Line #2 Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice


1	!!As the play is OlderThanSteam and most twists in Shakespeare's plots are now [[ItWasHisSled widely known]], all spoilers on this page are [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff unmarked]].
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10	->''"I am a Jew! Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, heal'd by the same means, warm'd and cool'd by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? 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?"''
11	-->-- '''Shylock''', 3.1.58-67
12
13	''The most excellent Historie of the Merchant of Venice. With the extreame crueltie of Shylocke the Iewe towards the sayd Merchant, in cutting a iust pound of his flesh: and the obtayning of Portia by the choyse of three chests'' is a play by Creator/WilliamShakespeare, believed to be written between 1596 and 1598. It is one of his most controversial, owing to its treatment of Judaism and antisemitism in Venetian society.
14
15	Bassanio is of noble blood, but has spent all his money and is deeply in debt. His solution is to marry [[OldMoney wealthy heiress]] Portia, whom he has visited before and wooed successfully. But his suit itself will require substantial funds, so he approaches his [[HomoeroticSubtext close friend]] Antonio, the eponymous merchant, who has lent him money in the past.
16
17	Antonio's wares are out at sea, and he has no money on hand. But he's devoted to Bassanio and is eager to lend him anything he can get, and plans to use his reliable reputation to borrow money somewhere else. Bassanio finds Shylock, a wealthy Jewish moneylender.
18
19	Shylock hates Antonio, partly for being a Christian, but mainly because Antonio publicly insults him and spits on him for being a usurer. So he agrees to the loan, and won't even charge interest--but if the debt isn't repaid by the specified date, he gets a pound of Antonio's flesh. Antonio's ships are set to return a full month before the money is due, so, despite Bassanio's entreaties not to, he signs the bond in a combination of antagonism, [[DeathSeeker suicidal]] [[BullyingADragon bravado]], and [[HeroicSacrifice desire to prove his devotion to Bassanio]].
20
21	Bassanio returns to Belmont to woo Portia, but he's got to get in line; half the single men in Europe want to marry her. Her father's will decrees that [[EngagementChallenge her suitors must choose from three caskets]]: one silver, one gold and one lead, as a test of character. The princes of Morocco and Aragon choose the first two and are sent away unhappy. Bassanio chooses the lead one, which is of course right. All is happiness as Portia agrees to marry him right away.
22
23	But during the celebrations, Bassanio receives a letter from Antonio: [[FinaglesLaw all his ships have been wrecked]], leaving him unable to repay the loan. To make matters worse, Shylock's daughter Jessica has eloped with Bassanio's (Christian) friend Lorenzo, and taken most of her father's money with her--so Shylock is royally pissed off and out for revenge. Antonio has been arrested and awaits his trial.
24
25	Seeing Bassanio's grief at Antonio's plight, and impressed by the deep love between the two, Portia insists that her new husband return to Venice with three times the value of the bond (from Portia's inheritance) in the hope of dissuading Shylock. Unbeknownst to Bassanio, she follows him to Venice and disguises herself as a young male lawyer to aid in Antonio's trial...
26
27	''The Merchant of Venice'' is officially classed as a comedy. While during its original production it would have been seen as pretty funny (with a pantomime Jew as a villain who gets his comeuppance in the end), it was a comedy in the classic sense of having a happy ending, rather than the more modern humourous one. These days, it tends to be played and interpreted more as a straight drama, focusing on the antisemitic prejudices against Shylock.
28
29	----
30	!! Tropes in ''The Merchant of Venice'':
31
32	* ActuallyIAmHim: Launcelot approaches his nearly-blind father Old Gobbo, claiming to be a stranger, and eventually telling his father that he's his son, who is alive and well.
33	* AgeLift: Some productions attempt to [[FlatCharacter flesh out the]] [[PrinceCharmless Prince of Aragon]] by portraying him as an adolescent schoolboy who is accompanied by his mother and his tutors when he arrives at Portia's home to attempt her EngagementChallenge.
34	* AloneAmongTheCouples:
35	** Antonio's eventual fate, with Bassanio/Portia, Gratiano/Nerissa, and Lorenzo/Jessica happily(?) paired off.
36	** This is the presumed fate of the Prince of Morocco and the Prince of Aragon. By failing the EngagementChallenge they have doomed themselves to a life of celibacy.
37	* AmbiguouslyGay: Antonio. His devotion to Bassanio is intense enough that he's willing, even eager to sacrifice his life for him, and he explicitly parallels his love for Bassanio with Portia's during the trial scene. In modern productions, it's rarely all that ambiguous.
38	-->'''Antonio:''' ''[to Bassanio]'' My purse, my person, my extremest means\
39	Like all unlocked to your occasions.[[note]]And [[EngagementChallenge where else in the play]] have we seen that metaphor, I wonder?[[/note]]
40	* AnArmAndALeg: Parodied by Bassanio when Portia demands the ring he has given away.
41	-->'''Bassanio:''' ''[aside]'' Why, I were best to cut my left hand off\
42	And swear I lost the ring defending it.
43	* AnimalMotif: Shylock has been frequently compared to a dog as an insult and he even calls himself a dog to threaten Antonio and his friends.
44	* AntiVillain: When it comes down to it, Shylock is still trying to kill Antonio (with law!), but the play spends a lot of time showing the audience where he's coming from; see IneffectualSympatheticVillain.
