The Merchant: Notes (2)

Compare the structures of the earlier comedies in the course: the Shrew (two plots, two places without much differentiation); the Dream (a Blackforest cake of layers intermingled, the city of Athens and the darker green world of the forest); and Much Ado, with two plots closely intertwined, but a single consistent setting. The Merchant is structured with two plots and two sharply differented locales: Venice and Belmont.

The binary structure. . . is fairly obvious: mercy--justice; revenge--love; Jew--Gentile; the value of money--the value of relationship. And, indeed, as if to confirm this design, the play is just as obviously built up in sets of linked yet opposed pairs. (Patrick Grant)

• Men and Women
  • Venice - masculine (women must disguise themselves as men to enter or leave)
  • Belmont - feminine (the men who fail the test must vow not to woo again)


• Commerce and Love
  • Venice
    • Love between men is expressed in terms of money -- Bassanio and Antonio
    • Jessica "gilds herself with more ducats" as she leaves
    • Shylock "my daughter and my ducats" [Illustration]
  • Belmont
    • The three caskets and the value of love
    • Why the need to "give and hazard. . . all" for love?
    • Does Portia hint? The song. [video]


• Mercy and Justice -- and the letter of the law
  • Can the law be modified? See 3.3.26-29 and 4.1.214-216.
  • The quality of mercy


• Literal and Metaphorical Language
  • Shylock's careful use of literal language: rats and pirates (1.3.22-3); "Hath a dog money?" (1.3.118); "Hath not a Jew eyes...?"
  • Belmont and symbols: the caskets, the rings