FULL ANALYSIS DRAMA THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

Mrs. Rosi Novayani Siregar .SE, MPd

GROUP 11:

1. Isnaeni Kholifah (201812500560)

2. Sofi Nurmaidah (201812500562)
3. Karima Silvy Abdiati (201812500568)
4. Afifah Indriyani (201812500609)
5. Fitria Nur Hasanah (201812500783)

PENDIDIKAN BAHASA INGGRIS

FAKULTAS BAHASA DAN SENI

UNIVERSITAS INDRAPRASTA PGRI

2019
 Analyzing Merchant of Venice

A. Type of Drama
The Merchant of Venice is "comedy" is a typical example of a Shakespearean comedy in
that its central conflict finds resolution before real harm comes to anyone. As in many
comedies, the conflict at the heart of Merchant has the potential to end tragically.

B. Describing The World of Shakespear’s Merchant of Venice

1. Setting
The merchant of venice setting time in Sixteenth century. The play, “The
Merchant of Venice” by William Shakespeare has two main settings. One setting
is Venice, a city where many businessmen live, a place full of unhappy and
unkind people. It a world of commercial and law. Venice has been portrayed by
Shakespeare as the “real” world. The other setting is Belmont, a city which houses
a rich, happy and sophisticated society of beautiful people.  Belmont is a fairy-tale
world of music and love. In this play it is evident that, good things occur in
Belmont and not so pleasant events take place in Venice. 

2. Theme
 Self-interest versus love; the divine quality of mercy; hatred as a cyclical
phenomenon

3. Plot
Bassanio, a young Venetian from a good family, has squandered his inherited
fortune. Eager to restore his wealth and to woo and win the wealthy Portia of
Belmont, he seeks a loan from Antonio, who is a merchant of Venice and his
dearest friend. Antonio has no ready cash, for all his fortune is invested in his
ships at sea. He offers his young friend his good name as credit to raise the funds
wherever he can in Venice. Shylock is a miserly Jewish moneylender whom
Antonio has often insulted. Antonio and Bassanio now go to him for a loan.
Shylock refuses to charge interest on this loan, but jokingly draws up a bond by
which he shall be entitled to one pound of Antonio's flesh if the debt is not paid on
time. Antonio agrees to the bond, feeling sure that with so many merchant ships
 abroad, he will have many times the sum in three months. While Shylock arranges
this agreement, his daughter Jessica elopes with Lorenzo, a Christian youth, taking
much of Shylock's fortune with her.

4. Source
several sources were important for Shakespeare’s creation of The Merchant of
Venice.

 Ser Giovanni Fiorentino, Il Pecorone (1558). Shakespeare may have based

his play directly on the Italian story, or perhaps used a lost English version
which followed the original more closely than any now known.
 A New Song: Shewing the Crueltie of Gernutus a Iew (date unknown).
This ballad may have contributed to Shakespeare’s language in The
Merchant of Venice.
 Anthony Munday, Zelauto. The Fountaine of Fame (1580). Book 3 of this
work may have influenced Shakespeare’s language. It also apparently gave
him the character of Jessica, Shylock’s daughter.
 Le Silvain, translated by Lazarus Pyott, The Orator (1596). Shakespeare
may have taken from this work some of Shylock’s arguments in the trial
scene (act 4 scene 1).

5. Style
As a play about financial risk, it seems fitting that The Merchant of Venice should
feature the language of economics. Some form of money talk arises in virtually
every scene, suggesting that matters of exchange, value, debt, and risk permeate
every aspect of Venetian society. The opening scene showcases how money
serves as the go-to explanation for everything. When Antonio announces that he
feels sad but doesn’t know why.
 6. The outstanding feature of the play's
 The pound of flesh
 Leah’s ring
 The three caskets

C. Structure of Drama
1. The Introduction
The scene opens with Antonio displaying his melancholy, which cannot be linked to
business or love.

2. The rising action

Antonio’s ships, the only means by which he can pay off his debt to Shylock, are
reported lost at sea.

