shakespeare's the merchant of venice - the way i have allowed myself to think the title of the...

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE- THE WAY I HAVE ADMIRED MYSELF TO THINK AT ‘WHO THE MERCHANT ON REGARD TO THE

PLAY IS’ -

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(I TRIED TO COMBINE THE NATIVE WORK WITH A-CONTEXTUAL METAPHOR TO PORTRAIT THE LOCAL COLOUR OF THE DRAMA: ON BASIS OF‘TWO

LEGENDS RESPECTIVELY’)

“AFTER ONLY MEMORIZING THE DETAIL OF ORIGINAL SHAKESPEARIAN DRAMA, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE”-

BASED ON THE PLAY THAT ONLY, UPHELD ‘’MY, PERSONAL- DETAIL- SETTING OF THOUGHTS WITH OWN ANALYSIS, ALONG WITH AFEW CHANGES ON REFERENTIAL-TRUTH” -

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SHYLOCK

“My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter!

Fled with a Christian ! O my Christian ducats!”

Portia in the Trial Scene, gives Shylock every chance to escape from the punishment to which he would become liable if she feels compelled to pronounce the judgement which she has already decided upon and planned for the rescue of Antonio from his clutches. She tempts Shylock with offer of money, but fails in her effort. She appeals to him to show mercy to Antonio; but here too she fails. Indeed her “Quality of Mercy” speech would have moved the stoniest of hearts that she gives a strictly literal interpretation of the bond in order to save an innocent man. It is her ingenuity that saves Antonio’s life, we cannot help feeling that she allows the Christians to impose upon Shylock the maximum punishment which is permissible under the law though they certainly spare his life. We would have admired her even more if she had allowed Shylock to withdraw from the court when he says that he is willing to wash his hands of the whole affair, and would no longer stay to discuss the matter. But of, she stops him, saying that the law has yet another hold upon him, and it is at this point that Christians treat the Jew with nearly the same cruelty with which he had wanted to treat Antonio.

ANTONIO, the merchant of the play’s title. He is good and generous man, who promises to pay Shylock the money, borrowed by Bassanio or else allow Shylock to cut off a pound of his flesh.

His part in the play is rather a passive one, and he reveals his character mainly in his generousity to his friend and in his hatred of the Jew. (Oxford Edition: Shakespeare)

Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you;For herein Fortune shows herself more kind

Than is her custom: it is still her useTo let the wretched man outlive his wealth,To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow

An age of poverty;

Portia is one character who, at the beginning of the play, resents the situation in which she is placed. Her father, who is now dead, devised a test for selecting the man that his daughter should marry; in Portia’s words, ‘the will of a living daughter [is] curbed by the will of a dead father.’ Fortunately for Portia, the right man makes the right choice, and she is given to the man she loves. Portia does not think to question a man’s right to the ownership of all his wife’s possessions; in fact, she seems glad when she tells Bassanio,

‘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.’

One of the most characteristic features of Shakespeare’s use of the English language is BOLDNESS. It is a predominant feature of his art as a poet. Another trait in Shakespeare’s language is the proximity of his poetical diction to his ordinary prose. He uses very few poetical diction to his ordinary prose. He uses very few poetical words or forms, and he achieves his finest poetical effect without stepping outside his ordinary vocabulary and grammar. “The greatness of Shakespeare’s influence does not consist in the number of new words which he added to the literary vocabulary… but in the multitude of phrases derived from his writings which have entered into the texture of the diction of literature and daily conversation. If, therefore, Shakespeare has not enriched the language with many new words, he has certainly enriched it with a very large number of significant phrases and almost proverbial expressions” which have become household words. “It is in a multitude of phrases, above all else, that Shakespeare’s language may be said to live in the full sense of the word.” We use these words almost daily without the slightest knowledge that they have come from the immortal pen of Shakespeare.

SCENE AT A GLANCE IN ACT I SCENE 1:

Antonio, Salarino and Salenio and his other friends discuss the cause of Antonio’s sadness but fail to understand it. > Dangers of the sea, love, concern for public opinion and need to appear wise are suggested as causes; all of which Antonio rejects.> After the other friends leave, Bassanio discloses to Antonio his need for money to marry Portia.> Antonio declares that he has no money at hand because all of it is being used for trading. > Antonio offers his name or reputation to raise money for Bassanio.

All the theatres of London during the Elizabethan era had individual differences; yet their common function necessitated a similar general plan. The public theatres were three stories high, and built around an open space at the centre. Usually polygonal in plan to give an overall rounded effect, the three levels of inward- facing galleries overlooked the open centre, into which jutted the stage- essentially a platform surrounded on three sides by the audience, only the rear being restricted for the entry and exit of the actors and seating for the musicians. The upper level behind the stage was used as a balcony.


Portia and Nerissa discuss Portia’s father’s will according to which her suitors must choose one of the three caskets in order to win her. > Some of the suitors have already come in the hope of marrying her; but Portia makes fun of them and shows her dislike. > Nerissa reminds her of Bassanio whom she had found quite attractive.

Shakespeare’s boldness in sentence-structure is also an obvious characteristic. Language is not merely a matter of words and inflections. There are many conventional features which form an essential part of the language-matters of idiom and usage that defy explanation or logical classification. There are some bold features with regard to sentence-structure which we often meet with in Shakespeare. There are a few phrases reminiscent of Shakespeare whose use in Modern English has been based on misunderstanding. Such phrases have remained in currency and are now found with a meaning other than that which Shakespeare had intended. These phrases are misapplied in Modern English.

Shakespeare is the greatest master of English poetry and as such has wielded a great influence over the English language as well as over poetic and archaic language generally. No other individual writer has exercised so much influence on the English language as Shakespeare has done. His influence on the language is very much akin to that of the Bible translations. When, in the Trial Scene, the Duke asks Shylock to relent and show pity on Antonio, Shylock replies:

-And by our holy Sabbath have I sword

“My writing on the subject of ‘The Merchant of Venice’ with a more analytical view would never been possible without the ‘tremendous’ curiosity and ecstasy in knowing of and at listening to the play happened to majority of my students. They had a keen interest in knowing from me whom do, I only, think after the play as Real Merchant of Venice: therefore, the real hero only accords to the play..…!”-

Rituparna Ray Chaudhuri.

Date and Text

1596 is the most likely date for The Merchant of Venice, for in that year a wealthy Spanish ship was much in the news. The ship had run aground in the harbor at Cadiz, where it was captured and brought to England. It is this event that Salerio is referring to in Act 1, Scene 1, lines 25-9:

I should not see the sandy hour-glass run,But I should think of shallows and of flats,

And see my wealthy Andrew dock'd in sand,Vailing her high-top lower than her ribs

To kiss her burial.

The earliest text of the play was the Quarto published in 1600, and this is followed in the present edition- Oxford Shakespeare.

Shylock is one of Shakespeare’s most interesting creations from the point of view of language. Even though there were Jews in England during Shakespeare’s time their number was not large enough to enable the hearers to be familiar with the Jewish type of language or any Anglo-Jewish dialect that might have developed. If that were so then this dialect could have been put into Shylock’s mouth. But of, there is not a single trait in Shylock’s language which can be called distinctly Jewish. And yet Shakespeare has successful in creating for Shylock a language different from that of anybody else. This creation of a new language only for Shylock which was not the Jewish type and which was not regular in the Shakespearean language has stamped the character with a peculiar mark of individuality not to be found in any other character. Shylock has his Old Testament at his finger’s ends: When Antonio comes to Shylock for the loan, Shylock begins his reference to Jacob’s (in the Old Testament) way of making profits and starts citing Scripture for his purpose (M.V. I.III.67-68) He defends his own way of making money breed like Jacob’s thrift in breeding lambs: On being asked by Antonio if Jacob charged interest as Shylock did, Shylock tries to

defend his charging interest no doubt, but not exactly in the way in which Jacob made his profits(M.V. I.III.71-82) He swears by Jacob’s staff and the holy Sabbath: When dining out Shylock says to Jessica:-

“By Jacob’s staff, I swear,

I have no mind of feasting forth tonight;

But I will go”.

(The reference is to Genesis XXXII, 10 where Jacob says-“With my staff I passed over the Jordan”)


Antonio is forced to borrow money from Shylock whom he has insulted for years.> After initial hesitation, Shylock agrees to loan Antonio. > Not for interest, but under a special agreement, a ‘bond’.> According to the bond, if Antonio fails to repay his debt in time, Shylock will have the right to remove one pound in weight of Antonio’s flesh.

Shylock, the money-lender who is hated because he is a Jew, explains how prejudice works. He calls it ‘affection’, and shows the relationship between prejudice and the emotions:

“affection, Master of passion, sways it to the mood

Of what it likes and loathes.’’ Certain words like thou, thee, ‘tis, mine eyes, morrow ,etc., now form parts of the conventional language of poetry; but Shakespeare uses them in poetry not because they are parts of the conventional language of poetry, but because they are parts of the conventional language of poetry, but because these were everyday colloquialisms during his time.

ANTONIOBelieve me, no: I thank my fortune for it,

My ventures are not in one bottom trusted,Nor to one place; nor is my whole estate

Upon the fortune of this present year:Therefore my merchandise makes me not sad.

To have the due and forfeit of my bond. - (M.V. IV. I., 36-38) (To Note: Swearing by holy Sabbath is a characteristically Jewish oath); He again tauntingly addresses his servant Launcelot by calling him: “Hagar’s (servant of Sarah, Abraham’s wife) offspring.”He is afraid of violating an oath which is an offence according to the Jewish Scriptures: When Portia offers Shylock three thousand ducats, he bluntly declines the offer, saying:“An oath, an oath, I have an oath in heaven; Shall I lay perjury upon my soul?” (M.V. IV. I., 231-32)

(N.B. Violation of an oath was severely condemned by the Jewish Scriptures)He uses some Biblical words which do not occur elsewhere in Shakespeare: Synagogue (place of worship) (III. 1. 115) Nazarite (inhabitant of Nazareth) (1. III.32) Publican (Roman tax-collector, an object of contempt to the Jews) (1. III.38).He uses some words or constructions a little different from the accepted use of his time: Advantage (in place of ‘interest’ which was the accepted use).

SCENE AT A GLANCE IN ACT 2 SCENE 2 :

Launcelot is taunted by his conscience to leave Shylock’s service and join the service of Bassanio. > Launcelot decides to do it. > He meets his own father and taunts him by pretending to br dead for fun. >Launcelot meets Bassanio and enters his service. > Gratiano persuades Bassanio to let him go with him to Belmont, to which Bassanio agrees.

“The setting of a play is significant as it provides the necessary back drop for the events to occur and provides the mood and meaning to the work of art. The action of The Merchant of Venice takes place in Venice and in Belmont, away from the Elizabethan audience of England. Both the places are remote to London and their remoteness gives the play a romantic colouring. Adventurous merchants like Antonio were highly honoured in the Elizabethan Age, an Age known for travel and discovery. Bassanio, represents such a young spendthrift who used to live a splendid and extravagant life which many a times, perhaps, were much beyond the means. On the other hand, we see Shylock as a traditional figure of the Jewish moneylender. He is shown not merely as a Jew in the play, but a Jew in the Christian society who is oppressed and hated as Shylock himself mentions in the course of the play.”- Self, Edited from Workbook.

SCENE AT A GLANCE IN ACT 2 SCENE 5:

Shylock tells Jessica to lock up ther house while he goes to sup with Bassanio. > Shylock fears that something is wrong.> But of, he is pleased that Launcelot has left his service and joined the service of Bassanio. > Shylock leaves to dine, Left alone, Jessica bids farewell to her father.> Jessica is at home and her father absolutely trusts her, which serves to heighten her betrayal.

Usance (in place of ‘usuary’, ‘interest on loan’ which was the accepted use).Moneys (plural) (in place of ‘money’)Equal (in place of ‘exact which was the accepted use).Estimable (in place of ‘exact which was the accepted use).Rheum (in place of ‘saliva’ which was the accepted use).Fulsome (in pace of ‘lustful’ which was the accepted use).He alone uses some words not used by anybody else:Eanling (young lamb) (I.III.76);Misbeliever (unbeliever) ((I.III.100);Bane (rare use of the word as verb meaning ‘to kill by poison) (IV.I. 46)his

syntax is peculiar: Rent out(where the mind should only be ‘rend’) ; (II, V. 5)So following (where ‘and so forth’ is the regular Shakespearian phrase) (I.III.34)I have no mind of feasting forth tonight (where it should be ‘no mind to’) (II.V. 37)

SALARINOMy wind cooling my broth

Would blow me to an ague, when I thoughtWhat harm a wind too great at sea might do.

Jespersen explains the position of English held a few centuries ago by quoting a few extracts from different writers of old. Only two or three centuries ago, he says, English was spoken by so few people that no one could dream of its ever becoming a world language. It was observed by one English writer in 1582 that “the English tongue is of small reach, stretching no further than this land of ours.” An Italian comment was that “it was worthless beyond Dover.” There were various other observations about the English language at that time or even later which pointed to the fact that no one abroad could read the writings of the English authors and even those who “learned English by necessity forgot it”, and there were a “small number of scholars on the continent able to read English.” In the early part of the eighteenth century was published a dictionary of four chief languages of Europe in which English had no place. These were Italian, French, German and Latin. But of, the position has now changed and English today finds a place in the lost of the chief languages because political, social and literary importance it is second to none and because it is the mother tongue of a greater number of human beings than any of its competitors.

SCENE AT A GLANCE IN ACT 2 SCENE 6

Gratiano and Salarino wait outside Shylock’s house in a street in Venice, waiting for Lorenzo. > Lorenzo is supposed to meet Jessica and elope.> Lorenzo arrives late and apologizes to his friends. > Jessica arrives cross-dressed as a boy with some of Shylock’s money and wealth. Jessica and Lorenzo elope.> Antonio meet Gratiano and informs him that the party is called off and Bassanio and Gratiano are sail to Belmont as soon as possible as the wind has changed and it is the right time to sail.

The reason for this boldness of syntax is that Shakespeare did not write his plays to be read and dwelt on by the eye but to be heard by a sympathetic audience. Shakespeare’s syntax, therefore is unfettered by bookish impositions. The drama represents the unstudied utterance of people under all kinds and degrees of emotion, pain and passion. Its syntax, to be truly representative, must be familiar, conversational, spontaneous; hot studied and formal. Thus we find that in Shylock’s language there are many deviations from Shakespeare’s ordinary language, many expressions used by Shylock alone and by none

other of his characters. It shows, therefore, that Shakespeare made Shylock’s language peculiar on purpose to stamp him as a being out of the common sort and in order to mark him off as a Jew from the common Christian. The Prince of Morocco confronts Portia with a powerful argument against prejudice. Find a fair skinned northern prince, he urges her, and let the two of them ‘make incision’ in their flesh. From both bodies, the blood that flows will be re the argument is taken up in a later scene by Shylock, and the opening lines of Shylock’s speech are often quoted to demonstrate Shakespeare’s lack of prejudice and refusal to discriminate against individuals on grounds of race or religion.


The Prince of Morocco arrives at Portia’s household to make his choice of casket.> He ponders over the inscriptions on each of the casket aloud. > He chooses the gold casket and finds a skull in it. > Being unsuccessful, the Prince of Morocco leaves the place. > Portia sees it as a ‘gentle’ riddance.

SHYLOCK, a money-lender, who is hated for his greed and because he is a Jew. He is Antonio’s enemy, and when Bassanio’s money is not repaid he demands the pound of flesh that Antonio promised as a forfeit… (Oxford Edition: Shakespeare)

When it is paid according to the tenor.It doth appear you are a worthy judge;

You know the law, your expositionHath been most sound:

In The Merchant of Venice Shakespeare acknowledges the existence of prejudice, and he makes use of it to suit his dramatic ends. He was an entertainer, not a reformer. His play cannot be read as propaganda for the abolition of prejudice; at most, it recommends that we should sometimes remember there is a human being inside the skin. The different social classes are clearly indicated in The Merchant of Venice, but the linguistic ‘markers’ that Shakespeare uses are not as familiar to a twentieth-century audience as they were to Shakespeare’s contemporaries. The pronouns ‘you’ and ‘thou’ are very significant, and almost imperceptibly define the relationships between the characters. ‘You’ is neutral, formal and polite, whilst ‘thou’ is affectionate, condescending, or contemptuous. Bassanio always speaks to Antonio as ‘you’, but to Gratiano as ‘thou’; Antonio mostly uses the formal word, but with Bassanio he allows himself the occasional ‘thou’ of affection, and with Shylock the dismissive ‘thou’ of contempt. As long as Old Gobbo believes that he is speaking to a young gentleman, he adopts the ‘you’ which is appropriate when addressing a superior; but when he knows he is speaking to his son, his recognition is expressed through

the pronoun: ‘I’ll be sworn if thou be Launcelot…’is by such small details that English social status is revealed.


Salarino and Salanio reveal that Bassanio has left for Belmont. > Lorenzo and Jessica havenot accompanied them. > Shylock comes to know of the elopement and goes to the Duke of Venice to get the ship searched. > Antonio at the dock assures the Jew of the elopers’ absence in the ship. >Shylock is confounded by the loss of his wealth and the elopement of his daughter. > Salarino reports that he has come to know that a Venetian ship has sunk in the English Channel. > Salanio asks Salarino to convey the news to Antonio carefully.

“This fastidiousness, this hatred of excess, did much to shape his common-sense and middle-of-the-road politics. The qualities he most disliked were pretentiousness and hypocrisy. His central belief was in the natural discipline of an ordered hypocrisy. His central belief was in the natural discipline of an ordered society, that order being proclaimed by the nature of the universe, the monarchy stood to the nation as the heavens to the earth, while the stars in their courses proclaimed the scared necessity of a stable regimen.” Ivor Brown: Belief in Order and Discipline.


The Prince of Arragon comes with his servants to Belmont, to Portia’s household. > The Prince of Arragon tries his luck and chooses the silver casket which contains an idiot’s head.> He has chosen wrong casket and leaves immediately.> A servant brings the news that a young Venetian has come to Belmont.

The Merchant of Venice confirms Shylock as a villain, as monstrous a creature as any in the drama of Shakespeare’s time. Indeed, English drama since the seventeenth century has failed to produce Shylock’s equal. The Jew was a figure hated and feared by the Elizabethans, but the reasons for their hatred are not at all simple. Superstitions was a main one, arising out of medieval legends such as that of St. Hugh of Lincoln, a little boy who was rare, but religion gave the English Christians a good excuse for persecuting the foreigners who had come to live amongst them. Dislike of the aliens was intensified by the prosperity of some Jews, whose success in business enterprises sometimes made the native English dependent on the immigrants. Parallel cases of suspicion and jealousy are not hard to find in the modern world.


Bassanio has arrived at Belmont. He is about to choose the casket. > Portia asks him to take the necessary time, but Bassanio hastens to choose the casket. Portia also expresses her love

for Bassanio, but aside. > He chooses the correct casket (the lead) amidst a song about the difference between appearance and reality; and wins Portia.

Clerk[Reads]

Your grace shall understand that at the receipt ofyour letter I am very sick: but in the instant that

your messenger came, in loving visitation was withme a young doctor of Rome; his name is Balthasar.


Helpless, trapped Antonio is walking around in the streets of Venice bound by a jailor.> Shylock takes delight at seeing him helpless. Antonio pleas for mercy, but Shylock is in no mood to listen to Antonio’s pleas. > Shylock insists that he wants his bond and nothing else. >Antonio does not see any prospect of escaping the Jew’s merciless aims as Venetian laws approve of it. > Antonio only hopes that Bassanio will be there with him in his final hour.

The question which now arises as whether ‘this title is appropriate and whether Antonio is really the hero of the play. Shylock is certainly the most towering personality in the play even though in the court scene he is eclipsed and vanquished by Portia. Portia undoubtedly defeats him, thwarts him, and renders him absolutely helpless; but till this point in the play it reached it was Shylock who had impressed us as the most dynamic and the most formidable person in the play. And yet he cannot be designated as the hero of the play because hero must have a certain degree of moral goodness in him while Shylock is a malicious and revengeful man. Shylock is a usurer and usuary is definitely a stigma on the name of a man. Besides, Shylock is a fanatical Jew who is intolerant of Christians; he is a miser in whose service Lancelot is farnished; he is a tyrannical cunning, crafty, heartless, merciless and vindictive man. Such an individual cannot be called the hero of the play or the novel. Antonio on the other hand does possess certain specific virtues and is morally far superior to Shylock even though he suffers from a couple of faults and failings such as a melancholy and sullen nature and religious fanaticism. Antonio is kind-hearted and generous to needy persons; and he is a very devoted friend of Bassanio. He enjoys an excellent reputation in Venice and the Duke has a high opinion about him. It was therefore only the right course for Shakespeare to have named the play for Antonio.

Shylock took the story of Shylock’s bond from an Italian novel, but the money-lending Jew in this source has no personality, and no daughter. Consequently, we can assume that Shylock is Shakespeare’s own creation: all the personality traits that we find in him were deliberately worked out by the dramatist, and not bore rowed accidentally along the plot.


Portia decides to assist Antonio and makes a plan. > She asks Lorenzo and Jessica to be the in charge of her house, which they accept. > Portia sends her servant Balthazar to Padua for information from the legal expert, Doctor Bellario, and asks him to be quick. > Portia tells Nerissa that both of them will cross dress, and on the way to Venice she will disclose the future plans to her.

“A dramatist is no more able than anybody else to bestow upon his characters talents which he does not himself possess. If – as critics are agreed- Shakespeare’s characters show humour, Shakespeare must have a sense of humour himself. But a man’s humour and fancy are functions of his character as well as of his reason. To appreciate them clearly is to know how he feels as well as how he argues: what are the aspects of life which especially impress him, and what morals are most congenial. I do not see how the critic can claim an instructive perception of the Shakespearean mode of thought without a perception of some sides of his character. You distinguish Shakespeare’s work from his rivals’ as confidently as any expert judging of hand-writing. You admit, too, that you can give a very fair account of the characteristics of the other writer. Then surely you can tell me-or at least you know “implicitly”- what is the quality in which they are defective and Shakespeare pre-eminent.” (Leslie Stephen: Self – Revelation)

The action of the play takes place in Venice and in Belmont. Belmont is imaginary, but Venice is real. The city is located on the sea coast in the north of Italy, and is in fact built over a lagoon. Its main streets are canals, and the only vehicles are boats. In the sixteenth century, Venice was the centre for international trade, importing goods from all corners of the earth, and exporting them in the same way. We are told that Antonio, the greatest of the merchants, is waiting for his ships to return-

From Tripolis, from Mexico, and England,

From Lisbon, Barbary and India.

To be successful, a merchant had to invest his money wisely-and have luck on his side. Trading by sea was hazardous, and a sudden storm, or unseen rocks, could easily wreck a ship and drown the merchant’s gopes along with the cargo. (Oxford -Shakespeare).

NERISSA, Portia’s lady-in-waiting, who falls in love with Gratiano. When Portia goes to Venice as a lawyer, Nerissa accompanies her, dressed as a lawyer’s clerk. (Oxford Edition: Shakespeare)

If he should offer to choose, and choose the rightcasket, you should refuse to perform your father's

will, if you should refuse to accept him.

Shylock starts from a double disadvantage, as far as an Elizabethan audience was concerned. He is a Jew, and he is a money lender. There were not many Jews in England, but in Middle Ages English Christians hated Jews, and this feeling was still strong in the sixteenth century, the Elizabethans also hated the traditional Jewish profession of usury- the lending of money for profit, Jews were often forbidden to own land or to engage in trade in England; consequently the only lucrative profession open to them was money-lending. The Christians deplored this-in theory. In practice, the expanding economy of the times demanded that money should be readily available. Shakespeare does not let us see Shylock in his first frenzy of distress when he finds that Jessica is missing, because this would surely arouse her sympathy. Instead, Solanio describes the scene, and the audience is encouraged. To share in his laughter. From Solanio’s account, it seems that Shylock’s grief over the loss of his daughter is equaled, perhaps even surpassed, by his anger at the theft of his money. He utters ‘a passion so confused’.


Launcelot and Jessica talk humorously. > Lorenzo joins them and asks Jessica what she thinks of Portia.> Jessica praises Bassanio’s heavenly fortune in winning Portia’s hand.

To show excessive care for position is ill-mannered, and the Prince of Arragon’s lengthy discourse on rank shows him to be merely vulgar: he is himself the ‘blinking idiot’ that he finds in the casket. He speaks proudly of his dark skin, the ‘shadow’d’ livery of the burnish’d sun’, and in his dignity we can feel Shakespeare’s admiration for the character he has created and the people whom the Prince represents. Yet he is unacceptable as a suitor for Portia; her conversation with him leaves few doubts in our minds, and her relief when he chooses the wrong casket is unmistakable: ‘Let all of his complexion choose me so.’ Shylock’s viciousness transcends his Jewishness, and it would be unfair to cite this character as an example of Shakespeare’s racial prejudice. But of, we can find this surrounding Shylock’s daughter. We are sympathetic to Jessica, yet we are never allowed to forget that she is a Jew. The reminders are always affectionate, and some-times funny- as when Launcelot reproaches Lorenzo for converting Jessica, ‘for in converting Jews to Christians you raise the price of pork’. Laughter can take away the cruelty of prejudice, but it helps to reinforce in an audience the awareness of difference. A happy ending for the leading characters is essential for a romantic comedy such as The Merchant of Venice. But of, one very important character is left out of the general rejoicing in Act 5. Shylock has been defeated of his bond, robbed of his ducats, and deserted by his daughter; he is even compelled to give up his birth right, his Jewish religion, and become one of the Christians whom he so much hates. Does he deserve this fate? Is The Merchant of Venice a comedy for all the other characters, but a tragedy for Shylock? The action of the play takes place in

Venice and in Belmont. Belmont is imaginary, but Venice is real. The city is located on the sea coast in the north of Italy, and is in fact built over a lagoon. Its main streets are canals, and the only vehicles are boats .in the sixteenth century, Venice was the centre for international trade, importing goods from all corners of the earth, and exporting them in the same way. We are told that Antonio, the greatest of the merchants, is waiting for his ships to return. To be successful, a merchant had to invest his money wisely- and have luck on his side. Trading by sea was hazardous, and a sudden storm, or unseen rocks, could easily wreck a ship and drown the merchant’s hopes along with the cargo.


In a Venetian court presided over by the Duke, Shylock refuses to forgo his claim to a pound of Antonio’s flesh, in spite of repeated pleas from the Duke and Antonio. > The Duke seeing that the course of the trial is taking a harsh turn is about to dismiss the court, when cross dressed Nerissa enters as the Lawyer’s clerk. > Portia, disguised as a doctor of law, enters the court and makes a speech in praise of mercy, but Shylock is unmoved. > Portia then pronounces that he is entitled to Antonio’s pound of flesh-but the exact one pound neither more nor less; he is not entitled to shed any blood.> Shylock falls in his own trap and asks for three times the amount which is denied by Portia saying that it is not there in the bond. > The principal amount is also denied as Shylock has refused it in open court. > Shylock is frustrated when Portia also declares that his own life and goods are forfeit as according to Venetian laws when an outsider plans to kill a Venetian citizen it is the punishment. > Ultimately Shylock is allowed to depart with half his goods for his lifetime, and the other half kept in trust on condition that he becomes a Christian and bequeaths his possessions to Lorenzo and Jessica. > Bassanio offers to reward the young lawyer. > Portia asks for his ring, when Bassanio first denies, but after Antonio’s requests, gives it to Gratiano so that he can deliver it to Portia.

“The acceptance of this Tudor universe is no proof of profound political speculation on Shakespeare’s part. He took what was going in the way of ideas and, as was his wont, gave to it the perfect shaping that came naturally to that Hand of Glory. He saw history as a dramatist, in terms of people and character- rightly since that was his profession- and not as an analyst of social forces, or as a student of economic and political motive. He drew on the chronicles of Hall and Holinshed for English history and on North Plutarch for his classical plays.” – Ivor Brown: Conception of History.

It is quite sure that he never intended the play to be a tragedy. Interpreted in the light of modern humanistic tendencies Shylock’s character comes to have something tragic in it, but even this is not so marked. The whole play is romantic in its essence. Whatever we may say in favour of Shylock, he is doubtlessly a misfit in the world he lives in. therefore it

can be said in conclusion that though Shylock does arouse pity for him, the play was never meant to be a tragedy. The Italian atmosphere makes the play more romantic. We see in the distance the gondola which is bearing Jessica away with her lover. Italy- the land of beauty and romance, the mistress of so many poets, the country of enchantment- such is the background of this play. What could be more romantic than an Italian background? According to Stopford A. Brooke there is something romantic also in Antonio’s lavish friendship, ready to sacrifice not only wealth by life for the sake of Bassanio. This friendship between a grave man , bordering on old age, and a young, gay affectionate wild fells , capable of better things and nice in honour-this friendship, says Brooke; is instinct with the spirit of romance.


Portia and Nerissa are in a street of Venice on their way to Shylock’s house where they are to get the deed signed from Shylock. > Gratiano overtakes them and gives Bassanio’s ring to Portia. He also agrees to show Nerissa of Shylock’s house. > Nerissa tells Portia that she too will try to get her own ring from Gratiano. Portia takes great delight in playing the double ring joke on their husbands.

We find ample proof of Portia’s brilliant intellect at least on two occasions in the play. We notice her psychological insight into human character, particularly when she expresses her opinion about some of her suitors, and is particularly witty and ironical. She says about Neapolitan Prince, -Ay that’s a colt indeed, for he doth nothing but talks of his horse; and he makes it a great appropriation to his own good part that he can shoe show himself-

Like the Prodigal Son’s father, Antonio has shown the loving and forgiving generousity of his nature, but he remains a mysterious character. Early in the scene he tells Gratiano that he thinks of the world as -A stage where every man must play apart, And mine a sad one- (Oxford- Shakespeare)

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It is his changing relationship with Bassanio that causes his melancholy. Some Elizabethans thought- as the Greeks and Romans did- that friendship between two men was a more spiritual bond, and should be more highly esteemed, than the love between a man and a woman. Knowing that Bassanio is interested in a lady (lines 119-21, Act I, Scene 1), Antonio may be secretly grieving for the inevitable end to a friendship. (Oxford- Shakespeare)

Certainly the usurer is necessary to the world of The Merchant of Venice. Shylock’s wealth is evidence of his professional success, which could only come from satisfying a social need. Shylock first appears as the cautious businessman, thinking carefully before he invests his

three thousand ducats in Bassanio’s enterprise. His reaction to the polite invitation to dinner is unexpected in its venom, which increases as he tells the audience of his hatred for Antonio. Religious differences seem to be less important than professional jealousy.

BASSANIO, a younger man, who has already spent all his own money and now hopes to restore his fortunes by marrying an heiress. He needs to borrow money so that he can appear rich when he courts Portia, and it is for his sake that Antonio enters into the bond with Shylock. Bassanio is made to show good judgement when he makes his choice of the leaden casket and so wins Portia for his wife. (Oxford Edition: Shakespeare)

Most worthy gentleman, I and my friendHave by your wisdom been this day acquitted

Of grievous penalties; in lieu whereof,Three thousand ducats, due unto the Jew,

We freely cope your courteous pains withal.

When Shylock next appears in Act 3, Scene 1 the passion is subdued into an intense and malevolent bitterness; yet the jesting of the two Christians is cruel. The loss of a daughter is a real cause for sorrow, and Shylock earns some pity, from the audience, when he tells Solanio and Salerio that ‘my daughter is my flesh my blood.’ It is with very mixed feelings, then, that we are led up to powerful speech in which Shylock catalogues the abuses he has had to suffer from Christians in general, and from Antonio in particular. There is only one reason that he can see for this treatment: ‘I am a Jew’. It is easy to respond to the rhetorical questions. Shylock appeals to our common humanity. To give a negative answer to his questions would deny not his humanity, but our own. The speech, however, continues: “and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that…The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.”

GRATIANO, a young man with a reputation for wild behavior. He accompanies Bassanio to Belmont, and wins the love of Portia’s lady-in-waiting, Nerissa. (Oxford Edition: Shakespeare)

A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew!Now, infidel, I have you on the hip.

PORTIAWhy doth the Jew pause? take thy forfeiture.

To some extent Shylock justifies his hostility when he describes how he has been treated by Antonio-insulted, spat upon, and kicked out of the way like ‘a stranger cur’. Because of this, we sympathize with him. When the scene ends, we are left with two conflicting opinions of

Shylock and his ‘merry sport’. Are we to share Antonio’s surprise, ‘And say there is much kindness in the Jew’? Or is Bassanio right to be suspicious of ‘fair terms and a villain’s mind’? The scene with Antonio and Bassanio shows Shylock in his professional, public, life. Next, we hear what he is like at home. His comic servant, Launcelot Gobbo, exaggerates with a characteristic misuse of the English language, when he says that ‘the Jew is the very devil incarnation.’ But of, this opinion is echoed by Shylock’s daughter, Jessica, when she sighs ‘Our house is hell’. Jessica is asham’d to be [her] father’s child’, although she knows that it is a ‘heinous sin’ for a daughter to have such feelings. We can understand Jessica’s misery when her father gives instructions about locking up his house whist he is away. Jessica is forbidden even to look out of the window to watch the masquers going to Bassanio’s feast. Shylock is a kill -joy -and he has also killed his daughter’s natural affection for him.

