merchant of venice jessica essay

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Merchant of Venice

A doomed fate: characterizing the relationship between jessica and lorenzo anonymous college.

From the very beginning, it seemed like Lorenzo and Jessica might not make a strong couple. Like any good Shakespearean match, these two were destined to have obstacles to face during the course of their relationship. Lorenzo is Christian and Jessica is Jewish, but on top of that Shylock, Jessica’s father, is vehemently opposed to this pairing. As a result, Jessica steals from her own father and runs away from home to elope with Lorenzo. The most interesting aspect of lines 1-24 of Scene 5 is Jessica and Lorenzo’s comparison of themselves to famously doomed lovers. It seems that if one was confident in their love for another, they would not want to begin by juxtaposing their affections with love stories that ended in death or despair. In these lines, Shakespeare is giving us information about this relationship that he knows our naivety would force us to overlook. It seems that the relationship between Jessica and Lorenzo could go one of two ways. They could be the successful star-crossed lovers readers have been rooting on for centuries, or they could be star-crossed lovers that disappoint our romantic fantasies yet again.

Shakespeare is certainly not one to just give us what we want without a lesson learned. In fact, in...

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Everything You Need to Know About ‘The Merchant of Venice’ for English: Summary, Context, Themes & Analysis

Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice explores a Christian merchant’s bond with a Jewish moneylender, their high-stakes loan, and a controversial trial. Check out the plot summary, key characters, themes, quotes and a step-by-step guide on how to analyse an excerpt from the text.

Studying this text for the HSC English Common Module  right now?

We’ve also got a sample analysis table (also called a TEE table ) and a sample Band 6 paragraph!

So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to ace your analysis of The Merchant of Venice — let’s go!

Summary of The Merchant of Venice  Historical Context  Key Characters in The Merchant of Venice Themes and Quotes from The Merchant of Venice   Connection to Texts and Human Experiences How to Analyse The Merchant of Venice in 4 Steps Sample Band 6 Paragraph and TEE Tables

Plot Summary of The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice follows  Bassanio , who is too poor to attempt to win the hand of his true love, Portia . In order to travel to Portia’s estate, he asks his best friend, Antonio , for a loan.

Because Antonio’s money is invested in a number of trade ships, the two friends ask to borrow money from Shylock, the Jew.  

Shylock tells the men that if they cannot repay the money, he will claim a pound of Antonio’s flesh. They borrow the money regardless, and Bassanio and Portia fall happily in love.

Meantime, Antonio’s ships have been lost so he is unable to repay Shylock the money that had been loaned. Shylock takes Antonio to court in order to claim his pound of flesh.

Portia dresses up as a legal doctor and disguises herself as the judge of the court. During the court scene, Bassanio offers Shylock twice the money lent, but Shylock refuses.

At the last minute, as Shylock is about to cut a pound of flesh from Antonio , the judge (Portia) claims that the law does not state he can have any of Antonio’s blood .

Shylock finally agrees to take the money, but Portia argues that because he is guilty of conspiring against a Venetian citizen, he must give away all of his property to the state and Antonio.

Antonio does not ask Shylock to pay the money, but requires him to convert to Christianity and give his inheritance to Lorenzo, and his daughter, Jessica, who abandoned him.

Portia eventually reveals her disguise to Antonio and Bassanio, and it is revealed that Antonio’s ships have returned safely.

The Merchant of Venice: Characters, Themes, Quotes, Analysis + Sample Paragraph

Key characters in the merchant of venice.

Antonio Antonio is arguably the protagonist of The Merchant of Venice, and the merchant the play is named after. As an audience we are drawn to Antonio due to his melancholy demeanour and devotion to his best friend, Bassanio. However, Antonio shows his dark side through the cruel and racist comments he makes towards Shylock throughout the play. 

Bassanio Bassanio is Antonio’s best friend. He’s obsessed with two things: money and Portia. And since Portia is super rich, we could argue it’s just money. Bassanio is also manipulative and cunning throughout the play, using convoluted rhetoric to convince Antonio to lend him money and using figurative language to make it pretty clear he likes Portia for her money. 