3. The turning point or climax of the play

 The climax occurs when the wise and good Portia dresses as a lawyer and appears
anonymously in court to plead the cause of Antonio. She cunningly succeeds in
saving Antonio from the evil intentions of Shylock. In addition, she turns the law on
the moneylender and gains a monetary settlement for Antonio, stripping the Jew of all
his wealth. It is not until the end of the play, when Antonio and Bassanio return to
Belmont, that Portia reveals that she is the lawyer who saves Antonio.

4. The catastrophe
Shylock is ordered to convert to Christianity and bequeath his possessions to Lorenzo
and Jessica; Portia and Nerissa persuade their husbands to give up their rings

5. The Ending
The play ends in comedy. With the help of Portia, Shylock is defeated, reviled, and
rejected. At the same time, all the good characters in the play receive their just
rewards. Antonio receives a cash settlement from Shylock and finds that all his ships
have not been lost at sea. Portia and Bassanio are rewarded with love and happiness
with one another. Lorenzo and Jessica and Gratiano and Nerissa also find happiness in
their love.
D. Character
1. Terminlogy of Character
Characters is a verbal representation of human being as presented to us by
authors through the depiction of actions, conversation, description, reactions,
inner thoughts and reflections.
Shylock Portia Antonio
 Hate  Love  Love
 Anger  Worry  Happiness
 Rage  Beautiful  Merchant
 Distrust  Cunning  Struggles
 Jewish heires with money
moneylender problems
 Object of
scorn
Bassanio Gratiano Jessica
 Deserving  Shylock’s
 Love  Talkactive Daughter
 Bancrupt  Good-  Jewish girl
gentleman humored  Elopes with a
 Antonio's  Young Christian man
close friend gentleman
 Suitor to  friend of
Portia Antonio and
 later the Bassanio
husband of  in love with
Portia Nerissa
 later the
husband of
Nerissa
Nerissa Launcelot Gobbo Tubal
 Confidante  Comical  Shylock’s
 Curiosity figure friend
 Love  Good with  A jew
puns
Lorenzo Old Gobbo Salerio
 friend of  blind father of   a messenger
 Antonio and Launcelot from Venice;
Bassanio  friend of
 in love with Antonio,
Jessica; Bassanio and
 later the others
husband of
Jessica

2. Character in Action

Shylock - A Jewish moneylender in Venice. Angered by his mistreatment at the

hands of Venice’s Christians, particularly Antonio, Shylock schemes to eke out his
revenge by ruthlessly demanding as payment a pound of Antonio’s flesh. Although
seen by the rest of the play’s characters as an inhuman monster, Shylock at times
diverges from stereotype and reveals himself to be quite human. These contradictions,
and his eloquent expressions of hatred, have earned Shylock a place as one of
Shakespeare’s most memorable characters.

Portia - A wealthy heiress from Belmont. Portia’s beauty is matched only by her
intelligence. Bound by a clause in her father’s will that forces her to marry whichever
suitor chooses correctly among three caskets, Portia is nonetheless able to marry her
true love, Bassanio. Far and away the most clever of the play’s characters, it is Portia,
in the disguise of a young law clerk, who saves Antonio from Shylock’s knife.

Antonio - The merchant whose love for his friend Bassanio prompts him to sign
Shylock’s contract and almost lose his life. Antonio is something of a mercurial
figure, often inexplicably melancholy and, as Shylock points out, possessed of an
incorrigible dislike of Jews. Nonetheless, Antonio is beloved of his friends and proves
merciful to Shylock, albeit with conditions.

Bassanio - A gentleman of Venice, and a kinsman and dear friend to Antonio.

Bassanio’s love for the wealthy Portia leads him to borrow money from Shylock with
Antonio as his guarantor. An ineffectual businessman, Bassanio proves himself a
worthy suitor, correctly identifying the casket that contains Portia’s portrait.

Gratiano - A friend of Bassanio’s who accompanies him to Belmont. A

coarse and garrulous young man, Gratiano is Shylock’s most vocal and insulting critic
during the trial. While Bassanio courts Portia, Gratiano falls in love with and
eventually weds Portia’s lady-in-waiting, Nerissa.

