Oof.

This is a tough one.

There is a category of Shakespearean drama called the “problem play”, of which Merchant of Venice is not one. It refers to works such as Pericles or All’s Well That Ends Well, which don’t fall neatly in a category of comedy or tragedy, containing elements of both. Again, Merchant is not such a play.

However, I refer to it as a problem because it’s increasingly hard to watch or read in our current climate of sensitivity to diversity. The sort of antisemitism prevalent in earlier centuries, never easy to ignore but perhaps accepted with a shrug, creates a hard choice for modern audiences and performers alike. How should we see the lead character Shylock: as the stereotyped caricature traditionally portrayed as a monster? Or as the religious minority victimized by the Christian characters in the story? To my mind, it’s just as much a problem for the cast to play those Christian characters, blithely celebrating happy marriages while pitilessly mocking Shylock’s downfall, showering him with bigoted epithets.

It’s rather easy, or at least easier than other Shakespeare works, to estimate when this play was written, because on July 22, 1598, an entry was made in the Stationers’ Register for ‘a booke of the Marchaunt of Venyce or otherwise called the Iewe of Venyce’. At roughly the same time, Francis Meres’s Palladis Tamia was published. This was an exhaustive study of the great authors current in England, very helpful for future historians, and it included The Merchant of Venice among Shakespeare’s plays.

Another hint is Antonio’s ship the Andrew which may have been an allusion to the Spanish galleon San Andres, captured by the British in the summer of 1596. It’s possible that Shakespeare was reminding his audience of this very popular development of the war with Spain. If true, it means that the play cannot have been written before the late summer of 1596. For all these reasons, 1596-7 seems a likely window for the composition of Merchant, around the same time Shakespeare was also writing King John and Henry IV, Part I. The play was first printed in a quarto edition in 1600.

When considering the sources from which Shakespeare formulated Merchant, we must certainly begin with King Edward I expelling all Jews from the England with The Edict of Expulsion, a royal decree issued in 1290. Those who didn’t leave were forced to undergo conversion, or more commonly just pretended to, while continuing to practice their religion secretly.

While not the first case of antisemitism, it was representative of the prejudice faced by Jews in Europe during the Middle Ages. This would be the case for more than 350 years, when Oliver Cromwell finally overturned the Edict in 1657. Since Elizabethan audiences had no contact with actual Jews in their daily lives, they were free to demonize them when they needed villainous characters. This was the case for Christopher Marlowe, who wrote The Jew of Malta around 1590. Marlowe’s (unrelated) play about a nefarious Jewish foreigner was immensely popular, and would certainly have served as a role model for an ambitious young actor-turned-scribe like Shakespeare.  

This same antisemitic dynamic was no doubt involved in 1594, during the trial of Roderigo López, royal physician of Queen Elizabeth I herself. His family had also been forced to convert due to the bias of his native Portugal. Despite his high-ranking patients, he also acquired powerful enemies, one of whom accused him of attempting to poison the queen. Following his execution, his corpse was desecrated and placed on public display. Far from provoking outrage, the incident with its attendant xenophobia led London theaters to stage a revival of Marlowe’s play. It may also have inspired a young Will Shakespeare to write his own drama about a monstrous Jewish villain.

The actual plot is derived from the 14th-century tale Il Pecorone by Giovanni Fiorentino, which was published in Milan in 1558. Almost all of the main elements are there. Il Pecorone (literally ‘the big sheep’; figuratively ‘the simpleton’) introduces a wealthy merchant financing his god-son’s wooing of a wealthy woman at Belmont. Her hand in marriage can only be won by way of a test, which the young man finally passes. However, the merchant had borrowed the cash from a Jewish money-lender, agreeing to a penalty of a pound of flesh if the money is not paid back in time, and it isn’t. The lady appears in court, disguised as a male lawyer, and points out that if the money-lender takes more or less than a pound or drops any blood, his own life is forfeit. The husband awards “the lawyer” the ring given to him by his wife in gratitude for his victory, then must explain to his “angry” wife why he doesn’t have her ring.

Compare this to Zelauta (or The Fountain of Fame) by Antony Munday. Printed in 1580, it also tells the story of two friends who borrow money from a rich usurer, only this time pledging their right eyes in payment. They are saved in court by the women they love, one of whom is the usurer’s daughter, disguised as lawyers. They too argue that no blood may be shed in payment of the debt.

The idea of a man winning his way into a woman’s bed with a contest is an age-old motif in fairy-tales and legends. In the case of the suitors competing for Portia’s hand with a guessing game, the story of the three caskets was taken from the Gesta Romanorum, a collection of medieval tales published in 1577.