Portia Portia is the wealthy heiress of Belmont. Before his death, her father created three caskets and only the man to choose the correct casket could marry his daughter. Not being able to choose her own husband and being forced into limited feminine roles, Portia lacks autonomy within her society. However, she finds ways to circumvent the systems which oppress her, and demonstrates a surprising amount of agency by the end of the play. 

Shylock Shylock is the Jew that lends Antonio 3000 Ducats on the condition that if he does not return the loan in three months, Shylock can take a pound of flesh from Antonio. Shylock hates the Christians and curses them throughout the play, yet we might feel sorry for Shylock when we see the abuse he endures from his society. Shylock stands out as a “what you see is what you get” kind of character, which contrasts against the deceitfulness of many of the Christian characters in the Merchant of Venice.

Jessica Jessica is Shylock’s daughter. She steals her father’s money and treasures and runs away to marry Lorenzo, converting to christianity. You may want to consider whether Jessica was justified in leaving her cruel father, or whether she abandoned her family and religion. 

Lorenzo Lorenzo is close friends with Antonio and Bassanio. He marries Jessica, who, much like Portia, is loaded with cash after stealing it from her father. However, unlike Bassanio who just wants Portia for her money, Lorenzo seems much more likely to love Jessica for who she is. He also marries a jew, something his society would have condemned. So, you may like to consider whether Lorenzo is less confined to his society’s prejudices than other characters in the Merchant of Venice. 

Nerissa Portia’s lady in waiting and bestie. Nerissa and Portia enjoy mocking her suitors together.

Minor Characters in the Merchant of Venice Gratiano: Bassanio’s friend. The Duke of Venice: The Duke of Venice’s job is to hold up the law. He has little power to help Antonio after he owes Shylock a pound of flesh. Prince of Morocco: O ne of Portia’s suitors. Portia and Nerissa mock him for the dark colour of his skin. The Prince of Arragon: One of Portia’s suitors. Salarino and Solerio: These two are difficult to differentiate from one another. These characters are merchants in Venice and friends with Antonio and Bassanio.  Launcelot Gobbo: Initially Shylock’s servant, he leaves to work for Bassanio. Launcelot Gobbo is the clown of the play, and often misuses big words.  Old Gobbo: Launcelot Gobbo’s dad. Tubal: A friend of Shylock. Balthasar: Portia’s servant, who she sends to Doctor Bellario to provide the documents she needs to appear as The Duke in court.

Context of The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice was written when antisemitism (hostility against Jews) was prevalent in Europe.

A fresh wave of this antisemitism erupted after the trial and execution of Roderigo Lopez, a doctor of Jewish ancestry who served and was accused of poisoning Queen Elizabeth I.

Jewish people were stereotyped as ‘greedy’ and ‘cruel money lenders’.

The Merchant of Venice has been criticised by some for appealing to this antisemitism, yet others have acknowledged the ways in which Shakespeare challenged the antisemitism of his time by humanising Shylock.

Shylock contrasts against other depictions of Jews at the time, such as Barabas from Christopher Marlowe’s play, The Jew of Malta , which gave a more one-dimensional and stereotypical depiction of a Jew.

This was also a time in which women were seen as property by males, and it was very difficult for women to have any property or real power of their own .

It is important to consider this in order to understand the actions of Portia throughout the play, who circumvents and exploits patriarchal structures in order to gain power for herself.

If The Merchant of Venice isn’t your prescribed text for the Common Module and you’re studying Kenneth Slessor’s poetry instead, we’ve got you covered! Check out our analysis and summary of ‘Wild Grapes’.

Themes & Quotes from The Merchant of Venice

1. value of money over human life.

Throughout the play, Shakespeare  contrasts the value of human life and monetary value — we’re prompted to consider whether characters favour commodities or human life.

This quote conveys this idea in particular:

“I would my daughter were dead at my foot and the jewels in her ear! Would she were hearsed at my foot and the ducats in her coffin!” – Shylock, Act 3 Scene 1

In this speech, Shylock is so enraged that his daughter ran away and stole all his money and jewels that he wishes his daughter was dead. Though, there’s more than one way this quote can be interpreted:

Does it suggest that he desires all the jewels and ducats back, and his daughter dead, upset with what she’s done? Or is he saying that he doesn’t really care for the money, but is hurt by what Jessica has done, that he wants her dead?