Jessica - Although she is Shylock’s daughter, Jessica hates life in her father’s

house, and elopes with the young Christian gentleman, Lorenzo. The fate of her soul
is often in doubt: the play’s characters wonder if her marriage can overcome the fact
that she was born a Jew, and we wonder if her sale of a ring given to her father by her
mother is excessively callous.

Lorenzo - A friend of Bassanio and Antonio, Lorenzo is in love with

Shylock’s daughter, Jessica. He schemes to help Jessica escape from her father’s
house, and he eventually elopes with her to Belmont.

Nerissa - Portia’s lady-in-waiting and confidante. She marries Gratiano and

escorts Portia on Portia’s trip to Venice by disguising herself as her law clerk.

Launcelot Gobbo - Bassanio’s servant. A comical, clownish figure who is

especially adept at making puns, Launcelot leaves Shylock’s service in order to work
for Bassanio.

The Prince Of Morocco - A Moorish prince who seeks Portia’s hand in

marriage. The prince of Morocco asks Portia to ignore his dark countenance and seeks
to win her by picking one of the three caskets. Certain that the caskets reflect Portia’s
beauty and stature, the prince of Morocco picks the gold chest, which proves to be
incorrect.

The Prince Of Arragon - An arrogant Spanish nobleman who also attempts

to win Portia’s hand by picking a casket. Like the prince of Morocco, however, the
prince of Arragon chooses unwisely. He picks the silver casket, which gives him a
message calling him an idiot instead of Portia’s hand.

Salerio - A Venetian gentleman, and friend to Antonio, Bassanio, and

Lorenzo. Salarino escorts the newlyweds Jessica and Lorenzo to Belmont, and returns
with Bassanio and Gratiano for Antonio’s trial. He is often almost indistinguishable
from his companion Solanio.

Solanio - A Venetian gentleman, and frequent counterpart to Salarino.

 The Duke Of Venice - The ruler of Venice, who presides over Antonio’s trial.
Although a powerful man, the duke’s state is built on respect for the law, and he is
unable to help Antonio.

Old Gobbo - Launcelot’s father, also a servant in Venice.

Tubal - A Jew in Venice, and one of Shylock’s friends.

Doctor Bellario - A wealthy Paduan lawyer and Portia’s cousin. Doctor

Bellario never appears in the play, but he gives Portia’s servant the letters of
introduction needed for her to make her appearance in court.

Balthasar - Portia’s servant, whom she dispatches to get the appropriate

materials from Doctor Bellario

3. Motivation Behind the Character

a. Shylock
 Shylock wanting Antonio's flesh
This was the case with Shylock because all of his life, he was stepped on
just because he was a Jew. Also. Antonio had called him a dog and spit on
him for his religion. Shylock was going to take Antonio's flesh as a form of
revenge fo everything that happens to him because his eligion is different.
"You Call me disbeliever, cut-throat dog, and soit pon my Jewish
gaberdine...you spit on me on Wednesday last-You spurned me such a
day." -Act 1, Scene 3
b. Portia
I think that Portia wanted to see if assanio would give the ring away to
somebody he didn't actually know so she dressed as a judge and asked for the
ring in return for saving Antonio's life. And sure enough, Bassanio gave her
the ring.
"If you had known the virtue of the ring.. you would not then have parted
with the ring...” -Act 5, Scene 1
c. Antonio
 Agreeing to a deal where his life is at risk
 I believe that Antonio's motivation was that he loved Bassanio as a friend
and he wanted to make him happy, no matter the cost. he was willing to die
at the cost of his best friend's happiness, and it was going to be a very
bloody death, too.
d. Bassanio
 Bassanio giving away the ring

I believe that these were Bassanio's motivations because although the ring
meant a lot to him, it was given to him by his wife, he thought that the udge
was deserving of it, plus the judge refused to take nothing but the ring, so he
reluctanty gave it away. I said love because he didn't want to give it away
because Portia gave it to him and she was now his wife.

