Presentation made by students from 3C - Liceo Augusto, Rome

1. The Merchant
of Venice

2. Introduction:
The ''Merchant of Venice'' is a
Shakespearian comedy written
between the 1596-1598. It is
based on an italian novel by Ser
Giovanni Fiorentino called ''Il
Giannetto''. From this novel
Shakespeare takes the main
charachters and the plot.

3. Plot
The play starts with Antonio,a Venetian merchant,who agrees
to give his best friend Bassanio the money he needs to travel to
Belmont,where Bassanio hopes to meet and marry the beautiful
Portia. Antonio has no cash,so he goes to Shylock,a Jewish
moneylander. Antonio gets the money but accepts a terrible
forfeit: a pound of his flesh. In Belmont, Portia meets a series of
suitors. Her father’s will stipulates that she must marry the man
who chooses correctly from among three caskets finding the one
containing her portrait. The Prince of Morocco and the Prince
of Aragon both fail; Bassanio wisely chooses the lead casket.

4. But just as the couple are united,news arrives that
Antonio’s ships have been lost at sea: he will not able
to repay Shylock on time. Shylock pretends Antonio’s
flesh,his case against Antonio is brought to
trial,presided over by the Doge. Meanwhile Jessica,
Shylock’s daughter, flees with Lorenzo. Only with the
intervention of Portia and her maid Nerissa dressed up
like men,Antonio is saved and Shylock loses all his
properties. Back in Belmont,Portia and Nerissa finally
reveal the truth to their husbands. Portia and Bassanio
are reunited just as news arrives that Antonio’s ships
have been saved.

5. Law and equity
‘’I have possessed your grace of what I purpose,and by
our holy Sabbath have I sworn to have the due and forfeit
of my bond. If you deny it, let the danger light upon your
charter and your city’s freedom!’’
Shylock

6. Antonio
Antonio is the title character in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. He is a
middle-aged bachelor and merchant by trade who has his financial interests tied
up in overseas shipments when the play begins. He is kind, generous, honest and
confident, and is loved and revered by all the Christians who know him. His
willingness to die for Bassanio is a manifestation of his character. Antonio
manifests his piety by cursing and spitting at Shylock,anti-semitism was common
in Europe in Shakespeare's day.

7. Shylock
A Venetian Jewish moneylender who lends money to his Christian rival, Antonio, setting the security at a pound of Antonio's flesh
from next to his heart. When a bankrupt Antonio defaults on the loan, Shylock demands the pound of flesh. This decision is
fuelled by his sense of revenge, for Antonio had previously insulted, physically assaulted and spat on him in the Rialto ,the stock
exchange of Venice,dozens of times, defiled the "sacred" Jewish religion and had also inflicted massive financial losses on him.
Meanwhile, Shylock's daughter, Jessica, falls in love with Antonio's friend Lorenzo and converts to Christianity, which adds to
Shylock's rage and hardens his resolve for revenge. In the end Shylock is charged with attempted murder of a Christian, carrying a
possible death penalty, and Antonio is freed without punishment. Shylock is then ordered to surrender half of his wealth and
property to the state and the other half to Antonio. However, as an act of "mercy", Antonio modifies the verdict, asking Shylock to
sign an agreement bequeathing all his remaining property to Lorenzo and Jessica, which is to become effective after his demise, and
second, he is to immediately convert to Christianity. Shylock is forced to agree to these terms, and he exits citing illness. Shylock is
the play's principal antagonist. His defeat and conversion to Christianity forms the climax of the story.

8. ''What judgement shall I dread,doing no wrong? You have among may many a purchased
slave,which like your asses and your dogs and mules you use in abject and in slavish
parts,because you bought them. Shall I say to you,let them be free! Marry them to your heirs!
Why sweat they under burdens? Let their beds be made as soft as yours,and let their palates
be seasoned with such viands? You will answer,the slaves are ours. So do I answer you. The
pound of flesh which I demand of him is dearly bought,'tis mine,and I will have it. If you
deny me,fie upon your law! There is no force in the decrees of Venice. I stand for judgement.
Answer; shall I have it?'‘
Shylock
The right to property vs the right to life

9. RrRacism
I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath non a Jew hands,
organs,dimensions,senses,affections,passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with
the same weapons,subject to the same diseases ,healed by the same means,
warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you
prick as, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laught? If ypu poison us,
do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in
the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his
humilty? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what shoul his ferance be by
Christian example? Why, revenge! The villainy you teach me i will execute, and
it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.
Shylock

10. If he have the condition of a saint and the complexion of a
devil, I had rather he should shrive me than wive me
…
A gentle riddance. Draw the curtain, go. Let all of his
complexion choose me so.
Portia

11. WOMEN'S CONDITION
The three female charachters are
Portia,Nerissa and Jessica.

12. Portia is the Lady of Belmont, she's a well-off woman, educated , clever , kind and handsome. Like all the women of the
work and of that male predominantly society, she's submissed to a man. Portia's father after his death established that
Portia's marriage would be decided by the fate, by the right choise of the lead casket.
''But the reasoning is not in the fashion to choose me a husband. O me, the word 'choose'! I may neither choose who I
would nor refuse who I dislike , so is the will of a living daughter curbed by the will of a dead father Is it not hard ,
Nerissa , that I cannot choose one , nor refuse none?''