William Shakespeare was writing during the period of reign of Queen Elizabeth in British throne (1558-1603) which is usually termed as the Elizabethan age or the Elizabethan Era, though it is often used to refer to the late 16 th century and early 17th century. The age is often termed as “Renaissance”-meaning “rebirth” or ‘reawakening”; though Renaissance happened all over Europe in the 14th century and 15th century. In case of England, the term Renaissance applies to the 16th century when England witnessed a socio-cultural upheaval and a change that affected the lives of all. This period witnessed a rapid growth in English Commerce, naval power and nationalist feeling, along with it being the greatest age of English literature, especially plays and poems. The prominent writers of the age are William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, Francis Bacon, Walter Raleigh and others.

SCENE AT A GLANCE IN ACT 5, SCENE 1;

Lorenzo and Jessica talk lovingly, when a messenger tells them that Portia is about to arrive. > After the arrival of Portia and Nerissa, Bassanio and Gratiano, along with Antonio appear. > Nerissa begins a quarrel with Gratiano about the ring she has gifted. Soon Bassanio is also accused of the same by Portia. Quarrel ensues, where Bassanio accepts his mistake and Antonio pleads that he is ready to be surely for Bassanio’s future faithfulness. > Eventually, Portia and Nerissa reveal the truth about their activities in Venice. The three pairs of lovers are at last together. >Portia gives a letter to Antonio which states that his ships have return safe. Nerissa gives the signed deed of Shylock to Lorenzo and Jessica who are also happy that their financial luck has favoured them. > As it is about to be morning, Portia invites everyone within the house.

Common humanity ignores all limitations of colour, race or creed; and this is strongly asserted in the first part of Shylock’s speech. But of, the assertions of these last lines show that the individual- Shylock- is determined to ignore the limits of humanity. He will ‘better

the instruction’, and prove himself to be not the equal of the Christians in inflicting suffering on others, but their superior. During the trial, Shylock loses the audience’s sympathy, by his words and by the action of sharpening the knife on the sole of his shoe, which Gratiano observes in line 123. Neither insults nor pleading spoil the enjoyment of his triumph, and when sentence is given against Antonio, he repeats the words of the bond with a lingering relish. The events that follow do nothing to moderate the presentation of Shylock in the terms used by the Duke when he warns Antonio, before the trial begins, that his adversary is

“an inhuman wretch

Uncapable of pity, void and empty

From any dram of mercy.”

“SHYLOCK IS ONE OF SHAKESPEARE’S MOST INTERESTING CREATIONS, EVEN FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF LANGUAGE”.

Shylock demanded a strict observance of the law, and in poetic justice, is precisely this that defeats him. Gratiano exults over his downfall, but the other characters in the court speak no unnecessary words and show no satisfaction until Shylock has left the court. Even then, conversation is formal, occupied only with thanks and payment. It does not obliterate the memory of Shylock’s parting words. Recent English productions of The Merchant of Venice have emphasized the suffering human being, but I do not think that this is what Shakespeare intended (Oxford Edition).

Shylock is more complex than any of the other characters in the play: we can think of him as a ‘real’ person, whose words and deeds are motivated by thoughts and feelings that we can discover from the play, and that we can understand when we have discovered them. We cannot think of Bassanio, for instance in this way. Yet in admiring Shakespeare’s achievement in the creation of Shylock, we must beware of danger. Often, when we know a person well, and understand why he acts as he does, we become sympathetic to him; in The Merchant of Venice we are further encouraged to sympathize with Shylock also by the fact that other leading characters, such as Bassanio do not compel our sympathies. Sympathy can give rise to affection, and affection often tempts us to withhold moral judgement, or at least be gentle in our censure. Shylock’s conduct merits condemnation. We can only refrain from condemning it because we know that he has suffered for being a Jew; and this, surely, is another form of prejudice?

GRATIANO Beg that thou mayst have leave to hang thyself:

And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state,

Thou hast not left the value of a cord;Therefore thou must be hang'd at the state's charge.

Then again, the news of the loss of Antonio’s ships in the sea is being conveyed slowly by either Lorenzo or Jessica whom some messenger comes to meet at Belmont. We notice how in the eighth scene of the second Act the news of Antonio’s loss is discussed by Solanio and Salarino, who again in the first scene of the third Act continue to discuss further and thus help the audience to remain in touch with the news. Of course, it is only at the end of the Caskets Story that we come to know of the disaster of Antonio from his letter to Bassanio. We have been told throughout the play that Shylock is extremely avaricious, and that is why, it appears rather most improbable and strange when we find Shylock refusing of ten times the amount of the original loan in the open court and insisting on the penalty of the bond, namely, a pound of flesh from Antonio’s breast. This strangeness of Shylock’s attitude towards money is made possible by the Lorenzo- Jessica story because it is Jessica’s elopement with a Christian that intensifies his revengeful spirit against Antonio, who is also a Christian, otherwise he would have surely accepted the offer of such a big amount made by Bassanio on behalf of Antonio. The revengeful spirit of Shylock is further aggravated by the fact that Jessica not only elopes with a Christian but also robs her father of all his gold and jewels with the help of a Christian, Lorenzo.

JESSICA, Shylock’s daughter; she disguises herself as a boy in order to run away from her father’s house, where she is unhappy. She is in love with the Christian Lorenzo. (Oxford Edition: Shakespeare)

In such a nightMedea gather'd the enchanted herbs

That did renew old AEson.

The Merchant of Venice ends in mirth and laughter. Everything is brought to a happy close. Everyone except Shylock gets his or her heart’s desire. In the moonlit night at Belmont the three pairs of lovers at last come together. Antonio has reached the happy news that his argosies have arrived in port. There is no hint of sadness in the end- all is joy, and this joy is marred by nothing. Nothing could be more happy than the end of The Merchant of Venice. A snarl of frustrated wrath can deliver this line: ‘ I pray you give me leave to go from hence: I am not well’ ; or else it can be spoken with the anguish of a man who has lost everything – his daughter, his wealth, his religious freedom, and the engagement ring given to him by his wife. So the play has generally been classified as a romantic comedy which means a play containing a number of romantic elements and a number of comic elements, skillfully and artistically mixed together. However almost every romantic comedy by Shakespeare has a number of serious elements too, and some of these serious elements come very close to becoming tragic. The play contains a number of romantic and comic

elements but it also contains a number of serious elements, some of them verging on tragedy. In the opinion of some scholars the element of seriousness in this play is so prominent that it seems to acquire a tragic quality. It is the character of Shylock that gives the play a colour of tragedy, Shylock has lost all that he cherished in life; he has lost his wealth, his religion, his revenge. He is broken like a reed. The lonely Jew totters home, but the world does not care. In the very next Act- the final one- poetry steels gently into our hearts in the moon-shine at Belmont. Lovers meet happily. In the fairly atmosphere of Belmont we forget, not only Shylock, but the outside everyday world of bitter realities also. The fifth act of the play was written expressly to remove the suspicion that the play was intended as a Tragedy. Even if the play did not have the happy ending of Act V the play would have been a romantic comedy because the trial itself ends happily for the hero, Antonio, and for all the hero’s friends. If the trial ends unhappily for Shylock it does not make the play tragic because Shylock is a villain who deserves punishment. Of course Shylock does become a pathetic figure at this point because his punishment is too severe, we see him as a remarkable figure. He has fire and power to move us, energy radiates from him. He engrosses our attention by his quick and vigorous utterance and by the intensity he displays in his speeches. As he protests against the treatment meted out to him, or champions the course of his race, he appeals to our deepest and most lasting emotions. When he insists on having his right of having Antonio’s flesh he has a force which excites our admiration in spite of his moral depravity and wickedness. And as he is at last beaten at his own game and completely crushed we begin to feel for him. But of, it seems the dramatist is very anxious to leave no impression if the play being a tragedy. This would have been the impression if the play had ended with Act IV. But for, it does not. So the impression is different. The play is nothing but a tragedy, and if Shylock is something of a tragic character it is mainly because we have come to look upon him in that light. So the play is quite carefully balanced by the purest comedy and the dramatist is careful to leave us in no doubt of his intention by providing us with an end which ignores Shylock altogether, and makes us forget him in the happiness of the lovers.

SHYLOCK

Shall I not have barely my principal?PORTIA

Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture,To be so taken at thy peril, Jew.

There is a plenty of comedy in this play too. Launcelot Gobbo is a clown or a jester who was introduced by Shakespeare only to produce laughter. Launcelot’s fooling of his own father is comic too, though it is something crude and farcical. He is capable of making a good joke also as for instance, when he says that the making of Christians, or the conversion of the Jews to Christianity, would raise the price of hogs in Venice. But of, it is the sense of

humour and the wit of Portia and of Gratiano which import to the play a truly comic quality. Portia’s wit is first brought to our notice through her comments on her suitors.

SHYLOCKWhy, then the devil give him good of it!

I'll stay no longer question.

The casket story is essentially romantic. Portia is a romantic lady despite her intellectuality; and Bassanio is a romantic hero despite the fact that in the beginning he strikes us as a fortune hunter. Bassanio’s success in choosing the right casket over whelms Portia with joy; and Portia’s beauty enthralls Bassanio. The Lorenzo-Jessica love affair is highly romantic despite the distress experienced by Shylock when he finds that his daughter has run away with a Christian, and also taken away a lot of his money and jewels. The romantic appeal of the play is enhanced by the moonlight scene at Belmont between Lorenzo and Jessica with its references to the famous mythology love stories. In this play there is a combination of the serious and the gay elements. In the classical plays of antiquity comedy and tragedy were sharply distinguished and kept entirely separate from each other. No comic play contained tragic elements and vice versa. But of, in Romantic drama of Shakespeare comedy and tragedy sometimes jostle each other. The terrible hatred of Shylock the sense of an impending disaster in the life of Antonio and Shylock’s overwhelming ruin are tragic elements which are mingled with such comic elements as the wit of Gratiano and Portia, the humour of Launcelot and the story of the rings. This mingling of the comic and tragic note gives to the play a romantic character. A pair of lovers are always to romantic subject, because wooing is the most exciting of men’s emotional experiences. Youth in love is the most alluring theme for romantic comedy. The Merchant of Venice is romantic, therefore, by virtue of the freshness and frankness of its two love stories of Portia and Bassanio, of Lorenzo and Jessica. The first love story has its romantic elements in the bold adventure of Bassanio who goes to Belmont to win a wife and in the passionate love that exists between the two.

SHYLOCK Why, so: and I know

not what's spent in the search: why, thou loss uponloss! the thief gone with so much, and so much to

find the thief; and no satisfaction, no revenge:nor no in luck stirring but what lights on my

shoulders; no sighs but of my breathing; no tearsbut of my shedding.

The other love, between Jessica and Lorenzo is still more romantic because of a greater element of adventure and because of the hazard that it involves. A Christian is in love with

a Jewess and since the Jew would never agree to such a match, the lovers elope. A masque is arranged: Jessica slips out of her house in the guise of a boy; the masked procession is led by torches. This is all romance. But of, the most romantic feature in this love-story is the wonderful, moonlight scene between Jessica and Lorenzo in the beginning of Act V. Few passages in Shakespeare have more of the “far-off magic of poetry” than this conversation between the lovers. Their love is “decked out with imagination and thoughts.” This “moonlight serenade of music” with its rich allusion to Greek Mythology is indeed, a delight.

She says about her English suitors that he is oddly suited; and in this context she further says that he must have his doublet in Italy, his round hose in France, his bonnet in Germany and his behavior everywhere. A plenty of mirth and laughter has been produced by the comedy of rings and the playwright ends his play with mirth and laughter. Though ended happily the play cannot be called a romantic comedy. “Shakespearean romantic comedy is fundamentally different from classical comedy. It is an unlimited venture for happiness and an imprinly imaginative undertaking of human welfare. It’s heroes heroines are ‘Voyagers’ in pursuit of a happiness, not yet attained- a ‘Brave New World’, wherein man’s life may be fuller his sensations more exquisite, and his joys more wide-spread more lasting, and so more humane. The central theme of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy rotates a round love- an immorally inspiring love. To quote Beatrice Webb-“ The Merchant of Venice, certainly, contains elements of romance; the elopement of Jessica, the melancholy sweet love between these two young lovers and love-lit just meeting of Bassanio and Portia- all these are the most sparkling elements of a romantic comedy. But we should also note that love is not the central theme of the plot; the play a grim fight between two antagonistic religious orthodoxies. “

BASSANIO Dear sir, of force I must attempt you further:Take some remembrance of us, as a tribute,Not as a fee: grant me two things, I pray you,

Not to deny me, and to pardon me.

One thing is very striking about Jessica that when we know that Jessica is the daughter of such miserly, orthodox, communal minded, malicious and cruel person as Shylock, how could she be so sweet, loving, romantic, liberal, poetic in spirit? We know also in what kind of narrow, foul and filthy atmosphere Jessica has been brought up, and yet how can she be so beautiful, cheerful, gay, so fond of beauty and music, so good and gentle. Of course such anomalies occur in nature sometimes. For example, lovely flowers blossoms out of cow-dung, sweet vegetable out up from the night soil, and many saints are also born of most wicked parents. Jessica, the daughter of the Jew Shylock, falls in love with a Christian young man by the name of Lorenzo who is one of Antonio’s and Bassanio’s friends. Shylock knows nothing about her love-affairs because Jessica has been keeping it a close secret.

She knows that her father hates the Christians fiercely and that he would never tolerate the idea of her being in love with a Christian young man. At the same time, she feels a dislike for her father for various reasons.

Enter Musicians

Come, ho! and wake Diana with a hymn!With sweetest touches pierce your mistress' ear,

And draw her home with music.

Jessica is most unlike her father, Shylock. Jessica is impulsive, reckless, unfilial, treacherous and even cruel. Of course every young woman when confined within the four walls of her house, and when she is not allowed to have any communication with the outer world, and when particularly she has no mother, no sister, no brother and none except a poor old father, who is hatred by everybody in the world for many of his evil qualities is bound to go mad, not to speak of being impulsive or reckless like Jessica. But then, when we consider the father’s condition for how lonely Shylock is without his wife or without any of his children except Jessica, we feel that it is most cruel on the part of his daughter to steal away from home without his knowledge and permission. Being a Jewish girl, Jessica must be a paragon of beauty; otherwise a Christian like Lorenzo would not have fallen in love with her and eloped with her. Lorenzo remarks: “She is wise, if I can judge of her. And fair she is, if hat mine eyes be true, And true she is, as she hath, proved.”- reveal her personal charm and sweetness of soul. Even Portia who is far above Jessica in rank and culture, is enamoured of her; otherwise she could not have entrusted the care of her house in her hands during her absence from Belmont.

PORTIA, the most important character in the play. She is an heiress, and is in love with Bassanio; but her father has devised a test with three caskets, and Portia must marry the man who chooses the right casket. Portia is intelligent as well as beautiful; dressed as a lawyer she goes to Venice and saves Antonio from being killed by Shylock. Her home is Belmont, and the peace and harmony here contrast with the tense business world of Venice. (Oxford Edition: Shakespeare)

He is well paid that is well satisfied;And I, delivering you, am satisfied

And therein do account myself well paid:My mind was never yet more mercenary.

I pray you, know me when we meet again:I wish you well, and so I take my leave.

Shylock is a suspicious kind of man who is also very puritanical, therefore imposes all kinds of restrictions on his daughter. Besides, he has never given any sign of any deep love or affection for her. Finding no other way opened to her Jessica forms a plot to elope from

home in order to marry Lorenzo. She disguises herself as a boy on the night when a marked procession of the Christians is to pass through the street in which Shylock’s house is situated. She informs Lorenzo by a letter sent to him through Launcelot Gobbo, that she would be slipping out of her father’s house in order to join him in the marked procession. Everything goes well; and slipping out of the house she joins Lorenzo though at this time she is feeling ashamed of her boy’s disguise. Before coming out of the house, she throws a couple of bags full of money and precious stones. The two lovers soon afterwards leave Venice in a gondola, and later go to Belmont to join Bassanio and Gratiano who are already there. At Belmont they are entrusted by Portia with the charge of her house and property because she herself is going away on a secret mission of her own in Nerissa’s company. Towards the end of the play there is a beautiful moonlight scene in which Jessica and Lorenzo speak to each other about some of the famous love-stories of ancient mythology, connecting those stories with the beautiful moonlight night and with their own love- affair.

GRATIANO Fair sir, you are well o'erta'en

My Lord Bassanio upon more adviceHath sent you here this ring, and doth entreat

Your company at dinner.

“I am really been impressed to the thoughts of portraying such magnificent characters in a most recriminated and magnanimous distinct ways. – My vision referred accord to the original text.’’ (Rituparna Ray Chaudhuri.)

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“Although generally considered a comedy, it has an underlying plot of considerable moral dimension. The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare’s most accessible plays. The three main characters, Antonio the prosperous merchant, Shylock the reviled usurer and the heiress Portia are portrayed in ways so untypical to Elizabethan norms that the play has impressed the modern reader with its extraordinary relevance. Nothing is more difficult than to pin a dramatist down to definite opinions and a definite point of view. Belmont is not heaven, because there is much talk of marrying and giving in marriage, and withal a roguish touch of Boccaccio now and again. Rather it is Elysium, a Renaissance Elysium, a garden full of music under the soft Italian night, with a Gracious and stately mansion in the background.” – Dr. S. Sen. (except a -few setting within the-quote.)

The Lorenzo- Jessica story has a great dramatic importance in the play. In the first place, Jessica brings into bold relief Shylock’s miserliness, his suspicious nature, his unfatherly attitude towards his own daughter, his mean stinginess, and his unusual greed for money. Lorenzo on the other hand, brings out Shylock’s bitter feelings against the Christian

community. It is because of the elopement of a Jewish girl with a Christian and then, it is because of the robbery of all the jewel. Of Shylock by the girl and her lover that make Shylock furious against Antonio in particular and against the whole Christian community in general. Shylock’s revenge against Antonio is intensified by the behaviour of Jessica and Lorenzo, which indirectly further intensifies the tragic tension created by the bond in the trial scene.

LAUNCELOT ' Well, my conscience,

hanging about the neck of my heart, says very wiselyto me 'My honest friend Launcelot, being an honestman's son,' or rather an honest woman's son; for,

indeed, my father did something smack, somethinggrow to, he had a kind of taste; well, my conscience

says 'Launcelot, budge not.

The Lorenzo-Jessica story is closely connected with the Bond Story and the Caskets Story. As already pointed out, Lorenzo is a friend of Bassanio, Gratiano and Antonio while Jessica is the daughter of the Jew, Shylock. Antonio is the hero of the Bond Story. Bassanio is the hero of the Caskets Story; and Shylock is the villain of the Bond Story. Besides, Portia becomes quite fond of these lovers, and entrusts them with the charge of her property during her absence from Belmont. The inter-linking of the three strands is therefore obvious.

Last of all, both Lorenzo and Jessica serve as a foil to Bassanio and Portia. Had there been no Lorenzo- Jessica story, much of the romance in the play would have been lost, although the Casket-Story is a purely Romantic Story, and it should be considered as sufficient for the purpose of contributing the element of romance to the play. But then, is not the elopement more romantic than the choice of marriage by the caskets? Is not the escape of Jessica from her father’s house and even the robbery of the jewels a much more thrilling adventure of romance than the choice of the caskets by the various suitors of Portia? Then again, could such a beautiful scene of music and love be possible at the end of the play without Lorenzo and Jessica? As a matter of fact, the caskets story in spite of its music and other elements of romance could not sufficiently counter balance the tragic atmosphere of the play, particularly at the Trial- Scene.

Bankruptcy by itself does not go against a man and is no sign of any basic defect in his character. Because many millionaires have been known to have become bankrupts as a consequence of unexpected turns in fortune or unexpected losses. We cannot believe that a merchant of outstanding reputation and prestige could not have raised an amount of three-thousand ducats to repay the Jew after he has become a bankrupt. He can foresee the

expiry of the period of the bond but he makes no effort to obtain from any source the money to repay the loan which he had taken from the Jew. Antonio never takes any initiative in saving himself from the Jew’s clutches. Thus when we find that Shylock complains bitterly about the degrading treatment to which he is consistently subjected by Antonio, we can scarcely believe our ears, and it is only when Antonio, comes on the scene again and personally confirms all that Shylock has said, that we realize that there is another side also of Antonio’s character. There was a specific reason for Antonio to subject the Jews to a cruel species of mental persecution, but he seems to enjoy a sinister pre-eminence among the Christians of Venice in the pastime of Jew baiting. Antonio’s conduct on his part would be absolutely inexplicable if we did not soon discover that his feeling did not run high against the Jews in general so much as against Shylock personally. His hatred of Jew is not merely a matter of racial and religious prejudice. It proceeds from a constitutional inability to tolerate the moral self-sufficiency of a man who under cover of religious sanction, oppresses the poor. Thus Antonio’s persecution of the Jew may be paradoxically regarded as an inverse expression of his noble generousity of temperament.

NERISSA The ancient saying is no heresy,

Hanging and wiving goes by destiny.PORTIA

Come, draw the curtain, Nerissa.

With all his fine qualities Antonio is a man who wins our respect and admiration. But of, according to some critics there are some- deficiency in his character. His religious or racial intolerance somewhat lowers him in our estimation. In fact Antonio goes beyond the limits when he insults and degrades Shylock. He tells Shylock that he wants a loan from him not as friend but as an enemy. There was certainly a general prejudice against the Jews in those days but it cannot be expected or admitted that a nice person like Antonio even is not free from this type of prejudice. Moreover, we find Antonio a melancholy man, he is unable to laugh and is certainly incapable of cutting a joke. Being a serious-minded man he is also unable to enjoy such merry making as torch-light, masked processions in which Lorenzo and others take great pleasures. It also seems that he is indifferent of falling in love. When at the outset it is suggested that he may be feeling melancholy because he is in love, he promptly rejects thus the suggestion saying ,’Fie, fie!” melancholy is natural handicap, this cannot really be called a fault. His real fault is his religious fanaticism. At the end of the Trial Scene he demands that Shylock should become a Christian.

Antonio, the protagonist of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is a man of almost unlimited kindness and generousity. In spite of his being cast down by an overpowering melancholy, he patiently endures all the merely inquisitive cross- questioning of people of the type of Salerio and Solanio and their ill-timed jesting at his expense. From the

beginning to the end of the play, we find Antonio asserting his personality nowhere except while seeking a loan for his friend Bassanio. In the beginning of the play Antonio talks of his sadness in such a manner that one feels that he is constitutionally weak or diseased and possesses no personality, no back-bone, no independence of any kind in thought, feeling or action. Thus he creates an unfavourable impression from the very beginning.

Gold: Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.

Silver: who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.

Lead: who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.

This attitude on character like Antonio who has been portrayed by Shakespeare an ideal in all respects, constitutes a serious flaw in his character. Besides, he is too stoical and lacks the will to fight for his survival. This is another flaw in his character. Moreover he is too passive to take any active part. He hardly does anything except signing a bond which almost proves fatal to him. The dynamic character which is expected from the hero of a play is totally absent in his character. Antonio has some tendency or attitude to be indifferent even in the moments of crisis. This is due to undue self-confidence which is not strength but weakness in man. When Bassanio repeatedly warns Antonio not to execute the bond of Shylock with a pound of flesh from his breast as the forfeiture, Antonio not only signs the bond but also assures Bassanio. On another occasions previous to the discussion when, Salarino says Antonio is sad because he has sent out to sea all his merchant ships, Antonio was quite boastful in his reply.

PORTIA Away, then! I am lock'd in one of them:If you do love me, you will find me out.

Nerissa and the rest, stand all aloof.Let music sound while he doth make his choice;

Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end,Fading in music: that the comparison

May stand more proper, my eye shall be the streamAnd watery death-bed for him.

Prejudice is the subject of the short episode in Belmont, where we see Portia’s reception of the Prince of Morocco. The prince’s appearance shows that he is an exotic figure: a note, probably written by Shakespeare himself, describes him as –a tawny [brown] Moor, all in white- His first speech reinforces our sense that he is excitingly different from the Europeans that we have seen so far, but it does not change Portia’s mind. She is polite, but we understand, better than Morocco can, what she means when she tells him that, in her eyes, he is -as fair As any comer I have looke’d on yet- We have heard what Portia thought

of her other suitors. The Prince’s reply to this ambiguous remark does not encourage our good opinion of him. He boasts of his own valour and achievements in very exaggerated language, and so loses some of our sympathy.

Again his capacity to hate is evident in the manner in which he has been treating Shylock. He has been hating Shylock because Shylock is a Jew but even more Shylock is a usurer. He has been calling Shylock a cut-throat dog, and defaming him and spitting on his Gaberdine. At the very moment that he is seeking a loan from the Jew, he says that he would treat the Jew in the same manner in the future in which he has been treating him in the past. Thus Antonio not only hates Shylock but hates him fiercely.

It is then clear that Antonio does not have the strength or energy to do anything to save himself from the clutches of Jew Shylock when he finds himself in the Jew’s grip.

Antonio in the course of the play, certainly becomes bankrupt. He proves himself to be a true friend of Bassanio. He is ready to lend money to Bassanio without the least hesitation and having no cash in hand, he authorizes Bassanio to take a loan from somebody else in his name. While bidding farewell to Bassanio when the latter is leaving for Belmont, Antonio is moved almost to tears. As a result when he has become a bankrupt, he sends the message to Bassanio not to cut short his say at Belmont for his sake. He says in the Trial scene to Bassanio “Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you.” From the very beginning of the play we find Antonio as a true friend to Bassanio and ready to sacrifice his all for his welfare. He is equally tolerant of Gratiano’s rather futile attempt at rousing his spirits by indulging in a humerously satirical description of people who maintain an enforced silence in order thereby to purchase for themselves the high opinion of the world. But of, it is when he left alone with Bassanio that we realize the extent of human love and devotion of which he is capable. His pursue, his person, and his extremest means are unreservedly placed at Bassanio’s disposal in order that Bassanio might make his speculative love-pilgrimage to Belmont. He gives no thought whatsoever to the money that Bassanio already owe him. He feels impelled to watch Bassanio’s second undertaking more carefully, not that he will be in a position either to return all that he owes or at least repay the second loan; these are absolutely beside the point. It is his view that Bassanio must be supplied the amount of money that he needs and it is quite irrelevant to him whether he gets the money back or not.

Antonio wins our respect and admiration because of his fine qualities, yet he also suffers from a serious defect. As a Christian he shows intolerance towards the Jews. He hates Shylock because Shylock is a usurer and even more because Shylock is a Jew. This religious or racial intolerance on his part somewhat lowers him in our estimation. In fact, Antonio goes out of his way to insult and degrade Shylock. On many occasions he has abused Shylock and even spit on his clothes. His reason for thus treating Shylock is that Shylock is a

usurer and a Jew. And even when he is asking Shylock for a loan, he says that in future also he would abuse him and spit on him.

“When the tide turns, it is a long time before anything like seriousness builds on these earlier preparations. Just as the matters of happy omen followed each other as in some conspiracy with fortune, the reverses come in unhindered succession, ill fortune following ill fortune until nothing is left. Here as before the fantastic improbabilities determine the nature of our involvement in the action. Now as always almost nothing depends on the springs of character, but it all happens according to conventions of the folk-variety. “– John Athos: The Turning of the Tide.

Thus his strong capacity to love and hate is revealed through his character. His capacity of love becomes clear to us when he gets ready to lend money to Bassanio for the second time and is prepared even to borrow money from a professional money lender in order to meet the financial needs of his friend. Salerio and Solanio bear witness to Antonio’s deep friendship for Bassanio when they say that he loves the world only for Bassanio’s sake.

PORTIA In terms of choice I am not solely ledBy nice direction of a maiden's eyes;

Besides, the lottery of my destinyBars me the right of voluntary choosing:

He doesnot have the heart of a worm. He has the heart of a decent human being. The faults and the flaws of Antonio’s character are evident to us even on a superficial view. He is by nature a sad man. Although his melancholy here seems to have been of a recent origin, yet subsequently we find that it is a permanent trait of his character. In the Trial Scene we find that it is deeply embedded in his nature. In this scene he specifically says to Bassanio that he is a trained sheep of the flock, “meetest for death”. Through an unfortunate concentration of circumstances the signing of the bond, the elopement of Jessica, and the reported loss of his ships- Antonio is like a sheep ready for slaughter and ready to be sacrificed to appease the wrath and to restore the outraged dignity of the Jew.

“The Second Act begins with most stilted of Portia’s suitors undertaking what turns out to be a fatal choice. He is stiff and formalized as the most pageant-like story could desire. We are still in the midst of the contrived and the artificial, and now also there is the openly grotesque-in the casket he chooses a skull that stares at him. And now the other suitors follow in procession until finally there is the right and happy choice.” – John Arthos, The Lottery.

It is precisely on this account that we cannot with-hold our sympathies from Antonio and that, in the Trial Scene, we follow his fortunes with much more concern than we do those of Shylock. We know that it cannot be merely because of the abuse he had at one time heaped on the Jew’s head that Shylock is now immovable in his demand for the pound of flesh., and we feel therefore, that Antonio is being called upon to pay for somebody else’s sins. There, is however, an important circumstance which we must take into account and which, when duly considered, will enable us to realize that the sympathy which is drawn to Antonio, when the Jew persists in his demand for the pound of flesh, is not misplaced. Once the Jew consents to lend the money that Bassanio requires, Antonio’s attitude towards him undergoes a change. He speaks appreciatively of Shylock’s kindness and refuses to see that there is any sinister intention in Shylock’s proposing in a merry sport the inclusion in the bond of the terms pertaining to the pound of flesh. When, therefore, Jessica elopes with a Christian and thereby inflames the Jew’s worst passions, we must regard the circumstance as a most unfortunate one for Antonio especially, as he had no act or part in it, that Shylock’s vengeance falls on his devoted head is due very; largely to the fact that it is he and he alone among the Christian friends of Lorenzo whom the Jew has it in his power to injure at the time.

MOROCCO Even for that I thank you:

Therefore, I pray you, lead me to the casketsTo try my fortune.

Launcelot Gobbo amuses us considerably by describing the conflict in his mind between his desire to quit Shylock’s service and his sense of duty which requires him to continue serving Shylock. This conflict according to him is one which takes place between his conscience and the fiend. His befooling of his aged, blind father is an example of farcical humour. But of, Launcelot is capable also of making witty remarks. For instance, he says that if all the Jews turn Christians, the price of hogs would rise greatly and it would become difficult to get a slice of bacon at any price in Venice. Launcelot sometimes plays on words to make jokes, and it is for this that Lorenzo calls him a “wit snapper”. The whole scene of Launcelot Gobbo and his father produces in the audience reeling laughter. But of, Gratiano is perfectly decent in his witty remarks at the court scene although some of his words are ironical; and sarcastic and cannot be strictly called humours. Because of the warnings of Bassanio before going to Belmont, Gratiano probably puts sufficient reins to his tongue, otherwise probably he would have also descended to the same level of vulgarity in his jokes as Launcelot descends throughout the play.

ANTONIO Mark you this, Bassanio,

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.

An evil soul producing holy witnessIs like a villain with a smiling cheek,A goodly apple rotten at the heart:

O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!

The term “humour” is a wider one in its scope than the word “wit”. Wit involves the use of words, and it has an intellectual quality. Humours may be found not only in words and remarks but also in situations and therefore not to be intellectual. The term humour includes wit, though wit is a specialized form of humour. Wit is sometimes expressed in the form of satire and ridicule. Then there is irony which may be used for comic purposes. Comic irony may be found in words and remarks and also in situations. Farce is an extravagant, exaggerated, and even crude form of humour. All these kinds of humour and wit are to be found in The Merchant of Venice in a considerable measure. The comic elements in The Merchant of Venice include the humour provided by Launcelot Gobbo and the witty remarks made by Portia and Gratiano.

This sense of security makes him totally unguarded. But of, his parting words to Bassanio bring out the warmest heart of Antonio for Bassanio. Just before he bids Bassanio farewell he speaks a few words which also bring out his sincerest love for Bassanio. It is remarkable when Antonio says to Bassanio, ‘you cannot better be employed, Bassanio , than to live still, and write mine epitaph.’ How many people in this world can utter such words as Antonio speaks just at the moment when he is leaving the world! Is it not sufficient proof of Antonio’s ideal love and friendship for Bassanio that surpasses all the deficiency in his character?

SHYLOCK Three thousand ducats; 'tis a good round sum.

Three months from twelve; then, let me see; the rate—

As a matter of fact except the Trial-Scene every other scene contributes to the comedy of the whole story. But for, some critics have pointed out that even the caskets story verges on a tragedy because of the great suspense and anxiety to which everyone of the suitors is subjected while making the selection of the caskets. It is the Ring-Episode alone that can be considered as contributing the real comic element to the play because it helps to reduce the traffic gloom and sadness generated in the Court- Scene by the bond. Had there been no ring episode, we are sure that nothing could have saved the play from being a tragedy. Even the Lorenzo-Jessica Story adds to the gloom of the Bond-Story.

PORTIA You must take your chance,

And either not attempt to choose at all

Or swear before you choose, if you choose wrongNever to speak to lady afterward

In way of marriage: therefore be advised.

Launcelot Gobbo amuses us considerably by describing the conflict in his mind between his desire to quit Shylock’s service and his sense of duty which requires him to continue serving Shylock. This conflict according to him is one which takes place between his conscience and the fund. His befooling of his aged, blind father is an example of farcical humour. But of, Launcelot Gobbo is capable also of making witty remarks. For instance he says if all the Jews turn Christian the price of hogs would rise greatly and it would become difficult to get a slice of bacon at any price in Venice. Launcelot sometimes plays on words to make jokes, and it is for this reason that Lorenzo calls him a “wit snapper.”

