Questions on
Shakespeare’s Comedies
Shakespeare, William. The Comical History of The Merchant of Venice. (The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies, 3rd ed. 467-521.)
ACT 1
1. In the first passage of Act 1, Scene 1, Antonio says that he is sad and has no idea why. How does Antonio’s declaration, along with the efforts of Salerio and Solanio, and then Graziano, to cheer up their friend establish the play’s emotional complexity? What do these three men suggest is the cause of Antonio’s melancholy, and how does he answer their respective diagnoses?
2. In Act 1, Scene 1, what seems to be the relationship between Antonio the Merchant and Bassanio the younger gentleman? Draw your response from the dialogue between them: what kind of “sales pitch” does Bassanio make to Antonio towards the end of the first scene? How does Antonio respond to this pitch, beyond simply acceding to it?
3. In Act 1, Scene 2, what constraint lies upon Portia’s future, thanks to her father’s will? What is her attitude towards her father’s imposition of this constraint? What complaints does she have about each of her suitors, including the newly arriving Morocco? Unlike the last-mentioned, why haven’t most of these suitors actually committed to take their chances in the contest set up by Portia’s deceased father?
4. In Act 1, Scene 3, Bassanio finds Shylock the Jewish moneylender and the two discuss Antonio’s need for a loan. What differences in attitude and language make it difficult for Shylock and Bassanio to communicate effectively with each other about the loan? As Antonio himself approaches, what reasons does Shylock, in soliloquy, give us for his loathing of the Christian merchant?
5. In Act 1, Scene 3, when Antonio joins Shylock and Bassanio to discuss the prospect of a loan, the talk becomes more intense, even hostile at times. Now that a bargain is about to be struck, what grievances does Shylock feel empowered to address to his longtime Christian adversary: how has Antonio treated him in the past? How does Antonio respond to Shylock’s recounting of this treatment? In what way do Antonio’s responses indicate his humiliation at having to do business with a Jewish moneylender?
6. In Act 1, Scene 3, what are the terms of the deal that Shylock offers Antonio? Since the terms are the implausible stuff of medieval legend, why does Antonio so cheerfully accept them? What is it about his approach to life (as drawn from his Christian religion and his standing as a successful merchant in Venice) that allows him to sign on? What doesn’t Antonio understand about Shylock’s motive in offering him such terms?
ACT 2
7. In Act 2, Scenes 1, 7, and 9, respectively, the Princes of Morocco and Aragon choose among the gold, silver, and leaden caskets for Portia’s hand in marriage. How do they explain the choices they make, and what explanations of their errors are provided in the enclosed scrolls? Ultimately, what is it about these men that makes each choose wrongly?
8. In Act 2, Scene 2, Lancelet Gobbo, Shylock’s Christian servant, decides to abandon him. In comically addressing his own “conscience,” what image of Shylock does Lancelet conjure, and how does he explain his disaffection from this man? How does Lancelet’s humorous attempt to trick his old, half-blind father work towards this justification for abandoning Shylock? (See the biblical story about Jacob and Isaac, Genesis 25:29-34.) In what spirit does Bassanio receive Lancelet’s prayer to join his household as a servant?
9. In Act 2, Scene 3, Jessica gives the departing Lancelet a letter meant for her Christian lover Lorenzo. How does Jessica describe to Lancelet her father’s household? Why is she determined to leave home, and what are her feelings about this determination? On the whole, how does Shakespeare treat the separate but closely timed decisions on Lancelet and Jessica’s part to abandon Shylock: does the text represent these decisions as appropriate? Explain.
10. In Act 2, Scenes 4 and 6, Jessica, Lorenzo, and his companions Graziano and Salarino (with a bit of help from Lancelet in Scene 5) plot Jessica’s escape, and then make good on it. How does the plot proceed? How do the festive trappings and atmosphere of Venice, along with Jessica’s disguise, reinforce the theme of transformation that is at work in the second act?
11. In Act 2, Scene 5, what forebodings does Shylock reveal as he prepares to dine with his Christian debtors? Why, indeed, did he accept the invitation to dine with them at all, since he had earlier said he would not do so? What are Shylock’s concerns about his daughter Jessica and the possibility that she might come into contact with Christians?
12. In Act 2, Scene 8, how, according to Solanio and Salerio, does Shylock react to the news that Jessica has stolen his ducats and jewels and eloped with a Christian? If the report is accurate, would it be fair to say that Shylock becomes momentarily deranged and confuses the two losses, as the Christians mockingly suggest? Or is his reaction perhaps more complex than that? Explain.
ACT 3
13. In Act 3, Scene 1, right after Salerio and Solanio briefly consider the rumor that Antonio has lost one of his ships at the River Thames’s outlet into the English Channel, Shylock angrily accuses them of complicity in Jessica’s elopement. How does he justify his determination to enforce the forfeit of his bond with Antonio? What are the key points in his “Hath not a Jew eyes?” speech to the abovenamed Christian antagonists? (3.1.36-41, 44-60) How is this powerful speech received by Salerio and Solanio?
14. In Act 3, Scene 1, after haranguing Salerio and Solanio, Shylock hears from Tubal both bad news and good news. What is the bad news? What is the good news? In what manner does he respond to both? What does Shylock’s altered language suggest about his state of mind at this point?
15. In Act 3, Scene 2, Portia delays the moment of Bassanio’s choice as long as she can, but he must make his choice. She decides to accompany his ruminations with a brief song beginning, “Tell me where is fancy bred…” (495, 3.2.63). It does not seem as if Bassanio is listening to the song’s words, and we ourselves already know that the silver and gold caskets are incorrect choices. What, then, is the point of the song for us, the audience? What does it suggest about the source and sustainability of erotic love or infatuation?
