The Merchant of Venice Characters
1) Shylock- a rich Jew in Venice who is treated poorly by Christians
2) Portia- a wealthy girl from Belmont who falls in love with Bassanio
3) Antonio- the Merchant of Venice
4) Bassanio- friends with Antonio and borrows money from him, and loves Portia
5) Gratanio- friends with Antonio and Bassanio, loves to hear himself talk, and loves Nerissa
6) Jessica- Shylock's daughter who is in love with Lorenzo
7) Lorenzo- a friend of Antonio and Bassanio who loves Jessica
8) Nerissa- Portia's servant who falls in love with Grazing
9) Lancelot Gobbo- Bassanio's servant
10) The Prince of Morocco- a Moorish prince who seeks Portia's hand in marriage
11) The Prince of Aragon- a Spanish Nobleman who attempts to win Portia's hand in marriage
12) Salerio- friend to Antonio, Bassanio, and Lorenzo
13) Solanio- friend of Salerio
14) The Duke of Venice- the ruler of Venice
15) Old Gobbo- Lancelot's father
16) Tubal- Shylock's Jewish friend
The Merchant Of Venice Summary
Act 1
The Merchant of Venice is a novel by William Shakespeare. In the first act the primary characters are Bassanio, Shylock the Jew, Antonio, Portia and Gratiano. The first act is basically about ho Bassanio met this very beautiful princess named Portia. Now Antonio is Bassanio's best friend and lends Bassanio money and other items all the time and Bassanio is always in his debt to Antonio. Bassanio wants to go to Portia's kingdom to try to win her heart and to be the King. The reason for this is because Portia's father died. Bassanio has no money and goes to Antonio for money. The problem is that Antonio currently has no money because all his ships are out at sea. So they decide to go and see Shylock the Jew who is a merchant in Venice. Venice is like the Wall Street at the time, so that was were all the merchant worked. Antonio, in order to get the money for Bassanio, makes a deal with Shylock. The deal is that if Antonio does not give Shylock the money back in three months then Shylock will get to take a pound of Antonio's flesh. Now Shylock does not like Antonio because he spits on the Jew and makes fun of him. The end of the act ends with them making the deal and Bassanio gets the three thousand ducats from Shylock. This is how the first act ends.
Act II
The elaborate excuse the prince of Morocco makes for his dark coloring serves to call attention to it and to his cultural difference from Portia and from Shakespeare's audience. His extravagant praise of his own valor also makes him seem both less well mannered and less attractive. Moreover, his assertion that the best virgins of his clime have loved him seems calculated to make him less, rather than more, attractive to Portia. Her response to his protestations is polite, even courtly, showing her good breeding and her virtuous acquiescence to her dead father's wishes. But her words also clearly convey that she does not want to marry him.
The scene between the Gobbos is typical of Shakespeare, who frequently employs servants and members of the working class to provide slapstick interludes in both his comedies and tragedies. The Merchant of Venice does not derive all of its comic moments from the malapropisms and double entendres of this odd father-son pair, but the humor here is more crass and vulgar-so simple that it is hard to overlook and mistake. Seen in this light, we forgive things that might otherwise seem cruel to us, like Lancelot's shabby treatment of his blind and doting father. This humor is comedy at its simplest, where laughs are derived not from quick wit but from confusion and foolery.
Although Shylock does not appear in these scenes, our view of him is further shaped by the opinions of those closest to him. Even though his servant and daughter do not like him, their descriptions of him inadvertently make him a more sympathetic figure in our eyes. Lancelot, we learn, is not abandoning his post because Shylock has proved to be a cruel or harsh master, but because he seems to fear contamination from being so close to a Jew. Interestingly, although he calls Shylock a devil, Lancelot points out that his desire to leave is a temptation more devilish still, and says his desire to stay is a product of his conscience, which is generally a guide of what is right. Jessica, too, voices no real complaint about her father, other than the tedium of life with him, but she seems eager to escape her Jewish -heritage, which she sees as a stain on her honor. Jessica even brings the morality of her own actions into question when she calls her shame at being
Shylock's daughter a sin, and she feels enormous guilt at her own sentiments. Her desire to convert would undoubtedly have been applauded by Elizabethan audiences, but here it is expressed as a kind of young recklessness that borders on selfishness. The negative impression that Shylock has given us with his first appearance is somewhat counteracted by the words of those closest to him, who feel guilty even as they speak ill of him.
