 The theme of love within the Merchant of Venice is interesting because it's actually not presented in a very stereotypical way unlike some of Shakespeare's other more notable plays when it comes to love for example Remy and Juliet where we can see this Devotion that lovers have towards each other Within Merchant Venice, especially if we look at the relationship between Bassanio and Portia But equally between Lorenzo and Jessica We can see that love is tainted firstly with a little bit of mistrust But also there tends to appear a sub-element of motivation that goes with love Okay, so love is tainted with something behind it So for example when it comes to how Bassanio pursues Portia the main element that appears to really Make the deal more alluring to him is the wealth that he's going to be able to inherit and hence He'll be able to clear all of his debts Because Portia is so rich Equally it's interesting that Jessica has to steal all of these jewels and money from her father in order to elope with Lorenzo There appears to be still some kind of financial interest in Lorenzo basically condescending to marry a Jewish woman But also when they are speaking there's this notion that the women also Seem to mistrust completely whether the men totally love them Okay, so Jessica for instance when she's dressed up as a boy. She is a little bit embarrassed She's wondering whether Lorenzo still will love her Okay, so there's a kind of send the semi-insecurity that's presented in the way She approaches him when she's dressed up as a boy But also of course later on in act five when they are talking about different lovers for example, this would be and And so on and they mention lovers who either the love is doomed or there's some kind of Cheating or infidelity. Okay, so this also illustrates that love that they don't seem to quite trust each other Okay, so there's this element that love is presented. However, it's not entirely pure in these relationships that we see also when Solerio mentions that Venus is very quick to make lovers consummate their love So in other words, he is very quick to make lovers have sex so people jump straight into bed with each other But then when it comes to actually maintaining that love suddenly Venus's pigeons disappear Okay, so this hints at the temporary nature of love to so in terms of love You want to be able to consider these elements and of course as you can see behind me I have selected the most relevant quotations you can consider if you're writing about the theme of love So let's start with the first quotation. This is when Jessica meets Lorenzo. She's dressed up as a boy She's about to run away from her dad Shylock. Okay, and here she seems a little bit insecure. She's worried Lorenzo was also late Okay, and she's very worried and insecure as to whether Lorenzo will still find her attractive Whether his love is totally based on her superficial appearance and her looking like a beautiful woman. Okay, and she states Love is blind and lovers cannot see ellipsis if they could cupid himself a blush to see me thus transformed to a boy Okay, so here she's basically saying oh god Lorenzo. Don't look at me. Oh my gosh. I'm so embarrassed Look at how I look like a boy. Okay, so here we can see that she is of course willing to sacrifice everything She's willing to sacrifice her family in order to be with Lorenzo Okay, so she's given a lot for this love and she's also going to become a Christian So she's going to renounce her Jewish heritage However, she still seems to be a little bit insecure and a little bit worried that Lorenzo might not find her as attractive Hence illustrating maybe the love is built on a little bit of a shaky ground Okay And also the fact that she has to kind of steal some money from her father in order to kind of sweet sweet in the Deal for Lorenzo again here we sense that the love is a little bit tainted The word love analysis you want to focus on here is firstly the metaphor love is blind. Okay, this idea that you know lovers If genuine love doesn't necessarily look at surface appearance, so she's basically saying oh my gosh Lorenzo you must really love me if you're looking at me just as a boy and you still love me. Okay, so she's basically saying that Also the alliteration of see and could cupid here. Of course, she's talking about cupid This is the I guess the god of love right? He uses he pricks people and if he pricks two lovers they fall in love Okay, so she's basically saying oh my gosh if cupid saw me the way I'm dressed Maybe you know he himself would be quite disgusted at the fact that you have decided to consider me Also, you've got alliteration of tea and to thus and transform decay So here we can see that love is presented as a little bit of fickle from Jessica's perspective She's wondering whether Lorenzo kind of likes her still even when she's dressed as a boy However Lorenzo puts her at peace. He states so you are sweet even in the lovely garnish of both boys So he says no no no you still look really beautiful And I'm still really attracted to you even if you're dressed up as a boy That's what he's saying now here Of course we can see that their love appears to be fairly strong at this point Okay They're able the willing to basically risk it all to be together and