45	* ArbitrarilyLargeBankAccount: Portia's inheritance. While the rest of the cast is falling over themselves trying to pay back Antonio's bond to Shylock, when Bassanio tells Portia about it, her reaction is "Three thousand ducats? Is that ''all''? Here, give Antonio the money. No, have twice as much. You know what? Just to be on the safe side, let's triple it."
46	* ArcNumber: The number 3 appears frequently.
47	** The flesh bond plot involves three characters (Antonio, Bassanio, and Shylock), three thousand ducats, and a duration of three months.
48	** Portia's EngagementChallenge hinges on three caskets.
49	** There are three significant rings (the two from Portia's ring plot and the one Jessica supposedly exchanges for a monkey), [[RuleOfSymbolism one for each of the three female characters]].
50	** Three marriages (Bassanio and Portia, Grantiano and Nerissa, Lorenzo and Jessica).
51	** One can argue that the flesh bond, the EngagementChallenge, and Jessica and Launcelet's escape from Shylock constitute three main plotlines.
52	** Portia, Antonio, and Bassanio split the role of protagonist three ways between them. Launcelet, Lorenzo, and Jessica divide the subplot similarly.
53	** The play opens with three characters on stage and concludes with three rhyming couplets.
54	* ArcWords: ''Content'' and ''satisfied'' recur throughout the play . . . always in situations that make the content itself somewhat doubtful.
55	-->'''Antonio:''' To quit the fine for one half of [Shylock's] goods,\
56	I am content; so he will let me have\
57	The other half in use, to render it,\
58	Upon his death, unto the gentleman\
59	That lately stole his daughter:\
60	Two things provided more, that, for this favour,\
61	He presently become a Christian;\
62	The other, that he do record a gift,\
63	Here in the court, of all he dies possessed\
64	Unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter.\
65	'''Duke:''' He shall do this, or else I do recant\
66	The pardon that I late pronounced here.\
67	'''Portia:''' Art thou contented, Jew? what dost thou say?\
68	'''Shylock:''' I am content.
69	* AssholeVictim: Traditionally, Shylock. To modern audiences, often Antonio.
70	* AsYouKnow:
71	-->'''Bassanio:''' 'Tis not unknown to you, Antonio,\
72	How much I have disabled mine estate ...
73	* AudienceSurrogate: Gratiano, especially in the courtroom scene, where he slings charged racial slurs with all the animosity Shakespeare's audience would have felt (and was probably slinging along with him).
74	* {{Beta Couple}}s: Nerissa and Gratiano and Lorenzo and Jessica, to OfficialCouple Portia and Bassanio.
75	* BigEater: Launcelot, according to Shylock, is noted for gormandizing, and being a huge feeder.
76	* BittersweetEnding: In many adaptations, including the Creator/AlPacino film version. Almost everyone is married and happy, but Shylock has lost everything, both material and spiritual, and Antonio is [[AloneAmongTheCouples alone]], with his best friend (whom he seems to have spent years pining for) married and living his own life. The film goes one step further and suggests that Shylock and Antonio are not so different. Jessica often gets one of these, where it's hinted that she misses her father.[[note]]The 2017 Bell Shakespeare performance in particular actually ends the play with her [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone breaking down in hysterical tears of grief in Lorenzo's arms when she realises what she has brought on her father]] and Lorenzo remorsefully tearing up the deed that entitles him to inherit all of Shylock's estate on his death.[[/note]] Shylock's own ending is somewhat improved when you consider the ValuesDissonance (the play ''was'' written in the Elizabethan era, after all) and realize that Antonio was actually trying to ''save'' Shylock's soul when he asked the court to force Shylock to convert to Christianity.
77	* BlindMistake: Old Gobbo is half blind. As a result, he fails to recognize his own son and then mistakes his son's hair for his beard.
78	* BreakingTheFourthWall: Launcelot does this pretty shamelessly, actually asking the audience to pay attention while he plays this awesome prank on his dad!
79	-->'''Launcelot:''' Mark me now; now will I raise the waters.
80	* BumblingDad: Old Gobbo, who comes on, makes a few {{Blind Mistake}}s, gets a few cheap laughs for his [[{{Malaproper}} malapropisms]], and leaves without doing much.
81	* CityOfCanals: The better part of the play takes place in [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Venice]].
82	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Launcelot toes the line. He's usually detached from the action in one way or another--[[BreakingTheFourthWall talking to the audience]], messing with his dad, or singing strange song snippets.
83	* ComingAndGoing: It's subtle, but the correlation between sex and death is an important underlying theme. Look carefully at the language in Antonio's FinalSpeech--and remember, Shakespeare often used ''die'' as an UnusualEuphemism.
84	* ConvertingForLove: Jewish Jessica turns to Christianity for Lorenzo.
85	* CourtJester: Launcelot Gobbo, who may become a literal jester during the course of the play.[[note]]After he's given his special "guarded" livery, his punning becomes more deliberate and he's repeatedly referred to as "the fool".[[/note]] Either way, he tells Jessica that she's "damned" and complains that converting Jews will raise the price of pork. Nobody seems to him too seriously.
