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The Merchant of Venice Major Themes and Critical Essays

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The Merchant of Venice Major Themes and Critical Essays – ICSE Class 10, 9 English

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Major Themes and Critical Essays

Explore the different themes within William Shakespeare’s comedic play, The Merchant of Venice. Themes are central to understanding The Merchant of Venice as a play and identifying Shakespeare’s social and political commentary.

Reality and Idealism

The Merchant of Venice is structured partly on the contrast between idealistic and realistic opinions about society and relationships. On the one hand, the play tells us that love is more important than money, mercy is preferable to revenge, and love lasts forever. On the other hand, more cynical voices tell us that money rules the world, mercy alone cannot govern our lives, and love can evaporate after marriage.

The play switches abruptly between these different attitudes. Shakespeare organizes the shifts between idealism and realism by associating the two concepts with the play’s two locations. Venice is depicted as a city of merchants, usurers, and cynical young men. Belmont, in contrast, is the land where fairytales come true and romance exists.

Mercy

he Merchant of Venice begs the question, does mercy exist in the world? Between religious intolerance and personal revenge, the play seems devoid of a merciful being.

However, against all the odds, Portia does manage to bring about some mercy in Venice. When Shylock faces execution for his crimes, Portia persuades the Duke to pardon him. She then persuades Antonio to exercise mercy by not taking all of Shylock’s money from him. Here, Portia’s presence turns the proceedings away from violence and toward forgiveness. Portia does, therefore, succeed in transmitting some of her idealism into Venice. Act IV ends with the suggestion that idealism can sometimes survive in the real world.

Prejudice

Throughout the play, and as of Act 3, Scene 4, Launcelot Gobbo is still trying to reconcile his affection for Jessica with his belief that all Jews are devils. This theme continually recurs in the clown scenes, and it seems as though Shakespeare is deliberately making fun of the Christian’s attitudes toward the Jews.

The function of a clown is to misunderstand people and undermine their assumptions by asking simple, obvious questions. By highlighting the confusion of biblical texts, and raising pragmatic questions about the conversion of Jews, Launcelot, in his clownish ways, demonstrates the absurdities and complications that arise from the automatic damnation of a religious faith. Ultimately, he prevents the play from simplifying life too much. Beneath the apparently clear-cut cultural divisions in the play is an awareness of the complexities of real life.

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Character Sketch of Launcelot Gobbo in Merchant of Venice

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Character Sketch of Launcelot Gobbo in Merchant of Venice – ICSE Class 10, 9 English

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LAUNCELOT GOBBO

A Clown as well as a Servant

Launcelot Gobbo is the servant, first of the Jew, and later of the Christian Bassanio. But he is not merely a servant. Shakespeare describes him as a clown, meaning that he is a jester too. The word “fool” is also used for a person of that kind in Shakespearean drama. As a clown or a fool or a jester, Launcelot Gobbo makes a substantial contribution to the comedy of this play. However, he is not as clever and intellectual a clown as certain other clowns created by Shakespeare.

His Low, Cheap, Crude, and Farcical Kind of Humour

Much of the humour of Launcelot’s talk is of a crude and farcical kind; and the same is true of his behaviour and conduct. Hi£ fooling of his aged and blind father is not only crude and farcical but also in very bad taste. He tells his father that the young master Launcelot has died. This sort of thing fills us with disgust. It is all right for him to use his father to get a job under Bassanio; but to put up a pretence that he is dead means giving a shock to an old man who might not have been able to bear to shock. Indeed, Launcelot’s sense of humour in this particular episode is very cheap and Low. And, even in using his father to aid him in getting a job under Bassanio, he behaves in a manner which seems to us to be stupid and grotesque. He first prompts his father to say something and then he interrupts his father when the old man begins to say what he has been prompted to say. Every sentence begun by the old man is interrupted by his young son who then completes that sentence. This sort of thing certainly amused the groundlings in those times and had its utility from the point of view of public entertainment; but from the literary and artistic point of view this kind of humour ranks very low.

