Shakespeare – Module 5 – The Merchant of Venice 10 Key scenes 14 of 20
The Merchant f Venice in 10 Key Scenes
LO: in this module we will recap the events of the paly and focus on the 10 key scenes, looking at key lines within these scenes
First we are going to look at a quick video summary to remind ouselves of the play
Task 1: watch the quick summary of the play
Task 2: read the summary of each key scene and read the quotations from the scene then answer the questions that follow.
THE STORY IN TEN SCENES
1
Antonio, the merchant of Venice, agrees to lend his friend Bassanio three thousand ducats so that Bassanio can woo Portia of Belmont.
BASSANIO To you, Antonio, I owe the most in money and in love, And from your love I have a warranty To unburden all my plots and purposes How to get clear of all the debts I owe.
ANTONIO … My purse, my person, my extremest means, Lie all unlocked to your occasions.
In modern English, what does Antonio offer Bassanio?
His money, his life and any means possible.
What, in your own words does Bassanio say he owes Antonio?
money and friendship
2
Portia, a rich and beautiful young woman, complains to her waiting-woman, Nerissa, that she hates all of the suitors who are seeking to marry her. Portia’s father has decreed that she will marry whichever suitor makes the correct choice when presented with three caskets, made of gold, silver and lead. She tells Nerissa that she is in love with Bassanio.
NERISSA But what warmth is there in your affection towards any of these princely suitors that are already come?
PORTIA … There is not one among them but I dote on his very absence, and I wish them a fair departure.
Vocabulary check: what does Portia mean by the word ‘dote’?
extremely and uncritically fond of
3
Antonio can’t access his own money until his ships return safely from sea, so he borrows the money from the Jewish moneylender Shylock, whom he has previously treated very badly. Shylock agrees to lend the money but only on the basis that if the loan is not repaid he will be entitled to a pound of Antonio’s flesh.
SHYLOCK Shall I bend low and in a bondman’s key, With bated breath and whisp’ring humbleness, Say this: ‘Fair sir, you spat on me on Wednesday last; You spurned me such a day; another time You called me dog, and for these courtesies I’ll lend you thus much moneys’?
ANTONIO 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 friendship take A breed of barren metal of his friend? But lend it rather to thine enemy
Vocabulary check: what does Antonio mean by the word ‘spurn’?
to reject with disdain or contempt.
4
Portia’s suitors Morocco and Aragon choose the wrong caskets, gold and silver, but Bassanio chooses the right one: lead. He is overjoyed and so is Portia. They get married, and his friend Gratiano marries Portia’s lady-in-waiting Nerissa at the same time. Nerissa and Portia give their husbands rings, which they promise to keep forever.
PORTIA …This house, these servants and this same myself Are yours, my lord. I give them with this ring, Which when you part from, lose or give away, Let it presage the ruin of your love And be my vantage to exclaim on you.
Puts a ring on his finger
BASSANIO … when this ring Parts from this finger, then parts life from hence.
What does Portia mean when she says, ‘Let it presage the ruin of your love And be my vantage to exclaim on you.’?
If you ever give away this ring or lose it, it means our love’s doomed, and I’ll have a right to be angry with you.
5
Shylock’s daughter, Jessica, is secretly planning to run away with a Christian, Lorenzo. She dresses as a boy and escapes while her father is out for dinner, stealing Shylock’s money and his jewels, including her dead mother’s ring.
LORENZO So you are, sweet, Even in the lovely garnish of a boy. But come at once, For the close night doth play the runaway, And we are stayed for at Bassanio’s feast.
JESSICA I will make fast the doors and gild myself With some more ducats, and be with you straight.
What does Jessica mean when she says, ‘I will make fast the doors and gild myself With some more ducats, and be with you straight’
I’ll lock up the doors, grab some more ducats, and be with you right away.
‘I will make fast the doors and gild myself with some more ducats’ is what type of language technique or device, is it: a) personification, b) metaphor, c) simile
b) metaphor
6
News arrives that Antonio’s ships have been lost; he is unable to pay his debt. Shylock insists that Antonio be jailed and that he wants to have his bond.
SOLANIO The good Antonio, the honest Antonio — O that I had a title good enough to keep his name company! —hath lost a ship. …
ANTONIO Hear me yet, good Shylock.
SHYLOCK I’ll have my bond. Speak not against my bond, I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond. Thou calledst me dog before thou hadst a cause, But since I am a dog, beware my fangs.
What does Shylock mean by the word, ‘bond’.
BOND
Shylock uses the word “bond” here to mean the goods Antonio promised to give Shylock if he defaulted on the loan—in other words, the pound of Antonio’s flesh.
7
Portia and Nerissa disguise themselves as men in order to defend Antonio in the court case. Portia dresses up as Balthasar, a young lawyer, and Nerissa as his clerk. Unknown to their husbands, they dress up and travel from Belmont to Venice.
PORTIA Come on, Nerissa, I have work in hand That you yet know not of; we’ll see our husbands Before they think of us.
NERISSA Shall they see us?
PORTIA They shall, Nerissa, but in such a habit, That they shall think we are accomplishèd With that we lack.
Why do Portia and Nerissa disguise themselves as men?
Because during the Elisabethan and Jacobean period women would not have been allowed to work as a lawyer
8
Shylock’s claim to his pound of flesh is heard in the law court before the duke. Disguised as a man, Portia argues that Shylock is entitled to his pound of flesh but he must not spill a drop of Antonio’s blood, and he must cut exactly one pound of flesh, not an ounce more or less. She then says that Shylock should forfeit his life for having conspired against the life of a Venetian.
PORTIA Tarry a little, there is something else. This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood, The words expressly are ‘a pound of flesh’.
What does the phrase, ‘forfeit his life’ mean?
if you forfeit something, you lose it, or are forced to give it up because you have done something wrong or broken a rule, so the phrase means he will lose his life
9
The duke pardons Shylock on condition that he gives half his wealth to Antonio and half to the state. Antonio gives up his half on the condition that Shylock converts to Christianity and leaves all his property to his daughter Jessica and her Christian lover, Lorenzo.
DUKE For half thy wealth, it is Antonio’s, The other half comes to the general state, Which humbleness may drive unto a fine.
SHYLOCK Nay, take my life and all. Pardon not that. You take my house when you do take the prop That doth sustain my house. You take my life When you do take the means whereby I live.
What does Shylock when he says, ‘You take my life. When you do take the means whereby I live.’?
You take my life when you take away my means of making a living.
10
Portia and Nerissa return to Belmont, where they confront their husband about the rings they gave them, that the men promised to keep forever. Eventually they reveal that ‘Balthasar’ and the clerk were the women in disguise.
BASSANIO Were you the doctor and I knew you not?
GRATIANO Were you the clerk that is to make me cuckold?
NERISSA Ay, but the clerk that never means to do it, Unless he live until he be a man.
What do the rings symbolise or represent?
In The Merchant of Venice rings represent love and commitment between partners.
Of course there is more to the paly than just the key scenes; there’s all the themes and symbols and motifs that run as bigger ideas throughout the play.
Task 3: Look at the images below to remind yourself of the themes, motifs and symbols.
Task4: choose 3 themes from the above image and put them in order of importance in the play with the first one you choose being the most important
Task 5: write down which of the above themes do not appear in The Merchant of Venice
Task 6: choose 4 symbols from the above that you think appear in The Merchant of Venice and explain what they mean in the context of the play
Well done! You now have read and revised the 10 key scenes