86	* CreateYourOwnVillain: Antonio and Shylock have been at loggerheads because Antonio made repeated anti-semitic remarks to him and mocked him for being greedy simply because he accrues interest on his loans (something forbidden by Christian law). This makes what should have been a mild grudge into a psychopathic obsession for Shylock:
87	--> '''Shylock:''' He hates our sacred nation, and he rails,\
88	Even there where merchants most do congregate,\
89	On me, my bargains, and my well-won thrift,\
90	Which he calls interest. Cursed be my tribe\
91	If I forgive him.
92	* CruelMercy: Let Shylock live, but only if he gives up his religion and signs his worldly goods over to the daughter who betrayed him.
93	* DeathByAdaptation: Shylock sometimes falls victim to this when directors want to turn him into an all-out tragic figure; one notable production had him stab himself upon exit from the court scene.
94	* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: The "merchant" figure was a common stock character of Shakespeare's day. He was one-dimensional and entirely preoccupied with his wealth and the jeopardy that wealth was inevitably placed in. In the first scene, Antonio is shown to be a deconstruction of this: he is not overly concerned with his fortune (though perhaps [[{{Foreshadowing}} he should be]]), but is melancholy for other, [[AmbiguouslyGay more complex]] reasons.
95	* DelusionsOfEloquence: Launcelot Gobbo and his father, Old Gobbo try to use vocabulary that's beyond their level of education:
96	--> '''Old Gobbo''': He hath a great infection, as one would say, to serve.
97	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Used for drama in Shylock's speeches and comedy in Launcelot's. Portia also does this while humorously confessing that she's stalling.
98	-->'''Portia:''' I speak too long, but 'tis to pheaze the time,\
99	To eke it and to draw it out in length ...
100	* DeusExMachina
101	** In-universe: When the laws of Venice are at a loss to save Antonio, a mysterious young lawyer suddenly appears and saves the day. The audience knows it's Portia, but to the court it seems like a miracle.
102	** In the final scene, Portia suddenly announces to Antonio that [[ArcNumber three]] of his supposedly lost merchant ships have returned and he is no longer bankrupt. No justification is given for how she found this out when he doesn't even know yet.
103	* DidYouThinkICantFeel: One of the most famous examples:
104	-->'''Shylock:''' Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? [[WhamLine If you poison us, do we not die?]] And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
105	* DisproportionateRetribution: Shylock decides to enforce the terms of the loan in the most gruesome way possible because of Jessica's elopement with Lorenzo, which he wrongly assumes Antonio had a hand in. Antonio is a douchebag to Shylock, there's no denying, but that's hardly a capital crime.
106	* TheDividual: Salerio and Solanio. Although their existence as two separate characters is justified (it further isolates Antonio), they are virtually interchangeable.
107	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[GetTheeToANunnery In Shakespeare's time]], the rings (and circles in general) were suggestive of female genitalia.
108	-->'''Portia:''' You were to blame, I must be plain with you,\
109	To part so slightly with your wife's first gift:\
110	A thing stuck on with oaths upon your finger\
111	And so riveted with faith unto your flesh.
112	* DramaticIrony: Rampant in the courtroom scene, when the audience knows that the mysterious young lawyer Balthazar and his clerk are in fact Portia and Nerissa in disguise.
113	** When Antonio implores Bassanio to tell his story to Portia: "And when the tale is told, bid her be ''judge'' . . . "\
114	She is in fact judging.
115	** Slightly later, after Bassanio swears he would sacrifice his wife to save Antonio:
116	--->'''Portia:''' ''[aside]'' Your wife would give you little thanks for that\
117	If she were by to hear you make the offer.
118	* DyingAlone: This is the ultimate fate that a suitor risks when he enters Portia's EngagementChallenge. If he fails then he will be bound to live by a VowOfCelibacy and so he will never be able to marry or produce an heir. Thus when he dies, his line will be extinguished and he will be forgotten.
119	* {{Elopement}}: Jessica runs away from her father to marry Lorenzo.
120	* EngagementChallenge: Portia's suitors must choose between three caskets to win her hand. If they choose incorrectly, they must leave Belmont, swearing to never again court a woman.
121	* EntitledToHaveYou: Morocco and Aragon both feel this way about Portia, mostly because they're princes and on her social level. This is why they're both tempted to chose the silver casket, labeled "Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves". Morocco doesn't, but Aragon does--they both get sent home, and Portia marries the far poorer Bassanio instead.
122	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Even ''Shylock'' is taken aback in the courtroom when Bassanio and Gratiano declare that they would sacrifice their wives to save Antonio.
123	* EveryoneLovesBlondes: Many lines are devoted to describing Portia's beautiful long blonde hair, which makes her seem exotic and desirable contrasted with the black-haired Italian beauties around her. She is however too cunning and sharp to qualify for HairOfGoldHeartOfGold.
124	* ExactWords: Shylock demanded one pound of Antonio's flesh, and compounds this trope by insisting that he is under no obligation to provide a doctor to stem Antonio's bleeding as "it is not in the bond". It is arguably this insistence on following the bond to the absolute letter that inspires Portia to, while posing as a judge, inform him that he is entitled only to that one pound, no more or less, and only to Antonio's ''flesh''--no blood can be spilled, otherwise the deal is void.