Lorenzo is also willing to risk our space His social reputation to get together with a Jewish woman Of course, Jessica still has to give up her Jewish heritage and her Jewish identity to be with him However, what he's illustrating here is no no no promise. I promise us. I love you genuinely It's not only about your surface appearance. Okay, so Lorenzo is trying to reassure Jessica that his love is not only based on her surface appearance Okay, but still we as the audience when we're watching it We kind of wonder if there's also other elements that are going to taint their love Okay, if their love is really genuine now the one love analysis you want to focus on is the Sybilance of S and so in sweet. Okay here. He's trying to seduce her and she wants it No, no, no, you're still really beautiful You still look, you know cute in your appearance as a boy, but equally the adjectives lovely garnish Okay, so these adjectives basically Lorenzo is trying to be nice and say no, no, no, no You know you look really nice in this lovely Costumed covering of a boy. Okay, so you still you still look beautiful Don't worry, even if you're dressed up as a boy the next quotation which illustrates the theme of love is when Portia So she's so happy that Bassanio has chosen the correct casket. She literally is like she can't believe it She's so in love. She's so happy and she states. Oh love be moderate a lay that ecstasy ellipses I feel too much side blessing. So she's basically saying oh my god. I'm so happy. The gods of love have blessed me I'm not going to be the guy that I want to be okay Now here what you want to focus on is firstly we can see that Portia is very Infatuated with Bassanio. Okay, so the one thing that you want to mention again going back to the notion of love To some extent being superficial Portia is really infatuated with what she sees. She believes the son is rich Okay, and then of course she later finds out he's in debt. She believes is really handsome Okay, because also some of her other suitors who reject them based on their surface appearance. Okay, so we can see here that Portia is really in love with Bassanio. However, we do wonder whether it's complete genuine love Even if she knew about him beforehand if she knew that he didn't have money was she love him, okay? But equally you can see here that she is very deeply in love. She's infatuated with him Okay, now the one of the lessons you want to focus on here is firstly The hyperbole ecstasy this idea that love is causing her to be ecstatic Okay, so she's like oh my gosh I'm so in love and also the litteration of tea in too much and to and thy blessing Okay, so she literally can't believe love has given her the good fortune of marrying Bassanio And finally you want to focus on the imperative sentences. Oh love be moderate and allay that ecstasy Remember an imperative sentence is a sentence that issues a command. She's basically telling love. Oh my gosh Please slow me down. Okay, please don't make me fall so much in love with this guy I'm so happy. I'm just too happy. Please just slow me down a little bit Okay, so she she wants to try and temper her love a little bit more The next quotation which illustrates the theme of love is when Porsche of course after she realizes that Bassanio has picked the correct Casket she states one half of me is yours the other half yours Okay, so of course here what she's basically saying is that I am yours as your wife And this obviously illustrates also Elizabethan norms at the time and Venetian norms at the time where woman She was seen as the property of her father and then when she got married she was the property of her husband So she basically saying yep, I'm your property now. You know, I love you. I'm really happy for you to marry me Okay, and of course here we can see that Porsche does to a large extent have a lot of devotion towards Bassanio Okay, and this is illustrated firstly through the repetition of the word half Okay, so she basically saying you know one half of me is yours and the other half So I'm completely giving myself over to you Bassanio Okay, I'm gonna completely commit myself to you and also the possessive pronoun yours Okay, so here again. She is telling Bassanio. I am going to be your obedient loyal wife Okay, here we can see that Porsche at least on you know on initial discovery that she's gonna marry Bassanio She's really in love with them. She's committed to him the next quotation This is when Lorenzo basically he's telling his friends that he really loves Jessica in spite of her Father in spite of the fact that she is Jewish. He genuinely really loves her Okay, and he states be shroomy, but I love her heartily. Okay, and the literation in her and heartily illustrates that Lorenzo to Great degree loves Jessica in spite of how society sees her and perceives her for being a Jewish woman Okay, so here we can argue that Lorenzo perhaps his love is genuine However, we do still get the sense that his love comes with conditions tied to it So for example the fact that Jessica has to run away from her father the fact that she has to renounce a heritage So again here we can see that whilst his love seems to be genuine It still is tainted with elements of selfishness the next quotation This is when Celereo talks about the