We find ample proof of Portia’s brilliant intellect at least on two occasions in the play. We notice her psychological insight into human character, particularly, when she expresses her opinion about some of her suitors, and is particularly witty and ironical. It is noteworthy what she says about the Neapolitan Prince, ‘Ay that’s a colt indeed, for he doth nothing but talk of his horse; and he makes it a great appropriation to his own good parts that he can show himself’. She speaks in the most sarcastic tone when she describes the Scottish Lord, that he hath a neighbourly charity in him; for he borrowed a box of the ear of the Englishmen, and swore he would pay him again when he was able; I think, the Frenchman became his surety , and sealed under for another.

“Personally, talking while on the other side, the present didactic drama, there I have a risen apathy on the character of Shylock! I feel it no way should be taught that William Shakespeare throughout, has an intension to discriminate between a Christian and a Jew. A silent play as I motivate upon, where has shown particular-destiny of any a human being, his psycho-pattern and feelings in the institutional-society, a cobweb of human relations, its impacts and so on such consequences as a result of what the man faces ,whether of good or bitter. I therefore on regard to the play, put it to prove that indeed the whole drama is A Romantic Comedy.”

Rituparna Ray Chaudhuri

Then again we find sufficient proof of Portia’s brilliant intellect in the Trial-Scene. Mrs. Janeson compares Portia with Rosalind, Beatrice and other heroines of Shakespeare who belong strictly to the intellectual type. Nobody probably not even Dr. Bellario, could have pleaded Antonio’s case in the court as successfully as Portia has done. It is also remarkable how Portia like all intelligent lawyers defends Shylock by assuring him that the bond and its terms are perfectly valid according to law, and that he warns Antonio in the open court that he shall to pay as forfeiture of the bond to Shylock a pound of flesh from nearest

his heart. Portia further encourages Shylock by making an appeal to him for mercy. Lastly she requests Shylock to get a surgeon nearby so that when the flesh would be cut out from Antonio’s breast he may not bleed death. But of, Shylock feeling too sure of his strong legal position does not listen to any request of Portia, little suspecting that Portia has other weapons in her armoury to upturn all the favourable points of law against Shylock. Portia drives Shylock slowly into a corner where only the letter of law and not its essence is honoured; naturally Portia all of a sudden , turns the tables against Shylock and tells him that he can surely cut out a pound of flesh from Antonio’s breast but if he cuts off the flesh even by a grain more or less or if he sheds a single drop of blood, because these two things are not in the bond as there is no mention of any surgeon, he will have to pay his own life as penalty for violating the terms of the bond. Shylock is completely outwitted and is at the mercy of the Duke. That is how Portia displays her sharpest intelligence, her quickest presence of mind and her wonderful power of using quibbles of law to the best advantage of her client as all shrewd lawyers do.

ANTONIO

Therefore, go:These griefs and losses have so bated me,That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh

To-morrow to my bloody creditor.Well, gaoler, on. Pray God, Bassanio come

To see me pay his debt, and then I care not!

According to a critic, Gratiano keeps up the ball of mirth and good humour by his agreeably talk. He describes in a satirical manner the kind of man who pretends to be wise by maintaining a deliberate silence: “I am Sir Oracle, and when I ope my lips, let no dogs bark.” Gratiano’s promise to Bassanio to observe decorum, and not to talk too much at Belmont is another example of his witty manner of speaking. In the Trial Scene, Gratiano’s wit takes the form of a parody of Shylock’s praise of the judge in the course of the proceedings in Shylock’s cause against Antonio. Here Gratiano repeats or echoes Shylock’s remark with devastating effect: “A Daniel! A Daniel come to judgement! Thank you, Jew, for teaching me that word!” Wit of Gratiano expressed here becomes bitter and almost fierce.

ANTONIO Let him alone:

I'll follow him no more with bootless prayers.He seeks my life; his reason well I know:

I oft deliver'd from his forfeituresMany that have at times made moan to me;

Therefore he hates me.

The Ring-Episode is wholly comic. It contributes the greatest fun to the play. The fun which is available from the Launcelot-Gobbo scene is no better than buffoonery and this kind of fun can be enjoyed only by groundlings or the lowest class of the audience, whereas the fun of the Ring-episode can be enjoyed by the decent section of the audience because it has more of decent humour than of buffoonery or vulgar humour like the trick or disguise , the exchange and presentation of rings is an interesting device to delight the audience particularly at the end of the play. Portia and Nerissa take their husbands to task for having given away the rings which they had sworn never to part with. The husbands try to convince the two wives that they had given the rings to the judge and to the judge’s clerk respectively, but the wives refuse to believe the husbands-version of the fact.

Shylock is regarded as the sternest, the crudest, the most reserve character in the whole play, and yet the readers can find some comic element in him. Shylock is so self-centered and self-conscious that he is not even aware when he excites laughter in the audience by his unguarded words, gestures and behavior. It is particularly in his moments of discomfiture that Shylock is most unguarded and when we are tempted to laugh at his expense. When Launcelot leaves Shylock’s service and goes to Antonio, Shylock says to him that he shall have no occasion to eat like a pig or sleep like a wild cat or tear off his clothes by constantly rolling in bed, every syllable of his words excites laughter in us. Then again when he goes to attend the dinner at Bassanio’s place, he says that he is not going there out of any love but out of hatred, and only to feed upon the extravagant Christian so that he may be ruined, we are tempted to laugh because the very idea of running a man of Bassanio’s position by eating only one dinner at his place is really absurd. Then again we recollect the words of Shylock which he had spoken to Antonio formerly that he would do everything with a Christian but not dine with him or pray with him in the same church, we begin to laugh in ourselves.

We cannot really resist our laughter when Shylock is in fits of anger against Jessica and of his hatred for Lorenzo being a Christian, and also when his acute grief due to the loss of his gold and jewels bursts out.

SHYLOCK Signior Antonio, many a time and oft

In the Rialto you have rated meAbout my moneys and my usances:

Still have I borne it with a patient shrug,For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe.

In the Court Scene also Shylock arouses laughter when he appreciates the legal wisdom of Portia and says, ‘A Daniel has come to judgment, a Daniel’. A survey of Portia’s character will help us to enjoy her portrayal as drawn by Shakespeare and provide entertainment to

the readers as well as the spectators. But in, while Portia’s role is passive in the first part of the play, enough is revealed of her in her conversation in this part of the play, to excile our interest in her and to make her an object of admiration. There cannot be any doubt about the personal charms of Portia because otherwise so many suitors would not have come from different countries of the world for winning her as their bride. The Prince of Morocco not being a cultured man, must have been impressed by the bodily charms of Portia; he had probably no idea of Portia’s intellectual charms which we shall notice particularly in the Trial Scene. Even Bassanio, who is himself a handsome person and with whom Portia falls in love before his choosing of the caskets, remarks about her personal charms just after discovering Portia’s portrait in the leaden caskets.

In Twelfth Night, Viola boldly assumes the direction of her own affairs almost from the very moment that she is introduced to us. But of, it is only when the climax of the play is reached with Bassanio’s successful choice of the lead casket that Portia seems to come into her own. There is irony in the situation in which Portia appears in the Venetian court in the disguise of a man wearing a lawyer’s clothes. The audience in the theatre knows that the judge is a woman and Bassanio’s wife. But of, nobody in the court not even Bassanio knows the judge’s real identity. It is in this male disguise that Portia manages to get her ring from Bassanio. Nerissa follows her mistress in getting her rig from Gratiano. The very disguise adopted by the two women and everybody else’ ignorance of their real identity give rise to comic irony which is very amusing.

When the play The Merchant of Venice is mentioned anywhere, people think of two persons namely Shylock and Portia; and these two persons are inseparable from each other in our minds because we remember Shylock chiefly as a villain wanting to take the life of his enemy, Antonio’s and we think of Portia as the person who defeats Shylock’s evil design. Portia occupies a high position among the heroines created by Shakespeare. She produces a powerful impression on our minds with her personal charms, brilliant, intellect, sense of humour, and sparkling wit, her modesty, humility and feminity, generous disposition, her self-confidence and sense of duty and honour. Above all, she has a true concept of love as consisting in an ardous desire to seek and promote the happiness of all around her. She differs from the other heroines of Shakespearian comedy. Rosalind in As You Like It takes her fortune into her own hands from the time that she is banished from his court by the usurping Duke.

Again we find sufficient proof of Portia’s brilliant in the Trial Scene. Mrs. Jameson compares Portia with Rosalind, Beatrice and other heroines of Shakespeare who belong strictly to the intellectual type. Nobody probably not even Dr. Bellario could have pleaded Antonio’s case in the court as successfully as Portia has done. Portia, like all intellectual lawyers defend Shylock by assuring him that the bond and its terms are perfectly valid according to law, and that he warns Antonio in the open court s that he shall have to pay as forfeiture of the

bond to Shylock a pound of flesh from nearest his heart. Portia further encourages Shylock by making an appeal to him for mercy. Lastly she requests Shylock to get a surgeon nearby so that when the flesh would be cut out from Antonio’s breast he may not bleed to death. But of, Shylock feeling too sure of his strong legal position does not listen to any request of Portia, little suspecting that Portia has other weapons in her armoury to upturn all favourable points of law against Shylock. Portia drives Shylock slowly into n a corner where only the letter of law and not its essence is honored; naturally Portia all of a sudden turns the tables against Shylock and tells him that he can surely cut out a pound of flesh from Antonio’s breast but if he cuts the flesh even by grain more or less, or if he sheds single drop of blood, because these two things , are not in the bond as there is no mention of any surgeon he will have to pay his own life as penalty for violating the terms of the bond. Shylock is completely outwitted and is at the mercy of the Duke. That is how Portia displays her sharpest intelligence, her quickest presence of mind and her wonderful power of using quibbles of law to the best advantage of her client as all shrewd lawyers do.

It is only Shylock in the whole play who can match Portia in her strength of character, in her determination, in her courage, in her self-reliance and in her sharp intelligence, in her ready mind and in all other mainly qualities. But of, then even Shylock is completely defeated by her in the open court. When Portia gets the news of Antonio’s misfortune she at once sends Bassanio with money to Venice and she too prepares herself to defend Antonio. In the court against Shylock. How quickly she decides and also acts accordingly. All this is nothing but a positive proof of her readiness of mind, her firmness in resolve and her self-confidence; otherwise no other in the world could have performed all these tasks and the manner in which Portia defends Antonio and saves him finally from the clutches of Shylock or rather from the jaws of death is indeed marvelous.

Shylock, who considers money as God, at first expresses his unwillingness to lend any money to Bassanio in Antonio’s name on the ground that Antonio has always ill-treated him and always defamed him. Antonio, who happens to join his friend Bassanio at this time, tells Shylock that in future also he would treat him in the same manner and would still spurn him and spit on him. Shylock then changes his tune and says that he wants to befriend Antonio while Antonio is unduly losing his temper. Shylock agrees to lend the required amount of three thousand ducats to Antonio if Antonio signs a bond containing the condition that, in the event of Antonio signs a bond containing the condition that, in the event of Antonio failing to repay the loan within a period of three months, Shylock would be entitled to cut off a pound of flesh from nearest Antonio’s heart. Shylock says that this dangerous clause about the pound of flesh is intended by him merely as a joke. All his talk about putting in the condition “in a merry sport” was merely intended to deceive. But at, it is another matter if by this he meant more than to ensure that he would have respite from Antonio’s mental persecution of himself during the period that the bond was current. It is

the elopement of his daughter Jessica with Lorenzo, the Christian friend of Antonio, which inflames his worst passion of hatred and vindictiveness to such an extent that when the opportunity, offers to wreck a terrible revenge on the Christian in the person of Antonio, he is determined to take it. Bassanio opposes the proposed bond which seems dangerous to him , but Antonio signs the bond, telling Bassanio that his ships would soon return, and that he would then be in a position to repay the loan much before the expiry period of three months.

“Aspects of Shylock’s Personality: In spite of his negative attributes, Shylock is not a totally black character. He has some redeeming traits of character. Firstly, his revengeful attitude is the result of the insults hurled upon him by Antonio. The betrayal by his daughter, who elopes with Lorenzo and takes along with her money and jewels, further invokes his fury against Antonio. Secondly, he shows his intellectual strength by the force of his arguments. He is outwitted in the Trial Scene by Portia only by a legal quibble. Thirdly, Shylock has tender memories of his dead wife, Leah. He feels shocked to know that his daughter gave away his dead wife’s ring for a monkey. Fourthly, he speaks eloquently and convincingly of the injustices suffered by the Jews. Fifthly, he arouses sympathy for the suffering he has undergone. He bears all the insults and humiliation because of his Jewish race. The betrayal of his daughter also evokes sympathy for him.

Thus, Shylock emerges as a powerful character, who inspite of his hateful nature, wins sympathy of the audience.” – (Workbook of the Drama)

“My pictorial visions of the theatrical performance dazzle in front of my eyes. I need to play different roles. Here I mean, my Teaching on the wooden-stage is also I am learning. Whether it is Macbeth, or As you Like it or The Merchant of Venice, I return myself partially on the then Elizabethan playhouse with the original text in my hand; to enhance the climax along with beauties of thoughts to my audience, i.e. my students through my dialogues, my lectures.”-



The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.An evil soul producing holy witnessIs like a villain with a smiling cheek,A goodly apple rotten at the heart:


There are plenty of instances in the play in which Portia displays her wit and sometimes her sense of irony and satire. We notice how humorously and sarcastically she criticizes her suitors. We notice also how she talks humorously about her own male attire and of the

role of the lawyer she is going to play. We notice further how she outwits Shylock with her arguments, which have got an undercurrent of ironical humour. Then, again, we notice her humour particularly in the Ring-Episode.

SHYLOCK Well, thou shalt see, thy eyes shall be thy judge,

The difference of old Shylock and Bassanio:--What, Jessica!--thou shalt not gormandise,

As thou hast done with me:--What, Jessica!--And sleep and snore, and rend apparel out;--

Why, Jessica, I say!

But of, Portia’s humour should be distinguished from Gratiano’s humour and also from Launcelot’s farce. Gratiano is mostly humorous and but very seldom witty, while Launcelot is always farcical and seldom humrrous; but Portia is very witty. The reason is that Portia is far more cultured than Gratiano or Lancelot. Farce is born of animal spirits, and it appeals also to the animal spirits, and it appeals also to the animal spirits and to persons who are without intelligence. Humour is born of heat and it appeals to the heart of emotions, while wit is born of intelligence, and it appeals also to the intellect. Portia’s humour or wit can be understood or appreciated by the intelligent, cultured and decent people only; Gratiano’s humour can be appreciated by all people except the idiots, while Launcelot’s humour can be appreciated by the vulgar and illiterate people. Regarding Portia’s humour and wit, Verity says, ‘gifted with five sense of humour she delights in a comic situation such as the Ring- Episode, where her assumption of anger illustrates her versality. But of, how quickly she sees when a jest has gone far enough, how tactfully she drops it. She has a very pretty sense of wit, which at need be unpleasantly keen, as we feel when she is speaking of her suitors. Yet she never speaks seriously a singled word of caustic satire to anyone.

SHYLOCK 'Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last;

You spurn'd me such a day; another timeYou call'd me dog; and for these courtesies

I'll lend you thus much moneys'?

When the Prince of Arragon says after having chose the wrong casket in which the figure of an idiot is concealed, ‘Is that my prize? Are my deserts no better?’ Portia most seriously replied with some mischievous joy in her heart at the sad disappointment of the Prince and also at his vanity “To offend and judge are distinct offices and of opposite natures.” In the open court when Bassanio says to Antonio that he is prepared to sacrifice his wife who is dearer than his own life for the sake of saving Antonio’s life, Portia most wittily remarks,

‘your wife would give you little thanks of she were by to hear you make the offer.” When again, Bassanio refuses to present his ring to Portia as the reward of her services in the court Portia smartly and pointed remarks, ‘I see, you are liberal in offers. You taught me first to beg; and now methinks, you teach me how a beggar should be answered.” Last of all when Portia, Nerissa, Bassanio and Gratiano all return to Belmont and when Nerissa begins to quarrel with Gratiano over the Ring, Portia talks very innocently and mischievously about her own ring only to put Bassanio in a very false position.

Although Portia is a woman with a powerful intellect and extraordinary powers of reasoning, she yet remains a woman at heart with a lot of modesty, humility and compassion. When she disguises herself as a man, she succeeds eminently in playing a masculine role. But of, on all other occasions she shows that modesty leads to a woman, the grace and the charm which make her a lovable person. When Bassanio puts his hand on the lead casket, she feels overwhelmed by a feeling of ecstasy, and is hardly able to restrain her feelings on this occasion. When he actually opens the lead casket and finding her picture in it, claims her with a kiss, she makes a speech which embodies the very spirit of humility. She describes herself as an unschooled, unlessoned and unpractised woman, and then goes on to make a complete surrender of herself of the man who has won him as his wife. On learning the plight of Bassanio’s dearest friend, she offers to Bassanio any amount of money that he may need for the rescue of Antonio from the clutches of the Jew. This reveals her generous and large heartedness.

ANTONIO This was a venture, sir, that Jacob served for;

A thing not in his power to bring to pass,But sway'd and fashion'd by the hand of heaven.

Was this inserted to make interest good?Or is your gold and silver ewes and rams?

Shakespeare’s greatest achievement as a dramatist, lies in the sphere of character portrayal and The Merchant of Venice fully illustrates this aspect of his genius. Shakespeare has portrayed Portia as a living person-witty, vibrant, brimming with energy and zest, dynamic, highly intelligent, and ingenious, and yet very modest and unassuming. Mrs. James remarks: “A prominent feature in Portia’s character is that confiding, buoyant spirit, which mingles with all her thoughts and affections. And here let me observe that I never yet met in real life, not ever read in tale or history of any woman, distinguished for intellect of the highest order, who was not also remarkable for this trusting spirit, this hopefulness and cheerfulness of temper, which is compatible with the most serious habits and the most profound sensibility.”

BASSANIO

Look on beauty,And you shall see 'tis purchased by the weight;

Which therein works a miracle in nature,Making them lightest that wear most of it:

Bassanio needs money to equip himself for his trip to Belmont where he wishes to try his luck at winning a rich heiress by the name of Portia as his wife. It is one of the little ironies of life that Bassanio should have been led to seek from Shylock, above all people, the loan of the three thousand ducats which he required to equip himself fittingly to appear at Belmont as one of the suitors for the hand of the fair Portia. This was particularly unfortunate because the surety for the due repayment of the loan was to Antonio. There was a long-standing and deep-seated enmity between Shylock and Antonio, and responsibility for this enmity cannot be laid exclusively at the door of Shylock. Unfortunately the Jew was a hard person to do business with, and his cruelty towards his bankrupt debtor from the clutches of Shylock is exactly what we should have expected, and if Shylock made this a grievance and if it were his only grievance against Antonio, he would stand condemned straight away in the opinion of every reasonable person. But of, Shylock’s bitterness is more deep rooted and proceeds from causes which do but little honour to Antonio. In an age when Jew baiting was as favourite a pastime as bear-baiting, we can understand how thoughtless people of the type of Gratiano should have indulged in such mockery of the Jew as occurs when the tables are turned on Shylock in the Trial Scene. But at, Antonio is a gentleman of superior culture and refinement, universally looked up to not only because of his success as a merchant but also because of his magnamity and generousity. Yet he allows himself to be caught up in the net of prevalent Anti-Jewish prejudices, and he makes it a point to omit no opportunity which offers, to insult Shylock in public and particularly in places where merchants most do congregate. Shylock’s remonstrates produce no result other than an emphatic declaration from Antonio to the effect that he will have no hesitation in repeating such behavior. That Shylock is a usurper and a miser and that he loves money for its own sake, cannot be denied, but his mercenary-mindedness has not deprived him ordinary of human sensibilities, nor has it crushed out the existence of his strong racial and religious sentiments. On the contrary, the treatment which is meted out to him has tended to make him extremely bigoted in these respects when, therefore, Antonio takes to reviling his race and religion, in addition to heaping insults and affronts on him personally, we feel that the limit of human endurance has been reached. Hence, there is nothing improbable in the circumstance that Shylock should have entertained a lodged hatred in his bosom against Antonio and should have been awaiting his opportunity to get even with him.

Very few modern women have the same sense of duty and obedience to their parents or elders as Portia is found to possess. She being economically independent after the death of

her father, could easily dishonor his will which put restrictions upon her marriage by the lottery of the caskets. She could have easily told Bassanio the secrets of the caskets and thereby helps him in choosing the right casket. But of, she did not violate her father’s will. It shows that Portia has a great sense of duty. The moment she hears the bad news about Antonio she at once sends away Bassanio to Venice with sufficient money to help Antonio in this difficult position. We also find how Portia sacrifices her own pleasures, her money, the company of the husband and even goes to the length of playing the role of the lawyer in the court of law in order to save her husband’s friend. This shows, on the one hand, her sense of duty and also her real love for her husband, and at the same time her uncommon kindness of heart.

LAUNCELOT It is much that the Moor should be more than reason:

but if she be less than an honest woman, she isindeed more than I took her for.

Bassanio, winning Portia as his wife and so very rich learnt about the crisis in Antonio’s life. He rushed back to Venice with plenty of money which Portia has generously given him so that he can appease the Jew by offering him any amount as compensation to him for Antonio’s inability to have repaid the loan within the prescribed period of time. But of, shylock rejects all offers of money.

For all her qualities critics describe Portia as the Queen of this play and as the Muse of wisdom and love. In Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice the Bond Story is a story of spite and vindictiveness. It has eventually been conquered by an intellectual acuteness informed by a true spirit of love and tolerance. The bond story involves four characters- Antonio, Shylock, Bassanio and Portia. It is to be admitted that it is the balance, harmony and steadiness of her nature which gives the character of “balanced completeness, of rounded perfection and felicity of loveliness:, to the play. She sets the tune so to say, of the whole piece and all characters are so adjusted as to move in unison with her.

Portia’s personal charms make her one of outstanding heroines ever created by Shakespeare. Her sense of humour and also her satire are brilliantly exposed when she speaks about Falconbridge, the young baron of England, ‘He is a proper man’s picture; but alas, who can converse with a doubled show? How oddly he is suited. I think he bought his doubtlet in Italy, his bonnet in Germany, and his behavior everywhere.’ She speaks in the most sarcastic tone when she describes the Scottish Lord. “That he hath a neighbourly charity in him for he borrowed a box of the ear of the English man and swore he would pay him again when he was able, I think the Frenchmen became his surety, and sealed under for another.’

In the trial, Shylock is the complainant, Antonio is the defendant. Portia disguised as a male and wearing a lawyer’s clothes, is the judge. In terms of the bond, Portia allows Shylock to cut off a pound of Antonio’s flesh from any part his body that Shylock likes. Portia allows him to do so because all appeals to him for mercy, including one by Portia herself, having failed to move him. But of, Portia stops him just when Shylock proceeds to carry out his purpose and says that the bond allows him only to cut off a pound of flesh but that he must not shed a single drop of blood. This interpretation of the bond makes it impossible for Shylock to cut off the flesh. Thereupon Shylock says that he would be satisfied if he paid three times the amount of the loan which Antonio had failed to repay. But of, Portia says that having already refused the offer of money in the open court Shylock can only have a pound of flesh, and can have it without shedding any blood. This means that Shylock can have nothing at all, neither the flesh nor the money. Shylock is now a defeated man. Moreover, when Shylock gets ready to leave the court in a state of deep dejection, Portia informs him that according to the laws of Venice, he is now liable to a severe punishment. She says that Shylock had tried to kill a Christian of Venice by wanting to cut off a pound of flesh from nearest his heart, and that Shylock’s own life is therefore forfeit now. Eventually, Shylock’s life is spared by the Duke of Venice but he is freed to become a Christian and also to give away half of his wealth to his daughter Jessica and her husband Lorenzo, and to level the other half of his wealth to them at the time of his death. Thus is the Jew punished severely with the very weapon with which he had wanted to take Antonio’s life. Shylock’s defeat with his own weapons in the Trial Scene is in the fitness of things. He stood by the letter of the law and he almost perished by it. however much it may be argued that Shakespeare intended that we should sympathise with him as a man whose mind and spirit had been warped by the persecution which his race, and he in particular, had been subjected to, we cannot escape the fact that there was something almost inhuman in the relentless with which he insisted on exercising what he considered to be his legal right to take the life of Antonio is as cruel a way as human ingenuity could devise. Hence, we cannot agree with the view that he is more sinned against than sinning and that he is unfairly treated when a sort of composite judgement is delivered against him at the conclusion of the trial.

SHYLOCK I'll have my bond; I will not hear thee speak:

I'll have my bond; and therefore speak no more.I'll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool,

To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yieldTo Christian intercessors. Follow not;

I'll have no speaking: I will have my bond.

Bassanio’s wife Portia hits upon a plan to rescue Antonio from the clutches of the Jew. She is able to prevail upon the eminent lawyer, Bellario, living in Padna, to send her to Venice to

act as the judge in Shylock’s case against Antonio. She disguises herself as a man and dressed as a lawyer, goes to court in Venice where the case is to be tried. The Duke of Venice welcomes Portia because she has been recommended by Bellario. Actually the Duke had invited Bellario to come from Padua and act as the judge, but Bellario has expressed his inability to accept this assignment and has sent Portia to take his place. After a definite period, news comes that all Antonio’s ships have been wrecked on the seas. Antonio is now reduced to a state of bankruptcy. A question of some importance is as to whether Shylock had the money not been forthcoming for its liquidation when the bond fell due, would have insisted on the penalty of pound of flesh if there had been no new cause of provocation offered him after the bond has been signed. That he had a sinister intention in mind when he proposed the condition about the forfeit of the pound of flesh is not open to much doubt. The period of three months, prescribed in the bond for the repayment of the loan, is also now nearing its end. It also becomes evident that Shylock would demand the pound of flesh which has been specified in the bond as the penalty for Antonio‘s failure to repay the loan. Antonio’s failure to repay the loan had at that time seemed to Antonio, and impossibility has turned not only into a possibility but a certainty. Three months have now expired; and the Jew then actually files a suit against Antonio, demanding the penalty specified in the bond.

ANTONIO I am as like to call thee so again,

To spit on thee again, to spurn thee too.If thou wilt lend this money, lend it not

As to thy friends; for when did friendship takeA breed for barren metal of his friend?

Shylock’s Puritanical intolerance of everything which did not fall in line with his own rigidly severe way of thinking is reprehensible. Equally reprehensible is Antonio’s intolerance of the Jew because of his race and his religion. The mental agony which Antonio endures until Portia delivers the judgement in his favour is not as cruel as it may seem. It will be noted that Portia herself is in no particular hurry to relieve it. Her prolongation of her arguments and remonstrance with Shylock is meant no doubt, to lead Shylock until he entraps himself so securely as to leave himself no means of escape. But of, it is also intended to prolong Antonio’s mental agony, and we may readily infer that, however graciously Portia speaks to and of Antonio she could not have been without a sense of his intolerance which needed to be curbed.

Thus Bond Story may be regarded as something of a plea for tolerance. The punishment which Shylock receives at the end of the trial of Antonio is very excessive. Our sympathies during the trial are wholly with Antonio, and the Jew appears to us to be a monster and a devil. The Jew pays no heed to the appeals for mercy from any quarter; and he feels most

jubilant when it seems that he would be allowed to cut off a pound of Antonio’s flesh and thus be enabled to put an end to the life of a Christian whom he regards as his worst enemy. Here he appears as a blood thirsty man determined to kill his foe. Here we regard him as an abominable and detestable person. But of, when the tablets have been turned upon him, and he is then required to part with almost all his wealth and also compelled to turn a Christian, we feel that the punishment awarded to him is too severe. It is here he excites our sympathy to such an extent that we begin to think that he has been gravely wronged. It is here that we accept the oft-quoted dictum that he is as much sinned against as sinning. It was enough to have dispossessed him of all his wealth too. But of, it is going too far to compel him to change his religion and become a Christian. At this point he totters out of the court, a broken man with a shattered mind, with no one at all to speak a word of comfort to him. Such punishment might not have moved the Elizabethan audiences to sympathy for Shylock, but it does move us to sympathy for him, and to regard him as a victim of Christian fanaticism and persecution. Fortunately the Jews of our times have distinguished themselves so conspicuously in various spheres of human endeavour that they are no longer treated as out casts and as a compatible race of people except by the countries of the middle east.

SHYLOCK Then meet me forthwith at the notary's;Give him direction for this merry bond,

And I will go and purse the ducats straight,See to my house, left in the fearful guard

Of an unthrifty knave, and presentlyI will be with you.

In The Merchant of Venice there are three types of loves. Each type of love has its own peculiar quality. There is love of Bassanio and Portia; there is the Jessica-Lorenzo love-affair, and there is also the love-affair of Nerissa-Gratiano. The love affair of Bassanio and Portia is outstanding. In the play. In his first speech to Antonio about his desire to win Portia as his wife, Bassanio appears to us to be kind of fortune-hunter or dowry-seeker. It is quite clear from his utterance that he wants to win Portia as his wife because she is a rich heiress while he is a young man in difficult circumstances. But of, afterwards we find that he not, after all, a money-grabber or greedy fellow looking for a wealthy woman by marrying whom he can enrich himself.

PORTIA One half of me is yours, the other half yours,

Mine own, I would say; but if mine, then yours,And so all yours. O, these naughty times

Put bars between the owners and their rights!

Gratiano, though prosaic, in the love affair but he does not lack the sense of humour. When Bassanio wants to be known if he has secured any bride for himself, Bassanio’s reply is remarkable. Nerissa is very intelligent and cultured woman with a keen sense of humour. Actually in the love affair between Nerissa and Gratiano there is nothing romantics. Gratiano is attracted by her refined manners, refined talk and refined demeanour while he arrives at Belmont in Bassanio’s company. Gratiano is also a very intelligent man with a ready wit and a keen sense of humour. When Gratiano proposes marriage Nerissa gives a reply which is quite prosaic. She says that she would marry him if his lord namely Bassanio, is able to win her mistress, Portia. There is nothing poetic or intense in this kind of love. Both of them are practical minded. Their love is not a matter of passion. Though they love each other well enough but they are not madly or romantically in love as Jessica and Lorenzo. As a cheerful and witty spirit, Nerissa forms a good match with Gratiano, and that is why probably, they feel attracted towards each other when they meet at Belmont. Like Gratiano she is very wise and also quite shrewd in her insight into human nature and also in her observations about human character.

“SHAKESPEARE IS NEITHER FOR NOR AGAINST SHYLOCK. SHAKESPEARE NEVER TAKES SIDES.”

The play treats the subject of love; this subject is looked at from different view-points; it is looked at from the view-point of sex in the relations between Bassanio and Portia, Lorenzo and Jessica and Gratiano and Nerissa; it is looked at from the view point of friendship in the relations between Antonio and Bassanio; it is viewed from another point of view in the relation between Shylock and Antonio. Thus this play deals with love in its varied aspects. Man’s nature is to overpower, subdue, conquer and possess everything while a woman’s nature is to yield up everything, even her body and soul to a man. Who she considers in her heart of hearts as her master. Even the most modern woman must and does feel that she is the possession of man, and every man, whether civilized or uncivilized, feels all the while that he is the master of woman’s body and soul. Bassanio has found in Portia certain other qualities which have charmed him that is why he becomes eloquent and poetic in comparing her to the golden fleece of ancient mythology and in comparing her to Brutus’ Portia. Though Bassanio appears a fortune hunter the very beginning of the play, but a thorough analysis of his character shows that he has the true heart of love and he loves Portia sincerely. Similarly Portia too is in very much love with Bassanio. She remembers having seen him on a previous occasion; and she had formed an excellent opinion about him at that time. When Bassanio succeeded in selecting the right casket Portia was overwhelmed with joy.

ANTONIO Content, i' faith: I'll seal to such a bond

And say there is much kindness in the Jew.

In ancient classical plays, comic and tragic elements were not mingled but were kept separate from each other. In The Merchant of Venice they have been intermixed. The play is romantic in its combination of the serious and the gay; and it is romantic in its mingling of the two main stories in its being a delightful piece of story-telling and in the freshness and frankness of its two love stories of Portia and Bassanio, and of Lorenzo and Jessica.

SHYLOCK Nay, that's true, that's very true. Go, Tubal, feeme an officer; bespeak him a fortnight before. Iwill have the heart of him, if he forfeit; for, werehe out of Venice, I can make what merchandise I

will. Go, go, Tubal, and meet me at our synagogue;go, good Tubal; at our synagogue, Tubal.

A romantic comedy is a kind of comedy in which the romantic elements are mingled with comic elements, where the romantic elements are mingled with comic elements, where the romantic elements delight and enchant us and the comic elements provide the necessary laughter. It is such a play which appeals to us as it deals with fantastic elements, with romantic setting where we know that things will fall into place at the end and everything would end happily and the love between the hero and heroine will achieve fruition in marriage. As mentioned, the romantic comedies never intended to follow the classical norms of comedy as it is a completely new genre which has attributes of its own. This friendship between a grave man, bordering on old age, and a young, gay, affectionate, wild fellow capable of better things and nice in honour- this friendship, says Brooke, is instinct with the spirit of romance.

LORENZO, he is in love with Jessica, and plans to steal her from her father’s house. (Oxford Edition: Shakespeare)

Beshrew me but I love her heartily;For she is wise, if I can judge of her,

And fair she is, if that mine eyes be true,And true she is, as she hath proved herself,

And therefore, like herself, wise, fair and true,Shall she be placed in my constant soul.

