 The merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare's best known comedies. Now it features lots of characters including Antonio, Bassano, Shylock, Portia, Narissa. However it's also one of his more controversial comedies. When I say controversial I mean lots of people, especially modern-day people, have read it and maybe felt a little bit strongly about for example how it's somewhat anti-Semitic. So for example the main bad guy is portrayed to be a Jewish man. Of course also there are elements of sexism where you've got a daughter who's still controlled by her father beyond his grave. However if you are studying this play I will be going over it in lots of detail because of course there's lots of different elements of merchant of Venice that you need to understand. It is a comedy however it has lots of underlying themes and of course you need to be very very familiar with lots of its characters. So what I will be doing in the videos that follow is I'll be going over the plot of the play in summary and in a nutshell and then I will go over key characters, show you the key quotations to remember and of course also the key themes to bear in mind before I'll walk you through past paper exam questions and how you can write about merchant of Venice under exam conditions and apply your knowledge of this play to your writing. So let's get started. So let's begin by examining this entire play all five acts and all the key events that happen in a nutshell. So as you can see here behind me essentially what I've done is basically create a mind map of all the major events that you need to understand in the key issues that happen within the play and we'll go over them in detail. So bear in mind that there are two major locations that are explored in this play the main location which is Venice but of course also where Portia lives which is in Belmont okay. Now the play begins when we meet Bessonio and Antonio. Now Bessonio and Antonio are really really good friends and we learned that Bessonio he needs 3,000 due cats as a loan in order to go and win the hand of a very rich heiress called Portia so she's very rich, she's very beautiful but most importantly she has lots and lots of money and Bessonio is really bad with his money so if he were to marry Portia he'd be able to clear all his debts. So basically Bessonio asks Antonio for a loan in order to visit Portia and to win her hand in marriage when he goes to Belmont. However Antonio even if he really wants to help his friend Bessonio and give him yet another loan he says that basically all of his cargo is tied up in all of these different ventures therefore he says that even if he wants to help him he can't he doesn't have the money on him right there however what he wants to do is basically say on the strength of his name as a merchant in Venice he can basically go to any money lender borrow that money from the money lender and then use Antonio's name as security in other words if Bessonio doesn't pay back the money or if Antonio doesn't pay back the money then you know they can use some of Antonio's assets because we get the idea that Antonio is fairly well to do and he's also very prosperous in trading so with that Bessonio decides to go out and look for a loan from the money lenders in Venice. Separately in Belmont we learn of Portia who's the heiress and we find her speaking to Narissa who is someone that she's very close to but also of course do bear in mind that Narissa works for her however so she even if they're not the same social status basically Portia is incredibly close to her and she confides in her now we find that Portia is very frustrated by her father's will essentially her father said that he had very specific conditions as to who Portia can marry he basically left a wall behind that gave the men any man who wants to marry Portia the choice of three caskets the first is gold the second is silver the third is lead the person who picks the correct casket and this casket will contain the picture of Portia in it he wins her hand in marriage now there've been lots of different suitors that have come in try to win Portia's hand in marriage she's not really keen on them on the one hand but also she's kind of frustrated that she's really limited by this however we also learn that Portia because she really does want to get married she's very frustrated on this and she hopes that Bessonio will pick the right casket so far every other suitor that has come in they've picked the wrong casket now back in Venice after Bessonio gets Antonio's guarantee that yes you can go and use my name because my name is really well known around Venice to borrow money Bessonio meets the Jewish moneylender Shilok who agrees to lend Bessonio the 3,000 do cats however we learn that Shilok hates Antonio in fact they are enemies this is because Antonio is very anti-semitic he looks down on Shilok because he is Jewish he's even spat on him but also he dislikes the fact that Shilok makes lots and lots of money using or charging even lots of interest high interest on the money that he loans okay so learn that Shilok actually really hates Antonio however he agrees to lend Bessonio the money okay and he says on one condition so he doesn't even want anything else if Antonio however isn't able to pay back the money he states that if he's unable to pay back in three months Shilok has the right to take a pound of Antonio's flesh okay now Antonio is also present when Shilok is given these conditions Bessonio is really reluctant he thinks okay first he's Jewish I don't know if you can trust him but secondly you know Shilok has not really made it a secret that he doesn't like Antonio however Antonio is really really confident that all his ships which are out with the cargo selling and making lots of money they're going to come back in good time and he's going to be able to pay back Antonio Bessonio is 3,000 due cats so Antonio agrees and tells Bessonio don't worry take the money go off marry Portia okay now we then learn separately that Shilok who's basically portrayed as the villain of this play he has a daughter called Jessica now Jessica really dislikes him she sees the house that they live in that Shilok lives in with her as almost a prison she really hates her heritage being a Jewish young lady she also really hates her father and she is in love with another noble man called Lorenzo so she and Lorenzo hatch up a plan Jessica decides to steal Shilok's gold and jewelry as well as his money she dresses up as a boy and then Lorenzo goes to pick her up in the dead of the night and she runs away with him and of course they end up eloping eloping meaning they basically get married but not like a traditional marriage ceremony this is when you kind of have what is sometimes called a shotgun wedding right so not a proper wedding basically you go sometimes you can go to a registrar's office and you get married just really quickly okay so Jessica and Lorenzo basically