The Merchant of Venice

1
The Merchant of Venice

• Themes in the Play

2
Love and Wealth

• Many works of literature deal with conflicts
  between love and money. In The Merchant of
  Venice, Shakespeare takes a more unusual approach
  to this subject, treating love as just another
  form of wealth.
• Shakespeare seems to be saying that love and
  money are similar. They are blessings to those
  who can pursue them in the right spirit. On the
  other hand, those who are too possessive or too
  greedy, will get pleasure neither from the
  pursuit of romantic love nor from the
  accumulation of wealth.
• Bassanio sets out to win Portia's love, solving
  his money problems at the same time. Shylock, in
  contrast, is a miser who hoards both his gold and
  his love and loses his daughter and his riches
  simultaneously.
• Antonio demonstrates the love of one friend for
  another by pledging his own flesh to guarantee a
  loan for Bassanio. He, too, is rewarded for his
  generosity. Not only do Antonio's ships come in
  at the end of the play, but Bassanio's fortunate
  marriage enriches Antonio as well, bringing him
  Portia's loyalty and friendship.

3
Mercy Vs. Revenge

• A number of Shakespeare's plays are concerned
  with the question of justice and the nature of
  legitimate authority. The Merchant of Venice
  poses the question of whether the law should be
  tempered by mercy, or whether it should be
  morally neutral.
• If neutral, then the law can become a tool in the
  hands of men such as Shylock, who use it to
  further their own personal vendettas.
• In Act IV of the play, we find Portia arguing
  that the justice of the state, like God's
  justice, ought to be merciful. Mercy does triumph
  eventually in this courtroom scene, but not until
  Portia reveals a legal loophole which makes it
  possible for the Duke to rule in her favour.
• In the world of this comedy, at least, the
  conflict between morally neutral law and merciful
  law is easily resolved. Readers do disagree,
  however, as to how well the theme of mercy's
  triumph over revenge is carried out by the "good"
  characters' treatment of Shylock.
• You will have to decide for yourself whether
  Shylock's punishment at the end of the trial
  scene is truly merciful- or whether he in fact
  becomes the victim of an unconscious streak of
  vengefulness in the character of Antonio.

4
Harmony

• In a reading of the play a number of sub-themes
  are revealed that contrast other sets of values,
  in addition to those of mercy and revenge.
• The test of the three caskets points to the truth
  that external beauty and inner worth are not
  always found together.
• On the whole, the play stresses harmony, not
  conflict. The play seems to tell us that in a
  well-balanced life the pursuit and enjoyment of
  money, romantic love, and deep friendship will
  not necessarily conflict. It is possible to
  experience and enjoy all of these things - but
  only if we do not place undue importance on
  gaining any one of them.
• The theme of harmony is stressed throughout the
  play by the use of music and musical imagery.
  Portia and Lorenzo both praise and enjoy music
  for its power to ease sorrowful moments and make
  us more reflective in times of happiness. Notice,
  too, that Shylock- the character who is out of
  harmony with society - fears the power of music.
  He even orders his daughter to close up the house
  to keep out the music of the masque.

5
Friendship

• It is not only romantic love that is discussed as
  a form of wealth in The Merchant of Venice.
  Friendship, too, is an important aspect of
  "love's wealth."
• The idea that a husband and wife should be best
  friends and a happy marriage takes precedence
  over outside friendships is a modern one.
  Shakespeare's audience would no doubt have found
  this notion rather bizarre - suitable, perhaps
  for starry-eyed and headstrong young lovers, but
  hardly the basis for life-long happiness.
• In the play, Portia demonstrates her depth of
  character by understanding that her husband's
  happiness depends on his ability to discharge his
  obligations as a friend. Thus, his loyalties have
  become her loyalties. The Elizabethans expected
  friendship to be the glue that held together
  business relationships between social equals.
• It is understandable, that in Elizabethan
  society, Shylock's refusal to dine with Bassanio
  is treated as an act of hostility. This was a
  common view religious laws which kept Jews from
  socialising with Christians on a friendly basis
  were seen as sinister, and an expression of
  untrustworthy intentions. This explains the
  frequent references to the eating of pork
  throughout the play.

6
Appearance Vs. Reality

• Appearances can be deceiving.The Merchant of
  Venice warns us repeatedly that outer beauty is
  not necessarily evidence of inner worth. As the
  motto on the gold casket puts it "All that
  glisters is not gold."
• There is some belief that the emphasis on this
  moral is out of place in the play. After all,
  Portia the heroine turns out to be as good and
  wise as she is beautiful and rich.
• However, another way of looking at this theme's
  relation to the action is to say that Shakespeare
  has gone beyond the obvious, clichéd implications
  of his theme to hit on a deeper reality. Even a
  beautiful, desirable woman deserves to be loved
  for her inner self, not just collected like an
  object of art.
• The rewards from all worthwhile relationships can
  be achieved only when the partners open their
  hearts to each other. By the same reasoning,
  money itself is not necessarily a bad thing - but
  you must be careful to love it for the good it
  can do. Shylock's failing is not that he is rich,
  but that he seeks to use his money for an evil
  end revenge!