"if you did know to whom I gave the ring, if you did know for whom I gave
the ring, And would conceive for what I gave the ring, And how unwillingly i
left the ring.." -Act 5, scene 1

e. Nerissa
 Nerissa asking for the ring
to test Gratiano's love as well believe that Nerissa was motivated by thest
things because she was curious about whether Gratiano would give the ring
away or not. She wanted to test his love for the ring and for her.
"You swore to me when I did give it you That you would wear it till your
hour of death.” -Act 5, scene 1

4. Device of Character
As you might expect of Shakespeare, literary devices abound in this play.
In Portia's famous speech about mercy, given when she is disguised as a male lawyer,
she uses a metaphor, or comparison, likening mercy to a gentle rain that is undeserved
but blesses and nurtures what it falls upon. She further uses an aphorism, or short,
pithy phrase, to sum up mercy: "It blesseth him who gives and him who takes."The
courtroom scene uses dramatic irony, which is the literary device in which the
audience knows something the characters in the play do not. This is a favorite
technique of Shakespeare's. Here, the audience knows the lawyer is Portia, but the
characters do not. 
 If we look at one more quote, we can find more literary devices:  All that glisters
is not gold, Often have you heard that told; Many a man his life hath sold But my
outside to behold: Gilded tombs do worms infold (II, vii) The opening line
uses alliteration, which is to use a consonant repeatedly for emphasis. The "g" in
glisters and gold helps us remember the contrast between glisters and gold and thus
the contrast between outer show (glister) and real worth (gold). The passage also
employs rhyme: told, sold, behold and infold, which helps us to remember the
important thematic point that money isn't everything. Shakespeare also
uses imagery to paint a vivid contrast between a shining, gilded tomb and the worms
within it. This imagery also uses the device of juxtaposition of two sharply contrasting
images, in this case gilt and worms.

Technique of Characterization
Repetition operates in the play most effectively in the character of Shylock,
especially when he is angry. Often those "Christian intercessors" (3.2) try to talk and
reason with Shylock, but their points lack substance. Portia's entire speech on the
nature of mercy in the courtroom asserts that Shylock should be merciful because it's
a good thing to be. The Christians aren't particularly great at reasoning, and they have
a habit of being overly verbose and grandiose in their speech, as when Bassanio tells
Antonio the long arrow story and all he really means is "Can I get some money?"

Shylock, by contrast, says exactly what he needs to say. His terse speeches let the
Christians know that not only is he totally convinced about what he's saying, but he
won't be moved by any of their florid speeches. When Shylock brings the jailer to
Antonio in Act 3, Scene 3, Antonio keeps trying to cut in with reason. Shylock
deflects him by simply repeating some iteration of "I'll have my bond" about five
times in fewer than fifteen lines. 

In court, while Portia talks about mercy, Shylock sticks to his guns by
repeating that he'll have justice and nothing else. This comes back to bite him later
when Portia delivers her crushing legal judgment. She seems pretty spiteful when she
says "For, as thou urgest justice, be assur'd / Thou shalt have justice, more than thou
desir'st" (4.1.329-330). We might attribute her irritation to Shylock's insistent
repetition, which showed her diatribe about mercy to be completely irrelevant to the
issue at hand.
 Shylock's most important repetition comes with the "I am a Jew" speech of Act 3,
Scene 1. He repeats questions and answers in an almost hypnotic way, and he leads the
listener to his conclusion by drawing them along with a building series of questions. This
is almost the opposite of the cryptic manner of Portia's caskets or the flowery manner of
Bassanio's wooing. The listener follows because of his simple, straightforward speech,
and the content is made all the more striking because of its poetic clarity.

