Act I Scene I



Act 3 Scene 1

Summary

Solanio and Salerio meet again in the Venetian streets to gossip. Salerio sadly reports that the news of what is potentially Antonio's ship getting wrecked in the narrow seas between England and France has yet to be denied.

When Shylock enters and laments that his own flesh and blood, Jessica, has deserted him, the other two men are less than sensitive. Talk turns to the fate of Antonio's ships, and Shylock keeps reiterating that Antonio needs to "look to his bond," suggesting that he has no plans to be merciful if Antonio forfeits.

Shylock makes an illuminating speech which culminates in a note about revenge, just as it began. Jews, being wronged, will seek revenge just as Christians do. If anything, Shylock has learned this example of revenge-taking from the Christians themselves. "The villainy you teach me, I will execute," he says.

Important Symbolism:

Rings

When Jessica elopes with Lorenzo, she not only helps herself to Shylock's gold, but she also steals a turquoise ring... which turns out to be one of Shylock's most prized possessions. When Shylock speaks with his friend Tubal about Jessica's theft of the ring, Shakespeare shows us another side of Shylock. We learn that the ring was given to Shylock by his dead wife, Leah (Jessica's mother). We also find out that it means a great deal to him not because of its monetary value but because of the sentimental value he attaches to it. Shylock's grief-stricken response to the news that Jessica traded the ring for a monkey is touching and quite human.

In the previous scene, when Bassanio chooses the correct casket and wins Portia as his wife, Portia slips a ring on his finger and declares everything she owns is now his property. In this example, the ring is a symbol of Portia's love and commitment, and if Bassanio doesn't keep it on his finger, he's in big trouble. Bassanio says he's fine with this and promises that "when this ring / Parts from this finger, then parts life from hence" (3.2.187-188).

In "Portia's Ring: Unruly Women and Structures of Exchange in The Merchant of Venice," literary critic Karen Newman notes that, at first, the ring seems to represent Portia's submission to her soon-to-be husband and her willingness to become subservient when she marries (Newman 25).

Yet when Portia gives Bassanio the ring (and all of her worldly possessions and property), she also puts herself in a position of power, because she's giving her soon-to-be husband more than he can possibly give her in return (Newman, 26).

If you only remember three lines, remember these…

SALARINO

There is more difference between thy flesh and hers than between jet and ivory; more between your bloods than there is between red wine and Rhenish. (3.1.34-35)

Because…

 

SHYLOCK

Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? (3.1.53-57

Because…

SHYLOCK

Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal: it was my

turquoise. I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor. I

would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys. (3.1.107-109)

Because…

Discussion Point

To what extent does The Merchant of Venice suit the context of production?

Discuss whether you think Shakespeare himself shared the anti-Semitism of the Christian characters in the play, or whether you believe he is simply revealing the values and beliefs of his time.

Study Questions: Act 3, Scene 1

Remember to use details from the scene in every answer. Write in full paragraphs, including comment on the language of the play:

1. What news does Salarino and Salanio discuss at the start of the scene?

2. Write a short commentary of Shylock’s persuasive speech (lines 47 -65) in which you explore his intention, theme and analyse the rhetorical devices he uses to present his argument. Be sure to include what you consider to be the turning point of his speech.

3. At the end of the scene we are again challenged in our assumptions of Shylock as simply a ‘villainous’ character.

What is the impression of Shylock you are left with at the end of the scene? Explain your answer.

Venetian Wisdom

Legally, in the 16th century, marriage made a man master over his wife and her property, which Portia acknowledges in her speech in Act 2.

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This line is important because of what comes after – here Salarino contrasts, in the form of binary oppositions, (black/white, red wine/white wine) to assert an essential difference between Jessica and Shylock. Now she has converted to Christianity, she has lost all connection with her father in the eye of Salarino and all his friends.

Shylock delivers this blistering response to Salarino’s lines which strikes like a thunderbolt in a play in which the characters work so hard to distance themselves from each other. Here Shylock asserts that all people, Christian and Jew alike, share a common humanity. His argument is both logical and passionate, suffused with rhetorical devices designed to impact the listener and move the audience. It is this speech which is often quoted when people mention this play, or discuss whether the text itself is anti-semetic, or whether the play simply holds up a mirror to the culture and values of the time.

Of all Shylock’s lines, this one provokes most sympathy for his character, as it cracks the façade of the moneylender who is only interested in profits. The reference to his wife shouldn’t surprise (he has a daughter after all!), but it does. Perhaps it’s because, in a play that makes so much effort to avoid using his name (often using the term Jew instead) he names her in such a tender tone of voice. Perhaps it’s the emotive word, ’torture,’ reminding us of the common humanity he asserted in the previous speech. Perhaps it’s the polysemy of the word ‘wilderness,’ used here as a collective noun for ‘group,’ but echoing the empty desolation of a father who has lost, wife, daughter and now an item more precious than gold to him (as it represented his memories of Leah.) The compound effect of all this is rendered tragic by the structure of this scene – we only get this intimate glimpse of Shylock’s character after he has committed his heart to revenge.

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