125	** Portia's skill in doing this is combined with ChekhovsSkill, as she proves clever enough to find an Exact Words loophole in her father's challenge earlier in the play. The rules state that she isn't allowed to tell her would-be suitors which of the three chests contains her portrait...but there's nothing stopping her from getting some local musicians to give him a hint. She orders them to play a song that gives away the trick of the SecretTestOfCharacter; Bassanio quickly figures out the clue and chooses correctly.
126	* {{Expy}}: Launcelot Gobbo is ''very'' similar, in name and nature, to Launce from Shakespeare's earlier play, ''Theatre/TwoGentlemenOfVerona.'' This could be an ActorAllusion, as the two Launces were almost certainly played by the same comic actor, Will Kemp.
127	* FaceDeathWithDignity: Starting from the line, "I'll follow him no more with bootless prayers," Antonio is bent on doing this. Unless, of course, [[DeathSeeker he secretly wants]] [[{{Unishment}} to pay the bond]].
128	* FinalSpeech: Antonio gets an epic one, directly after Portia asks, "You, merchant, have you anything to say?" [[NotSoFinalConfession Subverted when he doesn't end up dying at all.]]
129	* FlatCharacter: Apart from being a [[PrinceCharmless haughty nobleman]], the Prince of Aragon doesn't have much in the way of a backstory or other characterization.
130	* TheFool: Launcelot ends up playing this, despite it being nowhere in his job description. His opinion on the matter [[SadClown seems mixed]].
131	* FreudianThreat: Shylock specifies at the initial agreement that ''he'' gets to pick where the pound of flesh comes from, with this being the snide innuendo. Returns in a darker sense when he declares that he wants the piece closest to Antonio's heart--put alongside the work's thematic juxtapositions of love, sex, and business, the suggestion is that locations of literal or metaphorical proximity would suffice equally well as the "pound of flesh" that lead to Shylock losing both daughter and fortune.
132	-->'''Salario:''' Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take his flesh: what's that good for?\
133	'''Shylock:''' To bait fish withal.
134	* FreudianTrio
135	** Antonio: Superego. He's the most sensible of them and a voice of reason (when he's not being an ass to Shylock).
136	** Bassanio: Ego. He drives both the plots and tends to be a little self-absorbed.
137	** Gratiano: Id. He's known for not censoring his emotions and desires.
138	* FriendVersusLover: A major theme of the main plot and in sub-plots. Exactly who is the friend and who is the lover gets a little confusing.
139	** During the trial scene, Bassanio and Gratiano swear that, if they could save Antonio's life, they would give up everything, even their new wives. Little do they know that their wives are standing right there. Later, Bassanio refuses to give away his wife's ring... until Antonio talks him into it. It's nicely tied up when Portia refuses to give Bassanio ''back'' his ring until ''Antonio'' talks her into it.
140	** In the subplot, there seems to be a bit of tension going on between Lancelot and Lorenzo as to which of them gets to spend time with Jessica.
141	* FunnyForeigner: All of Portia's suitors, the Italian Bassanio excepted. She and Nerissa spend most of their first scene mocking the suitors with stereotypical criticisms of their nationalities.
142	* GenreShift: The first three acts are [[{{Dramedy}} a mix of drama and comedy]] split almost evenly between the Portia and Shylock plots, while the fourth act is straight drama (despite some snarking from Portia and Nerissa) and the fifth act is almost farcical.
143	* GentileJewChaser: Lorenzo has it bad for the Jewish Jessica, although he (and all the other guys) seem to regard Jessica's lovable qualities as existing in spite of her Jewishness.
144	* GoldDigger: An uncharitable reading of Bassanio, who, while he later seems genuinely besotted with Portia, initially spends a ''lot'' longer extolling her money's virtues than hers. He introduces his plan to woo her as "How to get clear of all the debts I owe."
145	* GoodAngelBadAngel: Launcelot's comedic moral struggle, in which he parodies morality plays of the time. In the end, he sides with the devil.
146	* GotMeDoingIt: Portia's servant and friend Nerissa adopts many of her mistress' traits, including her sharp wit, her adventurousness... and [[ProverbialWisdom her love for proverbs, which was considered a sign of wisdom in Elizabethan era]].
147	* GreedyJew: Shylock is a TropeCodifier in the western tradition, but in hindsight is actually a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]]. Within the play, Shylock is framed as a grudge-holding LoanShark by other characters, but it's clear that he hates Antonio because the latter is an open anti-semite who abused him even when Shylock did nothing to him. Throughout the story he's motivated by vengeance, not greed, offering the initial loan to Antonio without interest to entice him to risk his life, and even demanding Antonio's flesh instead of accepting an offer of ''three times'' his money back! The only time he's really treated like a stereotypical greedy Jew is when Jessica robs him to elope with Lorenzo and he bemoans the loss of his ducats as much as the loss of his daughter.
148	* GreekChorus: A lot of the exposition falls to Salarino and Solanio, who commentate on the action and interview other characters.
149	* HaremSeeker: At one point Launcelot reads his palm and discovers that he's going to have fifteen wives. He feels cheated; he wanted at ''least'' twenty.
150	* HeelFaithTurn: [[PlayingWithATrope Equivocally]]. Part of Shylock's punishment is a forced conversion to Christianity, but it's hard to take his apparent compliance at face value.