His Capacity to Make Truly Witty Remarks

A better example of Launcelot’s sense of humour is to be found in the conflict which is going on in his mind and which he describes in a really amusing manner. The conflict is between his desire to get a job under Bassanio and his conscience which stands in the way of his quitting the Jew’s service. While his conscience does not permit him to quit the Jew’s service, the fiend or the devil urges him to quit this job and seek one under Bassanio. The devil urges him to run away from Shylock’s house, while his conscience urges him to scorn running, and to remain loyal to his present master. Later in the play, Launcelot shows that he is also capable of making truly witty remarks. When Jessica informs him that her husband has converted her to Christianity, Launcelot makes a truly witty remark by saying that this making of Christians would raise the price of hogs, and by going on to say that, if all the Jews turn Christians and begin eating pork, there would not be a single slice of bacon available in the market at any price. He also shows his wit in using words in a double sense. His talent at punning makes Lorenzo call him “wit-snapper”; and Lorenzo then tells Jessica that this fool “has planted an army of good words in his mind”, and that he uses those words when occasion demands. Launcelot is also capable of making intelligent remarks indicative of a certain measure of wisdom. For instance, lie says to Bassanio: “You have the grace of God, sir, and he (Shylock) hath enough” On the whole, his humour and wit may be described as an interesting mixture of various elements.

Not Devoid of Sentiment: His Affection for Jessica

Launcelot is not devoid of feeling or sentiment. While leaving Jessica after having given up his job under Shylock, he becomes quite sentimental, and his eyes fill with tears. He is evidently attached to Jessica who also has a good deal of liking for him. He is glad to have got a job under the large-hearted Bassanio, but he is sorry to lose the company of Jessica.

His Manifold, But Flimsy, Role in the Play

Launcelot’s role in the play, apart from his contribution to the comedy of the play, is very slight. He does a service to Jessica by carrying a letter from her to her lover, Lorenzo. He also does a service to her by telling her indirectly that a masked procession would go through the streets at night. Later, he goes to Belmont in the company of his new master, Bassanio; and still later he conveys to Lorenzo and Jessica the information that his master Bassanio would be returning to Belmont at an early hour in the morning. He also serves to emphasize the contrast between the miserliness of Shylock service he is famished (that is, starving), while Lord Bassanio gives rare liveries to his servants. He is also brought into the Bond story because it is he who goes to Shylock with an invitation from Bassanio, asking Shylock to dine with him at the feast which Bassanio has arranged for his friends on the eve of his departure for Belmont. In fact, Launcelot appears at different places and among different persons on different occasions. He moves from Venice to Belmont, and from Belmont to Venice. He moves from the Jew’s house to Bassanio’s, and from Bassanio’s house to the Jew’s. He figures in the Lorenzo- Jessica love-affair, in the Caskets story, and also in the Bond story, though he does not play any vital part in any of these stories. By moving from one place to another and from one group of characters tc another, he contributes, in some measure, to the interweaving of the various stories in the play. In othe: words, he serves as a connecting-link among the various stories. But his chief contribution to the play is to amuse and entertain the audience (and the readers). This is how a critic describes his role in the play: “Shakespeare, always careful about the knitting of a play into unity, links Launcelot to the Jew, to Lorenzo, and to Jessica; and then, having bound him up with the Jew, binds him up with the Caskets story. He sends him to Belmont as one of Bassanio’ servants.”

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Character Sketch of Nerissa in Merchant of Venice

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Character Sketch of Nerissa in Merchant of Venice – ICSE Class 10, 9 English

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NERISSA

A Miniature Portia, Though Without Portia’s Beauty and health

Nerissa is the waiting-maid of Portia; but actually she is more of a companion to Portia than a maidservant. The main point to note about Nerissa is that she possess almost all those qualities which Portia has but possesses those qualities in a much lesser degree. She may almost be regarded as another Portia though on a greatly diminished and reduced scale. In her talk and her actions, she is almost an echo of her mistress. We could even call her an imitation Portia though we certainly do not imply thereby any contempt or scorn for her. In fact, we feel quite attracted by her, and are inclined to have an extremely favourable opinion of her as a person. She is a miniature Portia, though lacking in Portia’s beauty and Portia’s wealth.

