SKILLS (AO1, AO2 & AO4) Themes Act Plot and Structure

Merchant of Venice KO
Analysis using PEAZ: Appearance The play highlights the danger of only seeing what is on the 1 Plot: Bassanio requests a loan to finance his courtship of
Vocabulary Definition Terminology Definition Point: A clear analytical point which shows and reality surface (the gold and silver casket conceal a ‘death’s head’ Portia. Portia discusses her suitors with Nerissa. Antonio
insight and clearly answers the question and and a ‘blinking idiot’ – the unpromising lead casket rewards signs a bond with Shylock.
Retribution Inflicting Protagonist The main character Evidence: Support with a short quote(s) or deception the one who chooses ‘not by the view.’) Structure: By the end of this act, the main characters
punishment for a who propels the example from the text. Characters, consciously or subconsciously, appear to be (protagonists and antagonist) and the reason for their
wrongful act action forward Analysis: Make explicit where the quote is someone they are not: Portia and Nerissa pretend to be conflict has been set out, the 2 main storylines are in place
from then explain the meaning and effect men, as does Jessica. Bassanio pretends to be rich; Shylock and both locations have been established: the exposition is
of the quote(s) you use – both explicit and pretends to be Antonio’s friend. ‘Masques’ are worn literally complete.
Patriarchy Society dominated Antagonist The character who implicit. Aim for two interpretations per in Act 2 Scene 6 to conceal identity.
by males who rule opposes the quote.
over females protagonist Zoom in on Language: Zoom in on a
specific language choice (use subject 2 Plot: Lancelot leaves Shylock to serve Bassanio; Jessica
Masculinity Traits relating to terminology) and explore its connotations Prejudice Prosperous Venice tolerates private prejudice against Jews. elopes with Lorenzo; Morocco and Aragon choose the
being Dramatic Irony where the audience and effect on the audience. Consider and Portia is courteous to her suitors whilst criticizing them in wrong caskets; Bassanio is on the way.
stereotypically are more aware of the whether Elizabethan audience would react Intolerance private for their behaviour or skin colour (which also fits in
male action happening than differently to a contemporary audience. with the theme of deception). It seems that the play Structure: There are many short, quick scenes in this act:
the characters Refer to the writer: Evaluate endorses these prejudices, but Shakespeare may be subtly lots of information is revealed and future actions set up.
Shakespeare’s motive and how it supports criticizing the prejudices of his characters; after all, it is This fits in well with the comedy genre – a complex set of
Archetypal Very typical of a his intended purpose for the play hypocritical of the Christians to criticize Shylock for sub-plots developing.
certain kind of Soliloquy an individual character moneylending (see Usury in Context) and he has ‘learned’
person or thing in a play speaking his hatred from the Christians. Shylock argues that all people
their thoughts out are the same biologically and under the law in 3.1.
loud to the audience 3 Plot: Shylock hears of Antonio’s losses and reacts to
Loyalty Having a strong
feeling of support Jessica’s flight; Bassanio chooses the correct casket; news of
or allegiance Justice, law, The idea of revenge surfaces throughout the play, Antonio’s plight reaches Belmont; Portia sends Bassanio to
Imagery Visual descriptions mercy and sometimes seriously and at other times more comically: Venice to pay the debt; Shylock is unbending towards
that allows the EXAM REQUIREMENTS - English Antonio; Portia plans to go to Venice.
Wisdom Quality of having Literature - Component 1, Section A revenge Shylock attempts to kill Antonio; Portia punishes Shylock;
good judgement/ audience to Antonio makes Shylock convert; Portia and Nerissa trick their
understand an idea husbands and watch them squirm. Structure: The middle act of the play sees a lot of action,
being wise EXTRACT ESSAY on Merchant of Venice – and characters begin to move between the two different
Although revenge is illegal, Shylock seeks it by sticking to the
20 mins - 15 marks letter of the law within the Venetian justice system. In Act 4 locations. When Bassanio chooses the correct casket, it
Justice Fair treatment or Oxymoron using two opposing Scene 1, both the Duke and Portia present mercy as a better looks as if things are already going to be resolved happily –
behaviour terms together, that Intro – link to question. Provide an alternative to revenge, but Shylock explicitly refuses, but news from Venice arrives and everything is set in
normally contradict overview of the scene. whereas the Christians show him mercy. Therefore, one motion again. All leads up to the court scene at the start of
each other Throughout the essay – Choose relevant interpretation of the play's structure is that Shakespeare Act 4.