13. Nerissa is the Portia's waitress. She's a simple woman but very witty and with a great sense of
humor , she's loyal to Portia and to Gratiano , her husband.
N: ''Why,shall we turn to men?''
P:"Fie,what a question's that,if thou wert near a
lewd interpreter!''

14. Jessica is the Shylock's daughter but unlike her father she's not cruel and greedy.
She's in love with Lorenzo, a Christian guy , and she escape with him crossdressed as
a page.
''Here, catch this casket; it is worth the pains. I am glad 'tis night, you do
not look on me, for I am much ashamed of my exchanged. But love is
blind, and lovers cannot see the pretty follies that themselves commit ;
for if they could, Cupid himself would blush to see me thus transformed
to a boy.''

15. The crossedressing is a tipycal expedient in Shakespeare's works. In this one all the
three women use this subterfuge to assume the power and the position denied to a
woman but allowed to men.
''They shall,Nerissa,but in such a habit that they shall think we are accomplished with that welack. I'll hold
thee any wager,when we are both accoutered like young men,I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two, and
wear my dagger with the braver grace,and speak between the change of man and boy with a reed voice, and
turn two mincing steps into a manly stride, and speak of frays like a fine bragging youth,and tell quaint
lies,which i denying,they fell sick and died- and wish,for all that,that I had not killed them. As a twenty of
these puny lies I'll tell,that men shall swear I have discontinued school above a twelve month. I have within
my mind a thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks,wich I will practise.''

16. Three caskets
The three caskets (gold, silver, and lead) are major symbols in the play. Each of them is inscribed with a message on the outside and also
contains a note on the inside.
The outside of the blinged-out gold chest promises, "Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire." It may sounds nice, but it's a trick,
because the inside contains a skull with a message: "All that glisters is not gold "). In other words, appearances are often deceiving. The
inscription on the outside of the silver chest reads, "Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves." The inside contains a picture of an
"idiot," with a nasty little note: "So be gone: you are sped. Still more fool I shall appear by the time I linger here with one fool's head I came
to woo,but I go away with two" . In other words, whoever chooses the silver casket is a fool who'll get what he deserves,a picture of another
fool.
The lead chest, which is made of a very humble metal, seems to symbolize inner beauty and modesty and contains a picture of Portia. The
inscription is also significant: "Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath" .
this sounds like a description of marriage: a big risk that requires a lot of sacrifice. The inscription also reminds us of the fact that Bassanio's
courtship of Portia literally involves a man who must "hazard all he hath."That would be Antonio, who risks his life to loan his best friend
the money to woo the rich heiress.

17. Love
In this play there are different types of love: there's love between
family members, between friends, and, of course, between lovers. But
love is more notable for its absence than its presence in the play.
Bassanio says he loves Portia but he courts her for her money. At
times, the same seems true of Lorenzo's interest in Jessica. Women
seem happy to give love, but they do so with a bit of cynicism.
Antonio clearly loves Bassanio,whether romantically or not, but he
ultimately must subordinate this love to Portia's more formal
marriage with him. Portia does not love Bassanio. We know, based
on her of citing the Hercules myth, that Portia knows he is using her
to get to her money.

18. Because she's a practical woman, she's convinced herself to care for him
anyway. She's making the best of a bad situation, which is why she's willing
and interested in asserting her power over him at the end of the play.
Even though he is too gruff to express it, Shylock truly loves his daughter
Jessica. When she deserts him, leaving him entirely alone in the world, he is
transformed from a mildly grumpy man into an actively malicious one.

19. Friendship
In the Merchant of Venice there are two friendships that play important roles in the drama:
Antonio and Bassanio
This friendship seems rather one-sided as Antonio makes far more sacrifices and gestures of friendship than Bassanio. In Act
I, Bassanio admits,
To 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 purposes
How to get clear of all the debts I owe.
Antonio’s overture to donate a pound of his own flesh seems especially significant of itself as its altruism is superlative, but it
is considered by some critics rather grotesque as it suggests the rites of marriage, in which "two become one flesh.”

20. Nerissa and Portia
Nerissa is devoted to Portia;sympathetic to Portia's frustration over the terms of her father's will, Nerissa
advises Portia to accept the conditions and respect her father,
Your father was ever virtuous; and holy men at their ...therefore, the lottery that
he hath devised in these three chests, of gold, silver, and
lead, (whereof who chooses his meaning chooses you,)
will, no doubt, never be chosen by any rightly, but one
who you shall rightly love. But what warmth is there in
your affection towards any of these princely suitors that
are already come?
She also disguises herself as a man who is a law clerk that accompanies the "doctor" who is really Portia. In
her life, Nerissa mirrors the actions of Portia, a behavior of servants thought to be commendable by
Elizabethans. Most salient is the wedding of Nerissa and Gratiano that imitates the wedding of Portia and
Bassanio.

