal, another Jew, is no accident. It is a rare and welcome moment when Shylock is shown interacting within his own community rather than acting as an outsider in Christian society. Among his own people, Shylock shows a vulnerability he cannot afford to express when dealing with anti-Semites like Antonio.

“Tell me where is fancy bred,

Or in the heart, or in the head?

How begot, how nourished?

Reply, reply.

It is engendered in the eyes,

With gazing fed, and fancy dies

In the cradle where it lies.

Let us all ring fancy’s knell.

I’ll begin it. Ding, dong, bell.”

At first glance it may seem odd that the chorus welcomes the death of “fancy” in the context of a celebration over Bassanio and Portia’s impending nuptials. Yet consider that in Shakespeare’s time, “fancy” often meant a shallow form of affection that is distinct from love and wholly inferior to it. Taking that into consideration, this poem is yet another expression that appearances are deceiving, in that appearances breed mere fleeting fancy while true love is rooted in a more profound form of affection.

“So may the outward shows be least themselves;

The world is still deceived with ornament.

In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt

But, being seasoned with a gracious voice,

Obscures the show of evil?” 

This quote all but confirms the purpose and conclusions of the poem sung in the wake of Bassanio’s correct selection of the lead casket. Beyond that, however, there is a deeper meaning. During the court proceedings, Christian characters like Portia, Bassanio, and the duke will petition on behalf of lofty percepts of mercy and virtue in a “gracious voice.” Yet particularly in the case of Portia, her role in the proceedings is just as adversarial and cutthroat as Shylock’s—the main difference is that she wraps her rhetoric in eloquent tones and pleas for mercy.

“I freely told you all the wealth I had

Ran in my veins: I was a gentleman.” 

Blood again emerges as an important motif, only here it reinforces the structural inequities of Venetian society rather than challenges them. Though Bassanio has squandered his fortune through profligacy and poor judgment, he points to his noble blood as a signifier of his worth. To him, his White skin and noble birth will always make him superior to Jews or members of other out-groups, no matter how smart or successful they are.

“Thou call’dst me dog before thou hadst a cause,

But since I am a dog, beware my fangs.”

Having faced a lifetime of unjust stigmatization, Shylock loses little by embracing the stigma. If men like Antonio believe him to be vicious and inhuman before even knowing him, it is difficult to blame Shylock for adopting the characteristics associated with the label society foisted onto him. Seen through this lens, Shylock’s dogged pursuit of a pound of Antonio’s flesh constitutes both a fitting act of vengeance and a commentary on Jewish stereotypes. It is an open question, however, whether that commentary is enough to outweigh the extent to which the play perpetuates said stereotypes.

“Some men there are love not a gaping pig;

Some that are mad if they behold a cat;

And others, when the bagpipe sings i’ th’ nose,

Cannot contain their urine; for affection,

Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood

Of what it likes or loathes. Now for you answer:

As there is no firm reason to be rendered

Why he cannot abide a gaping pig;

Why he a harmless necessary cat;

Why he a woolen bagpipe, but of force

Must yield to such inevitable shame

As to offend, himself being offended;

So can I give no reason, nor I will not,

More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing

I bear Antonio, that I follow thus

A losing suit against him. Are you answered?”

When the court commands Shylock to provide a reasonable explanation for his insistence that he receive a pound of Antonio’s flesh, the moneylender reacts with characteristic defiance. His answer is essentially a variation of “this is what I feel like doing, and the law gives me the right to do it.” Although this beguiles his adversaries, the answer constitutes a simple demand that he be treated equally under the law. If the consequences of this equal treatment are grotesque, then the flaw is not in Shylock but in the system of laws maintained and upheld by mainstream Christian society.

“BASSANIO: Do all men kill the things they do not love?

SHYLOCK: Hates any man the thing he would not kill?

BASSANIO: Every offense is not a hate at first.

SHYLOCK: What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice?” 

This exchange reveals a fundamental divide between the respective lived experiences of Bassanio and Shylock. A White Christian nobleman like Bassanio looks at Shylock’s behavior as that of a barbaric predator. His privilege makes it impossible to imagine himself acting in a similar way. However, he fails to recognize or acknowledge Shylock’s status as a victim who is finally fighting back against an anti-Semitic society.

“What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong?

You have among you many a purchased slave,

Which like your asses, and your dogs and mules,

You use in abject and in slavish parts

Because you bought them. Shall I say to you,

‘Let them be free! Marry them to your heirs!

Why sweat they under burthens? Let their beds

Be made as soft as yours, and let their palates

Be seasoned with such viands’? You will answer,

‘The slaves are ours!’ So do I answer you:

The pound of flesh which I demand of him

Is dearly bought; ’tis mine and I will have it.” 

Once again, Shylock exposes the hypocrisy of the court and the system of laws that perpetuate human suffering on a massive scale. While Shylock’s lawful demand of a pound of Antonio’s flesh is grotesque, it weighs little against the trauma inflicted on enslaved people by the duke and other members of the court. If the laws of Venice enshrine such widespread barbarity as comes with slavery, Shylock concludes, then the slicing of a mere pound of human flesh should be of little concern to the court.

“The quality of mercy is not strained,

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 [...]

It is an attribute to God himself;

And earthly power doth then show likest God’s

When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,

Though justice be thy plea, consider this:

That in the course of justice none of us

Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy,

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render

The deeds of mercy.” 

This is another of the most frequently quoted passages across Shakespeare’s entire lexicon. Portia speaks eloquently and persuasively of the dual power of mercy, which honors both the giver and receiver with God’s grace. The quote is complicated, however, by the context in which it is performed. Portia’s ultimate intent is to pronounce a thoroughly ruinous judgment on Shylock’s head. True, the judgment gives Antonio and the duke opportunities to show Shylock mercy even though he refused it to others. Yet their mercy comes with strings attached, specifically Shylock’s abandonment of his Jewish heritage and identity as he converts to Christianity.

“And I beseech you,

Wrest once the law to your authority.

To do a great right, do a little wrong,

And curb this cruel devil of his will.”

To Bassanio, the law exists to protect White Christian noblemen like himself. Thus, he sees no harm in breaking the law for the sake of protecting a member of his class and religion at the expense of a Jew, who to Bassanio is nothing more than a “cruel devil.” Though borne out of genuine affection for his friend, Bassanio’s efforts to save Antonio expose the hypocrisy of the Christian Venetian ruling class with respect to the law.

“Nay, take my life and all. Pardon not that.

You take my house when you do take the prop

That doth sustain my house; you take my life

When you do take the means whereby I live.” 

The court’s mercy, of which Portia speaks so eloquently during the proceeding, involves depriving Shylock of half his estate and inflicting severe damage on his livelihood. True, Antonio later allows Shylock to keep his estate until his death, but this is contingent on his conversion to Christianity, which will alienate him from his community. Like a plea bargain that rescues an individual from jail but leaves them with a felony record that haunts them for life, the court’s judgment leaves Shylock in a desperate condition under the guise of mercy.

“The man that hath no music in himself,

Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,

Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils;

The motions of his spirit are dull as night,

And his affections dark as Erebus.

Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.”

Following the climactic trial, the play adopts a lighter tone that is more in line with Shakespeare’s other comedies. The narrative drops in on Lorenzo and Jessica as they whisper romantic murmurs to one another in the moonlight. Yet there is a darker undercurrent to Lorenzo’s musings. When he speaks of men who are fit for “treasons, stratagems, and spoils,” he could be describing virtually every other character in the play. Even Lorenzo and Jessica were reduced to betrayal and deceit in their efforts to elope. Only in Belmont are the characters protected from the treacheries of Venice.