THEME QUOTE
ACT 1 SCENE 1- ANTONIO’S SADNESS:  TS: Play begins with Antonio experiencing the
“In sooth I know not why I am so sad”
ACT 1 SCENE 1- ANTONIO’S SADNESS:
“Should I go to Church and see the holy
edifice of stone…scatter all her spices…
enrobe the roaring waters with my silks,
and (in a word) but even now worth this,
CAPITALISM- and now worth nothing?”
THE OVERRDING ACT 1 SCENE 1- ANTONIO’S SADNESS:
POWER OF Bassanio: "To you, Antonio, I owe the
MONEY/ most in money and in love"
MERCANTILE
EXPERIENCE
ACT 1 SCENE 1- ANTONIO’S SADNESS:
“My purse, my person, my extremest
means lie all unlocked to your occasions”
ACT 1 SCENE 1- ANTONIO’S SADNESS:
"In Belmont is a lady richly left, and she
is fair and fairer than that word - of
wondrous virtues… I have a mind that
presages me with such thrift that I should
questionless be fortune"
ACT 1 SCENE 3:
"Money gratis”
ACT 2 SCENE 8:
"My daughter, O my ducats, O my
daughter!"
ACT 3 SCENE 5:
Lancelot: “We were Christians enow
before, e'en as many as could well live one
by another. This making of Christians
will raise the price of hogs; if we grow all
to be pork eaters, we shall not shortly
have a rasher on the coals for money"
ACT 1 SCENE 2:
Portia: “I may neither choose who I
ANALYSIS
human emotion of sadness
 The main concerns of people in the Venetian society
were related to money, evident in Salarino’s
response: “Your mind is tossing on the ocean,
there where your argosies with portly sail… as it
were the pageants of the sea”
 He assumes Antonio’s sadness is because of his
merchandise at sea, reinforcing the values of the
Venetian world of commerce
 TS: Superficiality of Christianity, the mercantile
culture is valued more over religion (though they
don't charge interest, they constantly think of
monetary gain)
 Exposed through Salarino’s sacrilegious depiction
 Money is at the forefront of everything, suggesting
that relationships are based off financial gain,
money is interconnected with love
 Friendship is superficial
 TS: Shakespeare depicts the depth of Antonio's love
for Bassanio, his "noble kinsman", through
Antonio exploiting his willingness to risk financial
status to strengthen his friendship
 Conveyed through the use of hyperbolic language
 To illustrate Antonio’s extreme generosity towards
Bassanio as a self-sacrificing Christian Venetian
 Antonio's relationship with Bassanio is described in
monetary terms - language of commerce is saturated
throughout Venice

 TS: Bassanio’s superficial nature is revealed
through his discussion with Antonio about Portia
 Mention of wealth and beauty before love
 It is revealed he likes her because of her status and
wealth, his motivation to marry her is to fix his
financial problems and gain financial profit
 Marriage is interpreted as a monetary transaction
 Shakespeare depicts Antonio's abuse of power in
forcing Shylock to lend "money gratis”, harming
Shylock's livelihood to reinforce the power
imbalance that suppressed outsiders in Venetian
society
 Cumulative listing
 Shylock's daughter is discovered to be gone, shylock
nonetheless mentions his 'ducats', highlighting his
value of money over his daughter
 Placement of the 2 words reveal the connection
where a woman’s value is competing with money
 Hyperbolic language + truncated sentences reveal
overwhelming distraught human emotions
 Juxtaposition between the commercial term 'ducats'
and the relational term 'daughter' suggests a close
connection or even an equivalence between the two
 They have become more concerned about the
inflation of the price of pork than being joyous of
more people becoming Christians
 This demonstrates the great value and importance
they hold to money and economy
 Pun of will being a mechanism for patriarchal
control