But of, then as in case of a few other plays, Shakespeare left the title of this play open to the reader and that is why he named it The Merchant of Venice so that the reader may take Antonio or Shylock as The Merchant of Venice. We have seen how in the case of Twelfth Night and As you like it Shakespeare left the choice of the title to his readers. The alternative titles suggested for The Merchant of Venice are the The Jew of Venice and The

Lady of Belmont. So far as The Jew of Venice is concerned it can be a more suitable title than The Lady of Belmont, but then if we accept this title, we shall have to accept also Shylock as the hero of the play. But for, can Shylock be the hero when he is so greedy, mean, malicious and, when he is so much humiliated and penalized at the close of the play? Antonio is the hero of the play because he is noble, self-sacrificing and most gentle and sweet. Now, as regards The Lady of Belmont as the title of the play, it is not even half as suitable as The Jew of Venice because although Portia figure throughout the play as Shylock or Antonio. Portia may be the heroine of the caskets story.

It is the romantic love of Lorenzo and Jessica that disregards religious distinctions and boundaries. Jessica is a Jew while Lorenzo is a Christian. Knowing that her father would feel horrified and extremely angry at her having fallen in love with a Christian youngman, Jessica runs away from home to marry Lorenzo. She has risked and hazarded all she hath, fortunately succeeds in proving himself to true lover who recognizes her excellence and who, therefore, resolves to remain always devoted to her. Any father in the position of Shylock would go mad with grief and anger. This is wholly romantic love which knows no bounds, no casteism, no religious boundaries. The truly romantic quality of this love affair comes out in that moon-light scene in which they both speak alternatively about some of the famous love affair of ancient and mythology.

The names of persons are Italian; Antonio and Gratiano, Solanio and Salerio etc. are all Italian names. The name Gobbo is particularly Italian. The reference to the Gift of Pigeons (which Gobbo makes to Bassanio) is particularly Italian. The reference to gondola (in which the runaway couple was seen seated) gives to the play an Italian colour.

One may say that both Antonio and Shylock are the merchants of Venice, and therefore, none in particular can be regarded as the real merchant of Venice. But of, this question depends upon another question for its solution, namely which of the merchant- Antonio and Shylock- is the real hero of the play. All critics and readers have agreed that Antonio is the hero of the play, because the play begins and ends with him, because Antonio is the noblest character in the whole play, because it is Antonio who borrows money from Shylock for Bassanio; it is Antonio for who borrows money from Shylock for Bassanio; it is Antonio for whom Portia comes all the way from Belmont to Venice to plead his case and save him from death; it is for Antonio that all people- the Duke of Venice , the merchants and others plead for money to Shylock, and it is for Antonio to whom our heart is drawn with sympathy ,love and regards from the beginning to the end of the play. And so far as Shylock is concerned our body and soul revolt against him throughout the play for his meanness., his cruel malice, his uncommon avarice except of course, when he is completely out-witted by Portia and baffled in the realization of even the original amount of money which he had lent to Bassanio, and when he is deprived of all his property and robbed even of his daughter by a member of the race which had been prosecuting him and the Jews for

so many generation. Antonio is the only man who has been described as a merchant in the play. Shylock is not certainly a merchant. He is a money-lender or an answer. In the Trial Scene, the Duke explicitly refers to Antonio as “that royal merchant”, and when Portia enters the court and begins to function as the midge, she asks in so many words: “which is the merchant here, and which the Jew? Thus Antonio is the merchant in this play, and the play had been name after him.

While giving the title of this play Shakespeare at first could not decide whether he should name the play after Antonio or after Shylock because these two characters are the leading but contraposed characters. Now the question is who is the real merchant of Venice? The confusion arises when we remember the original title of the play given it by Shakespeare. This play was entered on the Stationers’ Register in1598 with the following title: “A Book of the Merchant of Venice, otherwise called the Jew of Venice.” This title completely puzzles us and we cannot understand whether Shakespeare gives these title the “Merchant of Venice” and the “Jew of Venice” to the same person, Shylock, or these are alternative titles for the play and refer to the different characters- Antonio and Shylock respectively. In 1600 however, the play was published with a longer title that clears the confusion: “The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice with the extreme cruelty of Shylock the Jew, towards the said Merchant; but she has no place in the Bond story except indirectly as the means of saving Antonio from the clutches of Shylock.

GRATIANO Was not that letter from fair Jessica?

LORENZO I must needs tell thee all. She hath directed

How I shall take her from her father's house,What gold and jewels she is furnish'd with,

What page's suit she hath in readiness.

Shakespeare’s supremacy lies in this fact that he could see and understand so much of life, could pierce the heart of so many passions, without falling a prey to any aspect of life; so that we say of him that he is universal. Every phase of feeling lay within the scope of Shakespeare’s understanding and sympathy. There is no point of morals, of philosophy, of the conduct of life that he has not touched upon, no mystery of human nature that he has not penetrated. Specially on the aspect of love Shakespeare has enriched the world with his thought. Showing the different kind of love in this play Shakespeare has unveiled the pure mirth, bright and tender fancy, airy satire, ardent passion, questioning, into the deep and terrible mysteries of life. This made Jonson to utter; Shakespeare “was not of an age, but all of time.” So astonishingly widespread is his glory, that might also be said that, “he was not of a land lent of all lands.” Free of every theory, accepting all of life, rejecting nothing,

uniting the real and the poetic, appalling to the most various men, to a rude workman asd to a wit, Shakespeare’s drama is a great river of life and beauty.

The references to merchant-princes, to money-lending Jews and their synagogue, the reference to the trade of Venice with other places and to its freedom etc. give to the play an Italian colouring.

The title of the play is justified if we look closely into the play. Antonio, is as it were, the connecting link of the whole play; it is his fortunes and career, his generousity, the bond which he executes, and the penalty which is called upon to pay- it is these which form the axis upon which the play revolves. Antonio is the centre round which all the other characters including even Shylock, are grouped. Though his part, from its quiet dignity and reserve, truly gives less scope than that of Shylock for the display of great histrionic powers, he is the pivot on which the whole action of the play turns.

PORTIA Away, then! I am lock'd in one of them:If you do love me, you will find me out.

Nerissa and the rest, stand all aloof.Let music sound while he doth make his choice;

Shylock his enemy and would be murderer; Portia his saviour. No doubt little is to be done by him, but much is to be done against him and for him in the play. His importance in the mechanism of the play cannot be exaggerated. In fact without Antonio, the play would fall to pieces. The play The Merchant of Venice is romantic firstly in the combination of the serious and the gay elements. In the classical plays of antiquity comedy and tragedy were sharply distinguished and kept entirely separate from each other. No comic play contained tragic elements and vice versa. But of, in the Romantic drama of Shakespeare, comedy and tragedy sometimes jostle each other. The terrible hatred of Shylock, the sense of an impending disaster in the life of Antonio and Shylock’s overwhelming ruin are tragic elements which are mingled with such comic elements as the wit of Gratiano and Portia, the humour of Launcelot and to the play a romantic character. It is romantic also in its defiance of the unities. The ancient classical plays deserved these unities but the romantic drama of Shakespeare does not. Again, what can be more romantic than a tale of love and of adventure? A pair of lovers are always a romantic subject, because wooing is the most exciting of men’s emotional experiences. Youth in love is the most alluring theme for romantic comedy. The Merchant of Venice is Romantic, therefore, by virtue of the freshness and frankness of its two love-stories of Portia and Bassanio, of Lorenzo and Jessica. The first love story has its romantic elements in the bold adventure of Bassanio who goes to Belmont to win a wife, and in the passionate love that exists between the two.

Moreover, during Shakespeare’s time Venice was the ‘seat of all pleasant delight’- ‘the pleasure place of all festivity, the revel of the world, the mosque of Italy. But at, this magnificence of Venice was due to her merchants, owners of enormous wealth, who lived like princes in palatial buildings, and amidst luxurious and elegant surroundings.

Shylock as, does not have a certain claim so far as the title of the play is concerned. He is the most dominating person in the play and he has an intellectual vigour and an intellectual caliber much higher than that of Antonio or any other male figure in the play. Some readers might even think more appropriate to call this play “The Jew of Venice” but our opinion in the matter is that the present title is preferable. Antonio is dramatically as important as Shylock. If Antonio mere eliminated from the play, the whole story would collapse. Neither the Bond Story nor the Casket Story can come into existence without Antonio. Actually he is the pivot round which the action of the play revolves. Round him are all the characters grouped. Bassanio is his friend. ; Shylock is his enemy and Portia proves to be his savior. Antonio’s moral superiority to Shylock and his enormous importance in the play’s structure and design impart him a stature much higher than of Shylock; and so find the title The Merchant of Venice. It is argued by some critics that the title of the play is a misnomer for Antonio who is the merchant of Venice plays a minor and subordinate part in the drama and cannot be regarded as the hero. The point pressed is that the title should have indicated the most dominant character of the play; and a superficial examination of the play might lead one to regard Shylock as the hero. It is true that Shylock is the strongest, most graceful and dominating character of the play yet he also cannot be regarded as the hero of the play; in fact he is the villain of the piece. Hence a title from the name of Shylock would be as much inconsistent as that from the name of Antonio, for to regard Shylock as the principal character of the play is to miss the real meaning of it.

Hence the title The Merchant of Venice possesses a romantic and glamour of its own, which the title ‘Jew of Venice’ can never have.

SHYLOCK Gaoler, look to him: tell not me of mercy;This is the fool that lent out money gratis:

Gaoler, look to him.

It is also worth remembering that Shakespeare does not always select the title of his play from the name of its hero. In Cymbeline, the character of king Cymbeline is perhaps the weakest possible and yet the play is named after him, as he is the peg on which the whole story hangs.

It may be said that the word Merchant stands for Antonio and that Shakespeare named his play after Antonio because he looked upon Antonio as the hero. Nor can we quarrel with

Shakespeare for having named the play thus. After all, Antonio is the pivot of the whole drama. Round him does the action revolve. He forms a centre around which all the other characters are grouped- Bassanio, his friend;

LAUNCELOT Truly, the more to blame he: we were Christians

enow before; e'en as many as could well live, one byanother. This making Christians will raise the

price of hogs: if we grow all to be pork-eaters, weshall not shortly have a rasher on the coals for money.

The other love between Jessica and Lorenzo is still more romantic because of a greater element of adventure and because of the hazard that it involves. A Christian is in love with a Jewess and since the Jew would never agree to such a match, the lovers elope. A masque is arranged; Jessica slips out of her house in the guise of a boy; the masked procession is led by torches. This is all romance. But of, the most romantic feature in this love-story is the wonderful, moon-light scene between Jessica and Lorenzo in the beginning of Act V. Few passages in Shakespeare have more of the “far off magic poetry than this conversation between the lovers. Their love is decorated out with imagination and thoughts.” This “moonlight serenade of music” with its rich allusions to Greek Mythology (Troilus, Cressida, Medea etc.) is indeed a delight. The play is romantic also because of its Italian atmosphere. We are transported completely into an Italian atmosphere. We see in the distance the gondola which is bearing Jessica away with her lover. Italy the land of beauty and romance, the mistress of so many poets, the country of enchantment- such is the background of this play. What could be more romantic than an Italian background. According to Stopford, A Brooke, there is something romantic also in Antonio’s lavish friendship, ready to sacrifice not only wealth but life for the sake of Bassanio. The Merchant of Venice contains an abundance of romantic elements. This play has several aspects in it: it has a number of comic elements; it has a number of tragic elements and it has several romantic elements too. It is a play in which romance occupies a dominant position, with comic elements not lagging far behind. In fact, comedy and romances jostle each other in this play; and they have been mingled together in such a skilful manner that they have been mingled together in such a skilful manner that they form a harmonious pattern. And, of course, we cannot ignore the serious and tragic elements which also go into the making of the play as a whole.

TO MY ANALYSIS - THE MERCHANT OF VENICE - WHO IS THE MERCHANT OF VENICE TO THE PLAY?

CONTINUING READING THE DRAMA AFTER, WHO SHALL I REGARD ‘THE MERCHANT OF VENICE’? - I ANSWERED, THUS --

1. IS ALONE ANTONIO THE HERO OF VENICE? 2. IS IT SHYLOCK, THE JEW THEN? 3. IT CAN, EITHER BE NONE OF THE CHRISTIAN OR THE JEW IS THE MERCHANT OF VENICE! 4. SHALL I THINK ABOUT BASSANIO (?)- THE PRODIGAL SON! 4. ON THE OTHER HAND, WELLWHAT IS ‘FORTUNE’, THE REAL ABSRACT ‘HERO’, and THE MERCHANT OF EVERY MAN…> WHO IS MORE ‘FORTUNATE VENETIAN, SCHOLAR AND A SOLDIER THEREFORE’...!

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THEREFORE on the “structure of the exposition and the philosophy of a human destiny” of the PLAY -I CONCLUDE MY ANSWER, SHOULD OF: ANTONIO ON POSITION OF HIS -RESPECT is ‘THE MERCHANT OF VENICE’, OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, A PORTRAYAL OF ROYALTY AND FRIENDSHIP WITH BASSANIO AND BASSANIO-PORTIA….(...ACT 3, SCENE 4...).


There are three love-affairs in The Merchant of Venice each having is own peculiar quality. There is the love of Bassanio and Portia; there is the Jessica- Lorenzo love-affair and there is also the love-affair of Nerissa and Gratiano. The love-affair of Bassanio and Portia is the most outstanding in the play. In his first speech of Antonio about his desire to win Portia as his wife, Bassanio does appear to us to be kind of fortune-hunter or dowry seeker. It seems that he wants to win Portia as his wife because she is a rich heiress while he is a young man in straitened circumstances. But of, soon afterwards we find that he is not, after all, a money-grabber or a greedy fellow looking for a wealthy woman by marrying whom he can enrich himself. He has found in Portia certain other qualities which have charmed him. That is why he becomes eloquent and poetic in comparing her to the golden fleece of ancient mythology and in comparing her to Brutus’ Portia. And then, at Belmont, he really shows himself to be a true lover and not a dowry seeker. He does not wish to prolong his stay at Belmont unduly without trying his fortune. He feels that he would be undergoing a torture if he does not immediately enter the contest.

(PORTIA)

To ANTONIO

Give me your gloves, I'll wear them for your sake;

To BASSANIO

And, for your love, I'll take this ring from you:Do not draw back your hand; I'll take no more;

And you in love shall not deny me this.

Bassanio and Gratiano are also may be considered as romantic characters , otherwise how could Bassanio be so extravagant in spending all his fortunes in his love adventure, and how could Gratiano, with no resources venture out of Venice and succeed in winning the heart of Nerissa? Both Portia and Nerissa are equally romantic because they are equally successful in winning their husbands and also in charming them with their personality. The very trick of the ring played by both of them on their husbands reflect their romantic spirit.

“Belmont , which is literally means ‘the hill beautiful’, is a poetic and romantic world as it is a world of love, friendship, music, and song where things flourish and where true love is aided to make a right choice. In Belmont, the scenes are set in the moonlit gardens as Shakespeare wanted it to be a world in opposition to Venice which is a world of business, of hatred, of revenge. In other words, the world of Belmont is in contrast to the harsh realities of the world of Venice. Belmont is the world of wealth and luxury where Portia is ‘richly left’ to be wooed and married through the lottery of the caskets. It is perfect place for the lovers to be united so that the play ends happily in wedlock.”- Romantic as well as Realistic: Workbook.

Music, whilst BASSANIO comments on the caskets to himself

SONG.Tell me where is fancy bred,

Or in the heart, or in the head?How begot, how nourished?

Reply, reply.It is engender'd in the eyes,

With gazing fed; and fancy diesIn the cradle where it lies.Let us all ring fancy's knell

I'll begin it,--Ding, dong, bell.

Through the romantic elements of the play we find Shakespeare’s wise humanity, infectious gaiety or serene mirth, the piercing intensity of his passion and the splendor of his rhetoric. We must notice side by side, his amazing insight into human nature and the amazing fund of vitality with which he endows his characters. When reading we forget that the characters are more figments of imagination, puppets of a poet’s fancy and brain. They fall into stride beside us in the comfortable pathways of the world; their shadows haunt us for ever; they become the companion of joys and sorrows, the objects of our hopes and affections, the centre of our aspirations and passions; in short they become a part of our inmost being.

BASSANIO

Since I have your good leave to go away,I will make haste: but, till I come again,No bed shall e'er be guilty of my stay,No rest be interposer 'twixt us twain.

Stopford Brooke remarks about Portia. ‘She is as natural as Eve in Paradise’. While Hazlitt says about her, ‘She has certain degree of affection and pedantry about her, which is very unusual in Shakespeare’s women. Portia possess the chief masculine qualities of sharp intelligence, readiness of mind, courage and sense of humour, while her feminine qualities are obedience or loyalty to her father, gentleness or sweetness of temper, tenderness of heart, shyness and modesty in a very large measure. Portia has got the most current sense of justice because her conception of justice is fairness with mercy.

The caskets story is a supreme example of romance. Although Portia can be won as a wife only through a choice of the right casket which on the surface seems to be a kind of lottery, yet the successful choice made by Bassanio is in its essence wholly romantic. It is true that Bassanio’s original motive in going to Belmont to try his luck at the caskets was to acquire wealth and richness through his marriage with an heiress; but his description of her beauty and her charm to Antonio before he leaves for Belmont shows his as a romantic young man. He describes Portia as “fair” and “fairer” than that word.” Then he compares her to the golden fleece of ancient classical mythology, and says that many suitors go to Belmont to win her in the same way as many adventures including Jason went to Colchos to acquire the golden fleece. After having made the right-choice of a casket, Bassanio praises Portia’s picture in poetic terms, and grows almost rapturous over it. Portia is even more romantic in her nature than Bassanio. She feels overwhelmed with joy when Bassanio puts his hand on the lead casket which contains her picture: and then she makes an almost ecstatic speech at Bassanio’s success. In her complete surrender, body and soul, to Bassanio, she again appears as a romantic type of woman. Both feel rapturously happy when Bassanio proves successful in his choice of a casket. This is indeed a case of love at first sight, a case of passionate love, and also a case of true love which is sure to last forever.

Many suitors come to Belmont but go back without trying their luck because of the hard condition that the unsuccessful suitor would never marry all his life. However three suitors do come forward to enter the context. The first to do so is the Prince of Morocco the second is the Prince of Arragon ; and the third is Bassanio. Portia had, on a previous occasion seen Bassanio and had liked him, but at that time there was no question of Bassanio’s wanting to marry Portia or of Portia’s encouraging Bassanio in this respect because the subject of Portia’s marriage was not yet under consideration.

Portia goes into ecstasy when she finds Bassanio can hardly believe his good fortune, while Portia makes a speech expressing her joy at his choice and saying that she is an unlessoned

girl, unschooled and unpractised, but willing to learn in order to serve him better. She would be happy, to be directed by him, and she look upon him as her lord, her governor and her king. She further declares that her entire estate and her household including her servants and her herself now belong to him. She then gives him a ring and asks him never to part with it. If he loses the ring, she would think that his love for her has come to an end. Bassanio gives assurance and promises not to lose the ring in any way.

The casket story in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice circles around the prominent character Portia, a lady of Belmont. She is “fair and fairer than that word”, and a lady of wonderful virtues. Bassanio puts her in the way that she is no way inferior to the wife of the famous ancient Roman Senator, Brutus, and the daughter of the famous Roman, Cato. There cannot be any doubt about the personal charms of Portia because otherwise so many suitors would not have come from different corners of the world for winning her as their bride. The Prince of Morocco, not being a cultured man, must have been impressed by the bodily charms of Portia; he had probably no idea of Portia’s intellectual charms which we shall notice particularly in the Trial-Scene. Even Bassanio who is himself a handsome person and with whom Portia falls in love before his choosing of the Caskets, remarks about her personal charms just after discovering Portia’s portrait in the leaden caskets.

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” - Do Not Worry: Matthew 6 New International Version (NIV)

Moreover we notice her psychological insight into human character, and brilliant intellect in the Trial- Scene. It is really mention worthy how Portia like all intelligent lawyers defends Shylock by assuring him that the bond and its terms are perfectly valid according to law, and that she warms Antonio in the open court that he shall have to pay as forfeiture of the bond to Shylock a pound of flesh from nearest his heart. Her sense of humour, duty and honour is also noteworthy.

Next comes the turn of Arragon. He also examines the inscription on each casket. Turning to the silver casket he says that nobody in this world should go only to those persons who possess the necessary qualifications and have the required ability. This idea appeals to him of much that he puts his hand on the silver casket, thinking himself to be fully deserving of

the hand of the beautiful Portia. On being opened, this casket is found to contain the picture of a blinking idiot. Thus the Prince of Arragon also fails in the test.

PORTIA I stand for sacrifice

The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives,With bleared visages, come forth to view

The issue of the exploit. Go, Hercules!

A song is sung when Bassanio is selecting the casket. The purpose of this song is primarily to create a romantic atmosphere and thereby to make Bassanio forget the suspense and anxiety which is involved in the selection of the casket. Portia herself explains the significance of the song to Nerissa. Apart from Portia’s explanation, there is another significance of the song, namely, to convey a hint to Bassanio for selecting the right casket, although such a hint would be mostly unfair of Portia wants to honour the conditions of her father’s will. The song throws the hint that false love or fancy is born in the eye and not in the heart i.e. when people are guided by outward appearances of things they miss real love; or in other words, of Bassanio is tempted by glittering outside of either gold or silver, he will miss the right casket and also Portia along with it. That is why Bassanio in the very beginning argues against gold and silver while examining the mottos on the various caskets, and that is why, also he succeeds in choosing the leaden casket without much difficulty. Shakespeare has introduced also music while the Prince of Morocco and the Prince of Arragon are selecting the caskets, and also when Lorenzo and Jessica are enjoying the moonlight in the gardens of Portia’s house. All this music and song are intended chiefly to dramatic purpose to lend a romantic atmosphere, to reduce the tragic tension of the anxiety and suspense of the suitors while selecting the caskets, to prepare further for the tragic Trial Scene which, is yet to come in the fourth act. The song actually helps Bassanio to choose the right casket. No credit should go to Bassanio for selecting the right casket, because Bassanio is a person who believes in shows, in extravagance, in Princely styles in order to capture the imagination of others and also to win the heart of Portia. Besides he does not give any proof of his unusual intelligence in any part of the play that we can be sure of his right choice of the casket.

The first suitor before making his choice asks Portia not to dislike him because of his black complexion. He also tells that he has won many battles and praises his own blood which he considers redder and healthier than that of any white man. Then he examines the motto which is inscribed on each casket. He tries to understand the implications of all inscriptions. He rejects the lead casket because it offers only a threat, and because a golden mind must not degrade itself by showing preference for something ugly and worthless which demands that the chooser should hazard all for its sake. He then rejects the silver

casket on the ground that although he deserves much by virtue of his birth, his fortunes, his graces and his qualities of breeding, yet his deserving might not extend so far as the lady. Then he looks at the gold casket and says that the whole world desires Portia and that suitors come from all the four corners of the earth to kiss the shrine. Having thus commented on the caskets, the Prince of Morocco asks himself which of the three caskets is likely to contain Portia’s heavenly picture. And his answer is “Never so rich a gem was set in worse than gold.” And so he puts his hand on the gold casket which on being opened, is found to contain a human skull holding written message to the effect that everything which glitters is not gold.

Portia’s father, had at the time of death, conceived an unusual kind of device for the choice of a husband for his daughter. He had laid down in his will, a condition that Portia would only marry a man who would choose, from amongst three caskets. The caskets are made of three metals-gold, silver and lead. Certain mottos are inscribed on each of the caskets. One of these caskets holds the portrait of Portia. It is laid down in the will of Portia’s deceased father that whatever happens to choose the casket in which Portia’s portrait is concealed will win Portia for his bride. On the very face of such a will it is evident that the choice of the caskets we feel that there must be some hidden motive behind the lottery. Many of the readers of the modern world would say that this choice of the caskets reflect nothing but the ignorance and superstition of the father of Portia who believed in blind fate particularly in human marriage. Shakespeare says in the present play that hanging and marriage go by destiny; and therefore, if we take the caskets from the Elizabethan stand point, it should be no better than a gamble of chance in the choice of one’s marriage. But of, then what is the idea behind the motto inscribed on each of the caskets? On the gold casket it is written ‘who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire’. On the silver casket it is written, ‘who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.’ In the leaden casket it is written, ‘who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.’ Let us try to interpret the inscriptions on the caskets and out of they have got any social significance. The inscription on the gold casket means that most people are attracted by gold or wealth but we know what Goldsmith has said where wealth accumulates men decay ; not only that but when people become wealthy they become corrupt with many vices. So to be attracted by gold or wealth means invited ruin. The significance of the motto on the silver casket is that everybody should get what he deserves.; but the question is how one can judge how much one deserves because everybody has got in him some amount of vanity or self-conceit, and therefore everybody is likely to overrate himself, and naturally everybody thinks that he deserves everything. So, it is risky on one’s part to judge what one really deserves. The motto on the leaden casket says that whoever will risk his all will get the thing for which he will risk his all, which means, in other words, no gain without risk or unless one works hard and puts in his best energy one cannot expect to succeed in anything.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Do Not Worry: Matthew 6 New International Version (NIV)

Now the question is how one can choose the right casket or get the desired thing by interpreting the inscriptions on the caskets in the manner we have interpreted them. Of course, those who will run after the glittering things in the world will always be cheated because all that glitters is not gold. Then again, if one goes to judge one’s own merits and tries to secure a thing according to one’s own merits, one will always be deceived because everybody in the world is more or less vain and naturally everybody will misjudge himself and thus will not be able to get what he really deserves. But if, one goes to apply all his energy to a thing without considering the outward appearances or without considering what one deserves, one is very likely to be rewarded with success. That is how we can say that the inscriptions on the caskets will truly bring out the character of a man and will test him whether he is really fit for getting anything. Bassanio correctly interprets the inscriptions on the caskets, and that is why he succeeds in choosing the right casket. His manner of interpretation of the inscriptions serves as the test of his character, and proves that Bassanio is not a man to be tempted by the glitter of things nor is he a man to be misled by his vanity to overrate himself but that he is a man, who believes in putting in all his energy in order to win something whatever may be his aim, as in the present case, his sole aim is to win Portia.

The melancholy of Antonio in The Merchant of Venice is not constitutional at all; for he himself tells us that on account of his melancholy due to this or that cause. He is a rich man; he owns ships; he is engaged in trading with distant countries; he has loving friends around him. He himself cannot say why he is melancholy: ‘how I caught it, found it, or came by it, I am to learn’, says he. It is suggested that he is melancholy because his ships have sailed to distant countries and he is thinking of the danger to which they are exposed, it is also suggested that he is in a melancholy frame of mind because he is in love. None of these appears to be the real cause of his melancholy. He definitely says, ‘my merchandise makes me not sad.’ He is also positive that he is not in love; and it is difficult to believe, plainly speaking, that a man of his nature and temper would indulge in the sentiments of love in such a way as would make him melancholy. Gratiano thinks that he is melancholy because he has ‘too much respect upon the world’; but this also does not seem to be the cause of the melancholy. The only explanation of the matter would then seem to be- he is constitutionally melancholy. This also appears to be far from truth. But in, certain things which Antonio does in the play, certain sentiments which he expresses them point to something which may be looked upon as the probable cause of melancholy.

Strictly speaking, ‘The Merchant of Venice’ is a play without a hero. As we often have a novel without a hero, so we may say that here we have a play without a hero. Leaving Shylock aside, the central figure of the play is undoubtedly Portia. Bassanio and Antonio are poor and weak figures as compared to her; and so we may say with sufficient reason that here we have a play with a heroine but no hero.

If in fact, the strongest, most forceful and most dominiating character in the play were to be deemed its hero, that hero would much rather be Shylock than Antonio. Whenever Shylock appears in the play, he towers over the other characters and dwarfs them all by the power and vehemence of his passion; and even in the Trial Scene which ends in Shylock’s utter defeat and discomfiture, it is he, next to Portia, who holds our attention from beginning to end. And yet Shylock is not the hero of the play. It might be a clever paradox to regard him as such; but we may be quiet sure that Shakespeare meant him to be the villain rather than the hero.

These difficulties are of a threefold nature: the initial difficulty is to imagine that any character should be bad enough to cut off a pound of flesh from the body of a living man, secondly granting that a man may be cruel enough to insert such a condition in his bond, could it be seriously sought to be enforced in any court of law? Lastly, granting that a court of law should think of enforcing Shylock’s bond would Portia’s quibble, namely that the bond allowed the Jew only a pound of flesh and no blood, furnish anyway out of the difficulty. Of these, the first two difficulties do not seem to be very serious. If Shylock was really a monster of villainy and cruelty, there would be nothing to prevent him from seeking to encompass sanctioned by law. As for the improbability that no law would possibly sanction the cutting of a pound of flesh as repayment of a debt or liability, this also does not seem to be very serious. Nay, this very repayment was provided in the ancient Roman law of the Twelve Tables; and the Roman law went further still in as much as it gave their creditor immunity against the point raised by Portia. The third difficulty is more serious and we may concede at once that here Shakespeare is upon very unsafe ground. The law everywhere provides that where a man is permitted to do a thing he is permitted to take every other step incidental to the doing of the thing. Therefore once it is granted that Shylock is permitted by law to cut off a pound of Antonio’s flesh., it must be granted also that he was permitted to shed as much of Antonio’s blood as might be necessary for the cutting of the flesh.

PORTIA [Aside] How all the other passions fleet to air,

As doubtful thoughts, and rash-embraced despair,And shuddering fear, and green-eyed jealousy! O love,

Be moderate; allay thy ecstasy,In measure rein thy joy; scant this excess.

I feel too much thy blessing: make it less,For fear I surfeit.

Bassanio, the third suitor reads through the inscription on the gold casket and says the world is always deceived with ornament or outward shows. In the sphere of law, even the most untruthful can be made to appear genuine by a persuasive tongue. In the sphere of religion even the greatest evil can be made to appeal something proper and desirable with the support of some plausible case from a scripture, hiding the evil with a decorative veil over it. A coward acquires the look of a warrior by growing a beard on his chin like Hercules and by wearing a frown on his face like Mars (the God of War). Arguing thus, Bassanio rejects the gold casket. He also rejects the silver casket, his reason in this case being that silver is only a “common drudge between man and mass.” The lead casket seems to Bassanio to have a greater appeal. The very paleness of this casket, which threatens rather than promises anything, moves him more than any kind of eloquence could move him. And so he chooses the lead casket which on being opened, is found to contain Portia’s picture. Thus Bassanio succeeds in the test which had been laid down by Portia’s father for the choice of a husband for her.

MOROCCO Mislike me not for my complexion,

The shadow'd livery of the burnish'd sun,To whom I am a neighbour and near bred.

There can be no denying the fact that Antonio loves Bassanio beyond all measure. Salerio describes how tears came into the eyes of Antonio when he wrung the hand of Bassanio at the time of his departure to Belmont; and Solanio remarks. ‘I think he only loves the world for him.’ He borrows money from his enemy Shylock at a risk to his life and gives it to Bassanio. He could have told Bassanio that he had no cash at the time; but he does not do so. In the letter which Antonio sends to Bassanio at Belmont, he say, ‘all debts are cleared between you and I if I might but see you at my death.’ All this goes’ to show that Antonio loved Bassanio beyond all measure; he loved him more than he loved his life. This fact we have to remember carefully. Similarly also, in the letter which Antonio writes to Bassanio asking him to see him (Antonio) before he dies. He says ‘if your love do not persuade you to come, let not my letter.’ We may again ask ourselves the question, why does Antonio adjure Bassanio’s to come in the name of love? The only probable reply is- Antonio thinks Bassanio will now find another object of love- Portia- so his love for himself (Antonio) will diminish. Again, Bassanio is starting on his journey to Belmont. Tears should come, really speaking, into the eyes of Bassanio because it is he who is starting on an adventure, the

result of which is in the womb of an unknown future; but it is Antonio whose eyes are filled with tears; and we may again ask ourselves –why is this so?

“To bait fish withal”- this speech of Shylock occurs in the first scene if the third Act. The antecedents of this speech should be noted. First Shylock’s daughter has run away with a Christian, and she has taken with her Shylock’s money and jewels. Shylock thus suffers loss of both money and jewels and humiliation. His daughter has insulted the Hebrew race by running away with a Christian. Then Shylock hears that Antonio’s ships have been lost at sea, and that Antonio is a “broke”. At this stage Salanio and Salerio meet him in a street of Venice, and start badgering him with the report of Antonio’s losses. Shylock threatens to exact the bond. Salerio asks what good a pound of human flesh would be to him. It is on this that follows Shylock’s speech, a noble protest against the inhumanity of the treatment, accorded to the Jewish race through the ages.

This is the only probable reason which can satisfactorily explain the melancholy of Antonio.

Portia first acknowledges the validity of Shylock’s claim on the strength of the bond, and then Antonio admits that he had signed the bond. Now Portia says “Then must the Jew be merciful”. It ‘must’ that jars on Shylock’s ears. Shylock replies, “On what compulsion must I? tell me that.” Then follows Portia’s speech on mercy.

In Act I, Scene (i) Bassanio meets Antonio. After the formalities of paying compliments are over, friends go away leaving Bassanio and Antonio together. It is Antonio who eagerly opens the conversation by asking Bassanio about the lady in Belmont. Really speaking it is Bassanio who should be eager to give Antonio information about her,-because: it is he who wants to go there and because it is he who wants to borrow money from Antonio. But for, it is the other way around- Antonio is eager to get information on the point; and we may ask ourselves-why is this so?