Manipulative Controlling things quotes and analyse the language,
or people to get meant to contrast the mercy of the main Christian characters
structure and effect of these quotes. Refer with the vengefulness of a Jew, who lacks the religious grace
what you want. Juxtaposition Placing contrasting to the question regularly. to comprehend mercy.
ideas close together in
Prejudice Unreasonable a text WHOLE PLAY ESSAY - Merchant of Venice 4 Plot: At the trial, Shylock insists on the law and refuses to
dislike for – 40 mins - 25 marks (5 for SPaG ) show mercy; Portia, in disguise, leads Shylock on until she
something or saves Antonio on a technicality and turns the tables on
someone. Prioritise your ideas in chronological Love & Central romantic relationship of Portia and Bassanio is Shylock. Bassanio and Gratiano give their rings in gratitude.
Foreshadowing a hint or suggestion of order. friendship paralleled by elopement of Jessica with Lorenzo and
what might happen marriage of Nerissa and Gratiano. Structure: The longest scene in the play provides its climax.
Malevolence Being deliberately later in the story Intro – using words of the question give Some critics suggest that the strongest friendship in the play, Throughout the initial tension, the audience knows that
hostile to others an overview that shows insight. that between Antonio and Bassanio, approaches romantic Portia is on her way and that despite flirting with tragedy,
PEAZ 1 - choose a moment from the play love. However, Shakespeare may have intended the the play will end happily.
Oppression Cruel or unfair Antithesis People or things that to explore with quotes & context audience to see Antonio as a guardian / father figure.
treatment by oppose each other. PEAZ 2- choose a 2nd moment from the There are strong ties between all the Venetian Christian
those in power. play to explore with quotes & context characters – they all rally round Antonio. But the play also
PEAZ 3 - choose a moment from the play demonstrates how the apparent purity of love can be tainted 5 Plot: Back in Belmont, Portia and Nerissa feign outrage at
to explore with quotes & context by economic concerns, beginning with Bassanio borrowing the loss of their husbands’ rings, before revealing the truth.
Obedience Accepting / PEAZ 4 – choose a moment to explore money to woo.
submitting to Connotations/ Implied or suggested with quotes and context Jessica and Lorenzo learn that they will inherit Shylock’s
another’s Zooming in meanings of a word or Conclude – Short summary of key insights money, and Antonio hears that his ships are safe.
authority phrases linked to the question and writer. 2-3
sentences max. Filial duty Portia is not prepared to go against the judgement of her Structure: Marriage / reuniting of the relationships to
Capitalism System in which dead father. Jessica is openly ashamed of her father and emphasise the expectation of Romantic Comedy.
trade and industry Hyperbole use of extremely elopes with a Christian, stealing Shylock’s money and jewels.
are controlled by exaggerated terms for In a patriarchal society, women are expected to obey their Resolution of all the plot elements – is justice done?
private owners for emphasis fathers.
profit.
Characters Characteristics Quotes Context

Antonio Loving and Generous - “My purse, my person, my extremest means/ Lie all unlocked to your occasions.”(1:1) WOMEN in Elizabethan times
loyal friend, Prejudiced - “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 Noble women and men generally had arranged marriages in Elizabethan times.