2. Commodification of love

From the start of the play, Bassanio evidently shows that he cares a lot about Portia’s money, even just in the way he talks about her, stating:

 “many Jasons come in quest of her” – Bassanio to Antonio, Act 1 Scene 1.

In this quote, Bassanio alludes to the Greek myth of Jason and the argonauts, where a team of heroes go on a quest in search of a golden fleece. By suggesting that Portia is a prize, like the golden fleece, what can be said about the way Bassanio views Portia?

Need more key lines from the play? Here are all the important quotes you need from The Merchant of Venice to write your analysis!

3. Marginalisation of oppressed groups

Another The Merchant of Venice theme is the marginalisation of not only Jewish people in 16th Century Venetian society, but women too.

In Act 4 Scene 1, Gratiano insults Shylock: “thy currish spirit Govern’d a wolf, who, hang’d for human slaughter, Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet, And, whilst thou lay’st in thy unhallow’d dam, Infused itself in thee; for thy desires Are wolvish, bloody, starved and ravenous.” – Gratiano, Act 4 Scene 1

This quote illustrates Gratiano insulting Shylock by suggesting he was reincarnated from a wolf. He also calls Shylock’s mother an “unhallow’d dam”, playing on the word “dam”, referring both to a female parent of an animal but also suggesting she is “damned”.  

Interestingly, his language is Christian, but this idea of reincarnation is starkly non-Christian.  

Is Shakespeare complicit in Gratiano’s racism, or is Shakespeare self consciously pointing out the hypocrisy of a Christian using non-Christian logic to insult Shylock?

4. The individual desire for power and agency

Portia expresses her yearning for power to circumvent her marginalisation. As she tells Bassanio:

“This house, these servants, and this same myself Are yours, my lord’s. I give them with this ring, Which when you part from, lose, or give away, Let it presage the ruin of your love And be my vantage to exclaim on you.”

In this speech, Portia warns Bassanio that if he loses her ring, their love is ruined and that she will have power over him.  

We could then say that Portia’s ring is a way for her to manipulate Bassanio and gain power over him, especially since she’s the one who plans for him to lose the ring.

The paragraph for download below argues that Portia’s character spends the play manipulating others to gain her own power. Do you agree?

Connection to Texts and Human Experiences

Before analysing The Merchant of Venice, it’s important to get familiar with the Common Module: Texts and Human Experiences so you know how to relate to the module in your assessment.

Let’s take a look at the syllabus!

In short, this module is about deepening your understanding of how texts represent the individual and collective human experience. This can include examining how texts represent human qualities and emotions associated with, or arising from human experiences.

Shakespeare was a playwright who was very interested in the idea of the human being , meaning “human experiences” are central to his thematic concerns. Here are some key ways that the play relates to the HSC Common Module syllabus:

• The Merchant of Venice represents the collective human experiences of oppression, racism and marginalisation, as well the individual human experiences of overcoming these limitations.
• Shakespeare represents the human qualities of ambition, and motivations of greed and power, by showing how all of his characters will do anything to get what they want. For example, Bassanio will do anything to get money (oops, I mean Portia), Portia will do anything for power, and Shylock will do anything for revenge.
• Shakespeare represents characters in the Merchant of Venice paradoxically , as simultaneously marginalised (whether by money, gender or religion) as well as in positions of power. Shylock is particularly paradoxical as he is simultaneously depicted as cruel and vengeful, and a victim of an antisemitic society.
• Bassanio and Portia are presented as inconsistent , ostensibly motivated by their love for one another, but on a deeper level, motivated by money and power respectively. Shakespeare challenges the responder to see the world differently by suggesting people are not what they seem: loving protagonists perhaps have ulterior motives, and cruel antagonists can be marginalised victims of their society.

Check out our list of recommended related texts for the HSC Common Module that you can use for The Merchant of Venice!

Analyse The Merchant of Venice in 4 Steps

Students will often try to start writing their essay with a thesis when trying to answer an essay question.

But you should without a doubt start with your analysis!

You need to equip yourself with the knowledge of your text before you can answer anything about it.