Shylock retorts that the pound of Antonio’s flesh will satisfy his revenge. Then he lists the numerous wrongs that he has suffered at the hands of Antonio. Antonio’s enmity has caused him loss in business and money, alienation of friends, etc. he has been subjected to these losses and indignities because he is a Jew. But of, the Jew is also a human being. He has feelings and sensations like a Christian. If a Christian is wronged, he retaliates and the same may apply to a Jew. This speech, which is provoked by the age-long persecution and oppression to which the Jews have been subjected-for here Shylock voices the grievances of his own nation-is a partial justification for Shylock’s unbending severity in the Trial Scene. It has a double dramatic significance- It calls forth our sympathy for Shylock as a member of the persecuted race (and has led modern critics to make a sympathetic interpretation of his character). Secondly, it prepares us for the stubborn ferocity of the Jew in insisting on his claim for a pound of flesh.

The way in which Act I, Scene (i) Antonio asks Bassanio to speak about the lady at Belmont shows that some time earlier to speak about the lady at Belmont shows that sometime earlier Bassanio had already spoken to Antonio about her. The idea that Bassanio is now likely to find another object of love and that, therefore, his love for himself (Antonio) would diminish, makes Antonio melancholy. The title of the play suggests, no doubt, that Antonio is the hero, or it is Antonio who is in fact The Merchant of Venice. He is referred to again as the ‘Royal Merchant the good Antonio”. In the Trial Scene also, Portia pointedly asks-“Which is the merchant? And which the Jew?” but of, even then the merchant cannot be the hero, for Antonio plays a minor and subordinate part in the drama. He is not the chief dramatic person; he, of course, forms a centre round which other characters are grouped; Bassanio, his friend; Shylock, his enemy; Portia, his saviour. His part is rather passive than an active one; he is to be an object of contention and a prize; much is to be done against him and on his behalf but so much is not to be done by him; and therefore, although his character is very firmly conceived and clearly indicated, his part is subdued and kept low lest it might interfere with the exhibition of the two chief forces of the play- the cruel masculine force of Shylock, which holds the merchant in its relentless grip and the feminine force of Portia, which is as bright as the sunlight and as beneficent. Therefore, Antonio is by no means the hero of the play.

Mercy flows spontaneously. It compared to the gentle rain that drops from heaven. It is a double blessing. It blesses him that gives him and that receives. It is most effective in those who wield the greatest power. It is a better attribute for a king than power, which is symbolized by the crown. The latter can inspire awe and obedience. But for, mercy is superior to it. It is throned in the hearts of kings. It has no outward symbols like earthly powers. Mercy is a quality of God. Earthly power comes nearer to Godly power when it is tempered by mercy. After dilating on the quality of mercy, Portia appeals to Shylock to moderate his claim for justice. She argues that if god were to deal with us in terms of justice, then there could be no salvation for us, that we pray to God for mercy and we cannot expect it unless we ourselves show mercy to our fellow creatures.

PORTIA

..but now I was the lordOf this fair mansion, master of my servants,Queen o'er myself: and even now, but now,

This house, these servants and this same myselfAre yours, my lord: I give them with this ring;

As regards the dramatic appropriateness of the speech it may be pointed out that it is double-edged. Dealing as Shakespeare does with the two-fold conception of Shylock’s character, he may have intended Portia’s speech to have a double application. It is an

appeal to the Christians- so striking as it comes from a Christian- who have so long persecuted and hunted to death the Jews. It is also an appeal to the Jew to mitigate his plea of justice. Sir Arthur Quiller ouch says, “It is all very well for Portia to strike an attitude and tell the court and the world that.. “,but those high professing words are words and no more to us, who find that, when it comes to her turn and the court’s turn , Shylock gets but the ‘mercy’ of being allowed- to pay half his estate ion fine, secondly to settle the other half on, the gentleman who lately stole his daughter and thirdly to turn Christian.

Scarcely inferior in its kind is the night scene of Lorenzo and Jessica. Bathed as it in love, moonlight touches the sweet harmony, and soul –lifting discourse followed by the grave moral reflections of Portia, as she approaches her home and sees its light, and hears its music. The bringing in of this passage of ravishingly lyrical sweetness, so replete with the most soothing and tranquillising effect, close upon the intense dramatic excitement of the trial scene , is such a transition as we shall hardly meet with but in Shakespeare, and aptly shows his unequalled mastery of the mind’s capacities of delight. The affair of the rings, with the harmless perplexities growing out of it, is a well managed devoice for letting the mind down from the tragic height, where on it lately stood, to the merry conclusion which the play requires.

“Shylock is a terrible old man. But he is the inevitable product of centuries of racial persecutions. SHAKESPEARE IS NEITHER FOR NOR AGAINST SHYLOCK. SHAKESPEARE NEVER TAKES SIDES. YET, SURELY IF HE WERE ALIVE TODAY he would see in mercy, mercy in widest sense, which embraces understanding and forgiveness, the only possible solution of our racial hatreds and enmities.

But of, the exit of Shylock is not the end of the play. The cloud which had been gathering since the opening scene and looked so black for Antonio, instead of breaking, passes over, leaving him unharmed and even the villain himself with only a light punishment. And so the tension is relaxed for the audience. The trial is followed by an amusing interview between the disguised women and their lovers, together with the surrender of the rings, which promises further fun to come.” – John Dover Wilson, Exit of Shylock.

The Lorenzo- Jessica love affair is romantic in its essence. Jessica is a Jew while Lorenzo is a Christian. It is only romantic love which disregards religious distinctions and boundaries. But of, the matter does not end there. Knowing that her father would feel horrified at her having fallen in love with a Christian young man, Jessica runs away from home to marry Lorenzo. This is certainly a great adventure on a girl’s part- she has risked and hazarded all she hath. Fortunately Lorenzo proves to be a true lover who recognizes her excellent qualities and who, therefore, forms a resolve to remain always devoted to her. This is wholly romantic love. One aspect of this romantic love is that the girl in the case has acted in a manner which would shock her father and drive him almost mad with grief

and anger. But of, the truly romantic quality of this love-affair comes out in that moonlight scene in which they both speak alternately about some of the famous love-affair comes out in that moonlight scene in which they both speak alternately about some of the famous love affairs of ancient mythology. This kind of inter-racial love-affair has always been a dangerous venture and on occasions, even fatal. The element of danger makes such a love-affair romantic; and the element of passion in it makes it still more romantic. The elopement of Jessica with Lorenzo is therefore a highly romantic episode in this play. The marked procession led by a torchbearer is a picturesque spectacle which adds to the romantic aspect of the elopement. The poetic element in the dialogue in the moonlight scene heightens its romantic quality. Lorenzo’s description of the enchanting effect of music on human beings and on animals has its own share in adding to the romantic effect. Lorenzo speaks about earthly music and also about the unearthly music, the music which is audible only to the angels and not to the human beings.

Bassanio, note this meaning; he probably thinks that this particular song is given to him at this particular moment so that he may pay attention to the meaning and be guided by it; and he allows himself to be guided by the song. The opening sentence “So may the outward shows be least themselves” bears convert relation to ‘it is engendered in the eyes, with gazing fed’ for the suggested external appearances may be deceptive. The sentence with which Bassanio opens his train of thoughts shows that he has understood the implication of the song. The significance of the song lies in that it gives a hidden but unmistakable direction to Bassanio in the matter of the selection of the casket.

GRATIANO Nerissa, cheer yon stranger; bid her welcome.

Your hand, Salerio: what's the news from Venice?How doth that royal merchant, good Antonio?

Humour, good sense and fancy are all present in The Merchant of Venice. There are different types of humour in the play. First, we may take the tomfoolery of Launcelot Gobbo with his old ‘sand blind’ father. The joke will seem a little heartless to a modern audience. But of, it must have tickled the ears of groundlings in Shakespeare’s day. There is no harm in Launcelot’s showing off a bit of classical learning to his old father, only to bemuse the old dear fellow. Then he kneels down with the back of his head to his father and the poor old man gropes about it blindly. Then there is the exquisite wit of Portia, so finely expressed in her descriptions of the suitors. We may take her description of Falconbridge, the young baron of England. It is rather expressed in the harmony, balanced proportion which is a marked characteristic of Shakespearian comedy. Even if Shylock appears a monster of cruelty in his demand for the pound of flesh- there is excuse for it in the ruthless persecutions of Jews, in the universal contempt and obloquy with which they

were treated- Shakespeare keeps him human. He has a tender memory of his wife. There is also a human touch in his passionate protest against injustice and oppression that had been the lot of Jews throughout the ages.

Launcelot is most provoking, when Lorenzo tries to manage him at Belmont. How he plays tricks with words? He is rightly described by Lorenzo as a ‘wit-snapper’, who would, ‘for a tricky word, defy the matter’.

“The Merchant of Venice’ is justly distinguished among Shakespeare’s dramas, not only for the excellent quality of language, but also for the beauty of particular scenes and passages. For descriptive power, the opening scene of Antonio and his friends is not easily matched and can hardly fail to live in the memory of anyone having an eye for such things. Equally fine in its way is the scene of Shylock and Tubal, where the latter is so torn with the struggle of conflicting passions; his heart new sinking with grief at the account of his fugitive daughter’s expenses now leaping with malignant joy at the report of Antonio’s losses. The Trial Scene with its tugging changes of passion and its hush of terrible expectation-now rising with the Jew’s sharp, spiteful snaps of malice, now made musical with Portia’s strain of eloquence, now holy with Antonio’s tender breathing of friendship and dashed from time to time with Gratiano’s fierce jets of wrath and fiercer jets of mirth is hardly surpassed in tragic power anywhere, and as it forms the catastrophe proper, so it concentrates the interest of the whole play.

“Shakespeare has no heroes; he has only heroines”, this dictum does not apply to tragedies, though it may apply partly to his comedies. For example, in Hamlet or Othello, Hamlet or Othello is the central figure. But of, in a comedy like As you Like It, here Rosalind has been more fully portrayed and individualized than Orlando and we may say that Rosalind is the heroine, and As you Like It has no hero. Similarly in The Merchant of Venice we are no doubt interested in the fortunes and fate of Antonio and evidently Shakespeare also means Antonio to be the hero, but Portia is the outstanding figure. In fact in The Merchant of Venice Portia and Shylock are the two outstanding figures. Antonio is a passive character. He has a shade of melancholy which, coupled with the misfortunes that befall him (soon to be lifted), makes him pathetically attractive. But of, apart from his selfless friendship for Bassanio, no other trait in his character is developed. The characters of Portia and Shylock are more fully portrayed. Now as Portia, with her wit, ingenuity, masterly exposition of legal subtleties, brings the play to a happy ending and as Portia is responsible for the denouement, she may be said to be the heroine of the play. The dictum, therefore, has a limited application. It is not true of all the plays of Shakespeare. The point is that in comedies, Shakespeare lavishes all his care and love on the portraiture of female characters. In his comedies, therefore, the female characters with a dash of romance, and the trick of disguise (which was necessitated by boy actors playing the female parts) usually eclipse the male characters.

This implies that what is beautiful in external appearance attracts the eyes; to put it the other way round, the eyes become attracted towards external beauty only; this external beauty may not denote intrinsic worth; it is hence risky to be guided by the beauty of external appearance.

Then again Portia herself embodies good sense, sobriety and, moderation. She seems to be quite level-headed in all her actions. If the instructions of her father in the matter of choosing her husband gall her spirit, she is sensible enough not to rebel, but to make the best of a bad job. When the news of Antonio’s disaster arrives at Belmont, it is Portia who decides at once what is to be done, and what part in it she should have to take.

Then there is rather the coarse, unfeeling humour of Gratiano in the trial scene. One form of it is the pun.

The elopement incident, this incident is romantic. The running away of young lovers is always romantic; but the running away of Jessica with Lorenzo is still more romantic; because the girl is a Jew and her lover is a Christian; and though they belong to different races and different religions, they fall in love with each other; and knowing that they will not be allowed to marry each other, they decide to run away together. This incident is still more romantic on account of the fact that the girl disguises herself as a boy and it is in this disguise that she runs away with her lover; and this disguise of a boy she puts on when plays the role of a torch-bearer in masque.

The second part gives the reply- it is bred at the eyes, it depends on the eyes. There is no doubt that this song assists Bassanio in making his selection. He listens to the song carefully; he attends to its meaning; and he notes the fact that superficial love (‘fancy’) is neither an emotional matter depending on the heart nor an intellectual matter depending on the head; it is a matter which depends on the eyes; and the more do eyes gaze at a thing, the more does a man become attracted towards the thing, until a time comes when the attraction or fancy disappears.

In the earlier part of this casket scene Portia who loves Bassanio very -greatly says’ I could teach you how to choose right, but I am then forsworn’; She finds out a way to ‘teach’ Bassanio. If Bassanio is a shrewd person and if he is really inspired by the sincere promptings of his heart for her, to make the right selection. Bassanio takes up the hint; thinks in the direction which is suggested; and finally makes a right selection of the casket. He is guided by the head as much as by the heart. The song is significant because it gives direction to Bassanio which he is shrewd and sincere enough to accept.

Hudson remarks “Critics have too of an entertained themselves with speculation as to the poet’s specific moral purpose in this play or that. They forget that a moral lesson is quite beside the purpose of Art. Nevertheless as work of art must needs to be moral… As to the

moral temper of ‘The Merchant of Venice’ critics have differed widely, some regarding the play as teaching the most comprehensive humanity, others as caressing the narrowest bigotries of the age. This difference may be fairly taken as an argument of the poet’s condour and evenhandedness. A special pleader is not apt to leave the hearers in doubt on which side of question he stands.”

The reply which is suggested is this: it is not a matter of the heart (because it is not a deep seated emotion); nor is it an intellectual matter (because the head has nothing to do with emotions and affections). It is a matter which depends on the eyes; and the more a person makes use of his eyes and the more a man gazes at a thing, the more does his’ fancy’ (that is attraction or shallow love) increases. Thus fancy is created by the eyes; and sometime later, when the attraction becomes cooled, ‘fancy’ disappears, because the eyes do not become attracted towards a thing or person. Thus the first part asks the question- Where is fancy bred?

Another interpretation might be Measure for Measure seeing that the Jew was caught and crusted in his own trap.

LORENZO I thank your honour. For my part, my lord,My purpose was not to have seen you here;

But meeting with Salerio by the way,He did entreat me, past all saying nay,

To come with him along.

The question here does not imply that there is any conscious motive, design or intention which a poet has in mind in writing a play. One may be perfectly sure that Shakespeare as a suspense imaginative artist does not work with a conscious motive or design in view. But of, the word ‘purport’ or purpose here means the theory or underlying significance which, whether the poet was conscious of it or not will best help to reconcile all the discordant elements of the drama. Considering the question from this point of view, many different solutions have been regarded in reply.

Verity says that the play is ‘a plea for toleration’ not for sympathizing with Shylock, but for holding the mirror up to truth and showing the results of intolerance; what persecution does; how it debases national character.

“Tell me, where is fancy bred”, is sung in the second scene of the Third Act when Bassanio makes his selection. The song is in two parts. In the first part which consist of the first four lines, a question is asked and a reply is expected. The question is- Is ‘fancy’ created in the heart, or is it created in the head? The word ‘fancy’ in Elizabethan English means ‘merely attraction’, ‘love of a very superficial type’; it does not represent the deep-seated emotion

which is denoted by the word ‘Love’; the heart is the seat of the emotions and the passions; the head is the seat of the intellect. The question which is asked in the first part of the song amounts to this: Is superficial love seated in the heart or is it created in the mind? Is attraction a matter of the deep-seated emotion such as belong to the heart or is it an intellectual matter? The hearer is asked to give some reply.

Then when they meet Bassanio with what verbal pranks does Launcelot play frequently interrupting his father whom he has put forward to speak to him? Fancy, is embodied in the lyric of Lorenzo and Jessica in the fifth act. The most magnificent passages poetry ever penned by Shakespeare, occur in the fifth act.

It is said that the play brings forth a conception of friendship and depicts the tastes and responsibilities that were compatible with mercantile pursuits. Ulrici says that the purpose of the play is to illustrate the doctrine – ‘the stricter the law, the greater the injustice’. The law-suit of Shylock, the arbitrary will of Portia’s father, the intricacy of right and wrong in the conduct of Jessica in Launcelot’s reflections, and in the quarrel of the lovers in the last act, concur with this point of view. We are thus led to understand the stress which Portia lays upon mercy; not severe right, but tempered equity alone can hold the society to together. But on, when we glance at the external structure of the play the essential characters do not all stand in relation to this idea Bassanio has nothing to do with this idea. Shylock is portrayed as a typical Jew in the minutest details. His dress, his language, his mental outlook are all completely Hebraized. He wears a Gaberdine as a Jew, and lives in a sort of isolation to which he is condemned by his dress, by his habit of life, and by his business (money-lending), etc. but of, he is most marked out as a Jew by his mental outlook, by his ways of thinking and by the peculiarity of his language.

As a member of the persecuted race he broods over wrongs and insults which his nation suffers from and has always suffered. The speech may be taken as an example. The speech is significant. If there is an element of exaggeration as is natural in such a case, it throws a sufficient light on the relations between the Jews and Christians in those days. The Jews were a hated and persecuted race. Cut off as they were from all honourable profession, they were driven to live by usury (which was forbidden to the Christans) and the peculiar circumstances in which they had to live, possessed them with inferiority in complex.

Now it may be noted how in Shylock are mirrored all his racial characteristics. He lives apart from his Christian neighbours. It is a self-centered life, a life lived in a world of his own. The Old Testament which is his Scripture, supplies him with illustrations, with imagery, with oaths, any colour, his turns of speech and even mode of thinking. His defence of usury is a typical instance. In the speech it may be noted how Shylock holds himself as the member of an exclusive race. Shylock is obsessed with the tradition, mental outlook and the destiny of his own nation. Here is the strongest proof of this. When Tubal tells him

that he has not been able to get hold of his daughter who has run away with a Christian, having well furnished herself with his money and jewels, Shylock says about. From the picture of Shylock, drawn in the play, there is no doubt that love of money is his besetting sin. But at, it is aggravated by the circumstances e.g., wrongs and insults which he suffers at the hands of the Christian merchant, Antonio. To these is added the fresh humiliation to which he is subjected by his daughter’s elopement with a Christian. These extenuating circumstances are dwelt on in the play. It means, therefore, that there is a touch of sympathy and tolerance in the portraiture of Shylock. The wrongs and insults to which he, as a Jew, is subjected from a Christian , the persecution of his race over which he cannot help brooding (of which there are hints in the play), the fresh humiliation, added by his daughter’s elopement with a Christian (which is an outrage to her father’s feelings and to his nation’s honour) are circumstances (since they are emphasized in the play) which are meant to excuse, if they cannot justify, his later cruelty towards Antonio.

The Fool thus was intended to keep the audience in a merry frame of mind and to offer interpretative criticism of some part of dramatic action or to reveal its hidden moral significance.

Shakespeare’s plays usually contain a character who is a professional Fool or Clown. We have a Fool, for example in ‘King Lear’ and in ‘As you Like It’ (Touchstone) sometimes however the dramatist introduces a character who is not a regular fool and who, yet behaves in foolish manner; such a man plays the part which the Fool is expected to play.

The chief function of the Fool is to contribute to the humorous element in the play; he enlivens the atmosphere and keeps the audience in good humour. This he does in several ways: The Fool contributes to the humorous element by exchanging witty remarks with others; sometimes these remarks, when judged by modern standard, are in low taste; but the Elizabethan audience liked such remarks. Secondly, he also contributes to the element of fun by his tricks and antics. Thirdly, sometimes, more or less unconsciously, the Fool utters profound truths.

The Merchant of Venice does not contain any Fool; but we have a character in the play who plays the role of a Fool. That character is Launcelot, the servant of Shylock. He leaves Shylock and takes service with Bassanio.

The ruling trait in his character is the desire to show himself as possessing that which he does not possess. The pretensions make him comic, and it is on account of these pretensions that he becomes a source of laughter in the play.

NERISSA

My lord and lady, it is now our time,That have stood by and seen our wishes prosper,

To cry, good joy: good joy, my lord and lady!

A Romantic Comedy deals with the emotion of love; for, there is nothing more romantic than love. It deals with the lighter side of life; and though clouds may gather in the sky for a short time, they disperse and leave the sky clear. It is not bound by classical laws, and hence it allows the introduction of chance or accident. Its atmosphere is light and songs, dance and music are introduced freely. Romantic elements such as elopement, romance, courtship are indispensable parts of a Romantic Comedy.

Launcelot pretends to possess a learning which he does not have. He wants to tell his father that Launcelot is dead. He refers to destinies and fates and ‘such branches of learning’etc. He pretends that he can read the palm of his hand. He tries to use polysyllabic words, but in a wrong manner. He wants to ‘try confusions’ with his father who is ‘true begotten’; he makes a suit ‘impertinent to’ himself. Lorenzo rightly describes him as ‘a fool’ who -hath planted in his memory an army of good words- which he uses wrongly. Launcelot thus pretends that he is learned and uses words which are generally voluminous in sound and learned in appearance; but he uses them wrongly. His pretending that he is learned, though he is not, leads him to wrong use of words; thus he makes himself ridiculous; and becomes a source of laughter.

Launcelot is merely a domestic servant in the household of Shylock and still he pretends to possess the rank of a gentleman and desires to be addressed as ‘Master’. When Launcelot Gobbo meets him and asks him -Can you tell me whether one Launcelot dwells with him or no?- Launcelot asks,- Talk you of young Master Launcelot?- The father does not like the use of the word ‘master’ because his son is after all a domestic servant in the house of Shylock; so the father says,-no master, sir, but a poor man’s son- Launcelot however insists on being considered ‘master’; he repeats the word ‘master’ and says ,- we will talk of young master Launcelot- Thus we see that he pretends to have the rank of a gentleman, though he is merely a domestic servant. This pretension leads him into an inconsistency of action; and it is this inconsistency which makes him ridiculous and a source of laughter.

Shakespeare is a great portrayer of character and The Merchant of Venice fully illustrates this aspect of his genius. Shylock and Portia are among the greatest creations of Shakespeare. Shylock has been portrayed in his multifarious relations and has been made to live before us. We come to know him as a Jew, as a money-lender. As a father and as an employer. Portia is living character with all the qualities of head and heart. She is young, beautiful, witty, vibrant, brimming with energy and zest, dynamic, highly intelligent and ingenious, and yet very modest and unassuming. The other characters too are realistically portrayed.

Launcelot pretends to be logical and rational when he is illogical. He insists on his father’s using the word –master-; and he thinks that he has proved his case; so he remarks-ergo, Master Launcelot- Really speaking, he has proved nothing. He tries similarly, to prove that Jessica is damned either on account of her father or on account of her mother Act III, Scene V. this pretension leads him into inconsistencies which make him ridiculous and a source of laughter. The courageous vanity and self-conceit with which he carries all matters through show him in ridiculous aspect. There is no Fool of the professional type in The Merchant of Venice; but Launcelot plays that role and becomes a source of laughter, because he is ridiculous in his speech and reasoning, in his use of words and in his actions.

One of the most important features of this play is the close interweaving of the main plot and sub-plots by the dramatist. The ‘Bond Story’ is the main plot which is knittely interwoven with the sub-plots like the Casket Story; the Lorenzo-Jessica love affairs; and the Rings story. These are all different strands in the play; but Shakespeare has shown a consummate skill in interweaving them so as to produce a coherent and harmonious pattern. The Bond Story and the Casket Story are inter-dependent because the heroine of the Casket Story later becomes the judge in the Bond Story. Through the Lorenzo-Jessica and the Ring stories are not absolutely integral to the main plot, yet the inter-connection here is close enough. It is the fact of the elopement which enrages Shylock against the Christians and incites him to decide to demand the pound of Antonio’s flesh. ; if it should become forfeit. And if this forfeiture should materialize, we cannot conceive of the possibility of Portia’s and Bassanio’s ever being happy in their married life., as they were to be always haunted with the thought that it was at the price of Antonio’s precious life that they had been able , in the first instance, to come together. Thus, we see how the Portia-Bassanio love affairs, the Bond story and Lorenzo-Jessica episode are inter-related. Each incident affects the course and action of the other incidents. Hence we can say that the main plot as well as the various sub-plots are intricately interwoven by Shakespeare.

The word “Merchant” in the title of this play evidently refers to Antonio. When Portia appears in a Venetian court to act as the judge in Shylock’s case against Antonio, she asks: _Which is the merchant here and which the Jew?-From this question it is clear that the word “Merchant” is being used for Antonio, while Shylock is being described as the Jew. Apart from this obvious indication, nowhere in the play is Shylock referred to as a merchant. By profession, Shylock is a money-lender and by religion, a Jew. Therefore, we can say that Antonio is the merchant of Venice and that the play has been named after him. Shakespeare named his tragedies after the heroes of the respective plays, but in the present case he has named a romantic comedy after the leading character who is not mentioned in the title by his name but is referred to by his profession. Antonio is certainly the hero of the play which has been named after him. There is no doubt that Antonio is the hero of the Bond Story which constitutes the main plot of the play. Though Shylock figures even more prominently in the Bond Story than Antonio, he is a villain and by no stretch of imagination,

he can be called a hero. No doubt, Antonio is a passive character; but without him the Bond Story would loose its significance. He is certainly the hero; and so the play has been rightly called The Merchant of Venice.

In The Merchant of Venice, the romantic elements are the love of Portia and Bassanio, the love of Jessica and Lorenzo, and the friendship of Antonio and Bassanio. The moon light scene in the concluding Act of the play where Lorenzo and Jessica recall some of the famous love-affairs of legend and mythology and where Lorenzo describes the enchantment of music, heavenly as well as earthly music.

It may also be said that the theme of the play was to depict the relation of man to property. The ‘g’-od of the world the image of show, the symbol of all external things, is money. To examine the relation of man to property or to money is to place his intrinsic value on the finest scale and to separate that which belongs to the unessential, to outward shows, from that which in its inward nature relates to a higher destiny. Some, therefore, think that the thought of the play is- that it is not outward show and appearance, but genuine worth that tells.

The play is also romantic because it violates the three classical unities. The unity of time is violated because more than three months are represented on the stage; while the performance of the play takes about two hours only. It violates the unity of action because the action is complex and contains several threads-the Bassanio thread, the Gratiano thread, the Lorenzo thread etc. It violates the unity of place because the scenes are shifted from one place to another, frequently. The introduction of disguised scenes where Jessica elopes in the dress of a boy, and Portia goes to the Duke’s court disguised as a lawyer, also contributes to the romantic elements of the play. The elopement of Jessica and Lorenzo adds to the romantic atmosphere in the play. Chance plays a crucial role in a romantic comedy and The Merchant of Venice is no exception to it. The ships of Antonio are lost by chance and they arrive in safely also by chance. Again, it is by a strange accident that Portia gets the letter showing the safe return of Antonio’s ships. Further, the ‘lottery of caskets’ is a romantic matter and it adds to the romantic atmosphere of the play.

Among the comic elements in this play are the fooling and buffoonery of Launcelot Gobbo, the fertile and prolific wit of Portia, the witty and glib talk of Gratiano and mirth and laughter which result from Portia’s and Nerissa’s trick in having obtained their rings from their respective husbands at the end of the trial scene. Like a typical comedy, The Merchant of Venice ends in a happy tone. The ships of Antonio are restored and hence once again he becomes a wealthy man. The three pairs of lovers- Bassanio-Portia, Gratiano- Nerissa and Lorenzo-Jessica are happily married. The endowment of the runaway couple also adds to the comic atmosphere of the play.

It is romantic because: firstly, it treats the subject of love; this subject is looked at from different view-points; it is looked at from the view-point of sex in the relations between Bassanio and Portia, Lorenzo and Jessica, and Gratiano and Nerissa; it is looked at from the view-point of friendship in the relations between Antonio and Bassanio; it is viewed from another point of view in the relations between Shylock and his wealth, and Shylock and Antonio. Thus this play deals with love in its varied aspects. Secondly, it is romantic because it violates the three classical unities. The unity of time is violated because more than three months are represented on the stage; while the performance takes about two hours only; it violates the unity of action because the action is complex and contains several thread-the Bassanio thread, the Gratiano thread, the Lorenzo thread, etc. it violates the unity of place because the scenes are shifted from one place to another frequently. Thirdly, the play is romantic because it introduces disguise scenes. Jessica elopes in the dress of a boy; and Portia goes to the Duke’s court disguised as a lawyer. Fourthly, the play is romantic because it deals with elopement. Elopement of lovers is always a romantic matter. Fifthly, the play is romantic because it allows the introduction of chance. The ships of Antonio become lost by chance; and they arrive in safely also by a ‘strange accident’ that Portia gets the letter showing the safe return of Antonio’s ships. Sixthly, the play is romantic as further it allows to contain several matters which possess a romantic nature. The ‘lottery of caskets’ is a romantic matter; the elopement is a romantic matter; the bond itself is romantic, because it is so foolish. The song is a romantic matter and so also the music.

Those which are addressed to self sometimes show us the motive-springs of the action of a person. The soliloquy of Bassanio in Act III, scene II, which begins with – So may the outward shows be least themselves- is a soliloquy of this kind. It shows us that Bassanio will not be attracted by outward shows of things. This soliloquy shows the working of Bassanio’s mind at the time when he chooses his casket.

Every incident and subsidiary action of The Merchant of Venice is an integral part of the central story, and has a distinct part to play in furthering the action. This point has been realized by all Shakespearian critics, and Hallam, in particular, has gone so far as to say that dramatic unity here attains complete perfection. A consideration of this perfect masterpiece, this great and finished work of dramatic art, will show the immense difference which exists between Shakespeare’s finished plays, and the scraps of story and general odds and ends which are termed his “sources”.

LAUNCELOT And they have conspired together, I will not say you

shall see a masque; but if you do, then it was notfor nothing that my nose fell a-bleeding on

Black-Monday last at six o'clock i' the morning,

falling out that year on Ash-Wednesday was fouryear, in the afternoon.

Belmont, an idyllic place on a hill, has been chosen to provide a refreshing change from the commercial world of Venice. The Scene opens with Portia’s melancholy which reminds us of Antonio’s melancholy in Scene 1. The nobility of both Portia and Antonio corresponds well. Portia represents the picture of a ‘poor little rich girl’ whose father has devised a lottery to select her husband.

ANTONIO I once did lend my body for his wealth;

Which, but for him that had your husband's ring,Had quite miscarried: I dare be bound again,

My soul upon the forfeit, that your lordWill never more break faith advisedly.

“England c. 1599

When Shakespeare was writing The Merchant of Venice, most people believed that the sun went round the earth. They were taught that this was a divinely ordered scheme of things, and that –in England- God had instituted a Church and ordained a Monarchy for the right government of the land and the populace.

‘The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”- L.P.Hartley.”-Oxford Edition: Shakespeare.

The ‘local colour’ in The Merchant of Venice is completely Italian and it is accurately given. We feel that we are moving in the Italian climate under the Italian sky; and we wonder how Shakespeare is so accurate in giving the Italian colour in this play by depending only on what he had read or what he had heard. The Italian colouring which we have in the play is secured by him by having recourse to the following devices- Firstly, the names of persons are Italian; Antonio and Gratiano, Salerio and Solanio etc. are all Italian names. The name Gobbo is particularly Italian. Secondly, references to places which were well known in Italy for certain reasons give the play an Italian colouring. The reference to Belmont assists the Italian picture, because Italy contained several such country-seats like Belmont, where some rich persons resided. The references to Rialto where money- transactions took place, to Padua as the place of residence of the eminent lawyer, Dr. Bellario (Padua was the seat of a famous university) give to the play an Italian meaning. Thirdly, the reference to the gift of pigeons (which Gobbo makes to Bassanio) is particularly Italian. The reference to gondola (in which the runaway couple was seen seated) gives to the play an Italian colour. Fourthly, the reference to merchant princes, to money-lending Jews and their synagogue, the

reference to the trade of Venice with other places and to its freedom etc. give to the play an Italian colouring.

In sheer prodigality of output Shakespeare is unrivalled in literature. From king to clown, from lunatic and demi-devil to saint and seer, from lover to misanthrope –all are revealed with the hand of the master. Surveying this multitude, one can cry out, as Hamlet does, “What a piece of work is man!”

In the narrowest sense of the term, Shakespeare took no trouble to be original. Following the custom of the time, he borrowed freely from older plays, such as King Lear, chronicles such as Holinshed’s, and tales such as The Jew, the part-origin of The Merchant of Venice. To these he is indebted chiefly for his plots; but in his more mature work the interest in the [plot becomes subordinate to the development of character, the highest achievement of the dramatist’s art. He can work his originals deftly: he can interweave plot within plot, as in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; he can solidify years of history into five acts, as in King John and Antony and Cleopatra; and as in Macbeth, he makes the dust of history glow with the spirit of his imagination.

THE LOCAL COLOUR OF ITALY.

“Venice is in fact, Elizabethan England (with its traditions). Shakespeare means to keep his audience at home no matter in whatever remote a place the play is set so that the audience can enjoy the play.”: Workbook-Reference.

ORIGINAL BENGALI-POEM: (USE: EXPERT ON BENGALI LANGUAGE-TRANSLATOR FOR THE ORIGINAL BENGALI POEM.THE POEM IS ‘ITALY’.)

WRITTEN BY: LEGENDARY POET, MICHAEL MADHUSUDAN DUTT. Michael Madhusudan Dutt - Wikipedia , the free encyclopedia

WRITTEN ON THE PORTRAIT OF “ITALY”, COMPOSED IN 1865 AT VERSAILLES, The Street where M. Dutt used to live in Versailles, France, Rue Des Chantiers Street.