151	-->'''Shylock:''' I am content.[[note]]With being forced to convert to the religion that has tormented you your entire life and become your neurotic obsession? Really?[[/note]]
152	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Antonio and Bassanio... [[AmbiguouslyGay Possibly]]. These days the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon itself portrays them as being in a romantic relationship, with Portia's full consent and approval.
153	* HeWhoFightsMonsters: In the narrative, Shylock is shown to have legitimate reasons to hate Antonio but it also portrays him as an antagonist for demanding "A pound of flesh" as penance for not paying back the loan. Shylock explains how his actions are merely a response to persecution and abuse and not of genuine malice like everyone believes. It's understandable why he goes to such extreme methods to prove his point, even though it's far from justifying Antonio's death.
154	--> Thou call'dst me dog before thou hadst a cause; but, since I am a dog, beware my fangs.
155	* HitThemInThePocketbook: When Shylock tries to claim his agreed-upon pound of flesh from Antonio, Portia impersonates a lawyer, uses LoopholeAbuse to render their contract unenforceable and charge Shylock with attempted murder, and forces him to give up his estate to his daughter and her husband on pain of death -- and to convert to Christianity, effectively putting him out of business as a moneylender.
156	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: It's Shylock's insistence on claiming his bond no matter what and [[ExactWords to the letter]] that leads to his undoing when Portia puts impossible conditions on him claiming it--when he attempts to back down and just take his money, Portia points out that he has already repeatedly refused the money in open court and may only have his "justice". When he gives up on that, Portia then uses his plan to accuse him of attempted murder.
157	* HollywoodLaw: A contract that gives you the right to murder another person is not enforceable by law. This was true in Elizabethan times as well--though of course, the play is set in Venice (the codes of theater forbade representation of the Elizabethan court system and other institutions).
158	* HonorThyParent: Portia's deceased father has stipulated that only a man who has passed a test may marry her. She complains to Nerissa that "I may neither choose whom I would nor refuse whom I dislike; so is the will of a living daughter curbed by the will of a dead father. Is it not hard, Nerissa, that I cannot choose one nor refuse none?" It is not clear whether she is purely bound by filial obedience to her father or whether the latter stipulated in his will e.g. that she must respect the result of the test in order to keep her inheritance. Nerissa opines that "Your father was ever virtuous; and holy men at their death have good inspirations: therefore the lottery, that he hath devised in these three chests of gold, silver and lead, whereof who chooses his meaning chooses you, will, no doubt, never be chosen by any rightly but one who shall rightly love." In the end, the test works as it should, with Bassanio, who of all suitors was most pleasing to Portia, choosing the correct leaden casket (she does help him choose by having musicians play/sing him a song that hints to him not to judge by appearances). Shylock's daughter Jessica is less reverent toward her own father, having no qualms about eloping with Lorenzo, converting to Christianity for him, and taking off with some of Shylock's wealth, even buying a monkey with a ring her late mother had given her father. But even she shows some requisite piety when preparing to elope: "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 manners."
159	* HotBlooded:
160	** Gratiano is sometimes portrayed this way. At any rate, he's the most animated of the male cast.
161	** The Prince of Morocco is a very passionate man who seemingly lives for conquest and battle.
162	* HumiliationConga: At the play's end Shylock has lost, in short order, his daughter, his fortune, his property, and his religion.
163	* HurricaneOfEuphemisms:
164	-->'''Launcelot:''' ... for indeed my father did something [[UnusualEuphemism smack, something grow to, he had a kind of taste]] ...
165	* {{Hypocrite}}:
166	** When Launcelot suggests that Jessica's best hope of avoiding damnation is that she was born out of wedlock, Lorenzo rebukes Launcelot for having an affair with a Moorish woman:
167	-->'''Jessica''': Nay, you need not fear us, Lorenzo. Launcelot and I are out. He tells me flatly there is no mercy for me in heaven because I am a Jew's daughter; and he says you are no good member of the Commonwealth, for in converting Jews to Christians you raise the price of pork.\
168	'''Lorenzo''': I shall answer that better to the Commonwealth than you can the getting up of the Negro's belly. The Moor is with child by you, Launcelot.\
169	'''Launcelot''': It is much that the Moor should be more than reason; but if she be less than an honest woman, she is more than I took her for.
170	** You'll find that the Christian protagonists do not act with any of the Christian values they so preach. This is {{lampshade\|Hanging}}d by Shylock in his famous monologue.
171	* HypocriticalHumor:
172	** Solario and Salarino are all over this:
173	-->'''Solanio:''' But it is true, without any slips of prolixity, or crossing the plain highway of talk, that the good Antonio, the honest Antonio--oh, that I had a word good enough to keep his name company--\
174	'''Salarino:''' Come, the full stop.\
175	'''Solanio:''' Hah! what sayest thou?
176	** Whenever Launcelot says something like "To be brief ... " or "I have ne'er a tongue in my head," you can bet that he's about to go off on a tangent. Not to mention that he criticizes his dad for not being "honest"--which means both "honest" in the modern sense of the word (and the line happens right before he runs into his dad and starts lying to him) or "honest" in the secondary Elizabethan sense of "chaste" (which he clearly isn't, either--he later criticizes ''the girl he got pregnant'' for not being honest).
177	** At one point the Prince of Aragon opines that the world would be a better place if titles and wealth were earned through merit rather than by being bestowed through birth. Aragon himself only has his title and wealth because he was born to noble parents.