shallow nature of love how love and especially Venus's pigeons are very quick to make lovers Consummate the relationship so people will jump into bed and have sex really quickly because of course It's this idea that they think they are in love But actually they're just in lust and infatuated But the so Venus's pigeons are very quick to make people jump into bed together Not so quick to keep these people in a relationship Okay, and he states Venus's pigeons fly to seal loves bonds new made than they all want in other words that Venus's pigeons They're quick to consummate a relationship, but not so quick to keep it stuck together Okay, and again what this is hinting is that the temporary nature of love and the superficial nature of love Okay, so here we can see that Shakespeare isn't presenting a very stereotypical Picture of a love story here. It's very complex is tainted with selfish ideas with lust Okay Now the word love analysis you want to focus on is firstly the verb seal this idea that Venus's pigeons seal loves bonds Okay, and also loves bond is a metaphor for basically consummation for having sex love Venus pigeons are very quick to make lovers influence just have sex and of course Not so quick in keeping them together and usually if people are together and then once they have an intimate relationship The relationship doesn't last that's not true love. That's love based on external appearances Okay The next quotation which you can tie into the theme of love is when Portia realizes that Bassano has to leave in order To help out his friend Antonio to when he's standing trial She is really frustrated and she wants to go out and help him. Okay, so she states I don't on his very very absence and this is a declarative sentence Remember declarative sentence is a sentence that states a fact feeling or mood. Okay, so Portia is basically saying oh When Bassano is not around I'm just thinking about him and of course here We can see that actually she is freely committed to him once she's found out that what's happened with Antonio She wants to help him out and that's when she decides to dress up as both of us And go and help him out now the word love analysis you want to focus on is the verb don't Okay, so here we can see that Portia is really obsessed with Bassano Now it's interesting. However, even if she's obsessed with him, she still wants to test his faith Okay, so she wants to test his loyalty in her and she gives him a ring and says hey Here's my ring. This is my token of my love for you. Make sure you keep it Okay, and she tests him because of course when she dresses up as both of us She then decides to trick him into giving the ring in order to test his loyalty, which he fails miserably Okay, however, when she has given him the ring initially Bassano Promises I promise the high heavens. I will keep this ring. Okay, and he states Only my blood speaks to you in my veins ellipsis when this ring parts from this finger ellipsis Then be bold to say Bassano's depth. So basically Bassano is basically saying I will never let this ring away from my side I will never give it away. Promise promise promise. Okay Again, here we can see their love is a little bit tainted because firstly We can see that Portia doesn't completely trust Bassano. So she loves him But she doesn't completely trust him and she wants to test him Okay, because if you genuinely love somebody and you thought their love for you was genuine, you don't need to test them Okay, so that's the first thing and secondly, we also see that Bassano is an entirely honest with her Okay So his loyalty is tested and he fails this test miserably because he does give this ring away to Uh, both of us so he even if he states no even my dead body Bassano is dead I won't ever give away the ring. Okay, and he gives it away Now the word of analysis you want to focus on is firstly the personification of my blood speaks He's basically saying nothing even with the blood that flows within my veins. It just would never ever give away your ring. Okay Also the alliteration of be and bold and Bassano. Okay, so here what this is showing is Bassano is being really forceful I am never going to give away the ring. I'm going to be really loyal I'm going to be very faithful and then he gives it away. Okay, and then finally the exclamatory Sentence here. Okay, and remember an exclamatory sentence is a sentence that just shows a strong feeling and it ends with an exclamation mark So Bassano is trying to be super convincing. He is really convincing They'll never give away this ring which is a token of her love and then he gives it away. Okay So as I've mentioned this notion and this uh theme of love seems to be very tainted Okay, so what Shakespeare is doing is not showing just a very obvious direct idea of love through Bassano And Porsche's relationship and of course even uh through Lorenzo and Jessica's relationship We can see that it's tainted with elements of distrust Elements of naivety, but also it's tainted with this idea that maybe the love that the characters have is a little bit surface And it might be temporary So that's really it when it comes to key quotations that you can consider if you're writing about the theme of love for either Your course look or exams. Thanks so much for listening