Her Capacity to Make Aphoristic Remarks

Nerissa strikes us as a highly intelligent woman who understands Portia’s nature and character well. When we are first introduced to Portia, she (Portia) is in a rather melancholy mood. At this time Nerissa makes some very shrewd remarks by means of which she is able to provide some comfort to her mistress and soothe her troubled mind. She points out to Portia that the latter has every reason to feel happy because of her good fortune, and then she further consoles her by saying that the lottery, which her late father had devised with regard to her marriage, is a sound method by which she would be able to acquire a suitable husband. Here Nerissa also gives evidence of her capacity to speak in an aphoristic* style. For instance, she says that people, who have too much to eat or to enjoy, ultimately feel as sick of their sumptuous food and their wealth as those persons feel who have no wealth at all and no food to eat. She then goes on to say that “It is no mean happiness therefore to be seated in the mean”, meaning that only those persons can be really happy who have neither too much of wealth nor too little of it. She then makes another aphoristic statement when she says: “superfluity comes sooner by white hairs, but competency lives longer.”

Her Sense of Humour; and Her Wit

Nerissa has a strong sense of humour and is capable of making witty remarks just as she is capable of making wise ones. She fully gets into the spirit of Portia’s witty comments on the four suitors who come to Belmont to win her but who go away without venturing to make a choice of the caskets. She also fully enjoys the comedy of the rings conceived and started by Portia. She takes Gratiano to task for having given away her ring to somebody though he had sworn to keep it always with him. She pretends to disbelieve him entirely when he says that he had given the ring not to any woman but to a man who had functioned as the judge’s clerk in the court at Venice. Here she shows her wit by countering Gratiano’s plea, and asserting that he is trying to throw dust into her eyes.

A Copy of Portia; and Well Matched with Gratiano

Nerissa feels very happy at Bassanio’s choice of the right casket; and she offers her best wishes and her congratulations to both Portia and Bassanio. She feels almost as happy at acquiring Gratiano as her husband as Portia feels at acquiring Bassanio as her husband. Portia gets Lord Bassanio as her husband, and Nerissa gets Lord Bassanio’s subordinate, Gratiano, as her husband. If Bassanio had to undergo an ordeal in order to win Portia as his wife, Gratiano too had to undergo some difficulty in winning Portia’s maid as his spouse. Gratiano had to give all sorts of assurances 10 Nerissa, and had to swear his love for her with many oaths, before she agreed to marry him; and, even while giving her consent, she had laid down the condition that she would marry him only if Bassanio succeeded in winning Portia. When Portia decides to put on a man’s disguise, Nerissa too raises no objection to doing the same at Portia’s behest. All these facts only serve to prove the point that she is almost a copy of Portia.

According to a critic, Nerissa is a clever, confidential waiting-woman who has caught something of her mistress’s elegance and romance, and she mimics her mistress with emphasis and discretion. Nerissa and Gratiano, says this critic, are as well matched as the incomparable Portia and her splendid lover.

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Character Sketch of Jessica in Merchant of Venice

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Character Sketch of Jessica in Merchant of Venice – ICSE Class 10, 9 English

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JESSICA

Her Strong Dislike of Her Father’s Nature and Temperament

Jessica is the daughter of the Jew, Shylock, but a daughter who is ashamed of having that man as her father. She finds the atmosphere of her father’s home to be suffocating and almost intolerable. She is sensitive girl having an artistic temperament; and she is unable to endure the narrow-mindedness, the miserliness, and the tyrannical nature of her father. Although her father is a fanatical Jew who is intolerant of Christians, she falls in love with a Christian and runs away from home with a bag full of her father’s money and jewels. Her conduct in running away from home and stealing her father’s cash and jewels is certainly objectionable in the extreme. However, we feel inclined to take a lenient view of her conduct because we know that her father is really a close-fisted and suspicious man with a dictatorial nature and that he imposes all kinds of restrictions on his daughter’s movements.