“MY INITIATIVE” TO TRANSLATE THE POEM IN THE FORM OF SYNOPSIS, I TRIED. I DISMAYED REGARDING ON WORKS OF T’HE BENGALI LEGEND, NO DETALED TRANSLATION OF HIS INCREDIBLE GENIUS POEMS HAVE BEEN FOUND ON SITES.

‘’Learning the beautiful garmented liturgical thoughts of Italy, I superfluous the self-comparison of cuckoos with the extravagance writings of the different Laureates, including Francesco Petrarch, whose words are none other than the darlings of Our Mother Nature of Learning. The tiny gems of the scurfy, that annexable from mines,

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perhaps made The Golden Harp of the Verdi of Goddess of Learning, who therein to have the portal -bless to these different legendary laureates, eliciting the more of the different melodious words of cuckoos enhancing the mundane of the swept knowledge. Hence, my bestowment with a complete demur respect to these laureates is a complete portrait of eternity.’’

(MY-SYNOPSIS ON THE BASIS OF THE ORIGINAL BENGALI POEM,

RITUPARNA RAYCHAUDHURI)

PORTIA How many things by season season'd areTo their right praise and true perfection!

Peace, ho! the moon sleeps with EndymionAnd would not be awaked.

The play conveys several messages to the readers. More than anything else, the play teaches us the need of religious toleration. The fanatical attitudes of both the Jew and the Christian in this play lead to a lot of agony and mental torture for both sides. The play also teaches that lending money at excessively high rates of interest is a great evil. From the casket story we learn the lesson that appearances deceptive. The friendship between

Antonio and Bassanio clearly points to the value of genuine and intimate human relationships. We should not be extravagant like Bassanio, for it may lead us to difficult situations. Bassanio’s lavish style leads him to bankruptcy. So to meet the requirements of Bassanio, Antonio borrows the money from Shylock and is compelled to sign the risky bond. As we see in the later part of the play, both Antonio and Bassanio are in great agony as the bond is forfeited. And for all these problems, the extravagant style of Bassanio is responsible. Hence, we should not be lavish and extravagant. Thus, we can draw several moral lessons from this play though Shakespeare intended it mainly for our entertainment.

PORTIA The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark,

When neither is attended, and I thinkThe nightingale, if she should sing by day,

When every goose is cackling, would be thoughtNo better a musician than the wren.

A romantic comedy, then, will have the following characteristics: Firstly, it will deal with the lighter side of side; and though clouds may gather in the skies for a short time, they disperse and leave the sky clear. Secondly, it deals with the subject of love. Thirdly, it is not hidebound by classical laws, and hence it allows the introduction of chance or accident. Fourthly, it possesses a light atmosphere; everything which assists such an atmosphere is

freely introduced. We have hence songs and dance and music. We also have disguise-scenes because they add to the liveliness of the play. Fifthly, it contains such romantic matters as elopement etc.

We must first understand the word ‘romantic’ and ‘comedy’ and then consider if this play is a romantic comedy.

There is no doubt absolutely about the fact that the play is a comedy; because it ends happily. The Merchant of Venice ends with: the marriage of three pairs- firstly, the Bassanio-Portia pair, the Gratiano –Nerissa pair and the Lorenzo-Jessica pair; secondly, it ends with the restoration of his ships (and hence his wealth) to Antonio; thirdly, it ends with the endowment of the run-away couple with property and fortune.

A romantic play, as opposed to a classical play, doesnot care much for the three classical unities of Time, Place and Action. It gives a lot of scope to chance or accident because chance plays such an important part in the life of man. The romantic play deals with the emotion of love; for, there is nothing more romantic than love; and as the subject which is treated pertains to love; than love; and as the subject which is treated pertains to love; the atmosphere in the play is light and the ending is happy.

The play is a comedy, that is, a play which possesses the masque and the disguise, the elopement and the theft- all these are romantic matters which are connected with the elopement incident, becomes romantic. It is romantic because, while teaching the importance of self-surrender in love it emphasizes the element of chance and places before us a novel way of getting a husband.

PORTIA We have been praying for our husbands' healths,Which speed, we hope, the better for our words.

Are they return'd?

Another romantic incident with which the play deals is the bond-incident. Really speaking it should be a tragic incident; but as matters turn later, what would surely have become tragic becomes romantic; for, having got to shock to his life. Antonio is saved and the accuser, Shylock, is made an accused by a stroke of fortune. This incident is romantic because though Shylock has contrived directly and indirectly against the life of Antonio, he goes unpunished; the only punishment which he receives is to be compelled to donate all he has to his daughter and son-in-law. The incident is romantic because which we are expecting a tragic end of the matter, the tables are suddenly turned and we get a shock of surprise because the matter ends in a different manner. And this incident springs from a romantic cause. Bassanio wants to go to Belmont to get his wife. He borrows money from Antonio; Antonio borrows money from Shylock; Shylock prevails upon him to sign a bond

which he calls ‘merry’. Thus the bond-incident is the result of a romantic matter and ends in a romantic manner.

ANTONIO I once did lend my body for his wealth;

Which, but for him that had your husband's ring,Had quite miscarried: I dare be bound again,

My soul upon the forfeit, that your lordWill never more break faith advisedly.

A comedy is a play which ends happily. It deals with the lighter side of life and attempts to hold something to public ridicule. As a comedy ends happily, the atmosphere in a comedy is light and merry and happy. There are some clouds which may float about occasionally; but they soon disappear and the atmosphere again becomes light and merry. The tragic hero fails and fails completely; he is involved in the final disaster with which a tragedy ends; the her in a comedy, on the other hand, experiences all kinds of difficulties-some of the difficulties would appear to be very great-but in the end the hero surmounts all difficulties and becomes successful and he gives a happy ending to the play.

Portia manages to get a letter showing that’s all the ships of Antonio have come back and that he is not poor as he thought himself to be. She brings a deed of gift to Jessica and Lorenzo, the runaway couple. It is a deed which is signed by Shylock and it gives all that he has to the two runaway people.

The Merchant of Venice thus deals with incidents which are romantic. It is hence a comedy of romantic incidents.

Another romantic incident with which the play is concerned is the ring-incident. The wives have given rings to their respective husbands. When the trial is over and Antonio is saved, Bassanio wants to please the lawyer by giving him something. The lawyer refuses money. But insists on having the ring (which Portia has given to him). He parts with it very unwillingly; Gratiano also gives his ring (which was given to him by Nerissa) very unwillingly to the clerk. When they return home to Belmont the wives discover that the rings are gone. There is a quarrel; but everything is satisfactorily solved in the end. This incident is romantic because it possesses an element of mystery. Bassanio and Gratiano do not know that the lawyer and his clerk are Portia and Nerissa respectively. The incident is romantic because it gives a shock of pleasant surprise to Bassanio and Gratiano to know that the lawyer and his clerk are really Portia and Nerissa. The incident is romantic further because it deals with a love- quarrel which ends happily.

SHYLOCK

Jessica, my girl,Look to my house. I am right loath to go:

There is some ill a-brewing towards my rest,For I did dream of money-bags to-night.

The Merchant of Venice contains several improbable and incredible incidents and happenings. It is also difficult to believe that all Antonio’s ships could have been lost; and a further improbability in this connection is that three of his ships are reported as having returned safely to harbour. Even the story of the caskets is not very convincing because it involves a kind of lottery and because success in it is a matter of chance. Another great improbability is that the eminent lawyer, Bellario, recommends Portia for the role of a judge when she has no qualifications at all in legal affairs. And then her disguise as a man without being recognised even by her husband is an even greater improbability. And yet we can stay that Shakespeare has adopted all possible devices to render these absurdities plausible. The choice of the caskets, for instance, is regarded by many as a true test of character, and not merely a lottery.

Another romantic incident with which the play deals is the casket-incident. This incident is romantic because it involves the element of chance. There are three different sentences engraved differently on three caskets and the selection of one of them is supposed to bring the right-man to Portia; still one cannot deny the fact that chance plays an important part in this matter. This incident is romantic because it is a novel way of making a selection of the husband leaving no choice to the bride or girl; and it is a romantic incident because it teaches the lesson that self-surrender is the basis of sincerity in love. This incident has a happy ending; but it is something more. It is a comedy of romantic incidents; for, the matters and episodes with which it s concerned are all romantic.

If we consider the matter carefully we will note that the main idea of The Merchant of Venice is concerned with the treatment of love. If we consider the major and the minor plots, and if we consider the different incidents (the bond incident, the casket incident, the ring incident, etc.) we note that they emphasize and illustrate love in its several aspects. The first thing which we note is that it illustrates sex-love; but it is looked at from different points of view. Two Christians love each other sincerely; they are Portia and Bassanio. So also two persons belonging to different nationalities and different religions love each other sincerely; they are Jessica who is a Jew and Lorenzo who is a Christian. Here the love exist between members of the same sex; this we find illustrated in the relations between Antonio and Bassanio. Antonio loves Bassanio as dearly as his life-probably more.

NERISSA

And pardon me, my gentle Gratiano;For that same scrubbed boy, the doctor's clerk,

In lieu of this last night did lie with me.

And when love is sincere; it is sure unfailing guide and all-powerful in its influence. Bassanio makes the right selection not because he is able to reason better than either the Prince of Morocco or the Prince of Arragon, but because he has understood the fact that sincere love is self-sacrifice of his all for the sake of ‘another’. Sincerity and intensity of love depend on the readiness with which the persons are prepared to make sacrifices for each other. It is this that guides Bassanio into making the right selection; and it is this guiding principle love which is illustrated by the Bond Episode. Antonio had already lent money to Bassanio on several occasions in the past; on this occasion when he had no money, he could have told Bassanio that he was unable to help him; but he goes out of his way to borrow it, and he borrows the money from a person whom he had abused; probably Shylock was the only rich man who help him at this time and hence Antonio had to approach him. He signs the ‘merry’ bond, knowing well the danger of the condition mentioned in it. He wanted to help Bassanio, even at risk of his life; and he believed that his ships would come back before tome- these two things guided him when he signed the bond.

PORTIA I had it of him: pardon me, Bassanio;

For, by this ring, the doctor lay with me.

To different Shakespearean scholars different leading ideas are suggested by this play. Some persons think that retribution is the idea which is suggested by the play. Some people think that the leading idea is contained in Portia’s line- in the course of justice none of us should see salvation- they, think that, -the greatest justice is the greatest injury- is the main idea of the play; some think that the play is designed to show the relation of man to property. Thus different leading ideas are suggested. Dramatic irony is a device which a dramatist makes use of in a play frequently in order to make some part of a scene or some conversation very effective. It is called ‘dramatic’ because, dramatists are frequently in the habit of using it, If it used in a tragedy, it is known as “tragic irony’; if it is used in a comedy, it is known as ‘comic irony’.

ANTONIO I am dumb.

BASSANIO Were you the doctor and I knew you not?

GRATIANO Were you the clerk that is to make me cuckold?

A character in the play performs an action in the full belief that he is acting properly; he performs the act because he does not know certain facts which, however, are known to the audience. The audience knows that the belief of the character is mistaken. Here we have the irony of action or the irony of incident. This variety is illustrated by The Merchant of Venice. In Act IV, Scene I, Bassanio sends his ring after the young lawyer who has saved the life of Antonio, because he believes that the lawyer is a male; but the audience knows that the lawyer is Portia, Bassanio’s wife. This gives a pleasant frame of mind to the audience. Gratiano does an action which is similar to Bassanio’s action. He gives the ring to the lawyer’s clerk, thinking that the clerk is a male; but the audience knows that the clerk is Nerissa. Here we have the irony of action or incident.

SHYLOCK I am bid forth to supper, Jessica:

There are my keys. But wherefore should I go?I am not bid for love; they flatter me:

But yet I'll go in hate, to feed uponThe prodigal Christian.

The trial scene, similarly, deals with sincerity of love. Portia exerts herself to save Antonio, not because she knows him nor because she is so humanitarian as to run on every occasion to save persons who are in danger. She exerts herself to save him because he is the friend of her husband whom she loves dearly and sincerely. She would do anything for her husband-it is her love for her husband that makes her so eager to help and save Antonio. A careful consideration of the matter will show that the leading idea of The Merchant of Venice is- self –sacrifice or self-surrender is the basis of love which rules all.

It consists in the effect which is produced on account of a conflict between ignorance on the part of a speaker or actor in a play, and knowledge on the part of the audience. The audience knows certain facts, a character does not know these facts; he performs certain actions or speaks certain sentences thinking that his information is correct; but the audience knows that it is not correct. Here the knowledge of the audience of the facts comes into conflict with the ignorance of the speaker or actor regarding those facts; and this conflict tickles the audience and lends a point to the act or conversation which thus produces a great effect. Here we have irony- there are three main varieties of dramatic irony: The Irony of Action, The Verbal Irony, and The Prophetic Irony.

A character speaks something in ignorance of certain facts which are known to the audience. This variety is also illustrated in The Merchant of Venice. In Act IV, Scene I Bassanio days, where we have the verbal irony because he speaks these sentiments when, as he thinks his wife is absent; but the audience knows that his wife is present because the lawyer is Portia.

NERISSA Ay, but the clerk that never means to do it,

Unless he live until he be a man.

Similarly in Act V, Scene I, Gratiano describes the lawyer’s clerk to whom he had given the ring as, here Gratiano doesnot know that he is describing his wife; he does not know that the clerk was Nerissa; but the audience knows it. Here Gratiano speaks something in ignorance of certain facts which are known to the audience. Hence we have verbal irony.

BASSANIO Lorenzo and Salerio, welcome hither;

If that the youth of my new interest hereHave power to bid you welcome. By your leave,

I bid my very friends and countrymen,Sweet Portia, welcome.

Portia is an extra ordinary female character with all her potentialities. She is well endowed with the good things of this world. There are a number of scenes in the play The Merchant of Venice in which Portia produces on some readers, and on some spectators in a theatre, the impression that she is a pedantic woman who makes a display of her great intellectual powers and who seeks to impress others with her intellectual caliber.

Sometimes these soliloquies reveal the mental disturbance which the speaker may feel. Of such a nature is the aside which Bassanio speaks in the first scene of Act V. the aside, -I were best to cut my left hand off and swear I lost the ring defending it- which Bassanio utters here reveals the mental disturbance which he feels on his own account, after he has observed the quarrel between Gratano and Nerissa. Sometimes such soliloquies and asides show the mental frame of the speaker. Of such a nature is the side in Act I, scene III. Antonio arrives when Shylock and Bassanio are talking. Shylock speaks an ‘aside’ –how like a fawning publican he looks-he is referring to the appearance of Antonio at this time; but this aside reveals the attitude of the mind of Shylock towards Antonio. Thus the soliloquies and asides which are addressed to self are self-revelatory; they indicate the state of mind of the speaker.

As The Merchant of Venice is a light comedy, we do not have any illustration of Prophetic Irony in it. Thus this play reveals two varieties of dramatic irony at several places.

Some critics find an element of masculinity combined with an element of pedantry or conceit in Portia’s behavior in the trial scene. The question that arises among them is that why she should go wearing masculine clothes and parading as a man, to do something which she could have done by proxy. Her going personally shows nothing but his desire for display her intellectuality and to insult the Jew to heighten the position of her husband.

This character of her reveals her to be an exhibitionist. Portia’s activities in the second half of the play is as to why did she not leave it to Bellario to manage the case in the court of the Duke of Venice and why she felt it necessary to go herself in the disguise of a lawyer. The answer to this is that Portia is hereby celebrating her newly obtained freedom. So long as the question as to whom she was to marry remained unsettled she was hedged in by terms of her father’s will and was denied that freedom of action which a woman of her spirit naturally craved for. Safe in the knowledge that she was now wedded to the man of her own choice she allowed herself the priviledge of bold adventure, safely concealing any infringement of the properties by adopting the disguise of a man. All the spirit of adventure which had been pent up in her now comes forward and she indulges it by going out on a mission of love forward and she indulges it by going out on a mission of love and charity. Moreover her male disguise is necessary because she thinks that only she would be able to handle the case in the manner in which it should be handled. This is not a matter of conceit or pedantry. This is a matter of conviction and self- confidence. She does not want that anything should go wrong with the case. Actually far from showing any pedantry on her part, these proceedings show a rare forbearance and patience on her part. She wants to give the Jew every opportunity to get out of the situation which he has created for himself as well as for Antonio.

PORTIA Thus hath the candle singed the moth.

O, these deliberate fools! when they do choose,They have the wisdom by their wit to lose.

A little problem faces us when we meet Portia in the company of Bassanio before he makes his choice and again at the time that the choice is being made. She is unreserved in her confession of love for him and in her expression of the great anxiety that by some chance his choice might fall on one of the contrary caskets. The touch of womanly weakness which is thus revealed is deliberately designed by Shakespeare to show that with all her self-command Portia was not an absolute miracle of perfection. She is human in her kindly thoughtfulness and in her desire to do good and she is human in her weakness and all the more lovable on that account. But of, she is guilty of having virtually infringed the terms of her father’s will deliberately causing a song to be sung while Bassanio is debating over the caskets and by so choosing the song that Bassanio gets a clear hint that he should not guided by appearances? It may be that there is only an accidental co-existence between the sentiment of the song and the line of thought along which Bassanio works to reach the conclusion that the lead casket is the right casket. But for, even if this were not so, can we blame Portia for having taken a hand in the matter and done something ensure that Bassanio would not fail? Her entire future happiness depended on Bassanio’s not making a mistake and may she not well have been carried away by an overwhelming current of love into a virtual disregard of father’s cramping restrictions on her freedom of will? It must

have been with no little anxiety that she saw Morocco and Arragon venturing to choose and in their pride and vanity taking all the risks involved in their doing so. If Portia reasoned out things in this manner she was only human in doing so. What if Bassanio failed to choose the right casket and somebody else of Morocco or Arragon should succeed? If she reasoned out things in this manner she was only human in doing so, and the main thing is that she was not injuring anybody. By commenting on different suitors in the Trial Scene she was just promoting her own happiness and that of others by putting Bassanio on the right line of thought. At the very outset she makes certain comments upon her suitors which indicate that she thinks herself to be a woman of exceptional virtues and merits, and thinks these suitors to be far below her in intellectual power. For instance speaking about the prince from Naples, she says that he is a cold minded because he does nothing but talk of his horse. She says about the Count Palentine that he does nothing but frown, and that he hears merry tales, but smiles not. About the French lord, she says that he is every man in no man and that, if she marries him, she would be marrying twenty husbands. About the young German, she says that she dislikes him in the afternoon when he is drunk. She further says at his worst, this German is little better than a beast. Now such comments on her suitors seem to indicate to some readers Portia’s two high an opinion of herself. These comments seem to show her as a conceited woman having a superiority complex in her nature. Though she is an embodiment of virtue but his scornful attitude towards both the prince of Morocco and the prince of Arragon create the impression of superiority complex.

SALANIOBut it is

true, without any slips of prolixity or crossing theplain highway of talk, that the good Antonio, thehonest Antonio,--O that I had a title good enough

to keep his name company!—

Critics view that in the Trial Scene Portia follows a procedure which shows her to be a pedantic woman who wishes to make a parade of her intellect. They also opine that her dress was objectionable as it expresses an element of masculinity in Portia. One of the critics expresses the view that there is something feline about her in the Trial Scene, and that from time to time she puts out her claws to play with Shylock just as a cat plays with a mouse before pouncing upon it. But of, we differ from this view- we are of the opinion that the state of suspense, in which she keeps the court, inevitable and unavoidable. She wants to try every possible method of bringing about a change of heart in Shylock so that she does not have to interpret the bond in a strictly literal sense, and thus lay herself open to the charge that she has gone out of the way to deprive Shylock of the pound of flesh to which he is legally entitled. She does not want that she should have to conceit Shylock of having sought the death of a Venetian citizen, and thus expose him to the punishment which such a charge would necessitate. That is why she proceeds step by step. She first

tries to appeal to his greed. Next she tries in the same breath to stir his greed and his pity, and here she really shows her greatness as a judge. After having offered him thrice his money, she says-but the Jew does not relent at all. It is at this point that in reply to Antonio’s request for judgement , she tells Antonio to prepare his bosom for Shylock’s knife and a little later, she tells Shylock that the court awarded him a pound of Antonio’s flesh because the law allows him to have it. Shylock refuses even to arrange for a surgeon to stop Antonio’s wounds; and is only then that she paralyses Shylock by telling him that he can have the pound of flesh but that he must not shed a single drop of blood while cutting off the flesh. She has now turned the tables on Shylock, thus winning the admiration of the whole court and thwarting the Jew’s evil design.

Enter a Servant

Servant Gentlemen, my master Antonio is at his house and

desires to speak with you both.SALARINO

We have been up and down to seek him.

This incident discussed above makes us to declare that, in the play The Merchant of Venice, Portia is a beautiful creation of Shakespeare. She is a woman with extraordinary caliber and intellect. How she judges the case of Antonio is noteworthy and is the best example of her supernatural intellect and the expressions of extreme potentiality. Thus, if Portia is charged of masculinity, it is her extraordinary capability which gives her strength in a time of diversity. Besides, she is very beautiful and contains a soft heart but never shakes in the adverse conditions.

SHYLOCK If a Jew wrong a Christian,

what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christianwrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by

Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany youteach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I

will better the instruction.

The anticipative variety is illustrated in Act II, scene II. Here Launcelot soliloquizes. In his soliloquy which is addressed to the audience though it is spoken to himself, Launcelot points out that he is going to leave Shylock and take up service with Bassanio. The retrospective ‘aside’ is illustrated by Jessica, who in Act II, scene V remarks- I have a father, you, a daughter lost- here, she speaks of absconding as surely as though it has happened.

SALANIO

Let me say 'amen' betimes, lest the devil cross myprayer, for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew.

The Merchant of Venice thus illustrates all the three varieties of soliloquies and asides which serve various purposes- Firstly, they reveal the character of the speaker. Secondly, they show the motive-springs of the actions of the speaker. Thirdly, they exhibit the mental disturbance of the speaker. Fourthly, they show the line of action which the speaker is going to take and fifthly, they refer to something which has happened.

Shakespeare’s depiction of the character of Shylock is one of his greatest triumphs. The name Shylock has become a byword for miserliness, fanaticism, avarice, cunningness, hypocrisy and cruelty. We know Shylock in this play as money-lender, as a fanatical follower of his religion as a hater of Christianity, as a hypocritical and cunning man. He can lay a trap for his enemy and even catch him, as a tyrannical father, as a hoarder of money, and as a revengeful and blood-thirsty person. All these aspects of Shylock’s personality have been presented to us most vividly and through realistic situations. Shylock’s portrait given by Shakespeare is complete in all respects. He is an unforgettable creation of Shakespeare’s fertile and prolific genius. We see him in his household, on the Rialto, in his business dealings with his fellow Jews and with Christians. We are into the contact with almost every segment of Venetian society through him. Shylock nevertheless presents the most interesting psychological study in the play. In making an analysis of his character there are two things we have to bear in mind. First Shakespeare had to allow for the prevalent anti-semitic prejudices of his time and he had to conform the some respect at least to the tradition of the Jew as a monster of cruelty and rapacity- a tradition which had been handed down from the Middle Ages. Secondly, it was invariably Shakespeare’s practice to keep his characters within the pale of humanity even when the exigencies of his plot required that he should depict some of them as villains. If the actions of these villains are highly reprehensible from the ethical stand-point, and even from that of ordinary humanity, they are at least understandable as having arisen from circumstances not entirely within the control of the villains concerned.

PORTIA No more, I pray thee: I am half afeard

Thou wilt say anon he is some kin to thee,Thou spend'st such high-day wit in praising him.

Come, come, Nerissa; for I long to seeQuick Cupid's post that comes so mannerly.

Soliloquies and asides are unnatural, because no one in real life, soliloquizes loudly or indulges in asides unless he is a mad person. Hence they are, on the modern stage, avoided as far as possible. But of, in the days of Elizabeth, dramatists found them of great use and

hence they freely used soliloquies and asides in their plays, to perform certain functions. Soliloquies and asides are of three kinds: Firstly, those that are addressed to one’s own self. Secondly, those that are addressed to the audience (though they appear to be addressed to self). Thirdly, those that are of mixed type that is, partly addressed to self and partly to the audience.

NERISSA Bassanio, lord Love, if thy will it be!

The third variety which is of mixed type is illustrated by Jessica’s soliloquy with which scene III of Act ends. The soliloquy begins with -Alack, what heinous-etc.: In this soliloquy Jessica points out what she is going to do, and it also indicates her mental disturbance. She is pained on account of the manners of her father, Shylock; and she tells us that she will become a Christian and marry Lorenzo.

(SALANIO )

Enter SHYLOCK

How now, Shylock! what news among the merchants?SHYLOCK

You know, none so well, none so well as you, of mydaughter's flight.

Shylock was by no means a persona non grata in Venice. Antonio had a particular dislike of him, a dislike mounting to a curious combination of hatred and contempt, but the dislike was by no means confined to Antonio. The ill-feeling against Shylock was not entirely due to his nationality and his religion. Rather it is to be traced to the fact that Shylock embodied ` in himself all the most unpleasant features of the race to which he belonged. Being exceedingly passionate by nature he concentrated within himself the utter detestation of his race by all by all communities, outside his own, more particularly by the Christians. Correspondently he felt that every affront offered to the Jews individually and collectively was something which he personally should take to heart and should regard as one more motive for using every opportunity which might come his way to avenge himself on the Christians. Shylock’s self-righteousness is of a distinctly odious kind. This manifests itself particularly in his sticking rigorously to the letter of the law and altogether neglecting its spirit. He justifies his practice of usury by narrating the story the story of Jacob and Laban. With an ugly relish. If one of the patriarchs of his race could resort to doubtful practices in order to gain material profit, it followed that he stood equally justified in the tricks and strategies which he adopted in order to make his money breed as fast as ewes and rams. Again, when he is offered three and more times the value of his bond, he would not have

the money but insists on having the pound of flesh to which the law apparently entitled him. If the bond was decreed as a valid document by a competent court of law, then it followed that the execution of its provisions could not therefore bring down any judgement, human or divine on his head. But at, the idea that the causing of wrongful losses to others because of his desire to quickly enriches himself is a breach of the spirit of the law, is conveniently, excluded from his mind. This is so because he is so entirely wrapped up in himself. He is essentially an unsocial nature; it is not in respect of his religion alone but in every feature of his life that he shows, himself to have a superficially exclusive temperament and all this arises from the unfortunate conviction that, in all his doings, he stands justified in the eyes of law. We can understand Jessica’s speaking of her home as a Hell and of her taking the first opportunity which comes her way to leave her father. Her readiness to become a Christian is due mainly to the fact that Shylock had made the Jewish religion extremely disagreeable to her by practicing it and insisting on her practicing it in its least social and tolerant aspect.

Shylock is the rich Jewish money lender of Venice, who lends money on interest. The medieval Christian tradition does not allow the Christians to do money lending and as the Jews cannot participate in any other profession apart from money lending therefore Shylock is left with no other profession to pursue. But for, when he plots against the life of Antonio, it shows his villainous mind which is motivated only by hatred and revenge. Therefore, his daughter Jessica even abhors him and elopes with Christian Lorenzo. At the trial scene, villainy becomes evident when he whets the knife to take his due-a pound of Antonio’s flesh, though Portia’s eloquence and ‘legal expertise’ makes him fall in the pit that he himself has dug. – (Followed from Workbook Notes.)

Shylock was a usurer and a miser, cannot be denied. But at, the love of money does not seem to have been an original and ingrained passion in him. It is something which arose out of the circumstances in which he found himself in Venice, as well as out of his devotion to his race and his religion. The requisition of wealth was the only means by which he could acquire something of ascendancy in the world of Christian prejudices amidst which his lot was cast. He is a great miser. His treatment of his servant Launcelot Gobbo provides ample evidence for this trait of his character. Launcelot tells his father that he is “famished’ in the Jew’s service. And the irony here is that Shylock thanks himself to be a very generous employer. Then Shylock is a narrow-minded and tyrannical father. He exercises great vigilance over his daughter’s movements and puts all kinds of restrictions upon her, forbidden her even to watch from the windows of her house a procession passing through the street below. No wonder that his daughter hates him and runs away from home, taking away with her a considerable portion of his money and his jewels. Of course, in this particular situation he does win a bit of our sympathy, but in all other respects we find him to be a detestable person. Shylock is a hypocrite and also a cunning man. After receiving a

stern and insulting reply from Antonio to his complaint about Antonio’s past ill-treatment of him, Shylock tries to soothe Antonio’s feelings by saying that he only wants to win Antonio’s friendship and not to offend him in any manner. This is a sheer hypocrisy on his part because he is forming a project in his mind to avenge insults which Antonio had been heaping on him in the past. He then agrees to lend the required amount of money to Antonio though he wants Antonio to sign a bond to the effect that, if Antonio fails to repay the loan within a period of three months. Shylock would be entitled to cut off a pound of flesh from the nearest Antonio’s heart. And he again shows his hypocrisy by saying that he intends this clause as merely a kind of joke. Actually he is here laying the foundations of the revenge which he can take in case the opportunity comes his way. He has laid a trap far Antonio, and it is quite possible that later he spread a malicious rumour that all Antonio’s ships have been lost on the sea. The reported losses of Antonio brings about a crisis in Antonio‘s life. Some of us believe that Shakespeare has created the character of Shylock in order to draw public sympathy for the Jewish race that had been presented by the Christian for centuries while a few of us think that Shylock was created by Shakespeare in order to feed the anti-Jewish feelings of the Elizabeth Christians. But for, none of our views is correct because Shakespeare, being a great artist, created Shylock just as a dramatic character without any particular motive either for or against the Jews because Shakespeare has not painted Shylock as a pure devil or as the hero of the play. A superficial study of Shylock’s character makes us to find that he is all evil, all wickedness, all cruelty and malice, all avarice and greed for money, and nothing else, but if we go deeper we find him not absolutely without some touch of humanity in his relations either with his daughter or with his domestic servants or with the Christians in general or even with Antonio in particular. While judging the character of Shylock we must not forget how much Shylock’s race has suffered in the hands of the Christians or how much material loss or personal humiliation. Shylock has suffered in the hands of Antonio. We notice in the play how Antonio abuses Shylock even while he is approaching Shylock for a loan that is not the way of approaching a person for some personal favour. Then again, if we believe what Shylock says about Antonio’s treatment towards Shylock at the public places , at the Rialto and also how much material loss Antonio had brought upon Shylock by lending money to people free of interest and also by helping them frequently with loans whenever they had been in trouble particularly in paying penalties to Shylock, we cannot possibly regard Shylock at all a devil or a human beast as some of the critics have nicknamed him.

ARRAGON What's here? the portrait of a blinking idiot,

Presenting me a schedule! I will read it.How much unlike art thou to Portia!

How much unlike my hopes and my deservings!

'Who chooseth me shall have as much as he deserves.'

Shakespeare while painting the character of Shylock, must have had in his view not only the centuries of prejudice of the Christians against the Jews but also the centuries of persecution of the Jews by the Christians; that is why, he has made Shylock talk in that pathetic and even in that revengeful manner, reflecting thereby must correctly the relations between the Jews and the Christians during the Elizabeth Age.

PORTIA Behold, there stand the caskets, noble prince:

If you choose that wherein I am contain'd,Straight shall our nuptial rites be solemnized:But if you fail, without more speech, my lord,You must be gone from hence immediately.

The manner in which Shylock is treated in the Trial Scene of the play is most unkind and unfair, particularly , because he is robbed by a quibble of law not only of the loan money which he had advanced to Antonio, but also of all his property on the excuse that he had been conspiring against the life of Antonio. It is here that he excites our sympathy to such an extent that we begin to think that he has been gravely wronged. It is here that we accept the oft-quoted dictum that he is as much sinned against sinning. It was enough to have defeated him in his purpose to kill Antonio, and to have dispossessed him of all his wealth too. But for, it is going too far to compel him to change his religion and become a Christian. At this he totters out of the court, a broken man with a shattered mind, with no one at all to speak a word of comfort to him. Such punishment might not have moved the Elizabethan audiences to sympathy for Shylock, but it does move us to sympathy for him, and to regard him as a victim of Christian fanaticism and persecution. Fortunately the Jews of our times have distinguished themselves. Shylock is intensely and genuinely devoted to his religion Antonio has been ill-treating him because he is a Jew. And Shylock now asks Antonio ‘s two friends if a Jew does not have eyes, hands, organs, dimensions, sense, affections, and passions. He asks if a Jew is not 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. He further asks if a Jew does not bleed when he is pricked by a Christian. Shylock then concludes by saying, -If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that- what Shylock here means to say is that a Jew is as much of a human being as a Christian is and that a Jew has the same instincts and impulses a Christian has and his next remark in the same content is the one which is quoted in the question before used. A Christian shows no leniency to a Jew if a Jew does any wrong to a Christian. The Christian seeks revenge in that situation. By the same logic, a Jew should also show no leniency to a Christian if a Christian does any wrong to a Jew. A Jew should

also seek revenge in that situation. According to Shylock it is the intolerance of the Christians towards the Jews which has taught the Jews to become intolerant towards the Christians. And so speaking in a fierce and ferocious tone, Shylock says that he has learnt to behave in a villainous manner towards the Christians because the Christians have been behaving in a villainous manner towards him and towards the other Jews.