_________

 Act 1

scene 1

Bassanio asks Antonio, the titular merchant, to lend him some money so he can woo Portia, a rich lady. Antonio agrees, but since all of his cash is invested in the ships transporting his goods, he will need to borrow the amount from a moneylender.

scene 2

Portia suggests that, if she had her way, she would marry Bassanio. However, according to the conditions of Portia’s late father’s will, she must stage a contest for her suitors. They are to be given a choice of three caskets: one gold, one silver, and one lead, and the one choosing the correct box, which contains a picture of Portia, may marry her. However, the will stipulates that each suitor who chooses the wrong casket must swear never to get married in his life. A messenger announces the arrival of five more suitors, including the Prince of Morocco.

scene 3 

Shylock, the moneylender, dislikes Antonio because he is a Christian and lends out money for free. Nonetheless, he agrees to loan Bassanio three thousand ducats, interest free, with one stipulation: if Antonio is not able to pay in time, he must surrender a pound of his flesh. Bassanio does not like these terms, but Antonio agrees, certain that his ships will return in time to repay the loan.

 Act 2

scene 1

The Prince of Morocco agrees to the contest with the three caskets for a chance at winning Portia’s hand in marriage.

scene 2 

Launcelot, Shylock’s foolish servant, debates with himself whether to run away from his master, and ultimately decides he will. First. however, he plays an unbelievably cruel trick on his nearly blind father Gobbo by telling him that his son has died.

Bassanio hires Launcelot and then leaves for Belmont, where Portia lives.

scene 3

As Launcelot leaves his employment with Shylock to start his job with Bassanio, Shylock’s daughter Jessica reveals that she is in love with Antonio’s friend Lorenzo. She plans to betray her father, marry Lorenzo and become a Christian.

scene 4

Lorenzo enlists Launcelot in his plans to elope with Jessica, along with Shylock’s gold and jewelry.

scene 5

Shylock tells Jessica that he will be going to dinner with Bassanio, and to lock the doors while he is gone. Of course, Jessica and Launcelot are secretly planning for her to elope with Lorenzo instead.

scene 6

Lorenzo elopes with Jessica, who is disguised as a boy. She has stolen some of Shylock’s finest jewelry.

Antonio and Bassanio set off for Belmont.

scene 7

The Prince of Morocco must make his choice of caskets. He decides to open the gold because all men desire Portia, just like gold. He finds a scroll in the golden casket that reminds him that “all that glitters is not gold.” He leaves; Portia is happy to see him go.

scene 8 

Shylock is crying about his missing daughter, but even more for his missing treasure. There are rumors that one of Antonio’s ships is lost at sea.

scene 9

Now it is the turn of the Prince of Arragon to choose from among the caskets. He chooses the silver: inside the box is a picture of a fool’s head and a note calling him a fool. A servant announces the arrival of another suitor. Nerissa hopes it is Bassanio.

Act 3

 scene 1

Shylock laments over his daughter’s betrayal. His one consolation is the news that Antonio’s ships have sunk, and he therefore can’t pay his debt. When confronted by Antonio’s friends, he defends himself by pointing out that Jews are human, just like Christians, and deserve the same consideration.

scene 2

Portia asks Bassanio to wait a few days before choosing so she can spend time with him in case he chooses the wrong casket, but Bassanio decides to choose immediately; he chooses the lead box. It contains Portia’s picture and a note praising him for choosing not by outward appearances.

Bassanio learns that all of Antonio’s ships have been lost and that Shylock is insisting on getting his pound of flesh. Antonio is sure he will die and asks that be there at his death. Portia volunteers to pay the debt herself so Bassanio rushes back to Venice without her. Before leaving Portia gives Bassanio a ring which Bassanio promises to wear always. Nerissa and Gratiano have likewise fallen in love; she also gives him a ring.

scene 3

Antonio knows that the duke must follow the law and uphold the bond. Shylock refuses to show any mercy.

scene 4

Portia makes a plan: she and Nerissa will dress as young men A) to conduct the defense of Antonio and B) to test their new husbands in disguise.

scene 5

Jessica, Lorenzo and Launcelot trade jokes that if more Jews like Jessica convert to Christianity it will cause the price of pork to increase.

Then Lorenzo has to explain to Launcelot, at great length, that it’s time for dinner to be served.

Act 4

scene 1

The Duke asks Shylock to show mercy, but Shylock refuses, even though Bassanio offers more than the amount owed.

Portia enters dressed as a lawyer, and eloquently tries to convince Shylock to relent, but fails. At last she tells Antonio to submit, as they must do exactly what is written in the bond. However, she tells Shylock that the bond does not allow him to have so much as a drop of blood. Shylock realizes he is beaten. Furthermore, Portia tells him that because he has attempted to murder a Venetian citizen he must be put to death himself.

The Duke spares Shylock’s life on the condition that he forfeit his estate and convert to Christianity. Portia, still in disguise, refuses Bassanio’s offer of money and instead takes the ring she had given him earlier.  

scene 2 

Nerissa tricks Gratiano out of the ring she gave him as well.

Act 5

scene 1

Portia and Bassanio return to Belmont separately. Bassanio introduces Portia to Antonio. Portia and Nerissa pretend to be angry that Gratiano and Bassanio gave their rings away to the judge. After much teasing, including the boast that they slept with the judge and his clerk to get their rings back, the women admit to dressing up as men. Antonio learns that some of his ships arrived safely to port.