16. In Act 3, Scene 2, what kind of reasoning and emotional response to the materials involved in the trial does Bassanio engage in as he makes his choice? (For the inscriptions, see 490, 2.9.20, 23, 35, but Bassanio’s direct response to the caskets themselves may be even more important.) Why does he reject the golden and silver caskets? Why does he choose the leaden chest instead, and why, indeed, is this the correct choice?
17. In Act 3, Scene 2, right after Bassanio choose the correct casket, he is pleased to read the scroll inside that casket, which tells him that he may now lay claim to Portia as his bride. Graziano informs all present that he and Nerissa would like to marry, too, and then in comes Salerio with bad news about Antonio’s plight. How does Bassanio explain this news to Portia, and in what spirit does she respond? How is her promise in one way similar to Antonio’s response to Bassanio’s loan request at the beginning of the play, but in another way different? Explain.
18. In Act 3, Scene 3, Shylock angrily refuses to listen to Antonio regarding the pound-of-flesh bond. How does Antonio, who now stands within Shylock’s power, understand his predicament. How does he account for Shylock’s passionate refusal to hear him—is his account entirely accurate? Explain. Why, too, does Antonio consider it inappropriate to expect the Venetian Duke to step in and put an end to this agonizing situation?
19. In Act 3, Scene 4, Portia asks Lorenzo to keep watch at Belmont while she claims to be visiting a monastery, and she also sends Balthazar to Padua with a letter to Dr. Bellario. She then broadly outlines to Nerissa the plot she is weaving to rescue Antonio. How does Portia characterize men when she speaks with Nerissa: what sort of attitude should a woman adopt, according to her, if she wants to pass as a man?
20. In Act 3, Scene 5, what arguments (if we can call them that) does Lancelet advance to prove his claim that Jessica, as a Jewish woman, is damned? Does this theological quibbling serve any purpose with respect to the play’s serious themes? Explain. Moreover, what issue does Lorenzo have with Lancelet’s increasing love of wit and wordplay? Finally, what kind of couple do Jessica and Lorenzo seem to be—what makes them seem well matched, if they are so?
ACT 4
21. For the first 150 lines or so of Act 4, Scene 1, before Portia as “Balthazar” enters the courtroom, what arguments and incentives do Bassanio and the Duke offer Shylock to get him to settle his deadly bond with Antonio? What is Shylock’s response to these efforts? What makes his reasoning effective at this point? What posture does Antonio himself adopt towards his adversary’s determination to take his pound of flesh?
22. At last, Portia arrives about 150 lines into Act 4, Scene 1, ready to do lawyerly battle as “Balthazar” with Shylock. Her first move is to make an appeal to Shylock to be merciful. What strategy emerges when Shylock rejects this appeal—in other words, what arguments does Portia proceed to intertwine with the initial appeal for mercy? How far does she carry this line of argument, and how does she move beyond it in a manner that proves devastating to Shylock’s hopes for a favorable outcome?
23. In Act 4, Scene 1, beginning with “Tarry, Jew—” (512, 4.1.344), what final twist does Portia as Balthazar introduce to Shylock’s nearly total ruin? How does he respond to this legal onslaught, when he realizes that he is trapped? What conditions do Portia, the Duke, and Antonio lay upon him in return for sparing his life? What seems all but certain to make modern audiences uncomfortable with this “resolution” to the matter of Shylock v. Antonio?
24. In spite of Portia’s Christian lesson about mercy or compassion in Act 4, Scene 1, which Christians speak and act in ways that show little or no regard for mercy when it comes to Shylock? What seems to make them so confident in the righteousness of their conduct towards the Jewish moneylender?
25. Towards the end of Act 4, Scene 1, why does Bassanio (although grudgingly) set aside his oath regarding the ring Portia has given him and award it to the supposed Doctor? What does this act suggest about his understanding of the relative value of relationships between men and relationships between men and women?
ACT 5
26. In Act 5, Scene 1, in what style do Jessica and Lorenzo carry on their conversation? What purpose does this conversation serve for them? In addition, what is the thematic significance of Lorenzo’s remarks about the heavenly music—the music of the spheres, as it was known during the Renaissance—that we can’t hear because of our fallen nature? How, that is, might this period commonplace relate to the main themes explored in the rest of the play?
27. In Act 5, Scene 1, Portia and Nerissa are determined to drum some sense into Bassanio and Graziano regarding their failure to respect the vows they made to their new wives. How do they get their lesson across? What allows for a satisfactory resolution of the “ring plot”? In what sense do Portia and Nerissa assert a kind of power that the men didn’t know they possessed?
28. In Act 5, Scene 1, Shylock does not appear, and is mentioned only when Nerissa brings Lorenzo and Jessica a deed promising them his wealth when he dies, as the court ordered. It has been said by some modern critics that because of its representation and treatment of Shylock, The Merchant of Venice is undeniably an antisemitic play. It seems fair to suggest that the play’s outcome favors the Christian dispensation and that it plays into unfair traditional representations of Jews as hard-hearted, legalistic, literal-minded, greedy, and even bloodthirsty. To what extent, then—if any—does Shakespeare’s insistence on also pointing out the hypocrisy and flawed behavior of most of the Christians in the play mitigate the harsh critical judgment often made of The Merchant of Venice? Explain.
Edition. Greenblatt, Stephen et al., editors. The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies + Digital Edition. 3rd ed. W. W. Norton, 2016. ISBN-13: 978-0-393-93861-6.
Copyright © 2012, revised 2024 Alfred J. Drake