The words spoken by Shylock show also the firmness and the rigidity of his character. He is not the kind of man who would soften or relent when an appeal for mercy or leniency is made to him. The language which he has employed here and the tone in which he speaks here, clearly show a strong minded, strong willed man with a strong resolve and determination. He may be an evil man but his fixity of purpose and his unwavering mind compel our admiration for him. He is a fanatical Jew; and he is as fanatical as the Christians were in those days. – That a Jew, despised and hunted down, should turn a villain, showing the greatest cunning and malevolence when he gets an opportunity is quite natural. If we analyse, Shylock’s motive and action, we find this is what happened when Antonio comes to him for a loan of three thousand ducats. Shylock, shrewd and crafty knave as he is, pauses and wavers- seems to be in a fit of abstraction. Shylock’s attempt to take revenge on Antonio is noble and dignified, because it is a protest against inhumanity of treatment to which the Jews as a race have been subjected through the ages. To quote Hazlitt “If he carries his revenge too far, yet he has strong grounds for the lodged hate he bears Antonio, which he explains with equal force of eloquence and reason.” He seems the “depository of the vengeance of his race. “ In the trial scene he towers over every other character. As Hazlitt says, “In all his answers and retorts upon his adversaries, he has the best not only the argument but of the question, reasoning on their own principles and practice.” Nor can we say that in the trial scene he ever loses the dignity and stateliness of manner and utterance befitting a tragic here. Raleigh writes “Antonio and Bassanio are pale shadows of men compared with this gaunt, tragic figure, whose love of his race is as deep as life; who pleads the cause of common humanity against the cruelties of prejudice; whose very hatred has in it something of the nobility of patriotic passion, whose heart is stirred with tender memories even in the midst of his lament over the stolen ducats, who in the end, is dismissed, unprotesting to insult and oblivion. “

SALANIO I think he only loves the world for him.I pray thee, let us go and find him outAnd quicken his embraced heaviness

With some delight or other.

The causeless melancholy of Antonio in the opening scene strikes the key note of this serious main plot bordering on the tragic. Antonio’s words in the first scene of the play are charged with sadness. We then pass on to the signing of the fantastic bond which gives to

Shylock the right to cut off one pound of Antonio’s flesh from any part of the body the Jew likes, in the event of Antonio’s inability to repay the loan within a certain period.

Antonio makes but two attempts and they also not very enthusiastic, to plead his cause. He would not move out of his lethargy to any greater extent. In the whole of the Trial Scene he does to make even one appeal. He takes his death as granted and perfectly reconciles himself to it. In the Ring Episode he hardly says anything where he could have pleaded for Bassanio.

The soliloquies and asides which are meant for the audience, (though they are apparently addressed to self), may be of two varieties- firstly, they may be retrospective in nature; or Secondly, they may be anticipative. In other words, the retrospective soliloquies may inform the audience of what has happened or what the speaker has done; the anticipative soliloquies may inform the audience of what is to happen or what the speaker is going to do.

SALARINO Marry, well remember'd.

I reason'd with a Frenchman yesterday,Who told me, in the narrow seas that partThe French and English, there miscarried

A vessel of our country richly fraught:I thought upon Antonio when he told me;And wish'd in silence that it were not his.

As time marches on, the depressing news of Antonio’s losses is received. This fills us with anxiety about Antonio. Later on we hear Shylock declaring his intention to enforce the bond and this deepens the gloom: -Let him look to his bond: he was wont to call me usurer; let him look to his bond: he was wont to lend money for Christian courtesy; let him look to his bond- Clouds of an impending disaster have begun to usher on horizon.

MOROCCO O hell! what have we here?

A carrion Death, within whose empty eyeThere is a written scroll! I'll read the writing.

Thus, when introduced he is in a fit of depression. His melancholy has been variously explained but it seems partly temperamental as he himself declares, calling the world a stage where on his part is a sad one; and partly arising from a presentiment of evil. In any case, he supplies a background of sadness to the play. And his chief importance, apart from his being the pivot of the action, consists in serving as the vehicle of an atmosphere in the play because, as a dramatic character, he is negative, being a shadow beside Shylock and

Portia. –He provides for the beginning of the play what the lyrical antiphony of Lorenzo and Jessica does for the end of it.

SALARINO Why, man, I saw Bassanio under sail:

With him is Gratiano gone along;And in their ship I am sure Lorenzo is not.

It is significant that the very first words that he utters-and they are the very first words of the play, too are- In sooth, I know not why I am so sad- He says it wearies him. This melancholy and especially this weariness is throughout the characteristics of his character. Throughout the play he is weary of the world he lives in.

GRATIANO I am glad on't: I desire no more delight

Than to be under sail and gone to-night.

This weariness has been revealed in the very opening scene. The same resignation and weariness, the same lack of struggle is also evident, when he says of his regard to himself as doomed and refuses to struggle even. This is height-or depth –of pessimism. And it is, not in words only that he is thus melancholy and resigned. His actions or the lack of action in him- is even more significant. One could understand his signing of the bond to some extent. But of, how are we to understand his total indifference to the fate that hangs over his head? He makes no effort to raise the three thousand ducats in order to pay off the debt. He patiently awaits Shylock and reluctantly allows him to come and catch hold of him by the neck.

JESSICA What, must I hold a candle to my shames?

They in themselves, good-sooth, are too too light.Why, 'tis an office of discovery, love;

And I should be obscured.

When asked Salario and Solanio the reason of melancholy Antonio replies he does not know its origin. He further says that his sadness sees to have robbed him to all his understanding and that he is now hardly able to recognize himself. This reply by Antonio shows that his melancholy is a recent development in his character, and not an original trait of his character. To find out the reason Salario and Solanio guess that Antonio’s melancholy may have arisen from his anxiety about his ships which are laden with rich merchandise and which are voyaging upon the seas and facing all those dangers to which ships are generally exposed. But of, Antonio rejects their suggestion and says that all his

merchandise is not being carried by one single ship, and that all his ships are not sailing to one single destination. Solanio says that Antonio might be feeling worried because he has fallen in love; but to this suggestion Antonio merely replies; -Fie, fie- Solanio thereupon says that Antonio obviously belongs to the category of those people who are by nature melancholy, and who never laugh even at a very amusing joke. Then again Gratiano enquires of his sickness when he appears on the scene in the company of Bassanio and Lorenzo. In reply Antonio says that he regards the world as the stage of a theatre on which every man has to play a certain role and his role being a sad one. His utterance implies that his melancholy is something inborn and temperamental.

As we are given the impression that the melancholy of Antonio has not been previously known to Antonio’s friends, and that it must therefore be of a recent origin. But for, later we come to know that this melancholy is something inborn and something basic to his nature.

Whatever the reason of the melancholy of Antonio is, it cannot be ignored by us. The melancholy has its dramatic significance. It is indeed the melancholy of Antonio in the opening scene which renders him liable to do things which a man would not do normally. It is due to his melancholy in the opening scene that prevents him from realizing the danger to which he is exposing himself by signing a bond containing a clause about the pound of flesh. Antonio is in a mood in which he can talk in an irrational manner. Antonio’s melancholy is the drawback of his character. It makes him whimsical and extravagantly devoted to his friend. His melancholy is the symptom of his whimsicality.

Antonio’s melancholy strikes the keynote of the play which is serious and tragic. The report of Antonio’s ships having been wrecked leads to disastrous consequences. Antonio is declared bankrupt on the basis of that report. Shylock’s reaction to this bankruptcy is one of gays because Antonio is now in no position to pay his debt to Shylock who declares his resolve to demand a pound of flesh of his body to be cut off from nearest of Antonio’s heart. This Antonio is now facing a grim situation even more rim when Antonio’s trial begins. Shylock has even begun to sharpen his knife in anticipation of winning the case. He was sure enough that he will win the case and will be allowed to cut off a pound of flesh from Antonio’s body according to forfeiture of the bond. He is quite sure that he will be able to all put an end to his enemy’s life and to all these events. We know also through the signing of the bond Shylock tries to irritate Antonio to achieve his purpose. He reminds Antonio of the former insults and injures Antonio had done to Shylock. Shylock further sarcastically points out that a person, who has always been calling Shylock a dog, cannot possibly lend any money. When Antonio is off his guard in his fit of anger and disgust, Shylock at once pretends to be friendly to him but then Antonio does not forget his anger. He says to Shylock plainly that if he puts down any term of the bond he will sign it, and if fails to pay back the loan, let him realize the utmost penalty from him like an enemy. That is how

Antonio signs the bond. Then again, Shylock also suggests Antonio to take the bond in merry spurt and not seriously because who on earth could believe that at the forfeiture of the bond one could demand a pound of human flesh?

SHYLOCK Let not the sound of shallow foppery enterMy sober house. By Jacob's staff, I swear,I have no mind of feasting forth to-night:

But I will go. Go you before me, sirrah;Say I will come.

On the very face of such a will it is evident that the choice of the caskets is a kind of lottery; but then, if we consider the mottos on the caskets we feel that there must be some hidden motive behind this lottery. Many of the readers of the modern world say that this choice of the caskets reflects nothing but the ignorance and superstition of the father of Portia who believed in blind fate particularly in human marriage. Shakespeare says in the present play that hanging and marriage go by destiny; and therefore, if we take the choice of caskets from the Elizabethan stand point, it should be no better than a gamble of chance in the choice of one’s marriage.

The inscription on the gold casket means that most people are attracted by gold but we know what goldsmith has said, where wealth accumulates men decay; not only that, even when people become wealthy they become corrupt with many vices. So to be attracted by gold or wealth means inviting ruin. The significance of the motto on the silver casket is that everybody should get what he deserves; but the question is how one can judge how much one deserves, because everybody has got in him some amount of vanity or self-conceit, and therefore, everybody is likely to overrate himself, and naturally everybody thinks that he deserves everything. So, it is risky on one’s part to judge what one really deserves. The motto on the leaden casket says that whoever will risk his all, will get the thing for which he will risk his all, which means no gain without risk or unless one works hard and puts in his best energy one cannot expect to succeed in anything. But at, if any one goes to apply all his energy to a thing without considering the outward appearances or without considering what one deserves, one is very likely to be rewarded with success. That is how we can say that the inscriptions on the caskets will truly bring out the character of a man and will test him whether he is really fit for getting anything. Bassanio correctly interprets the inscriptions on the caskets, and that is why he succeeds in choosing the right casket. His manner of interpretations of the inscriptions serves as the test of his character, and proves that Bassanio is not a man tempted by the glitter of things, nor is a man to be misled by his vanity to overrate himself but that he is a man , who believes in putting in all his energy in order to win something whatever may be his aim, as in the present case, his sole aim is to win Portia.

BASSANIO No, that were pity:

I would entreat you rather to put onYour boldest suit of mirth, for we have friends

That purpose merriment.

In the Casket-Story of the play, three caskets are mentioned, which are made of three metals-gold, silver and lead. Certain mottos are inscribed on each of the caskets. One of these caskets holds the portrait of Portia. It is laid down in the will of Portia’s deceased father that whoever happens to choose the casket in which Portia’s portrait is concealed will win Portia for his bride.

LORENZO Sweet friends, your patience for my long abode;

Not I, but my affairs, have made you wait:When you shall please to play the thieves for wives,

I'll watch as long for you then. Approach;Here dwells my father Jew. Ho! who's within?

According to Bassanio people are always misled by external ornamentation or outward adornment. In the sphere of law, even the most untruthful case is made to appear genuine and true by an advocate who possess a persuasive voice and who can, by the very tones of his speech, hides the evil which he wants to depict as something good. In the sphere of religion, the same thing happens. Even the worst kind of falsehood and superstition can be made to appear praiseworthy and admirable by a man by quoting some misleading example or precedent from a scripture. Many men, who are cowards at heart, try to look brave and fearless by wearing the beard of Hercules on their chins in the frowns of Mars on their foreheads. Thus ornament is like a treacherous shore which hides the dangerous rocks threatening the safety of approaching ships. And so Bassanio rejects the casket made of gold which proved to be “hard food for king Midas”. He also rejects the silver casket because silver, he says, is the common drudge between man and man, (that is the medium of monetary exchange in human transactions). He then chooses the lead casket which rather threatens than promises anything. The paleness of lead moves him more than the eloquence of gold or silver.

The choice of a casket to determine a candidate’s suitability as a husband for Portia looks absurd. People buy lottery tickets in the hope of winning a large amount of money which has been fixes as the prize for a ticket which bears a particular number. But at, as everybody knows winning a lottery is a matter of pure chance. Nobody has ever held that the winner of a lottery is a man of integrity, or a man of a sound character or a reliable man, or a man with an unerring judgement. In the same way it would seem, on a superficial view, that a suitor’s choice of the right casket in The Merchant of Venice would be a matter

purely of chance, and not an indication of the good qualities which he might be possessing. In other words, it seems to have devised this strange method for the selection of a husband for Portia. Portia’s late father seems to have been a crank; and Portia therefore seems to be a stupid woman who blindly believes in the method laid down by her late father. The choice of a casket as a test of character therefore seems to be one of the many absurdities in this play which has something been compared to a fairy tale.

LAUNCELOT, the comedian of the play. He is at first Shylock’s servant, then goes to work for Bassanio. His clowning often takes the form of misusing the English language; it is sometimes a welcome break from the tense or romantic scenes. (Oxford Edition: Shakespeare)

Adieu! tears exhibit my tongue. Most beautifulpagan, most sweet Jew! if a Christian did not playthe knave and get thee, I am much deceived. But,

adieu: these foolish drops do something drown mymanly spirit: adieu.

The choice has to be made from amongst three caskets which are made of gold , silver and lead respectively. Each casket bears an inscription as a sort of clue to guide the suitor. The inscription on the gold casket is : “Who chooseth me, shall gain what many men desire- The inscription on the silver casket reads this- Who chooseth me, shall get as much as he deserves- And the inscription on the lead casket is – Who chooseth me, must give and hazards all he hath- Portia’s portrait could have been placed in any of these caskets; and the successful chooser could then have been described as the wises or the most suitable man to marry the lady. Much can be said in favour of each of the caskets. After all, the arguments given by the Prince of Morocco are very strong; and so are the arguments offered by the Prince of Arragon. How can we quarrel with the Prince of Arragon‘s reasoning, according to which only merit and ability should determine the selection? Indeed,. The reasoning followed by the Prince of Arragon is unquestionable. How many times in the course of a day do we hear people complaining that worth and merit are being ignored in the selection of candidates for high offices and high positions? There is nothing wrong very wrong even with the Prince of Morocco’s reasoning. And yet both these suitors fail in the test.

BASSANIO Pray thee, take pain

To allay with some cold drops of modestyThy skipping spirit, lest through thy wild behavior

I be misconstrued in the place I go to, And lose my hopes.

It is obvious from the lottery incident that the key to the fate of a suitor is not to be found in the reasoning which he goes through. It is a case like that of children who are asked to guess in which hand a sweetmeat is hidden. Moulton is of the view that we are here dealing with an international puzzle. Even if our intellectual leads us to decide in favour of lead, there would be the chance that such a decision had been anticipated by Portia’s father. Portia looks upon the caskets as something which put a restraint upon the free exercise of her will. I may neither choose whom I would nor refuse whom I dislike, remarks she; she looks upon the caskets as ‘a lottery of my destiny’ because it is by an accident that the right casket would be chosen. The Prince of Morocco looks upon the right selection as a matter of ‘chance’. –Bring me unto my chance- says he, to my fortune. The Prince of Arragon also looks upon the selection of the right casket as a matter of fortune. –If I do fail in the fortune of my choice – then, -Fortune now to my heart’s hope- such are the remarks of the Prince of Arragon. Even Bassanio says-But let me to my fortune and the caskets- The remarks and views of the different suitors and of Portia herself would lead us to think that the moral of the casket incident is this- Destiny is all-powerful and she guides all human actions. Fate rules all- seems to be the moral of the casket –incident; and Portia rightly remarks: when they choose, they have the wisdom by their wit to lose.

LAUNCELOT Ergo, Master Launcelot. Talk not of MasterLauncelot, father; for the young gentleman,

according to Fates and Destinies and such oddsayings, the Sisters Three and such branches of

learning, is indeed deceased, or, as you would sayin plain terms, gone to heaven.

Character is the aggregate or the sum total of all the experiences. Of a man’s life, and of all his meditations and his thinking. Or, we may say that character is the grand resultant of all the forces which have been working upon a man’s mind and personality during his life. In the present case, therefore while all the three suitors believe that they are making a choice on the basis of their rational judgement, actually their choice is being determined by their respective characters.

The Prince of Morocco thinks himself to be half-divine. He dislikes lead because of his exalted view of himself; and he rejects silver because of a touch of modesty in his pride. He doubts whether he really deserves Portia’s; and so he chooses the gold casket. The Prince of Arragon possesses the pride of family and having a high opinion of his merit and ability thinks that he fully deserves Portia. Accordingly, he chooses the silver casket. Bassanio possesses the pride of a soldier who is not discouraged by any threat or danger and so he chooses the leaden casket. Besides, he is a lover who will hazard everything for the sake of

love. And so he chooses a casket which threatens rather than promises anything. And thus the strange puzzle , conceived by the holy father who was divinely inspired while dying, has actually proved to be the true test of the inmost character of each suitor.

If we denote some more thought to the matter we would find that the sentences which are engraved on the different caskets possess an importance. The three different sentences on three different caskets present three different ideas. They are pursuit of a popular matter, emphasis on self opinion, and self sacrifice. The moral of the casket-incident thus seems to be- that a man must dedicate himself to the service of others. And it appears that this is the chief moral of the incident; for happiness in marriage depends on the readiness with which the husband devotes himself to the service of his wife devotes herself to the service of his wife and the wife devotes herself to the service of her husband. Mutual concessions and devotion to each other are the main supports of conjugal life. This was probably the idea which guided the father of Portia when he devised the ‘lottery of caskets’. The moral of the casket incident seems to be- Firstly, man should be ready to dedicate himself to the service of other. Along with this main idea the casket incident conveys other ideas also. Secondly, outward shows do not indicate inner worth or merit. Thirdly, Fortune rules all.

LAUNCELOT Nay, indeed, if you had your eyes, you might fail ofthe knowing me: it is a wise father that knows his

own child. Well, old man, I will tell you news ofyour son: give me your blessing: truth will cometo light; murder cannot be hid long; a man's son

may, but at the length truth will out.

If an idiot has stumbled upon the right choice, what would Lady Portia then have done? Every author looks at life from a certain angle; and it is this angle which determines the kind of reality that he depicts in his work. Thus considering every play by Shakespeare or by any other author may be described as a representation of life or as a criticism of life and some of its aspects. Of course we generally speak of literature being an imitation of life or a representation of life or a reflection of life. The fact cannot be denied that an author, while portraying life and human nature at work, lives his own point of view to us in the process.

GOBBO By God's sonties, 'twill be a hard way to hit. Can

you tell me whether one Launcelot,

The Merchant of Venice holds the mirror to certain aspects of life in such a way that we become aware of certain truths of human life which we had previously known only vaguely. Shakespeare’s portrayal of life and human nature in this play reveals his own attitude towards life in general, and towards some of its customs, practices and institutions. In fact this particular play of Shakespeare, is a criticism of usury as well as of religious fanaticism.

The whole play centres round these two aspects of the life of that time. Shakespeare has, here, shown us the evil of religious intolerance. It is evident that the play depicts usury and religious intolerance as two great evils. The other evil that the play brings to our notice is the extravagance. Bassanio is a prodigal young man, and his living beyond his means thus becomes the cause of a great misfortune in Antonio’s life and in his own life as well.

PORTIA You must take your chance,

And either not attempt to choose at allOr swear before you choose, if you choose wrong

Never to speak to lady afterwardIn way of marriage: therefore be advised.

To sum up it may be said that Shakespeare has criticized people, through the device of casket choice, who are lured by outward show and false glitter.


The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.An evil soul producing holy witnessIs like a villain with a smiling cheek,A goodly apple rotten at the heart:


In the play, The Merchant of Venice the manner in which Shylock is treated shows clearly that Shakespeare wanted either to paint the attitude of the Christians towards the Jews- the attitude of hatred and enmity or to enlist the sympathy of the audience, showing how Shylock has been most unfairly and even illegally, robbed of his due penalty of the bond as well as of all his property. Not only that; but, Shylock has also been literally outraged being forcibly converted into a Christian particularly when we know that Shylock is an orthodox Jew Christianity. Some of the critics have been misled to think that Shakespeare probably wanted to preach toleration to the Jews through The Merchant of Venice. But of, they should know that Shakespeare, being a great artist, could not possibly have any didactic or moral motive behind any of his plays. It is quite likely that Shakespeare being more commercial minded, took the theme of persecution of the Jews as the most profitable theme at the time when the relations between the Christian would like to see a character like Shylock to be the victim of persecution by the Christian upon the stage.

Religious intolerance is one of the dominant themes of The Merchant of Venice, and the play is indirectly a plea for religious tolerance. We are here dealing with a play which depicts the evil resulting from religious intolerance, though the play has another theme, which is even more important, the other theme being the evils of usury and avarice. The

main story in this play is the Bond Story or the pound of flesh story which centres round Shylock’s desire for revenge upon Antonio whom he regards as his enemy and to whom he is bitterly hostile thus, in one sense, this play has revenge as its theme. But of, there have to be reasons or motives behind a desire for revenge.

Speaking about Antonio, Shylock says, - I hate him for he is a Christian-this is one reason why Shylock feels hostile to Antonio. But of, there is another reason for his hostility. Antonio brings down the rate of interest in Venice, adversely affecting the professional income of Shylock who is usury. Shylock’s greed or avarice may therefore be regarded as a more powerful motive behind his revengefulness. Due to the religious fanaticism Jew hates the Christian. Another reason of Shylock’s hatred of Antonio is his daughter Jessica who runs away with a Christian young man with a Christian young man with whom she has fallen in love: Jessica not only runs away from home but also takes away a considerable portion of his money and jewel which he had been accumulating. When he is lamenting the loss of his daughter he also laments the loss of his ducats and his jewels, referring to his ducats as –Christian ducats- meaning, of the money which he had earned as interest on the loans he had been giving to the Christians in Venice.

ANTONIO This was a venture, sir, that Jacob served for;

A thing not in his power to bring to pass,But sway'd and fashion'd by the hand of heaven.

Was this inserted to make interest good?Or is your gold and silver ewes and rams?

Religious intolerance is one of the dominant themes of The Merchant of Venice and the play is indirectly a plea for religious tolerance. The Merchant of Venice is a play which depicts the evil resulting from religious intolerance. The main story in this play is the Bond Story or the pound-of-flesh story which centres round Shylock’s desire for revenge upon Antonio whom he regards as his enemy and to whom he is bitterly hostile.

Our initial impression of Bassanio is that he is dowry seeker or a fortune hunter and that he is an irresponsible man living above his means and borrowing money from his rich friend however he is in need of it. If we think Bassanio in this term we cannot believe that he could have chosen right casket. And so we come back to the point from where we had started. Is the device of the caskets a sound for judging a suitor’s character? We do not think totally that this device of Portia’s father is a reliable test of the character of a suitor…!

If Shylock hates all Christians, and more particularly Antonio, the Christians also hate him, and the reason of their hatred is that he was a Jew. Of course, the Christians hate him because he is a usurer and a miser. Antonio hates him particularly and he hates him

bitterly for both these reasons. Another calls Shylock a misbeliever and a cut-throat dog. Antonio told that he will keep on calling Shylock a dog in future also and that he would spit on him. Antonio further added that if Shylock is going to lend him the money, he should do so not in a spirit of friendship. But in a spirit of antagonism so that if the loan is not repaid in time, Shylock should be able to demand the penalty with a stronger justification. Antonio here shows himself as an extremist in his attitude towards religion. Antonio with all his good qualities like- honesty, kind-heartedness is an intolerant Christian who abhorrently hates the Jewish religion. This intolerance on Antonio’s part bears a stigma on his character. If devoid of this he would have been regarded as a man of extraordinary personality.

JESSICA I am sorry thou wilt leave my father so:

Our house is hell, and thou, a merry devil,Didst rob it of some taste of tediousness.

But fare thee well, there is a ducat for thee:And, Launcelot, soon at supper shalt thou see

Lorenzo, who is thy new master's guest:Give him this letter;

Shylock’s own religious intolerance aggravates his antagonism towards Antonio and hardens him in his demand for a pound of Antonio’s flesh when the time comes. Antonio’s tragedy is averted by the judges’s ingenious interpretation of the bond. But at, the Christians who were in upper hand, too show no mercy to Shylock. Even Portia forgets her own quality of mercy’ speech. Shylock was imposed upon maximum possible penalty; his life is spared; but he loses everything else, and is even compelled to turn into a Christian. Shylock would have never forgiven Christians as he is forcibly converted to Christianity, and it is Antonio who demanded this from the judges when he is asked to demand any of his four likings.

ANTONIO Shylock, although I neither lend nor borrow

By taking nor by giving of excess,Yet, to supply the ripe wants of my friend,

I'll break a custom. Is he yet possess'dHow much ye would?

There is absolutely no flaw in the construction of the plot of The Merchant of Venice except that there are a few improbabilities in the play, which unfortunately have been taken by certain critics as flaws but which should not be taken as such because we should remember that the material with which any piece of artistic composition is built is bound to have such improbabilities, because in art there is such scope for imagination and in the

field of imagination there should be certain improbable things without which how can there be any escape from realities of life? It has been pointed out by certain readers that the first improbability in The Merchant of Venice is the terms of the bond. The very condition of the forfeiture of the bond seems absurd, particularly in the eye of modern law. Then, the conditions of winning Portia as laid down in her father’s will seem also equally fanciful and absurd, because no modern guardian would lay down such conditions, or no modern girl would agree to such conditions for the choice of her husband. Then again the very incident that all the ships of Antonio should be lost in the sea at a particular moment, and all should be brought safe to harbor at another moment, is quite improbable. But of, then if we should consider for a moment, that without any of these improbabilities there could be no play, we shall have to accept them as necessary for the plot. If all the ships were not lost at the crucial moment, how could the malice, greed, cruelty of Shylock be brought forward? Without the peculiar terms of the bond how could there be any scope for the display of Portia’s legal talent? And if there were no such an interesting casket story, how could we come across at such funny characters as the Prince of Morocco and the Prince of Arragon?

SHYLOCK There I have another bad match: a bankrupt, a

prodigal, who dare scarce show his head on theRialto; a beggar, that was used to come so smug upon

the mart; let him look to his bond: he was wont tocall me usurer; let him look to his bond: he was

wont to lend money for a Christian courtesy; let himlook to his bond.

According to Aristotle a drama should have a beginning, a middle and an end. In The Merchant of Venice in spite of so many stories, we find distinctly the three stages of the evolution of the plot. The opening scene of the play strikes the key-note of the play and introduces us the chief character and also whatever we should know about him. As the story moves on we find how one main story is connected with another main story- the Bond Story with the Caskets Story. In this play we find at least four stories, namely the Bond Story, the Caskets story, the Lorenzo-Jessica story and the Ring episode all of which are most harmoniously blended together so that they produce some unity of effect upon the audience although in the various acts and scenes the interests are divided or scattered. The Bond story, for example, should independently produces a tragic-effect , but then, it is counter balanced by the Ring episode, and that is why, the effect is a comedy. The Caskets-Story should alone produce a romantic effect, but then, it is neutralized considerably by the Bond Story because of the very life of the hero of the play being at stake in the Trial Scene. The Lorenzo-Jessica story independently should help to intensify the romantic scene of the caskets story, but then on the other hand, it helps to intensify the tragic gloom of the Bond-

story by intensifying the bitterness of Shylock against Antonio. The Ring-episode alone would have made the whole play a farcical comedy or a burlesque but because of the Bond-story it reduces the farcical element and at the same time, adds to comic amend genial atmosphere of the play.

SALARINO Your mind is tossing on the ocean;

There, where your argosies with portly sail,Like signiors and rich burghers on the flood,

Or, as it were, the pageants of the sea,Do overpeer the petty traffickers,

That curtsy to them, do them reverence,As they fly by them with their woven wings.

The manner in which Shylock is treated in the play shows clearly that Shakespeare wanted either to paint the attitude of the Christians towards the Jews-the attitude of hatred and enmity, or to enlist the sympathy of the audience showing how Shylock has been most unfairly and even illegally robbed of his due penalty of the bond as well as of all his property. Not only that; but Shylock has also been literally outraged being forcibly converted into a Christian particularly when we know that Shylock is an orthodox Jew Christianity. Some of the critics have been misled to think that Shakespeare probably wanted to preach toleration to the Jews through the play. But at, they should know that Shakespeare, being a great artist, could not possibly have any didactic or moral motive behind any of his plays. The inference that we can draw from this play is that the play contains much instruction for us; and part of the instruction is that we should be tolerant and liberal in our religious views, and that we must show due respect to all the religious of the world. The Merchant of Venice is therefore certainly a plea for religious toleration. The playwright conveys the message to us that the evil results from religious intolerance and fanaticism.

Shakespeare’s credit particularly with regard to this play lies in the constructions of the plot. In no other play Shakespeare has got so many threads of the plot as he has got here- for stories such as the Bond-Story, the Casket-Story, The Lorenzo-Jessica story, the Ring –Story and even the Launcelot-Gobbo Story, although the last one is not accepted by most critics as any independent story at all. Now, the manner in which Shakespeare interweaves the various stories into one plot is really creditable. While discussing the question of blending the various stories of the play in one of the preceding questions, we have pointed out how through character and incident he weaves all the stories of the main plot and the sub-plot. How cleverly he develops the plot as well as the characters, and what dramatic effect he produces upon the reader and the audience of his masterly art of bleeding the

various strands into one story of love with dark as well as silver patches on it. The whole story of The merchant of Venice is the story of Antonio’s love for Bassanio, of the love of Bassanio and Portia for each other, and of the love of Gratiano and Nerissa for each other. Shakespeare never invented the plots of his plays, he always made original use of the material which he borrowed from various sources to construct those plots. Shakespeare gave evidence of his many –sided genius as much as he did in the portrayal of his characters. The construction of the plot in The Merchant of Venice and the interweaving of the various strands, in it, is simply marvelous. This play does not have a single plot. The plot here as in most of his other plays is multiple and complex. But of, neither here nor anywhere else in his drama s is there any confusion or incoherence about his construction of the plot. In this play we find an exquisite summary in the building up of the plot and more than that, we find a close interweaving of the main plot with the sub-plots. The structure of this play is certainly not loose; and we donor agree that the play is lacking in the unity of structure.

SHYLOCK [Aside] How like a fawning publican he looks!

I hate him for he is a Christian,But more for that in low simplicity

He lends out money gratis and brings downThe rate of usance here with us in Venice.

Bassanio already owes some money to Antonio, and he now tells Antonio that he would not only repay the first loan as well. Antonio authorizes Bassanio to take a loan from some money-lender in Venice on his name. Thus it is Bassanio’s need for money which compels Antonio to seek a loan from someone. Bassanio is the hero of the Caskets Story, while Antonio is the hero of the Bond Story. The financial need of the hero of the caskets story makes it necessary for the hero of the Bond Story to seek a loan.

NERISSA Do you not remember, lady, in your father's time, aVenetian, a scholar and a soldier, that came hither

in company of the Marquis of Montferrat?

The Lorenzo-Jessica under-plot provides one additional motive to Shylock to take his revenge upon the Christian. When Shylock learns that his daughter has run away with a Christian who is a friend of Antonio, and that she has also stolen a lot of his money and jewels, his hostility towards the Christians in general and towards Antonio in particular is deepened. Shylock then becomes even more rigid in demanding his pound of flesh. The Lorenzo-Jessica story is also brought into a close relationship with the caskets story. The

two lovers go to Belmont where they are welcomed by Bassanio and where Portia entrusts them with the charge of her house and her property when she is leaving Belmont for Venice. The romantic love-scene between Lorenzo and Jessica in which they refer to several mythological love-affairs, also takes place at Belmont.

ANTONIOCommend me to your honourable wife:Tell her the process of Antonio's end;

Say how I loved you, speak me fair in death;And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge

Whether Bassanio had not once a love.

Bassanio needs three thousand ducats in order to equip himself for a trip to Belmont. He wants to go Belmont because the beautiful and rich heiress, Portia whom Bassanio wants to acquire as his wife, is living there. Bassanio had, on a previous occasion, met Portia and had felt charmed by her beauty and her grace. Her wealth imparts to her an additional charm in the eyes of Bassanio who is financially hard up. Bassanio, a prodigal young man has been squandering money and now is in a state of financial stringency. Some instinct in him tells him that he would prove successful in winning Portia as his wife and so he contacts his bosom friend Antonio to borrow money from him.

SHYLOCK I had forgot; three months; you told me so.

Well then, your bond; and let me see; but hear you;Methought you said you neither lend nor borrow

Upon advantage.

The central scene Act III, Scene III, adds to the symmetrical design of the play. This scene is situated exactly in the middle of the play, and it is in this scene that the caskets story reaches its climax, that the crisis in Antonio’s life is reported to Bassanio, and that the rings are given by Portia and Nerissa to their respective husbands. In this central scene the runaway lovers Jessica and Lorenzo, meet Portia, the heroine of the play.

JESSICAIn such a night

Did Thisbe fearfully o'ertrip the dewAnd saw the lion's shadow ere himself

And ran dismay'd away.

When a loan is requested by Antonio, he perceives in Antonio’s request a possibility that he might be able to take his revenge upon the Christian who has always hated him fiercely and

has always insulted him. So, after making some fuss about the matter he agrees to lend three thousand ducats to Antonio for a period of three months on the condition that, if Antonio fails to repay the loan within the prescribed period, Shylock would be entitled to cut off a pound of flesh from nearest Antonio’s heart. Antonio agrees to do the same inspite of Bassanio’s objection. So Antonio signs the bond which contains a dangerous clause. It is clear that the Bond Story and the Caskets Story are closely interdependent. If Bassanio had not needed the money to go to Belmont to try to win Portia bas his wife, there would have been no need for Antonio to borrow any money from Shylock and to sign a bond containing dangerous possibilities.