We’re going to walk you through  how to prove a topic sentence using literary analysis of The Merchant of Venice in 4 Steps.

The Topic Sentence

It’s important that whenever we are writing analysis we do it with a theme or a topic sentence in mind.

For the following analysis, this is the topic sentence we are trying to prove:

Portia moves from an object of male consumption to a subject with individual agency throughout the Merchant of Venice, yet she uses her power to marginalise others

Step 1: Choose your example

When we choose examples, we want to use quotes that have a strong technique which we are able to analyse.

That’s why we have chosen Bassanio’s descriptions of Portia:

He calls her a “lady richly left,”  a “golden fleece,” and speaks of her “worth.”

Note: It’s okay to have multiple quotes in an example, so long as they prove the same point!

Step 2: Identify techniques

When trying to find a technique within your example, it’s not about finding the fanciest technique or just any old technique for that matter!

It’s about identifying a technique which will enable you to say something about your idea that’s interesting and can contribute to your argument and analysis.

We have identified a few techniques from these quotes. For the first two quote, “a lady richly left” and “worth” , the technique is consumerist imagery.

For the second quote “golden fleece” the technique is allusion to Greek mythology.

Notice that we haven’t pointed out the alliteration in “lady richly left” because we have nothing to say about this alliteration.

We should only use a technique if it has an effect which we can link back to our topic sentence.

If you need to brush up on your literary techniques, check out this cheat sheet of literary techniques to improve your vocabulary

Step 3: Carry out your analysis 

Now that you’ve identified your techniques, you need to conduct some analysis!

There are three steps to good analysis:

• Focus on your chosen techniques and identify what it reveals about an idea.
• Show how the effect of the quote links to the idea of your topic sentence
• Say something new about your topic sentence (don’t just repeat the previous point!)

We are going to analyse the first two quotes and the third quote separately, however our analysis is going to suggest the same idea about both of them.

Technique #1: Consumerist imagery 

The consumerist imagery of “a lady richly left” and “worth”  position Portia as an object for male consumption and a commodity .

Technique #2: Mythological allusion

This reference to Jason and the Argonauts positions portia as a prize to be won, rather than as an individual with her own subjective experience.

Have a think about how we have fulfilled the two steps for analysis above. 

Step 4: Put it all together!

So we have found an example, identified a technique and written some analysis. Now let’s put it all together into the beginning of a paragraph:

Portia moves from an object of male consumption to a subject with individual agency throughout the Merchant of Venice, yet she uses her power to marginalise others. Bassanio describes Portia as an object through consumerist imagery. He calls her a “lady richly left” and speaks of her “worth.” He couples this with an allusion to Greek mythology, calling her a “golden fleece.” This reference to Jason and the Argonauts positions Portia as a prize to be won, rather than as an individual with her own subjective experience.

Sample Band 6 Paragraph and TEE Tables

We’ve analysed another two examples using TEE tables for The Merchant of Venice that you can access for FREE below! Plus, we’ve also written a sample Band 6 paragraph for you to read over. Download it below!

And that wraps up our guide to analysing The Merchant of Venice for HSC English Texts and Human Experiences. You’ve now got everything you need to know about The Merchant of Venice with the summary, key characters, themes and quotes — good luck!

Looking for some extra help with The Merchant of Venice for the HSC Common Module?

We have an incredible team of HSC English tutors and mentors who are new HSC syllabus experts!

We can help you master your analysis for The Merchant of Venice by taking you through the summary, key characters, quotes and themes. We’ll also help you ace your upcoming HSC assessments with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or at one of our state of the art campuses in Hornsby or the Hills!

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The Merchant of Venice - Jessica - Victim or Villain?

                                 3/10/04        

Jessica - Victim or Villain?

At the time the play was set Jews were considered ‘second class’ citizens in Venice despite the fact that Venice was famous for its quality of justice.

There was a lot of prejudice against the Jewish minority and they were even forced by the government to obey special laws. These consisted of wearing distinctive clothing such as coloured arm bands, not being able to be involved in trades such as the military, the government and guilds and most of all they were forbidden to retaliate in any circumstances to the way Christians treated them. These meant that most Jews lead a very restricted lifestyle and were often singled out from the rest of the Venetian citizens.