run off Jessica runs off dressed as a boy and then she steals Shilok's money and then runs off to live with Lorenzo and to be his wife then we then learn that Antonio unlike what he thought he learns that his ships have sunk okay so all his investments have basically been submerged in water now we find that Antonio has now been made bankrupt and Shilok who's really pleased about this he's more pleased about this than getting back his money Shilok called for a pound of his flesh he says okay now that you can't pay me back what I learned to Bessonio you need to fulfill your conditions I want a pound of your flesh but bear in mind that if it's a pound of his flesh if he does take it this will ultimately kill Antonio okay so this is Shilok's way of getting revenge on the bad treatment that Antonio has given him over the years okay so this is Shilok's way of getting revenge and he does not want to forgive him then we learned that Bessonio in Belmont when he's visiting Portia he ends up choosing the correct casket he doesn't choose the gold casket he doesn't choose the silver casket he ends up choosing the lead casket which has Portia's image and so Portia is really delighted the guy that she wanted to marry he did win her hand in marriage even if you know it was a little bit scared and feeling a lot of tension in case he did forfeit that will and that privilege okay so Bessonio ends up choosing the correct casket and he wins Portia's hands and when he does she gives him a ring and tells him this is a ring as a token of my love make sure in no circumstance can you give it away and Bessonio gives her his promise his undone promise that he will never give away this ring that's a token of Portia's love okay then we then learned that Gratiano who's Bessonio's really good friend also kind of like his party friend he's also there he meets Narissa falls in love with her and he declares his love for her and they all decide to have this big happy wedding so Bessonio will marry Portia and separately Gratiano who's Bessonio's friend will marry Narissa and they will share the wedding ceremony together so everything is great however they they then learn all of them including Bessonio who all of this was made possible by Antonio letting him loan or rather take a loan from Shylock they learn that Shylock has had Antonio arrested he wants a pound of his flesh and Antonio of course is trying to reason with him Shylock is having none of it he has had him arrested okay and thus they have to go back to Venice and of course also Portia who learns the reasons why Bessonio is stressed out about this she decides to do something about this to help her Bessonio's friend because if it wasn't for Antonio she would not be able to have met Bessonio because he wouldn't have been able to afford to go there and she would not have been married to the man that she truly loves okay so Shylock calls has Antonio arrested however Portia and Narissa travel from Belmont to Venice and they travel again in disguise okay so bear in mind that there's a massive element of disguise from the female characters on the one hand you've got Jessica who's Shylock's daughter she disguises herself but also as a boy but also separately Portia and Narissa they go disguised as lawyer so Portia is disguised as a lawyer called Balthazar and Narissa is disguised as a clerk now they get to the courtroom where basically Shylock is presenting his case even if Shylock has been told to basically have some mercy he refuses now Portia who's disguised as Balthazar examines the contract that's between Antonio and Shylock and she finds a missing clause something a hole in the contract and she realizes and shows as Balthazar so bear in mind she's as a man hair she shows that it doesn't mention any blood therefore the contract is null and void in other words Shylock cannot act on his wish to take a pound of Antonio's flesh additionally she then says as Balthazar that he was attempting to harm Antonio to give mortal harm and injury which is a crime and the punishment for this is Shylock losing all his possession however Antonio is portrayed as taking some kind of sympathy on and Shylock he doesn't want Shylock to lose all of his money however he then says okay Shylock now the tables have turned what I'm gonna ask you to do is firstly he Antonio asks and forces Shylock to give up half of his money and possessions to Jessica and Lorenzo so his daughter who's already stolen from him but also separately and again this is part of the anti-Semitic element and turn your forces and tells Shylock that he also has to renounce his Jewish heritage and convert into being a Christian then after that Bassanio and Antonio are so thankful to Balthazar because bear in mind that Balthazar looks like a man he's you know cleverly interpreted this contract and they you know they approach him so Antonio and Bassanio approach Balthazar and say we don't know how to thank you is there any way we can give you a gift and Balthazar of course bear in mind that Balthazar is for sure he cheekily asks for the rings that both Gratiano and Bassanio have so first especially Bassanio is really reluctant because he remembers the promise that he'd made to Portia that he would never part with his ring but after a lot of persuasion lots and lots of persuasion from Balthazar especially you know I've saved your friend's life what else could I have done you know you really need to give me a ring so after lots and lots persuasion both Gratiano and Bassanio are persuaded to give Balthazar their rings okay and of course obviously that's going to cause some kind of marital issue because Portia and Narissa obviously change out of their disguise then rush back to Belmont they get there before Gratiano and Bassanio and then when Gratiano and Bassanio arrive and they ask to see their rings they then argue and give them a really hard time where's the rings you know they feign they act like they're really angry that basically Gratiano and Bassanio have lost their rings so the first argue with them and obviously that's the comedic element however later on they then reveals to both Portia and Narissa reveal that they were disguised they were there in the courtroom and it was them that had the rings okay then the final element that makes this a happy ending happy for everyone apart from Shylogue is Portia then gives Antonio a letter showing that all of his ships are safe and sound so he didn't lose all of his money and he didn't become bankrupt after all okay so there's lots of comedy in this play but also lots of disguise however of course bear in mind that even if it ends as a happy ending especially from an Elizabethan perspective from a contextual perspective it wasn't a happy ending for Shylogue alright so that's really it when it comes to understanding the general issues and the general plot of Merchant of Venice in a nutshell so hopefully this gives you a really really good idea of what happens in the play