E. Language and Rhetoric

Act 1
Scene 2
Allusion: "If I live to be as old as Sibylla, I will die as chaste as Diana, unless I be
obtained by the manner of my father's will..." (lines 101-103)
Portia alludes to Sibylla and Diana, a prophetess in ancient times, famous for her extreme
old age, and the Roman goddess of feminine virtue and purity, respectively. Portia is
saying that she will remain unmarried for the rest of her life, until a man chooses the right
casket and gains the right to marry her.
Scene 3
Simile: "Mark you this, Bassanio, the devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. An evil
soul producing holy witness is like a villain with a smiling cheek, A goodly apple rotten
at the heart: O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath! (lines 93-98)

Antonio advises Bassanio to beware of Shylock's words by using "like" to metaphorically

compare Shylock to the devil. Antonio portrays Shylock as a man who is able to the
sugarcoat bad things and make them appear acceptable.
Act 2
Scene 7
Metaphor: "... Never so rich a gem was set in worse than gold..." (lines 54-55)

Morocco is comparing Portia's picture to a gem. He says that Portia's picture is of so high
value, like a rare gem, that it deserves to be put in nothing less valuable than a gold
casket.
Scene 7
Hyperbole: "Why, that's the lady; all the world desires her;
From the four corners of the earth they come,
To kiss this shrine, this mortal-breathing saint:
The Hyrcanian deserts and the vasty wilds
Of wide Arabia are as thoroughfares now
For princes to come view fair Portia:
The watery kingdom, whose ambitious head
Spits in the face of heaven, is no bar
To stop the foreign spirits, but they come,
As o'er a brook, to see fair Portia. (lines 38-47)

Morocco uses exaggeration to say that the beauty of Portia is so great that men travel
from the all over the world, crossing deserts, crossing through the oceans like they were
tiny streams, to look upon her beauty and try to woo her.

Act 3
Scene 1
Personification: "I think they call the place; a very dangerous flat and fatal, where the
carcasses of many a tall ship lie buried, as they say, if my gossip Report be an honest
woman of her word. (lines 4-7)
Salerio personifies Report as an old woman who tells him what she hears about Antonio's
ships.

Scene 1
Metaphor: "And Shylock, for his own part, knew the bird was fledged; and then it is the
complexion of them all
to leave the dam. (lines 27-29)
Solanio is comparing Jessica to a bird that is ready to leave its mother and fly. Jessica is
at the age where she can make her own decisions and she made the decision to run away
from her father, Shylock, and elope with Lorenzo.

Scene 2
 Repetition: "I'll have my bond; I will not hear thee speak: I'll have my bond; and
therefore speak no more.
I'll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool,
To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield
To Christian intercessors. Follow not;
I'll have no speaking: I will have my bond." (lines 12-17)

Shylock repeats the phrase "I'll have my bond" three times and forbids Antonio to speak
three times emphasizes Shylock's mercilessness adamancy in having the forfeiture of his
bond, which is a pound of Antonio's flesh.
Scene 2
Hyperbole: "... but her eyes,--
How could he see to do them? having made one,
Methinks it should have power to steal both his
And leave itself unfurnish'd. (lines 123-126)

Bassanio states that Portia's eyes are so beautiful to the extent that the painter would go
blind after having painted one of Portia's eyes, and wouldn't be able to paint the other eye.
Scene 1
Personification: "How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!
Here will we sit and let the sounds of music
Creep in our ears... (lines 54-56)

F . FURTHER DIMENSIONS AND DEVICES

1) Dramatic Irony:
" I will go before, sir. Mistress, look out at window, for all this: There will come a
Christian boy, will be worth a Jewess' eye. (Act 2 Scene 5 lines 40-43)
 The audience knows that Lorenzo will come and help Jessica with her escape
from her father's house on that night itself. Shylock does not know that all this will
happen under his nose while he is dining with Bassanio.

2) Pathos
Shylock’s next statement uses more Pathos because of the word choice in his
questions. Shylock says,
“If you prick us, do we not bleed? /if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison
/us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not /revenge? If we are like you in
the rest, we will /resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, /what is his
humility? Revenge. If a Christian /wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by
/Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany you /teach me, I will execute, and it
shall go hard but I /will better the instruction.” (III.I).
When Shylock says, “If you prick us, do we not bleed?” and “if you poison /us, do we
not die?”
The imagery that the words portray makes the audience feel pity for Shylock and his
race because the imagery is painful and upsetting.