21. Bassanio
Bassanio is Antonio's best pal and the lucky guy who lands Portia. The thing to know about Bassanio is that he loves his lavish
lifestyle, but he's really bad with money, which is why he ends up borrowing from Shylock. When we meet Bassanio, one of the first
things out of his mouth is:
''Tis not unknown to you, Antonio,
How much I have disabled mine estate
By something showing a more swelling port
Than my faint means would grant continuance''
Bassanio says he loves Antonio but Bassanio looks like a big user, the kind of guy willing to take as much as his generous friend has
to offer. Bassanio plan to get out of debt by borrowing even more money so he can hook up with a rich heiress, Portia, who will pay
off all his loans and continue to float his expensive lifestyle. He's even willing to let his best friend risk his life by putting up a "pound
of flesh" as collateral so he can take out a personal loan from Shylock. If you thought Bassanio was bad for using Antonio, check out
how he talks about Portia: "In Belmont is a lady richly left, / And she is fair [...] Her name is Portia, nothing undervalued [...] Nor is
the wide world ignorant of her worth" Bassanio uses words like "value" and "worth" to describe his future wife. It's clear that Bassanio
only sees Portia as a way to sustain his lifestyle.

22. Family relationship
Shylock and Jessica: an atypical relationship between father and daughter (and money)
• Shylock's disregard for his daughter
"A diamond gone cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfurt! [...] Two thousand ducats in that,and other
precious,precious jewels. I would my daughter were dead at my foot,and the jewels in her ear! Would she were
hearsed at my foot,and the ducats at her coffin! [...] The thief gone with so much,and so much to find the
thief!-And no satisfaction, no revenge! Nor no ill stirring but what lights o'my shoulders, no sighs but o'my
breathing, no tears but o'my shedding."
• Jessica's betrayal
"Farewell; and if my fortune be not crost, I have a father, you a daughter, lost."
• Religious conflict
"I shall be saved by my husband. He hath made me a Christian!"

23. Belmont VS Venice
The physical action of The Merchant of Venice is divided between two settings: Venice and Belmont. The first of these
locales is real, the second imaginary – a split that emphasizes the tension in the play between real-life problems and fairy-
tale solutions.
The Italian city-state of Venice exercised a powerful hold on the imaginations of Englishmen in Shakespeare’s time. Venice
was what England aspired to become. It was a major commercial hub and a centre of international trade. The city-state also
had a tradition of independence and orderly government the English admired. The cosmopolitan character of were witty and
sophisticated. On the negative side, there was a feeling that Venice’s internationalism, and its devotion to making money
through trade, represented trends threatening the traditional character of English society. For example, Venice – unlike
England – had a substantial population of Jews and other alien elements. It is noteworthy that in The Merchant of Venice
Shakespeare makes use of the traditional image of the Jew as an alien, plotting against the welfare of citizens.

24. Belmont, the second locale of the play, is an imaginary world of music, laughter, and domestic bliss. The scenes of the play
set in Venice take place in public spaces, in the streets, and in the courtroom. The action in Belmont is relegated to Portia’s
house and garden. Venice is governed by a set of laws that bind even the Duke; Belmont is ruled by the fairy-tale illogic of
Portia’s father’s will.
Some readers feel that Shakespeare intended Venice and Belmont to represent opposite sets of values. Another view is that
the two worlds are complementary; Venice stands for the public side of life where business, law, and manly friendship
predominate – Belmont represents the private treasures of the heart, including romantic love and an appreciation of the
merciful side of God’s nature.
Another way to consider the contrast between these two places is from the perspective of gender. Venice is a masculine city,
and the men are bound together by money. In contrast, Belmont is a feminine world of romance trading in love.

25. The Merchant of Venice is a 2004 romantic drama film based on Shakespeare's play of
the same name. It is the first full-length sound film in English of Shakespeare's play —
other versions are videotaped productions which were made for television, including John
Sichel's 1973 version and Jack Gold's 1980 BBC production.
The title character is the merchant Antonio (Jeremy Irons), not the Jewish moneylender
Shylock (Al Pacino) who is the more prominent character. This adaptation follows the
text, but omits much. Director Michael Radford believed that Shylock was Shakespeare's
first great tragic hero who reaches a catastrophe due to his own flaws.[2] The film begins
with text and a montage of how the Jewish community is abused by the Christian
population of Venice and brings attention to the fact that, as a convert, Shylock would
have been cast out of the Jewish ghetto in Venice.

26. Virginia Benedetti
Alessandra Cecili
Matteo Cortese
Tiziano Giacobelli