Plot Overview


The Bond Plot (Related to the Theme of Conflict and Theme of Money) In this play, a Christian merchant, Antonio, acquires a loan from a Jew, Shylock. There is a lot of tension and animosity (hatred) between the two. Instead of charging interest on the loan as would normally be the case, Shylock demands a pound of Antonio’s flesh if he fails to repay the loan on time.


Shylock is an outsider in Venice. He appears to be preoccupied with money and, instead of spending or enjoying his wealth, he hoards it. In a sense, his daughter, Jessica, is also treated like one of his possessions – a treasure to be locked up and guarded closely.


The Casket Plot (Related to the Theme of Love and Marriage)


The secondary (minor) plot concerns a girl from Belmont, Portia, whose father has died. In his will, he has left her instructions about how to find a suitable husband. He has devised a game or lottery in which potential suitors must choose one of three caskets: gold, silver or lead. Whoever chooses the correct casket (the one which contains Portia’s portrait) will then win Portia’s hand in marriage. Portia is bound (limited/confined) by her dead father’s wishes and so must follow through with the casket lottery. She has no control over who her future husband will be. The person who will win Portia’s hand in marriage will be aware that appearances can be deceiving.


The elopement of Jessica and Lorenzo and the rings test are also related to the theme of love and marriage.


Is The Merchant of Venice an Anti-Jewish Play?


These days The Merchant of Venice is a controversial play. Many people accuse Shakespeare of stereotyping Jewish people in the play through the character of Shylock. In 1594, a Jewish doctor named Roderigo Lopez was accused of trying to poison Queen Elizabeth I. He was tried and executed for this. A playwright called Christopher Marlowe had already written a play called The Jew of Malta, so Shakespeare wrote the The Merchant of Venice at a time when there was demand for plays featuring Jewish people.


Jewish people have experienced a long history of discrimination and persecution in Europe. In England during the Elizabethan period, Jewish people were still demonised and stereotyped because of their religious beliefs.


In The Merchant of Venice, while the character of Shylock is stereotyped and humiliated, Shakespeare also lends Shylock a certain humanity and shows us the extent of Shylock’s suffering at the hands of Christians.


Junior Cycle English vii

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