In these scenes, Shylock is again portrayed as a penny-pinching, but not wicked, master. Indeed, he seems to think himself quite lenient, and when he calls Lancelot lazy, this jibe seems likely to be an accurate description of the buffoonish retainer. Shylock's fear for his daughter and his distaste for the Venetian revelry paint him as a puritanical figure who respects order and the rule of law above all else, and who refuses to have "shallow fopp'ry" in his "sober house" (n.v.34-35). Shylock's rhetoric is distinctive: he tends to repeat himself and avoids the digressions common to other characters. As more than one critic has pointed out, he is characterized by a one-track mind.
Happily, Jessica and Lorenzo's romantic love triumphs, but a number of critics have pointed out the ambiguity in the scene of their elopement. The couple's love for one another is not in doubt, but Jessica's determination to bring a hefty store of treasure reminds us that she is still an alien, a Jew among gentiles, who may be insecure about her reception. Indeed, her shame at her boy's costume may reflect a deeper concern for her place in her husband's Christian society. Later, at Belmont, she will be all but ignored by everyone save Lorenzo, suggesting that despite her husband and her conversion, she remains a Jew in others' eyes.
The prince of Morocco's choice of the caskets is wrong, but his mistake is understandable, and we sympathize with him. There is something casually cruel about Portia's unwillingness to spare even a moment's pity for the Moor. Portia is a willful character-while her independence is often appealing, at other times she can seem
terribly self-centered. She wants Bassanio as a husband and seems to have no regrets in seeing other suitors sentenced to a life of celibacy.
Salerio and Solanio are the least interesting characters in the play. They are indistinguishable from one another and serve primarily to fill us in on events that take place offstage-in this case, Shylock's reaction to his daughter's flight and the parting of Antonio and Bassanio. Shylock's cries of "My daughter! 0, my ducats! 0, my daughter!" are meant to be comic-the moneylender is, after all, a comic villain (n. viii. 15). He bemoans the loss of his money as much as his loss of Jessica, suggesting that greed is as important to him as familial love. However, we cannot be sure that Shylock really reacted in this way, since we hear the story secondhand. Salerio and Solanio are poking fun at the Jew, and their testimony must be balanced by the concern that Shylock expresses for his daughter in the earlier scenes.
Aragon, a Spanish prince, completes the parade of nationalities competing for Portia. He lacks the nobility of the prince of Morocco, and his arrogance almost makes us feel that he deserves his punishment. His quick dismissal from the scene clears the way for Bassanio.
Act III – (Under Construction)
Act IV
Antonio is on trial for not paying Shylock back. Bassanio comes back to Venice to help his friend after winning Portia’s hand. Gratiano goes with him. Antonio's lawyer comes in and it happens to be Portia and Nerissa dressed as men. Portia questions Shylock over and over until be has lost. He is to sign a deed and give all his possessions up. After the trial is over Portia asks for Bassanio's Ring as payment. He hesitates at first, but then gives her the Ring. Nerissa also gets the Ring from Gratiano. The girls then go back to Portia's home.
Act V
Portia and Nerissa get back before the boys do. When the boys get back Antonio is introduced to Portia. While this is happening Portia asks where Bassanio has put his ring. Also Nerissa asks Gratanio where his ring is as well. They tell the girls how they had to give the rings to the lawyer and his clerk for payment in return for Antonio's freedom. Then Portia and Nerissa reveal themselves as the men who helped Antonio. The girls then give back the rings only if the boys promised not to give them away again.
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