"The Merchant of Venice"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses whether Shylock the Jew is the most money-hungry character in William Shakespeare's play, "The Merchant of Venice." The paper analyzes the plot and some of the scenes in the play in order to compare the different character's views on money. The paper concludes that it is the Christian Bassanio who is the most money-conscious of all of the persons in the play and explains why this is so.

From the Paper:

"It is the Christian Bassanio, ironically, who is the most money-conscious of all of the persons in the play. Bassanio chooses lead, when asked to select from the three caskets that Portia offers to test her suitors. She is happy that he wins, and the lead is supposed to be the correct choice, for the person who chooses lead is supposed to be a man who has hazarded all he has, to win Portia. But in truth, Bassanio has hazarded nothing and desires Portia's gold. It is Antonio who has taken the risk in lending money for his friend. Now that Shylock is angered because of the loss of his daughter, he resolves to call upon the bond Antonio made in jest, a pound of flesh. The jest-like nature of the false bond was reflected when Antonio said that: "The Hebrew will turn Christian: he grows kind." (I.2) In other words, Shylock asked for no interest or money upon the loan in an effort to cement his relationship with Antonio (another example of how Shylock does not always put money before relationships). However, Shylock's kindness turns to cruelty, because a Christian has sundered his relationship with his beloved daughter--a Christian, incidentally, in need of money that willingly spends the ducats stolen by his stolen bride from Shylock's coffers."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Shakespeare, William. "The Merchant of Venice." MIT Classics Page. 2006. [22 Oct 2006] <http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/merchant/>

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