but still friendship take/ A breed of barren metal of his friend?” Women could not go to school, but noble women had private tutors as the example of
prejudiced! Patient/Loving at the trial scene (vs Shylock): “I do oppose/ My patience to his fury, and am armed /To suffer with a quietness of spirit…”(4.1) Queen Elizabeth had set a trend amongst noble families of having their daughters
Loyal and in love: Solanio describes A’s feelings for B: ’I think he loves the world for him’ (Act 2:8) well-educated and able to converse wisely. Perhaps, Shakespeare had Queen
Merciful - At the end of the play, he lessens Shylock’s sentence as long as he promises to give half of his inheritance to Lorenzo: “The gentleman who lately stole his Elizabeth in mind when he created Portia. Like Elizabeth, she was a woman in a man’s
daughter”(4.1) This acknowledges the wrong done to Shylock as his prop for his old age has stolen away and also refers, indirectly, to the theft that took place. world and like Elizabeth and many of Shakespeare’s female characters, she actually
proves to be more intelligent and resourceful than the males! You could even see the
rings episode in 5.1 as an echo of the trial scene, where Portia traps Bassanio with her
Shylock Victim or Prejudiced/villainous: “I hate him for he is a Christian/ But more, for that in low simplicity/He lends out money gratis, and brings down/ The rate of usance with us here determination to exploit the fact he has not fulfilled his bond to her.
villain? in Venice.” “If I can catch him once upon the hip,/I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.” “I am not bid for love, they flatter me;/But yet I’ll go in hate, to feed
upon/The prodigal Christian./Lock up my doors…”
He is A victim: “You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,/And spit upon my Jewish gabardine,/And all for use of that which is mine own”; “Hath a dog money? Is it possible/ A
mistreated and cur can lend here thousand ducats?”; “I say my daughter is my flesh and blood.” “Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections,
oppressed but passions?” “If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?” After the judgement: “You take my life when you do take
also cruel and the means whereby I live.” (4.1) Love and marriage
merciless. Vengeful and villainous: “It will feed my revenge…” “The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.” “I would my daughter Marriage was often seen as property transaction and wealthy women would be much
were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear.” “Tell me not of mercy.” (3:3); “Thou call’dst me dog before thou hadst a cause,/But since I am a dog, beware my fangs.” sought after as a means of ensuring financial stability for the sons of noble families. It
(3.3) “I’ll have no speaking, I will have my bond.” (3:3); “My deeds upon my head! I crave the law,/ The penalty and forfeit of my bond.”(4.1) is in keeping with the times for Portia to be viewed as a commodity, however
unromantic this might appear to a modern audience.
Lorenzo seems a romantic lover, but his situation mirrors Bassanio’s as marriage
makes him rich. Portia submits in a conventional Elizabethan way to her husband,
calling him her ’king.’
Bassanio Popular, Indebted/ spendthrift - “…..my chief care/Is to come fairly off from the great debt.” (1:1) “To you, Antonio,/I owe the most in money and in love.” (1:1) Money-
handsome, but oriented:“In Belmont is a lady richly left,/And she is fair/Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth/…her sunny locks/Hang on her temples like a golden fleece.”(1:1)
perhaps a cad? Loyal and a good friend? “You shall not seal to such a bond for me!/ I'll rather dwell in my necessity.” (1.3). However, he does allow his friend to take the loan!
Perhaps taking Honest – after he has won her, Bassanio tells Portia his true financial worth: “When I told you/ My state was nothing” it was not true, for “I was worse than nothing; for Jews in Britain
advantage of indeed,/ I have engaged myself to a dear friend,/ Engaged my friend to his mere enemy.”~ Most Jews were expelled by Edward I in 1290. A few Jews had come to England
Antonio’s Loyal to Portia: “When this ring/ Parts from this finger, then life parts from hence.” working as merchants in Tudor times, but they were often Portuguese ‘Conversos’
affection and Loving to his friend over his wife: “I am married to a wife…/But life itself, my wife, and all the world,/ Are not esteemed above thy life…/I would lose all, ay sacrifice all/ who had converted (often because of the Inquisition). Lopez, Queen Elizabeth’s
marry Portia Here to this devil to save you.” Disloyal to Portia as gives away the ring! surgeon was a ‘Converso’ and was hanged for treason in 1594. The crowd mocked and
for money. jeered him when he claimed to love Elizabeth as much as he loved Jesus.