3) Cynicsm
This is shown when Shylock delivered his interpretation of the Jacob and Laban’s
Sheep story. Immediately after Shylock’s dialogue, Antonio remarks, “This was a
venture, sir, that Jacob served for,/A thing not in his power to bring to pass,/But
swayed and fashioned by the hand of heaven.” (1.3.99-101) Due to the bolded words,
Antonio’s tone is incredibly assertive – he attempts to dominate and squelch
Shylock’s interpretation without even considering it. This shows that Antonio is
arrogant.

4) Denouement
When the merchant Antonio agrees to help his friend, Venetian nobleman Bassanio,
by lending him money, he must himself take a loan because all his investments are
tied up in his three merchant ships which are at sea. Therefore, he is compelled to
approach the usurer Shylock, whom he has disparaged for years. Now sensing his
advantage over Antonio and an opportunity to avenge himself for his "ancient grudge"
against Antonio for his insults and his refusal to charge interest on loans, Shylock
 agrees to provide Bassanio the money on the condition that if Antonio fails to repay it,
Shylock may extract a pound of flesh from the merchant:

...let the forfeit

Be nominated for an equal pound
Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken
In what part of your body pleaseth me. (1.3.145-148)

5) Parody
Parody exist strongly in many situations. One of them is the ring scene when Portia
and Nerissa act as if they are shocked with their husband's abandonment of the rings
and they refuse to believe that they were given to the lawyer and his clerk.

6) Reversal
In Act IV scene 1 and the sudden reversal of fortunes that Antonio and Shylock both
experience. Consider the way that the drama leads up to this climactic scene: the
antipathy between Shylock and Antonio is made evident, and the "merry bond" that
Antonio agrees to is finalised. Meanwhile, Shylock suffers the loss of his daughter,
that makes his hunger for vengeance against the wrongs that he and his race have
suffered all the more acute. Also, Antonio himself has suffered bad tidings, with news
of the shipwreck of some of his ships making him unable to repay the bloodthirsty
Jew.

7) Didacticism
This double lesson on William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice intends to
show the students that the “Flesh-Bond Scene” (Act One, Scene Three) is an
important key scene because it strongly influences the “Court Scene” and thus the
overall outcome of Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice.
Bassanio: This is Signior Antonio.
Shylock : [Aside] How like a fawning publican he looks!
I hate him for he is a Christian,
But more for that in low simplicity
He lends out money gratis and brings down
The rate of usance here with us in Venice. (line. 365)
 If I can catch him once upon the hip,
I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.
He hates our sacred nation, and he rails,
Even there where merchants most do congregate,
On me, my bargains and my well-won thrift,
Which he calls interest. Cursed be my tribe,
If I forgive him! (line. 370)

8) Blank Verse
Like we said, the noble characters mostly speak in unrhymed iambic pentameter (also
called "blank verse"). Don't let the fancy names intimidate you—it's really pretty
simple once you get the hang of it. It's the most common rhythm in English poetry:
in SOOTH, i KNOW not WHY i AM so SAD
it WEARies ME; you SAY it WEARies YOU (1.1.1-2)
Every second syllable is accented (stressed), so this is classic iambic pentameter.
Since the lines have no regular rhyme scheme, we call it unrhymed iambic
pentameter, a.k.a. blank verse.

9) Interpreting of the play

Of the various interpretations of the character of Shylock one makes him throughout a
mere bloodthirsty villain; a stony adversary, an inhuman wretch; a misbeliever, cut-
throat dog; a dog Jew; the most impenetrable cur that ever kept with men. In the
downfall of this 'damn'd, inexorable dog,' whose desires are wolfish, bloody, starved,
and ravenous, even though the downfall be brought about by means of a palpable
legal quibble, they wholly rejoice, agreeing with Bassanio that to do this great right it
is quite justifiable to do a little wrong, [3] if one may thereby curb this cruel devil of
his will.