178	* IGaveMyWord:
179	** Shylock claims he swore a solemn oath that he'd have Antonio's heart in revenge for the wrongs done him as his justification for refusing even several times the money he is owed.
180	-->'''Shylock:''' An oath, an oath, I have an oath in heaven.\
181	Shall I lay perjury upon my soul?\
182	No, not for Venice.
183	** As they leave her house after failing to win her hand, both the Prince of Morocco and the Prince of Aragon take time to assure Portia that they will keep the [[VowOfCelibacy oaths]] that they swore to as a condition of entering the EngagementChallenge.
184	* ImpoverishedPatrician: Bassanio comes from a noble family, but he has frittered away all his money (and quite a bit more borrowed from Antonio) and now needs to borrow ''more'' money to woo Portia, so that he can [[GoldDigger marry her and use his fortune to pay his debts]].
185	* IncrediblyLamePun:
186	-->'''Lorenzo:''' ... the Moor is with child by you, Launcelot!\
187	'''Launcelot:''' It is much that the Moor should be more than reason, but if she be less than an honest woman, she is indeed more than I took her for.\
188	'''Lorenzo:''' How every fool can play upon the word!
189	* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Shylock is very easy to portray this way, though it's not really clear if it was intentional.
190	* InsistentTerminology: Launcelot uses this a lot.
191	* InvoluntaryCharityDonation: After the trial gets underway, Shylock refuses reimbursement from Bassanio, reminding Venice of its unchangeable laws of precedent. Judge Balthasar (Portia in disguise) decides that Shylock is entitled to the one pound of flesh, but no blood can be shed and it cannot be even the smallest part higher or lower than exactly one pound or he forfeits his lands and goods. Afterwards, the court finds that because he sought Antonio's life, one half of Shylock's money will be awarded to Antonio and the other half will go to pay the Venetian treasury. Antonio urges the court to allow Shylock to keep half of his fortune, with the other half to be granted to Lorenzo and Jessica as a trust fund. In addition, Shylock must convert from Judaism to Christianity.
192	* IronicEcho: Gratiano starts jubilantly quoting Shylock after the tables turn in the court scene.
193	-->'''Gratiano:''' A Daniel still say I, a second Daniel!\
194	I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word.[[note]]Shylock had been referring to the Biblical story of Daniel [[{{Irony}} preventing innocent blood from being shed]] by using his God-given wisdom to expose the two judges that had blackmailed a young woman named Susanna, who was on her way to execution, but not quite there, when Daniel intervened.[[/note]]
195	** Since he's the AudienceSurrogate and not really playing by the rules of drama, this quickly turns into an OverlyLongGag.
196	* JobTitle: Spoiler: it's about a merchant in Venice.
197	* KillHimAlready: Gratiano, when the tables are turned and Antonio gets to decide Shylock's fate.
198	-->'''Gratiano:''' A halter gratis! Nothing else, for God's sake!
199	* KissingCousins: Debated. Bassanio is referred to once as Antonio's "kinsman" (which could denote any distant family relationship) in the first scene. Such a relationship is never mentioned again, and some scholars believe it to have been a mistake, especially since Bassanio and Antonio are necessarily of different classes.
200	* LastSecondChance: One interpretation of Portia's actions during the trial; while masquerading as a young judge and admitting that Shylock is on firm ground with his claim to Antonio's flesh, she repeatedly attempts to convince Shylock to show mercy on Antonio, either by taking the money (three times the original loan) or simply for goodness' sake with her famous speech about "the quality of mercy". It's only when Shylock insists that he will not be swayed by any argument, and furthermore [[ExactWords refuses to even provide a doctor for Antonio because "it is not in the bond"]] that she is forced to resort to trickery to [[HoistByHisOwnPetard snare him with his own words]].
201	* TheLoad: Shylock mentions in Act II, Scene 5 how Launcelot has become this to him:
202	-->'''Shylock''' [''to Launcelot, in a conversation alternating between him and Jessica'']: Well, thou shalt see, thy eyes shall be the judge,\
203	The difference of old Shylock and Bassanio--\
204	[''to Jessica''] What, Jessica!-- [''to Launcelot''] Thou shalt not gormandize\
205	As thou hast done with me-- [''to Jessica''] What, Jessica!\
206	[''to Launcelot''] And sleep, and snore, and rend apparel out--\
207	[''to Jessica'']: Why, Jessica, I say!
208	** Later in the same scene, he hopes that Launcelot will become such a burden, that he would end up ruining Bassanio:
209	-->'''Shylock''': The patch is kind enough, but a huge feeder,\
210	Small slow in profit, and he sleeps by day\
211	More than the wildcat. Drones hive not with me,\
212	Therefore I part with him, and and part with him\
213	To one that I would have him help to waste his borrowed purse.
214	* LoanShark: Already an established trope that Shakespeare is riffing on. In a bit of a MemeticMutation, the term "Shylock" is now synonymous with loan sharks.
215	* TheLostLenore: Shylock alludes to his dead wife Leah. It implies he still loves her.
216	* LysistrataGambit: Portia and Nerissa vow never to go to bed with their husbands until they see the rings. Of course, they're the ones who ''took'' the rings.
217	* MadnessMantra:
218	-->'''Shylock:''' I will have my bond ...