Launcelot Gobbo, first the servant of Shylock, then servant of Bassanio also acts a messenger carrying a love-letter from Jessica to Lorenzo, and he indirectly informs Jessica about the marked procession which the Christians including Lorenzo have arranged. He also appears at Belmont. Thus Launcelot makes a fantastic cross-thread in the embroidery of the plot. Launcelot Gobbo thus plays the role of bringing the various strands in this play close to each other.

PORTIATarry a little; there is something else.

This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood;The words expressly are 'a pound of flesh:'

In The Merchant of Venice we also have a minor sub plot or underplot, namely the story of the rings. It is indeed wonderful that Shakespeare has built up this play in such a way that all the stories in it are made inter-dependent, so that none of them can be detached from the others without some damage being done to the play as a whole. Indeed, the interweaving is so close that the different ingredients of the play seem to have been unified into a single, harmonious, and artistic design. There is nothing at all in the play to confuse us or to baffle us or to complicate the design of the play. The Ring episode cannot be regarded as a story like the Lorenzo-Jessica story or any other story in the play. It is, therefore, called a mere Episode or an incident; but then, it has considerable dramatic importance. Had there been no Ring-episode how Portia and Nerissa could be identified as the lawyer and the clerk in the court afterwards? Then again how could there be any fun after the Trial –scene which is so much overcast with tragic gloom, suspense and anxiety? How again could the humorous character of Portia and Nerissa be brought out? How last of all could the love of Bassanio and Gratiano for their wives be tested? The Ring-episode also helps in connecting the Bond-story with the Casket-story, because Antonio and Gratiano, who properly belong to the Bond-story, could not be so intimately connected with Portia and Nerissa, who are the chief figures in the Caskets-story. Of course, Bassanio is the chief

connecting link between the Bond –story and the Caskets-story, yet the Ring-episode helps in strengthening the connecting link.

BASSANIOAntonio, I am married to a wife

Which is as dear to me as life itself;But life itself, my wife, and all the world,Are not with me esteem'd above thy life:

I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them allHere to this devil, to deliver you.

The episode contributes the greatest fun to the play. The fun which is available from the Launcelot-Gobbo scene is no better than buffoonery and this kind of fun can be enjoyed only by the groundlings or the lowest class of the audience, whereas the fun of the Ring-episode can be enjoyed by the decent section of the audience because it has more of decent humour than of buffoonery or vulgar humour. Like the trick of disguise, the exchange and presentation of rings is an interesting device to delight the audience particularly at the end of the play.

PORTIALet not that doctor e'er come near my house:

Since he hath got the jewel that I loved,And that which you did swear to keep for me,

I will become as liberal as you;

The Merchant of Venice contains one main plot and several minor plots. The Bassanio-Portia story forms the major plot and the Nerissa- Gratiano story and the Jessica-Lorenzo story are the subplots. There are some incidents which are connected with these threads of plots. They are-(i) the selection of the casket which leads to the winning of the lady; (ii) ‘the ring’ incident; (iii) ‘the bond’ incident and (iv) the elopement of Jessica ;(v) the Nerissa-Gratiano marriage.

BASSANIOYes, here I tender it for him in the court;

Yea, twice the sum: if that will not suffice,I will be bound to pay it ten times o'er,

On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart:If this will not suffice, it must appear

That malice bears down truth.

For these plots and for these incidents, Shakespeare is believed to be obliged to the following: Gesta Romanoram, II Pecoroni, The Jew of Malta. Shakespeare was not in the habit of inventing plots of his plays. His magnificent rearranged of, the material which he thought of to reappear more magnanimously through his creations appeared to be entirely new and fresh: he beautified what he extracted and thus, made his own anonymous –dramatic-creation – that, more beautiful than the sources from which he, himself wanted to be concurred. This is true of all the plays, and it is true, thus the creation of The Merchant of Venice. Thus, we note that, Shakespeare was obliged to the following sources for the different parts of the plot of The Merchant of Venice, or some episode connected with it: Firstly, Gesta Romanoram, for – Major plot And the Casket –Incident. Secondly, II Pecoroni, for – the Bond- Story, the Disguise Story of Portia, the Ring- Incident, the Nerissa-Gratiano Marriage. Thirdly, The Jew of Malta, for the Jessica- Lorenzo episode.

There are some provincial words in ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ as pheeze ‘to drive away’. There are rustical rhymes of Touchstone in ‘As You Like It’ and of the Fool in ‘King Lear’. “In later plays we occasionally find dialect words employed for poetic effect like the expression blood bolter’d in ‘Macbeth’ in the sense of ‘with blood in his matted hair’, in which bolter’d looks like a definitely West Midland word.” Besides these there are dialects of Scots, Irish, and Welsh soldiers of the English army in ‘Henry V’. Among the dialect words used by Shakespeare the West Midland word ‘dwindle’ in the phrase ‘dwindle, peak and pine’ is very commonly used both in the literary and spoken languages.

Gesta Romanoram: for the major plot and for the ‘casket’ episode Shakespeare is believed to be obliged to this book. This book is in Latin, but it was translated into English in 1577 and there is no doubt that Shakespeare read the English translation of this Latin book. In this book it is mentioned that a king of Naples was at war with a Roman Emperor. In order to establish friendly relations between them, the king of Naples suggested that his daughter should be married to the son of the Roman Emperor. The suggestion was accepted, but in order to test the sincerity of her faith, she was asked to make a selection of the right casket, from among three caskets of gold, silver and lead. She makes the correct selection and gets the son of the Roman Emperor as her husband. For the major plot and the Casket’ episode, Shakespeare thus seems to have obliged to Gesta Romanoram.

PORTIAThe quality of mercy is not strain'd,

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heavenUpon the place beneath: it is twice blest;

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown;

II Pecoroni: it was a collection of stories in Italian and was written by one Giovanni in 1558. It is believed that Shakespeare has read an English translation of the book; or he might even have read it in Italian. One story in this book bears several points of similarity with some episodes and incidents in The Merchant of Venice. We learn here that a man borrows money from his friend who borrows it from a money-lending Jew on conditions which are similar to those on which Antonio borrows money from the rich money-lending Jew, Shylock. The friend is not able to pay back the loan within the specified time, so the Jew demands the penalty which is one pound of flesh to be cut off from the body of the friend. The friend however, is saved by the lady who goes to the court in the disguise of a lawyer as Portia does in this play. We have the ‘ring’ incident also in the story in much the same way as in The Merchant of Venice; and we have in this story the marriage of a maid of the lady with a companion of the bridegroom who marries the lady. Thus, for the bond-incident, the ring-incident and for the Nerissa-Gratiano marriage, Shakespeare seems to be obliged to II Pecoroni.

GRATIANOO, be thou damn'd, inexecrable dog!

And for thy life let justice be accused.Thou almost makest me waver in my faith

To hold opinion with Pythagoras,That souls of animals infuse themselves

Into the trunks of men:

Shakespeare does not always care for grammatical parallelism. He does not always place the words where they would seem properly to belong. Placing of the negative before the verb, use of double negatives, use of double comparatives or superlatives, omission of the definite article where we customarily put it or use of prepositions quite different from modern times are the boldness of his sentence-structure. It is one of a greatest ease that Shakespeare could use one part of speech as another- a thing which has not been before or since e.g.- noun used as a verb, noun as an adjective, adjective as a verb, adjective as an adverb, preposition as an adjective, pronoun as a noun, adverb as an adjective, or adverb as a noun. Shakespeare uses a few archaic words, but in doing so he makes fun of the archaizing tendency of his time as the word ‘wight’ in ‘Merry Wives of Windsor’. In a number of passages the archaic ‘eyne’ for ‘eyes’ is used for the sake of rhyme or for comic effect- “As an experimenter with the dramatic use of dialect for local colouring Shakespeare was remarkable,; and in so doing he made some permanent contributions to the English language.”

PORTIA If I could bid the fifth welcome with so good a

heart as I can bid the other four farewell, I should

be glad of his approach: if he have the conditionof a saint and the complexion of a devil, I had

rather he should shrive me than wive me. Come,Nerissa. Sirrah, go before.

The Jew of Malta: this was a play written by Marlowe and it was presented in1590. Here we note that the daughter of the Jew falls in love with a Christian young man; and runs away with him. For Jessica-Lorenzo plot Shakespeare seems to be obliged to this play of Marlowe.

Shakespeare uses great number of words which were new in his times. An immense number of words are first recorded in Shakespeare. But of, it does not necessarily mean that he invented them, but it merely means that while they were living colloquially on the lips of the people, he gave literary currency to them and used them in a new sense or formed fresh derivatives and compounds from them and used them for dramatic purposes. In the opinion of Jespersen, these new words bear also the stamp of Shakespeare’s boldness. Among the words first recorded in his plays are the following- astant (as a preposition), assassination; barefaced; call (pay a short visit); courtship; eventful; fretful; fount (spring); atomy; weird; bourne, etc. besides, these new words Shakespeare boldly formed the following verbs from nouns which were in existence before Shakespeare’s time: bound, hand, jade; and then nouns from verbs like control, down, dress, hatch, import, indent.

GRATIANOLet it be so: the first inter'gatory

That my Nerissa shall be sworn on is,Whether till the next night she had rather stay,

Or go to bed now, being two hours to day:But were the day come, I should wish it dark,That I were couching with the doctor's clerk.

Well, while I live I'll fear no other thingSo sore as keeping safe Nerissa's ring.

In the first place Shakespeare’s boldness lies in drawing pictures which tend to partake of magnificent quality and which are not of the obvious kind. The metaphors and similies that he employs at once strike the reader’s imagination as something striking and unconventional. Shakespeare was intensely interested in and observant of everyday concrete things and events, especially in outdoor country life and homely indoor routine, and his senses were abnormally acute and responsive. It is on these concrete things that Shakespeare draws his bold, rich and varied imageries-such boldness being scarecely

found in other poets. There are numerous examples of such bold metaphors which are to be found in his plays.

It is more in the making of new compounds and the new words he formed by adding affixes that Shakespeare can be looked upon properly as an individual contributor to the making of Modern English- a number of new words formed by adding the French original prefix ‘en’ (or ‘em’): enact, enchafed (excited), endeared( increase in vale), engirt, enkindle, enroosted, embattle (draw up in order of battle), etc. again, new compound made with the prefix ‘un’: unavoided (inevitable), unvalued (precious), unless, unbody, unfathered, unfellowed(without an equal), ungot (unborn), unhair, unkiss, unroosted (ousted from one’s place); unexpressive (inexpressible); uncharged, etc. Sometimes even of geniousity new effective poetic compounds often made by joining one adjective with another, like- daring-hardy, happy-valiant, etc.

PORTIANo more, I pray thee: I am half afeard

Thou wilt say anon he is some kin to thee,Thou spend'st such high-day wit in praising him.

Come, come, Nerissa; for I long to seeQuick Cupid's post that comes so mannerly.

One Shakespearean phrase ‘to out-Herod Herod’ has not only become current in its original form but has become the model after which a large number of other expressions have been formed, e.g. ‘to out-Bentley Bentley’, ‘to out-Miton Miton’, ‘to out- Darwin Darwin.’ Shakespeare seems in truth to have had a curious fondness for the invention of compound verbs with ‘out’, expressing the notion of surpassing or exceeding. This kind of expressing in Modern English is due to the direct influence of Shakespeare. It is now more of a literary phrase than when Shakespeare put it in the mouth of the grave-digger in ‘Hamlet’. In Shakespeare’s language the word meant ‘beat with a stick’, but in Modern English, the phrase has come to mean ‘to think hard on a problem’. From a light sense it has come to be used in a serious vein. Inversely, this phrase was used by Shakespeare in a serious vein in ‘A Mid Summer Night’s Dream’ where it carries the sense that the married state is to be preferred to the single. But of, it is now generally used with an ironical or humorous tinge. There was no such ironical sense in Shakespeare. The most startling example is this phrase in a passage in ‘Othello’ where it means ‘experience previously undergone’; for a fairly common sense of ‘conclusion’ was then ‘experiment’ or ‘experience’, which meaning does survive in the Shakespearean phrase ‘to try conclusions’ (Hamlet, III. IV, 195) where the phrase means to ‘make an experiment’. But at, in Modern English the phrase is commonly misapplied, and means ‘an inevitable result’, ‘something about which doubt is impossible’. As employed by Hamlet (I. V. 15) the phrase refers, to the Danish custom of very heavy drinking upon which he comments that the custom would ‘more honourably be

broken than observed’. It means that ‘it would be more honourable for it to be neglected instead of observed’. The sense implied is that ‘the custom should be more broken than observed’. But of, the phrase is now commonly misapplied. When we say now that ‘the rule is more honored in the breach than the observance’, it means that ‘the rule is more broke than observed’. The sense implied that ‘the rule should be more observed than broken’.

JESSICAPast all expressing. It is very meet

The Lord Bassanio live an upright life;For, having such a blessing in his lady,

He finds the joys of heaven here on earth;

The Trial Scene, by universal consent, is one of the greatest pieces of a dramatic art in all literature. Here everything centres on the struggles between Shylock and Portia: the obstinate vindictiveness of the Jew matched against the eloquence and knowledge of the supposed lawyer. The dramatic interest rises as Portia enters and appears to give way before Shylock’s determined stand upon strictly legality, until victory and vengeance upon his enemy are in the very grasp of the Jew. Then by a stroke of high dramatic genius, the tables are suddenly turned and the Jew begins to discover himself, entrapped within the meshes of the very laws he had invoked and to find himself loaded with penalties. It is the triumph of the lofty mind working for the higher justice over the keen but narrower intellect seeking wrong under the cover of legal right. In the trial scene it is a duel to the very death between Shylock’s devilish cunning and lust for revenge and Portia’s splendid intellect and capacity. In this scene, Shakespeare uses many legal terms and employs them with grant precision and correctness. This legal knowledge Shakespeare has displayed through Portia. Her conduct of the case in the court of the Duke of Venice is a masterpiece in the art of drawing from mouth of a person his own condemnation. Her eloquent appeal to Shylock to the merciful is designed to bring out the fact that in his mad passion of revenge. Shylock has shut out from his heart every tender human consideration. Her appeal to his cupidity by offering him three times the value of his bond is designed to show that it is the life of Antonio and not the money which Shylock is bent on getting. Her first decree that the bond is valid and her apparent pronouncement of judgement in favour of the Jew elicit the fact that it was with an almost diabolical zest that Shylock proceeded to the business of preparing to cut off the pound of flesh. It shows first, that in no circumstances will he have anything but the trip letter of the law and secondly, that it was his definite intention and purpose that Antonio should die as a result of the operation which would remove a pound of his flesh. In other words, it is established beyond doubt that Shylock was planning to commit a deliberate premeditated murder. In turning the tables on Shylock, Portia is careful to give him exactly the justice he craved for. He is not denied his pound of flesh but he can take nothing more than this. If he sheds a drop of

blood he will violate the letter of the law and he cannot afterwards complain of the penalty that he will have to pay for this, for he will have been judged by the criterion which he himself has so stubbornly stood by.

SALANIOI would she were as lying a gossip in that as ever

knapped ginger or made her neighbours believe shewept for the death of a third husband. But it is

true, without any slips of prolixity or crossing theplain highway of talk, that the good Antonio, thehonest Antonio,--O that I had a title good enough

to keep his name company!—

Out of hatred Shylock had tried to lay a trap for Antonio; and when was asked, Shylock replied that he would use the flesh of Antonio as bait to catch fish. It is clear that his demand of flesh was nothing but to take a revenge on Antonio and, thus to put an end to his life. His hatred towards Antonio was too fierce to give any importance to Portia’s appeal to be “merciful” and “to take thrice” his money. He still insists on a pound of flesh; has even arranged for the scales to weight the flesh. When Shylock was requested by the judge to arrange for a surgeon to stop Antonio’s wounds, Shylock refuses to do so on the ground that the bond does not provide for a surgeon. Some scholars opine that Portia’s interpretation of the bond is a mere quibbling on words. According to them the cutting of the flesh from a man’s body necessarily involves the shedding of blood. She makes in this way impossible for Shylock to cut off any flesh from Antonio’s body. She also says that he must cut off an exact pound of flesh neither a jot more, nor a jot less. This too is something impossible. These scholars also think that Portia has gone out of her way to save Antonio’s life; and that she had made a mockery of justice. She has certainly saved Antonio’s life but she has done so by twisting and distorting the law and by doing an injustice to Shylock. The Jew would like to give up all his claims and go home; but Portia tells him that the law has yet another hold upon him and then the Christian play havoc with Shylock, especially when force him to become a Christian. Shylock has to pay to the court of law the penalties and he is paying them all under orders to the court of law; and as such, with all his sufferings he cannot be regarded as a martyr to the Jewish race. But at, when we consider that all these penalties have been awarded to Shylock by the court which consists of all Christians including that all these punishments Shylock has to bear simply because he has demanded the forfeiture of the bond against a Christian, then surely Shylock suffers all these penalties as a Jew and in the hands of the Christians and for the sake of a Christian.

SALARINOWhy, yet it lives there uncheck'd that Antonio hatha ship of rich lading wrecked on the narrow seas;the Goodwins, I think they call the place; a very

dangerous flat and fatal, where the carcasses of manya tall ship lie buried, as they say, if my gossip

Report be an honest woman of her word.

According to the terms of the Bond, Shylock would be entitled to cut off a pound of flesh from any part of Antonio’s body he might like in case Antonio failed to repay the loan of three thousand ducats within a period of three months. Nobody had ever before heard of such a bond. The bond obviously spelt much danger to Antonio’s life though it did not, at the time, seem likely that Antonio would suffer such heavy losses on the seas as to be rendered bankrupt and incapable of repaying the loan. Bassanio had objected Antonio’s to sign the bond, but Antonio had silenced Bassanio by saying that, much before the expiry of the period of three months, he should be receiving the several times the amount of the loan and would, therefore be able to repay it in time. Shylock himself had said that it was a merry bond and that he would gain nothing by getting a pound of Antonio’s flesh if Antonio failed to repay the loan. Shylock had even said that a pound of human flesh was not as estimable or profitable as a pound of mutton or beef. Thus had tried to assure Antonio and Bassanio that he was not really serious about the condition laid down in the bond. Without ant intension to hurt the feelings of the advisers and devotees of Shakespeare, it may be said that Portia’s administration of justice in the Trial Scene is as absurd as the bond which Shylock prevailed upon Antonio to sign.

ANTONIOI pray you, think you question with the Jew:

You may as well go stand upon the beachAnd bid the main flood bate his usual height;You may as well use question with the wolf

Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb;

When we go to judge the legal position of Portia in the law court of Venice in the present play, we should remember the context of the Roman law and also the standard of jurisprudence of the middle ages to which the theme of the play belongs. If we go to judge the arguments of Portia or even the terms of the bond between Antonio and Shylock by any standard of modern law or of modern civilization, we shall be doing a great injustice to the decrees passed by the Duke or by Portia in the Court of Venice in connection with the case of Antonio and Shylock.

ANTONIOSweet lady, you have given me life and living;

For here I read for certain that my shipsAre safely come to road.

Portia quotes the law of Venice in the open court if any foreigner is found out to conspire against the life of any Venetian, his life would be at the mercy of the Duke of Venice, and that the half the property of the conspiration would go to the government, while the other half would go to the person against whose life the conspiracy is made. So far it is perfectly right. But of, when on Antonio’s suggestion the court orders for the execution of a will of the entire property of Shylock at the time of his death in favour of Jessica and Lorenzo who have also robbed him of all his precious jewels, and also to order for the conversion of Shylock to Christianity, was it according to any law of Venice or according to any sense of justice?

BASSANIO Thou speak'st it well. Go, father, with thy son.

Take leave of thy old master and inquireMy lodging out. Give him a livery

More guarded than his fellows': see it done.

The peculiar terms of the bond may strike as illegal in the eyes of modern jurisprudence; but then we should know that Roman law of the Middle Ages used to lay stress upon the letter of the law and not so much upon the interpretation or justice of law. Naturally, the pound of human flesh as the forfeiture of the bond is not a very unusual condition of the bond. If we regard the terms of the bond as valued, we should regard also the interpretations and arguments of Portia as equally valid. Now because Shylock, has been insisting on the fulfillment of the letter of the law while demanding rightfully a pound of flesh from Antonio’s bosom, so Portia also is equally justified in warning Shylock that he has no right either to shed a single drop of blood while cutting the flesh or to cut the flesh either more or less even by a grain. Portia must be unquestionably right when she quotes from Venetian laws the punishments and the fines for conspiring against the life of a person. There is another weak point in the position of Shylock, namely that Shylock while executing the bond with Antonio assured him that the forfeiture of the bond was mentioned only as a merry sport, but while demanding the forfeiture in the court he does not confess it. Therefore, Shylock’s position is false, while Portia’s position is perfectly right. The only false position of the court of the Duke of Venice is the decree on the suggestion of Antonio that Shylock should be converted to a Christian or that half of his property instead of going to Antonio, according to law, should go to Lorenzo and Jessica who have robbed him of his gold and jewel.

SHYLOCKYes, to smell pork; to eat of the habitation which

your prophet the Nazarite conjured the devil into. Iwill 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. Whatnews on the Rialto?

Anyway, Portia’s judgement is acceptable to us because through her judgement she thwarts Shylock’s evil design; though we do not fully approve of the severe punishment which is inflicted upon Shylock after he has been convicted of having tried to take the life of a Venetian citizen.

SHYLOCKI understand moreover, upon the Rialto, he

hath a third at Mexico, a fourth for England, andother ventures he hath, squandered abroad.

Portia in the Trial Scene, gives Shylock every chance to escape from the punishment to which he would become liable if she feels compelled to pronounce the judgement which she has already decided upon and planned for the rescue of Antonio from his clutches. She tempts Shylock with offer of money, but fails in her effort. She appeals to him to show mercy to Antonio; but here too she fails. Indeed her “Quality of Mercy” speech would have moved the stoniest of hearts that she gives a strictly literal interpretation of the bond in order to save an innocent man. It is her ingenuity that saves Antonio’s life, we cannot help feeling that she allows the Christians to impose upon Shylock the maximum punishment which is permissible under the law though they certainly spare his life. We would have admired her even more if she had allowed Shylock to withdraw from the court when he says that he is willing to wash his hands of the whole affair, and would no longer stay to discuss the matter. But of, she stops him, saying that the law has yet another hold upon him, and it is at this point that Christians treat the Jew with nearly the same cruelty with which he had wanted to treat Antonio.

NERISSAAy, and I'll give them him without a fee.

There do I give to you and Jessica,From the rich Jew, a special deed of gift,

After his death, of all he dies possess'd of.

The play The Merchant of Venice consists of the Bond story and the caskets story. Each of this stories has its own interest, appeal and dramatic value, in the design of the play as a whole. Both these two stories are separate but they have been closely interwoven and constitutes an integral part to the total design of the play. So the Bond Story and Casket Story are inseparable and the play will become defective if either of them is removed.

PORTIA

God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man.In truth, I know it is a sin to be a mocker:

The three main characters Antonio, Bassanio and Shylock are present in the Bond Story. Portia’s importance cannot be overlooked or ignored because she is the judge who conducts the trial of Antonio on the basis of Shylock’s suit against him the main characters in the caskets story are Bassanio and Portia. Without either of them, the caskets story cannot exist because without the successful suitor, the issue of Portia’s marriage would remain inconclusive. If Portia had not get married to Bassanio, she would not have gone to Venice to act as the judge in Shylock’s case against Antonio.

PORTIAI pray thee, over-name them; and as thou namestthem, I will describe them; and, according to my

description, level at my affection.

At the court of the Venetian Duke, where the disguised Portia manages the case so skillfully, the tables are turned on Shylock worth a vengeance, there is a final and complete linking up of the two stories of which the plot is composed. It is because he has signed the bond to Shylock that Antonio’s life is in danger at the hands of the Jew. It was because of Bassanio , needed the money to equip himself for his love mission to Belmont that Antonio had signed the bond. The Choice of the right casket gave Bassanio the fruition of his love with Portia but it was the falling due of the bond and Shylock’s demand for the pound of flesh that threatened to turn this fruit to ashes. It was because his daughter had eloped with a Christian friend of Antonio’s that Shylock was relentless in his demand for the pound of flesh. It was because of Gratiano’s close connection with Bassanio and Nerissa’s close connection with Portia that the fortunes of this pair of lovers depended entirely on what befall their principles. Finally, it was her lover for Bassanio and her extremist means in her endeavour to secure the release of Antonio from the danger into which he had gone to promote the cause of the love of Bassanio, who alone benefits by Antonio’s release.

SALARINOWhy, yet it lives there uncheck'd that Antonio hatha ship of rich lading wrecked on the narrow seas;the Goodwins, I think they call the place; a very

dangerous flat and fatal, where the carcasses of manya tall ship lie buried, as they say, if my gossip

Report be an honest woman of her word.

Bassanio is in love with the fair heiress of Belmont, and there is no questions of Portia’s being equally in love with him from the time she first set eyes on him. But at, there are two major difficulties to be overcome. The first of these in that the high born and culturally

refined, but none the less extravagant Bassanio should find the wherewithal to equip himself suitably for his love mission to Belmont. The second difficulty is that Portia is hedged in by the terms of her father’s will: she may not reject any suitor who does not please her, nor may she exercise her own unfettered choice in respect of that suitor who pleases her. She may marry only the man who chooses the one of the three caskets which contains her portrait locked within it.

BASSANIO

O my Antonio, had I but the meansTo hold a rival place with one of them,I have a mind presages me such thrift,

That I should questionless be fortunate!

One of the futilities of Shakespearean criticism is the discussion of the question as to whether the bond story or the casket story is the main story of The Merchant of Venice. This play is constructed on principles similar to those which Shakespeare employs in the construction of his other comedies. Through the exercise of the brilliant qualities of mind and of heart of the heroine these difficulties are overcome and happy result ensues. But at, in the course of the development of the story, other issues arise, and these are also brought to a happy consummation because of the fact that the heroine’s exerting on her own behalf and on behalf of her lover are far from selfish as they spread over the wide circle in which she can bring all her active lovable characteristic into play. The two main stories- the bond story and the caskets story so artistically worked together that they resolve themselves into one story.

“Shakespeare does not enforce a moral in this play-his judgement is implicit only- but as the action ends in laughter and affection at Belmont we know that each couple in their own way, have found love’s wealth. We know too that their happiness is not all that we would wish; as they make free with Shylock’s commercial wealth, we remember that they lacked the full measure of charity towards one who, through his hatred and possessiveness, had got his choice of that which he deserved.” John Russel Brown: Shakespeare’s Ideal of Love’s Wealth.

PORTIAIf to do were as easy as to know what were good to

do, chapels had been churches and poor men'scottages princes' palaces.

Music, says Lorenzo, has an irresistible appeal even for beasts. That is why, according to a Greek myth, Orpheus is said to have drawn trees, stones and rivers towards himself by the bewitching music of his flute. Music has the power to soften even hard, cruel and fiery

natures, at least for the time being. The man who can neither produce music himself nor is charmed by music has much evil in him and is capable of treachery, deception and other crimes. Such a man is dull as dark as hell (Erebus) and he is untrustworthy.

Bassanio’s monetary difficulties are met by the handsome way in which his friend Antonio places his credit at Bassanio’s disposal. The ready money is found the shape of a loan from the Jew, Shylock but in granting this loan he causes a clause to be inserted in the bond which he takes from Antonio, to the effect that if loan is not discharged within the stipulated period of three months, Antonio will pay a forfeit of a pound of his flesh to the Jew. It is thus that the bond story is set in motion. It arises immediately and directly out of the love story, and as we shall see later, while it promotes the auspicious development of the love story at this stage, its subsequent development creates a new complication which is resolved by the bringing into action of all the high spiritedness and intellectual resourcefulness of the heroine.

DUKEI am sorry for thee: thou art come to answer

A stony adversary, an inhuman wretchuncapable of pity, void and empty

From any dram of mercy.

But of, before Portia and Bassanio can lay claims to one another, the problem of the choice of the caskets has to be solved. Bassanio is not the only suitor in the field. At least two others of the many suitors of the Portia venture on the choice. Both fail because they do not “rightly” love, and it is precisely because Bassanio has a true concept of love that he succeeds when he exercises his right of choice.

ANTONIOYou know me well, and herein spend but time

To wind about my love with circumstance;And out of doubt you do me now more wrong

In making question of my uttermostThan if you had made waste of all I have:

Antonio can be saved only through an ingenious interpretation of the bond and that is done by a woman of great intellect who is no other than Portia. The manner, in which Shakespeare has interwoven the various stories into one plot is really creditable. While discussing the question of blending the various stories of the play is one of the preceding questions, we have pointed out how through character and incident he weaves all the stories of the main plot and the subplot, how cleverly he develops the plot as well as the characters, and what dramatic effect he produces upon the reader and audience by his

masterly art of blending the various strands into one story of love with dark as well as silver patches on it. The whole story of The Merchant of Venice, is the story of Antonio’s love for Bassanio, of the love of Bassanio and Portia for each other.

PORTIAThat he hath a neighbourly charity in him, for heborrowed a box of the ear of the Englishman and

swore he would pay him again when he was able: Ithink the Frenchman became his surety and sealed

under for another.

The story works out quite naturally and is made an almost integral part of the love story and its two main constituent p[arts- the bond story and the casket story. It is when, Bassanio chooses the right casket and thus establishes his claim to Portia’s hand that she gives because the disguised Portia has secured Antonio’s release from the danger into which he had fallen by signing the bond that she asks Bassanio for the ring as a keepsake. It is because Antonio feels that he owes an endless debt of gratitude to the lawyer that he urges Bassanio to send the ring after him. Finally, it is through Portia’s and Nerissa’s producing the rings at Belmont that it becomes known that they were the lawyer and his clerk respectively. Thus, the two stories are not only mutually inter-dependant but inseparable. The whole story will be collapsed if one is removed.

BASSANIOTo you, Antonio,

I owe the most, in money and in love,And from your love I have a warranty

To unburden all my plots and purposesHow to get clear of all the debts I owe.

But at, the transport of joy of the newly betrothed couples are at their height when Salarino, accompanied by Lorenzo and Jessica, arrives from Venice with the heart-rending tidings that all Antonio’s ships have been lost at sea, that the bond to the Jew has become forfeit, and that Shylock, is relentless in his demand for the pound of Antonio’s flesh. It is thus at the very moment when every obstacle in the path of the lovers appears to have been swept away that a circumstance which is not new but which had been inherent in the action almost from the outset, arises to threaten the complete wrecking of the joy which the lovers had promised themselves would last for ever.

PORTIAO me, the word 'choose!' I may

neither choose whom I would nor refuse whom Idislike; so is the will of a living daughter curbed

by the will of a dead father. Is it not hard,Nerissa, that I cannot choose one nor refuse none?

Bassanio must go to Belmont to complete the casket story and Antonio has to sign the bond if money to finance Bassanio’s visit to Belmont is to be obtained. The money is obtained from the Jewish money lender who has always hated Antonio and who secretly seeks revenge and therefore suggests the clause about the pound of flesh.

A comedy is generally defined as play where the characters and their follies and discomfitures entertain us, where no great disaster happens to any of the characters and the play ends in a happy note as the main characters achieve what they aspire for. The play ends in a happy note as the main characters achieve what they aspire for. The play is written and performed in such a way that the audience or readers pleasurably engage themselves while watching or reading the play. Though comedy’s chief aim is to amuse the readers, but there is another function that is usually associated with comedy- to correct the vices of people. Comedy is supposed to work as a medicine on the audience as they get to know their follies and vices and can correct themselves before any disaster mars their life.

LORENZOMy Lord Bassanio, since you have found Antonio,

We two will leave you: but at dinner-time,I pray you, have in mind where we must meet.

Inspired also from Prem Joshua’s Flute played at Tuscany, Italy, and “Mevlana”, Amsterdam, Holland & India, Except complete-setting, complete-analytics, setting of speakers’ quotes and a minor change from original references, followed the words and sentences from the reference of original text Dr. S.Sen, Book on Philology, Oxford Edition of the drama, and the Workbooks including, on History of English Literature, along with Original book on Bengali poems of MICHAEL MADHUSUDAN DUTT, and the work of original text of the play from Web, with other necessary information about the Bengali-poet.

- Rituparna Ray Chaudhuri.

That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves or none or few do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruined choirs where late sweet birds sang………. (!) [Melancholy, 73]

Any great writer or dramatist’s greatness to some extent lays in the way the common themes in an uncommon way or different language is presented through. William Shakespeare is no different. He took up themes and situations in his plays which are very popular at his times and treated them in such a manner and presented them in such rhetorical language, I admit, that the common became special and sublime-It is not that Shakespeare had fit patterns of using language in his plays. He experimented with it and whatever he found suitable for the characters, for the occasion, for the actors, for the audience, he used the language accordingly. Whereas majority of his plays are written in blank verse, but in many plays we see a considerable use of prose. Shakespeare strikes here too a balance between prose and verse which was needed for the dramatic purpose. : Follow up with a personal view from a Reference- Workbook.

(Rituparna Ray Chaudhuri).

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shakespeare's the merchant of venice - the way i have allowed myself to think the title of the...

Education

poetical words

rescue of antonio

antonio rejects

shakespeares language

right man

poetical diction

household words

portias words