A Beautiful, Wise, and Faithful Girl

Jessica impresses the Christian Lorenzo as a very beautiful, wise, and faithful girl; and she strikes us as a charming girl with a strong sense of humour and a poetical nature. Lorenzo tells his friends that he would “place her in his constant soul”, meaning that he would always remain loyal to her. For his sake, she does not mind giving up her own religion and becoming a Christian.

Her Artistic and Poetic Temperament

Jessica’s artistic and poetic temperament manifests itself clearly in the moonlight scene at Belmont when she is having a conversation with Lorenzo about the beauty of the night. Here she appears in a favourable light because of her wide knowledge and her capacity to make use of that knowledge when occasion demands it. She recalls the ancient, mythological love-stories, competing with Lorenzo in this respect and holding her own in this amorous dialogue. She refer to the stories of Thisbe and Medea; and tells Lorenzo that she can “out-night him*” if she is not interrupted in the course of this conversation. Her artistic nature shows itself also in her responsiveness to music. She gets into a melancholy mood whenever she hears sweet strains of music; and this effect is produced on her by music because she is very sensitive to it.

Her Essential Femininity and Modesty

Jessica is basically a modest girl even though she takes the initiative in eloping with Lorenzo. It is because she is feeling desperate that she decides to quit her father’s home; and she goes to the extent of arranging for a boy’s clothes so that she can disguise herself as a boy in order to join Lorenzo when the masked procession is passing through the street. At this time she tells Lorenzo that she is feeling very ashamed of her boy’s disguise, and that she is glad that he cannot see her in this disguise because of the darkness of the night. When Lorenzo asks her to carry a burning torch to light the way for the maskers, she says that she cannot “hold a candle to her shames”, meaning that she would not like to be seen by anyone in her boy’s disguise.

Her Sense of Humour and Her Wit       

Jessica is certainly not devoid of a sense of humour. She likes Launcelot because he keeps her amused with his light-hearted talk and his jokes; and she feels sorry when he quits her father’s service. She can herself make a joke too. For instance, when Lorenzo says that he is a very good husband to her, she replies that he should first ask her what she thinks of him as a husband, meaning that she may not be holding as high an opinion about him as he himself has.

Arguments Against, and For, Her Flight from Home

As already indicated, Jessica is certainly guilty of having disgraced her father and having done a great damage to his reputation even though his reputation is already not a good one. By running away from home and stealing her father’s money and jewels, a daughter brings great shame to her father who would then not be able to show his face to his neighbours and his acquaintances. Such behaviour on the part of a daughter is never approved by anyone in any society or community. There are certainly extenuating circumstances in the case of Jessica. But even so, nobody, who believes in the good name of his family, would justify this conduct. However, there is another side of this picture. Today we are living in times when women have achieved equality with men, and when the rights of grown-up daughters are also fully recognized. Even in orthodox Indian homes, girls have begun to assert their rights. The modem girl is not willing is concerned. We still do not approve of a girl running away from home to marry the man of her choice; but we do recognize a girl’s right to choose her husband. Thus Jessica’s action in running away from home and stealing her father’s ill-gotten money has to be judged by every reader according to his own views in the matter. Even her conversion to Christianity is an action which we may denounce or defend according to our own ideas.

Her Contribution to the Plot and to Its Atmosphere

Jessica contributes to the romantic atmosphere of the play, and adds considerably to the interest of the plot. She is the heroine of the romantic Lorenzo-Jessica sub-plot. Her role in the moonlight scene at Belmont is important because it enhances the romantic and the poetical qualities of the play. Furthermore, by running away from home with a Christian, who is one of Antonio’s associates, she further inflames Shylock’s hatred for Christians in general and for Antonio in particular. Her disguise as a boy lends further interest to the play; and she inspires Lorenzo, by her beauty and her artistic tastes, to make some of his finest speeches which delight us by their poetical and romantic qualities. Nor can we ignore the fact that she enhances Portia’s image in our eyes. She is completely free from jealousy and, when asked by Lorenzo what she thinks of Portia, she says that there is no earthly woman who can be regarded as Portia’s equal. She pays a rich tribute to Portia when she says that “the poor rude world hath not her fellow”. (The word “fellow” here means equal or peer).