219	* MaidAndMaiden: Nerissa is the Maid to Portia's Maiden. They both even go undercover together as men and keep the same dynamic. Nerissa is also officially Portia's waiting maid.
220	* {{Malaproper}}: Both the Gobbos constantly use the wrong words.
221	* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: Launcelot argues that Jessica might not be her father's child (but that, hey, she's damned either way).
222	* MeaningfulName
223	** Portia is the "port" towards which many merchant-like princes venture in an attempt to claim the "goods", her money and herself. It also implies a "portal" or means to an end, which her riches ultimately render her.
224	*** She may also have been named after Portia, the beautiful and clever wife of [[Theatre/JuliusCaesar Brutus]], to whom Bassanio compares her.
225	** The name "Shylock" is possibly derived from ''shallach'', a Hebrew word for "cormorant" which was also used to describe usurers. Regardless of original uses, his constant torment has made him ''shy'', with a tendency to ''lock'' his true feelings and opinions away.
226	** "Gratiano" means ''[[{{Irony}} grace]],'' and can also be taken to mean "gratuitous"--his very ''existence'' is in excess.
227	** "Launcelot" means ''servant,'' which is, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin exactly what he is]]. In some productions his last name, "Gobbo" (Italian for ''hunchback)'' is taken as an indication that he has curvature of the spine.
228	*** His name in the quartos and folios is spelled as "Launcelet" or "little lance", possibly referring to his sharp tongue or his sharp wit . . . or to [[TeenyWeenie exactly what you'd imagine]].
229	** "Nerissa" is Italian for ''black-haired''. Shakespeare may have intended to contrast her, a more traditional Italian beauty, with the exotic, golden-haired Portia.
230	** "Jessica," a name Shakespeare coined, is likely meant to invoke the "jesses," or ties, by which captive hawks are secured.
231	** "Belmont" means ''Beautiful Mountain'' and is viewed as an earthly paradise, the place where the characters are happiest and (literally and figuratively) closest to Heaven.
232	** Some of Antonio's ships, according to Salarino, were wrecked on "the Goodwins," which means ''good friends''.
233	** "Aragon" sounds similar to the word "arrogant", which is the Prince of Aragon's defining characteristic.
234	* MeaninglessVillainVictory: The court finds that Shylock's contract with Antonio is legally binding, so he is entitled to a pound of Antonio's flesh. The court goes on to say that Shylock is ''not'', however, entitled to any of Antonio's blood. Since he couldn't take any flesh without also spilling blood, Shylock's "win" is rendered moot.
235	* MirrorCharacter: There's a lot of literary theory on Antonio and Shylock as this. The play presents them as twin outsiders--Shylock as a Jew to Venetian society, Antonio as a "tainted wether of the flock" to the world of love and marriage.
236	* MommasBoy: In some productions the Prince of Aragon is accompanied by his mother when he arrives at Portia's house to attempt the EngagementChallenge.
237	* MoneyDumb: The formerly wealthy Bassanio's absolute inability to manage his own money is what kick-starts the plot. He has frittered away all of his inheritance and is forced to take out a loan.
238	* MortonsFork: Launcelot describes being tempted by the devil to run away from Shylock. He then reasons that Shylock is "the very devil incarnation", so whether he runs or not, he'll be getting bossed around by the devil. Later, he breaks it down for Jessica: she's either going to hell because her father is a Jew, or else she's not really his daughter, in which case she's going to hell because her mother was unfaithful.
239	* MotiveRant: Shylock's famous "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech.
240	-->'''Shylock:''' [[CreateYourOwnVillain The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction]].
241	* MurderTheHypotenuse: Inverted. Instead of letting Antonio die, thus clearing Bassanio of all his outstanding debts (both fiscal and romantic), Portia ''saves his life''. As sacrificing himself for Bassanio seems to be all Antonio truly wants, this salvation is Portia's way of establishing control over Antonio and Bassanio's relationship--effectively neutering the hypotenuse.
242	* MythologyGag: Lorenzo and Jessica's plotline approaches a downright parody of Shakespeare's earlier ''{{Theatre/Romeo and Juliet}}''. They even have a balcony scene.
243	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Some scholars argue that Shylock was inspired by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roderigo_Lopez#Trial_and_execution Roderigo Lopez]], the Portuguese "New Christian" (converted Jew) who served as Royal Physician to Queen Elizabeth, and whose trial and execution were tinged with anti-semitism despite Lopez's insistence that he was innocent and a Christian.
244	-->'''Portia:''' [[LampshadeHanging Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew?]]
245	* NotSoFinalConfession: Antonio's heckuva FinalSpeech is an implied if not explicit AnguishedDeclarationOfLove for Bassanio. But then he doesn't die like he expected to.
246	* OffTheTable: Both Shylock's refusal to take three times the value of the bond after it has defaulted and Balthazar's refusal to let him take the money once he's been [[MeaninglessVillainVictory refused the pound of flesh]].
247	* OlderThanSteam: This play is the first recorded instance of the name "Jessica."
248	* OriginalPositionFallacy: Portia pulls the gambit variation on Shylock. She pleads for him to choose mercy, but he insists on the ExactWords of the contract, thinking it will bind Antonio to suffer having a hunk of flesh carved out of his chest. Portia then reminds him that it binds ''him'' to take a pound, and only a pound, and without taking any ''blood''... which of course is impossible.