The history of Jews around the world is a very cruel and complex one. Jewish persecution dates right back to the middle ages. The Christian church thought that they should be despised for rejecting Jesus. They began spreading rumours about Jews killing children at pass over and using their blood to make unleavened bread. During the fourteenth century, Europe was gripped by fear of the Black Death. Christians did not miss this newfound opportunity to spread anti-Semitist ideas, they accused the Jews of poisoning wells and so anti-Jewish stereotypes were reinforced.

Jessica is the daughter of the Jewish moneylender Shylock, he as good as imprisons her is his huge but bleak house treating her harshly. She get a bad reputation through having Shylock as her father, and the fact that she is a Jew means she is subjected to prejudice from the Christians that live in Venice giving her a very low status in society.

Jessica would have been expected to be loyal to her father and withhold their Jewish religion. She should respect him as any daughter should respect their father and marry who their father thought to be a suitable suitor. I think she is in a very similar position to Portia, the wealthy heiress of Belmont who is bound to her father will and can not marry a husband her own choice.

This is a preview of the whole essay

Jessica appears to detest living in her fathers house ‘Our house is hell’ this shows that although they are very rich, she does not enjoy living in a house that is bleak and lonely, and once Launcelot has left she feels her life will be hell living alone with her father. Shylock does not appear to treat Jessica very well ‘ what Jessica! – What sleep, and snore, and red apparel out. Why Jessica, I say!’ This shows that he is a very short-tempered man and does not think it is wrong to shout and order his daughter about the whole time. He also appears to be very over protective of her ‘Clamber not onto the casements then, Nor thrust your head into the public street’, weather this is because he is worried about someone coming in to steel his jewels or weather he is genuinely concerned about his daughters welfare we do not know. However, I do not think this reason justifies her treatment of him.

On the other hand she is not in any way joyous about her escape plans. On the contrary she seems very upset that she is ashamed of her own father, ‘Alack what heinous sin is it in me to be ashamed to be my father’s child but though I am a daughter to his blood I am not to his manors’. This conveys to us, that although she is aware of the effect her actions will have on her father she would still rather escape and have a good life herself than stay to keep her father content. The fact that she shows guilt in her treatment of her father may make some readers feel empathy for her, but I think that it would have been better to escape without the jewels than take the one thing from her father that she knows he cares for the most – his wealth.

In Solanio’s report of Shylock’s behaviour when he finds out his daughter and his jewels are missing there is a lot of evidence to suggest that Shylock is more concerned about his money than his daughter, ‘of double ducats, stolen from me by my daughter! And jewels, two stones, two rich and precious stones’. In Shylocks whole speech he only mentions Jessica a few times and when he does he never calls her by her name only ‘my daughter’, this suggests that they were never very close which maybe the reason he is more upset about his riches which will effect his life more directly. He also only refers to Jessica after mentioning his jewels, ‘my ducats, and my daughter’, ‘O my ducats! Oh my daughter. This is most likely because he is so angry about how Jessica has humiliated him and how his life has so suddenly fallen to pieces.

I do not think Shylock’s behaviour is enough to justify Jessica’s actions. Shylock had the right to be angry with his daughter by the way she treated him. I also believe his obsession with his riches to be understandable, he has slaved away all his life to make a living out of one of the most degrading jobs   in Venetian society, only to be humiliated and driven to revenge by the cruel theft of a lifetimes worth of savings by his disloyal daughter.

I think the audience would feel sympathy for Shylock considering the state of his affairs; his daughter has taken his money, which will be very hard to retrieve, and she has also dishonoured their religion. He evidently has no other friends so is now alone in the world. His image has gone from being a sadistic and crafty moneymaker to a lonely humiliated Jew.    

His status in society has been lowered yet more as he is ridiculed for who he is and laughed at for his disloyal daughter.

I think this scene does make Jessica seem more villainous as we see the effect her crime has had on Shylock and the sheer devastation she has caused. I think Shakespeare does not show us the actual scene where Shylock discovers his daughter and his money missing, as it would make the reader feel too much sympathy for Shylock, which Shakespeare does not want.