In 1590, Christopher Marlowe’s ‘The Jew of Malta,’ which was a resounding success
and played on this vehement hatred and prejudice against Jews – Barabas,- the
eponymous Jew, poisons drinking water and is an outright villain. Shakespeare’s
Portia Perhaps the Obedient even though she finds it difficult to accept her father’s judgement: “So is the will of a living daughter curbed by the will of a dead father.”(1:2). In love with portrayal of Shylock is, in contrast, far more sympathetic.
true hero? Bassanio and dutiful as a fiancé/wife: “Her lord, her governor, her king./ Myself, and what is mine, to you and yours/ Is now converted.” Loving (after Bassanio’s debt is
revealed): “Since you are dear bought, I will love you dear.” and generous: “Pay him six thousand, and deface the bond.” shows a lack of concern about money and a
Intelligent and similar generosity as Antonio, she is not concerned about the cost.
wise. Wise and eloquent, giving a series of arguments for Shylock to have mercy at the trial scene. These begin with religion and God: “The quality of mercy is not strained,/It Jews - and 16th century Venice
droppeth like the gentle rain from heaven.” (4.1); Then appeal to Shylock’s self-interest: “ Here’s thrice the money offered thee.”(4.1) and finally Shylock’s humanity: The original audience of MOV would not know the geography of Italy, but they would
Independent “Have by some surgeon…To stop his wounds, lest he do bleed to death.” However, this fails and she must reverse the judgement on him becoming vengeful: “Though have known that Venice was a wealthy trading city of businessmen and money, an
yet obedient. shalt have justice more than thou desirest / He shall have merely justice and his bond.”(4.1) Witty and funny in her scorn of her suitors – see Act 1:3. important trading post at the crossroads of Europe.
Clever and willing to trick and tease Bassanio (showing she can outwit her future husband): “And for love, I’ll take this ring from you.” (4:1) ”For, by this ring, the doctor Jews were not allowed to own land, but in 1516, they were allowed to create a
lay with me.” (5:1) Prejudiced . After Moroco’s failure: “Let all of his complexion choose me so.” (2:7) settlement (and pay rent) in Ghetto Nuova – a small dirty island that became the
world’s first ghetto. They were permitted to leave during the day, but locked in at
night. Out of the ghetto, they had to wear distinguishing clothing. In addition to state-
imposed restrictions, they faced hostility from Christian citizens, because of their
‘otherness.’
Jessica Can be seen as Ashamed of her father (and perhaps her religion – linking to Anti-Semitism) “Our house is hell.” ”Alack, what heinous sin it is in me/ To be ashamed to be my father’s
an oppressed child!/For though I am a daughter to his blood/ I am not to his manners.” Independent and able to stand up to her father: “I have a father, you a daughter, lost.”
or a In love with a Christian (forbidden / secret love): “Love is blind and lovers cannot see/ The pretty follies that they themselves commit.” Desiring to change faith: “I shall
disobedient end this strife,/Become a Christian and thy loving wife.” Usury/moneylending
daughter. Loving Lorenzo, yet also warning him in Act 5.1: “In such a night/ Medea gathered enchanted herbs/ That did renew old Aeson.” Medea healed her husband’s father, but By Shakespeare’s time, the word ‘Jew’ had come to be applied to hard-hearted,
Or possibly a when her husband was unfaithful much later, she killed him! The couple speak in blank verse suggesting their closeness here, but also warn each other through unscrupulous moneylenders, even if the people referred to were not Jewish.In Venice,
spendthrift references to classical mythology. Lorenzo responds calling her ‘shrew.’ the Jews were only allowed to work in pawn shops, act as moneylenders, work the
‘shrew’? Treacherous and a thief (she tricks her father and steals from him): “Here, catch this casket; it is worth the pains.” “I will…gild myself/ With more ducats.” (2:6) Hebrew printing press, trade in textiles or practice medicine. Venetian banking laws
Spendthrift – gave away Leah, her deceased mother’s ring “for a monkey,” spent “fourscore ducats at a sitting!.” (about £8000) Shows she not only rejects her father but kept their interest rates low and made life difficult for many. One of the reasons Jews
also the memory of her mother – perhaps linked to rejecting her religion as Judaism is generally passed through the generations on the mother’s side. were disliked was they practised usury, often because this was one of the few
professions open to them. There was a long Christian tradition against this.