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Character Sketch of Lorenzo in Merchant of Venice

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Character Sketch of Lorenzo in Merchant of Venice – ICSE Class 10, 9 English

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LORENZO

His Achievement in Winning the Heart of a Jewish Girl

Lorenzo is a Christian young man who is able somehow to capture the heart of Jessica, the daughter of Shylock the Jew. He seems to be a smart and dashing young man with a handsome appearance and an active mind. He must, of course, have taken the initiative in making Jessica’s acquaintance and then’ winning her heart. Indeed, for a Christian to win the heart of a Jewish girl in those days was like , conquering a fort or a citadel because of the bitter antagonism which existed between the two races. Lorenzo may be regarded as a romantic hero, though on a much smaller scale than Bassanio.

An Adventurous man, Truly in Love, But Not Very Scrupulous

Lorenzo is an adventurous young man and is prepared to face danger for the sake of his love. He readily agrees to Jessica’s plan to run away from home and join him when he would be leading a masked procession through the city streets at the time of night. No timid young man can take such a risk. Lorenzo shows himself to be a fearless young man willing to take risks for the sake of the girl with whom he has fallen in love. Nor does he discourage Jessica from stealing as much of her father’s money and jewels as she can. There is certainly a worldly and even mercenary ingredient in his love for Jessica. Beautiful she is; sincere she also seems to be; and she is wise too. If, in addition to being fair, wise, and sincere in her love, she can also bring a rich dowry with her, so much the better. Such is • Lorenzo’s line of reasoning with regard to Jessica. Money is welcome to him, just as it is welcome to Bassanio. But we must also acknowledge the fact that Lorenzo is lacking in moral scruple. A strictly conscientious man would not have encouraged Jessica to run away from home with him because the whole affair would most probably be regarded as a case of a Christian young man’s abduction of a Jewish girl. But, in the Elizabethan age, such conduct on the part of Christian in luring a Jewish girl away from her home and her father was thought to be a commendable action rather than an immoral or obnoxious one.

His Sense of Humour; His Wit; His Artistic Temperament

Lorenzo has a keen sense of humour and also a capacity for making witty remarks. When Gratiano describes the silent kind of man, Lorenzo says that he certainly belongs to the class of such silent men because Gratiano himself talks so much that he does not allow him (Lorenzo) to talk at all. “I must be one of these same dumb wise men”, says Lorenzo. He also gives evidence of his wit when he tells his- friends that, when their turn comes to meet their beloveds, he would wait for them with the same patience which they have shown in waiting for him. Besides being a witty man, Lorenzo has an artistic nature which he reveals in the moonlight scene at Belmont when, in the course of his conversation with Jessica, he recalls the love-affairs of Cressida and Dido, and describes them in a most fanciful manner.in that scene, he speaks in a poetical style of which he gives further evidence when he describes the music of the spheres and the effect of music on animals and on human beings.

His Praise of Antonio; and Portia’s Favourable Impression of Him

Lorenzo expresses a high opinion about Antonio, telling Portia that Antonio is a true gentleman and a dear friend of Bassanio. He also wins Portia’s confidence by his apparent good nature and trustworthiness. Portia leaves her house and her property in his charge when she leaves Belmont to preside over the legal proceedings in a Venetian court of law. Lorenzo is a good judge of character too. He not only appreciates the character of a fine gentleman like Antonio and a lovable young woman, namely Jessica, but also understands the temperament and nature of the clown, Launcelot. He rightly calls Launcelot a “wit- snapper’’. and says that “the fool hath planted in his memory an army of good words”, He correctly perceives the fact that Launcelot tries to amuse him and others by his punning and his persistent play upon words.                                         .

A Likeable Young Man, Romantic and Witty

On the whole, Lorenzo is a very likable young man who contributes greatly to the romantic atmosphere of the play by his love-affair with Jessica and who contributes also to the comedy of the play by his wit and humour.

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