In my opinion Shylocks reaction in act 3 scene 1, does not justify Jessica’s actions in anyway. His daughter has disgraced him and his religion beyond all expectations, so the fact that he would like ‘my daughter dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear’ is not suprising considering his character. The thing that mattered most to him in his life was his money. This was not only because he was greedy it also represented how hard he had fought against prejudice all his life to get this far, and for it all to be taken from him in an instance by his deceitful daughter must have been utterly demoralising.

It suggests that he no longer even wants the gold because he is so furious at Jessica ‘would she were hearsed at my foot and the ducats in her coffin’ It is also to do with the fact that she has run off with a Christian depriving her father of the proud moment when he would be able to hand her over to a suitable husband. This quote also shows the extent to which she has dishonoured him by what she has done, making his life a futile and wasted one.

 I disagree with the opinion that Jessica is the Victim of a cruel father as Shakespeare never shows Shylock harming Jessica and we have only seen one scene where he has got angry with her and even in this incident he did not really shout. On the contrary I think act 3 scene 1 emphasises Jessica’s villainy, as the true extent of her actions are understood. On the other hand Shylock does seem to be more interested in his work and money than his daughter but this is not necessarily being cruel.

We see the extent of Shylocks rage when he no longer calls his daughter by her first name and instead refers to Jessica as ‘the thief’. This suggests Shylock is now dismissing the fact that Jessica is his daughter in return for the way she rejected him as a father.

I think Jessica’s selling of her mothers ring for a monkey really highlights her villainy, ‘a ring that he had off your daughter for a monkey’. She knew how much it meant to her father and selling it for a monkey ridicules this by making it worthless.

We even start to feel empathy for Shylock as we know by this quote that he must have treasured it, ‘I had it off Leah when I was a bachelor. I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys.’ This has a big impact on weather Jessica is a victim or villain as it makes Shylock come across in a more human way, so that when in comparison to Jessica Shylock seems to be sentimental and lonely old man, whilst Jessica is conveyed as being selfish and thoughtless when she dishonours her mother as well by selling the ring and the only physical memory Shylock had left of Leah.

In conclusion I believe Jessica to be more of a Villain than a Victim. This is due to the way she went about her escape. In my opinion if she had gone off with a Christian she should have left Shylock with all his gold and possessions. This would have hurt Shylock a great deal less as he evidently cared more for his money than his daughter.

 However even if she had left the gold she would still have been dishonouring her father and her religion and therefore be in the wrong again. Throughout my essay I have found a lot more reasons to suggest Jessica is a Villain and not the helpless victim of a cruel father.

Document Details

• Word Count 1681
• Page Count 4
• Subject English

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The Merchant of Venice: Overview ( AQA GCSE English Literature )

Revision note.

English Senior Content Creator

The Merchant of Venice question is part of Paper 1, Section A of your GCSE. For this, you are required to write one essay-length answer to one set question. This can seem daunting at first, but this page contains some helpful information, and links to more detailed revision note pages, that will enable you to aim for the highest grade. This page includes:

A summary of The Merchant of Venice

A brief overview of what is required in the exam

The Merchant of Venice characters

The Merchant of Venice context

The Merchant of Venice themes

The Merchant of Venice quotes

Top tips for the highest grade

The Merchant of Venice summary

The Merchant of Venice was written by William Shakespeare during the late 16th century. It depicts the story of Antonio, a merchant from Venice, who fails to repay a substantial loan borrowed from a Jewish moneylender named Shylock.

It is classified as a comedy and is similar to other romantic comedies by Shakespeare. The play is largely known for its dramatic scenes and for the character of Shylock. Shylock is renowned for demanding a "pound of flesh" as retribution. The play also includes two famous speeches: one from Shylock about the nature of humanity and Portia's speech on mercy. It contains many of the typical conventions of comedy such as marriage, misconception, and disguise and gender. For more on the conventions of tragedy, see The Merchant of Venice: Writer’s Methods and Techniques page. 

The play is about Antonio, a merchant, who owes money to Shylock, a vindictive moneylender. Antonio borrows the sum on behalf of his friend, Bassanio, to woo and marry a woman named Portia. After Antonio's trading ships sink, he cannot repay the debt, prompting Shylock to demand a pound of flesh as per their agreement. However, Portia, disguised as a man, intervenes during the trial and saves Antonio. As a result, Shylock is instructed to convert to Christianity and Antonio recovers his wealth from his sunken ships. For a more detailed summary, please see The Merchant of Venice: Plot Summary page . 

How is The Merchant of Venice assessed in the exam?

Your GCSE Paper 1 requires you to answer two questions in 1hr 45min. That means you have approximately 52 minutes to plan, write and check your Merchant of Venice essay

Paper 1 is worth 64 marks and accounts for 40% of your overall GCSE grade

The Merchant of Venice essay is worth 34 marks in total, because it also includes 4 marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar

Section A of Paper 1 contains The Merchant of Venice question and you are required to answer the one available question on the play

Your question will also include a printed extract of about 25 lines from the play

It is a closed-book exam, which means you will not have access to a copy of the text (other than the printed extract) in your exam

The question will require you to analyse and write in detail about an aspect of The Merchant of Venice

Your answer will need to address both the extract from the play that you will be given, and the play as a whole

For a much more detailed guide on answering The Merchant of Venice question, please see our revision notes on How to Answer the Shakespeare Essay Question .

The characters you should focus on when revising The Merchant of Venice are:

When considering a Shakespeare play or any other text, it is crucial to remember that characters are intentionally crafted by the writer to serve a specific purpose. In many cases, these characters embody certain concepts or beliefs, and the writer, such as Shakespeare, uses them to reflect on and examine these ideas. For more details on how Shakespeare uses his characters in The Merchant of Venice, please see The Merchant of Venice: Characters revision notes page. 

Understanding what context actually is can be tricky at GCSE. Examiners understand context not as historical information, or biographical facts about a writer, but as the ideas and perspectives explored by a writer through their text. Therefore, The Merchant of Venice context you should explore in your essay response is not information about medieval Italy, or facts about William Shakespeare, but ideas about:

Prejudice and intolerance

Love and friendship in the Elizabethan era

Wealth and power

Lots of these ideas and perspectives are universal, so your own opinions of them are valid and will be rewarded in an exam. For a detailed breakdown of the contextual topics listed above, see The Merchant of Venice: Context page. 

Understanding the themes that Shakespeare explores in The Merchant of Venice is one of the best approaches any student can take when revising the play. This is because to get the highest mark on your exam, you need to take what examiners call a “conceptualised approach”: a detailed and perceptive exploration of Shakespeare’s ideas and intentions. The main themes explored by Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice are:

Justice and mercy

Love and friendship

Shakespeare explores numerous other themes in The Merchant of Venice beyond those mentioned above and you are encouraged to examine these themes too. However, the above list makes a great place to start and detailed breakdowns of each of these themes can be found on The Merchant of Venice: Themes page.  

Although you are given credit for including quotations from The Merchant of Venice in your answer, it is not a requirement of the exam. In fact, examiners say that “references” to the rest of the play are just as valid as direct quotations: this is when students pinpoint individual moments in the play, rather than quoting what the characters say. In order to select references really successfully, it is extremely important that you know the play itself very well, including the order of the events that take place in the play. This detailed act-by-act breakdown of the plot will help you to revise the chronology of The Merchant of Venice.

However, it can also be useful to revise a few – very well selected –  quotations from the play that can be used in a variety of essays on different themes and characters. Luckily, we have made that selection for you! For a ‘translation’ and detailed analysis of each of these quotations, see The Merchant of Venice: Key Quotations page.

Please see our revision pages on the Shakespeare exam for guides on:

Structuring The Merchant of Venice essay

The Merchant of Venice methods and techniques

How to include context in The Merchant of Venice essay

Understanding The Merchant of Venice mark scheme

A Shakespeare model answer

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Author: Nick Redgrove

Nick is a graduate of the University of Cambridge and King’s College London. He started his career in journalism and publishing, working as an editor on a political magazine and a number of books, before training as an English teacher. After nearly 10 years working in London schools, where he held leadership positions in English departments and within a Sixth Form, he moved on to become an examiner and education consultant. With more than a decade of experience as a tutor, Nick specialises in English, but has also taught Politics, Classical Civilisation and Religious Studies.