249	* ThePenance: If Antonio [[AmbiguouslyGay is indeed homosexual]], his eagerness for death could be due to guilt, either conscious or subconscious.
250	-->'''Antonio:''' I am the tainted wether of the flock,[[note]]a ''wether'' is a male sheep castrated at a young age[[/note]]\
251	Meetest for death.
252	* PluckyComicRelief: Gratiano, Nerissa, and Launcelot all qualify.
253	* PragmaticAdaptation: The film version starring Creator/AlPacino as Shylock opens with a montage to illustrate how the Jewish community is appallingly mistreated enough for Shylock to want revenge.
254	* PreserveYourGays: [[TheEeyore Antonio]], the titular merchant, is pretty clearly in love with his [[TheOnlyOneITrust only friend]], the dashing young nobleman Bassanio -- so much so that he is eager to enter into a contract on Bassanio's behalf by which the penalty for defaulting on a loan is having a pound of his flesh removed, [[LiteralMetaphor nearest the heart]]. [[FinaglesLaw Inevitably]], he defaults on the loan and is bound to a chair in court to have the flesh removed, which will most certainly kill him -- but at the literal last second, Bassanio's new wife ([[SweetPollyOliver in disguise as a young judge]]) announces an ExactWords loophole in the contract and saves his life.
255	* PrinceCharmless: The Prince of Aragon, Portia's conceited suitor. He doesn't express any love or affection for her, only that he believes that he deserves to marry her simply due to the fact that he is a wealthy prince.
256	* ThePromise: Antonio swears he will "be racked even to the uttermost" to finance Bassanio's pursuit of Portia. Needless to say, he is.[[note]]with a special pun on "racked," as a string of shipwrecks, or ''wracks'', is what undoes him.[[/note]]
257	* ProverbialWisdom: Portia really likes speaking in proverbs, a habit which seemingly passed on to her servant Nerissa. In contrast to modern views, in Elizabethan era the abundant usage of proverbs was considered a sign of wisdom and sharp wit; besides, it is widely believed that the character of Portia was based on Queen Elizabeth, who was very much fond of proverbs herself.
258	* PungeonMaster: Launcelot, much to Lorenzo's annoyance.
259	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The Duke doesn't require prompting to show mercy to Shylock, understanding that he sees the folly of his wrath against Antonio, and once the proceedings are finished, he allows Shylock to sign the deed after leaving the court, seeing how thoroughly broken the man is and not wishing further public humiliation on him.
260	* RecursiveCrossdressing: Shakespeare was very fond of this trope. Male actors play women--Portia, Nerissa, and Jessica--who disguise themselves as men.
261	* ReturningTheWeddingRing: Inverted. Portia and Nerissa give rings to their new husbands as [[{{Symbolism}} symbols]] of their love and fidelity, then disguise themselves as young men and trick their husbands into giving ''them'' the rings. Later, they confront their husbands and revel in their stammering excuses before [[InternalReveal revealing]] that they were the young men all along. Portia then returns her ring to Bassanio (through Antonio, [[HiddenDepths oddly]]) as a symbol for their ''renewed'' commitment to each other--though it's also a deliberate [[HenpeckedHusband power play]].
262	* RevengeBeforeReason: In the courtroom scene, Shylock turns down the complete value of the bond--even doubled and doubled again--in favor of his revenge on Antonio. Can be played as a VillainousBreakdown, where the injuries Shylock has suffered are driving him to irrationality.
263	* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: "Rich Suitors, Poor Suitor" in this case; the whole plot is catalyzed by Bassanio, a nobleman who has blown through his inheritance, needing to borrow money in order to woo Portia.
264	* RichesToRags: Happens to Antonio when ''all'' his merchant ships are lost in [[DiabolusExMachina a not-at-all contrived manner]]. The effect is reversed at the end when three of them unexpectedly return in [[DeusExMachina an even less contrived way]].
265	%% * SadClown: Launcelot. When you get right down to it, he hates his job (although that problem is soon solved), his relationship with his father is strained (apparently his dad fooled around with other women), and, by the end of the play, he's fathered an illegitimate child with a racial outcast who he probably doesn't even like. Of course, he constantly cracks jokes about all of these things. Some stagings take this a step further by implying that Launcelot likes Jessica and that his ranking-out of her and her new husband disguises his bitterness.
266	* SayMyName: Shylock says his daughter Jessica's name a lot in their first scene. One gets the feeling that he cares for her, but he's somewhat overprotective and possessive. "What, Jessica!" — "What, Jessica!" — "Why, Jessica, I say!" — "Jessica, my girl." — "Hear you me, Jessica."
267	* ScrewTheMoneyThisIsPersonal: When Antonio defaults on his debt to Shylock, Shylock demands the agreed-upon pound of flesh as payment even when he's offered triple the original amount. He bluntly explains that Antonio has dealt him so much public insult and humiliation for his religion and profession that his revenge is worth more to him.
268	* SecretTestOfCharacter
269	** Sure, you can have the ring that my wife (to whom you [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial bear absolutely no resemblance]]) made me swear to never take off! Bassanio nearly passed until Antonio persuaded him, which (alongside his earlier remark that he'd give everything of hers to save Antonio) shows Portia that she is not as important to Bassanio as he'd like her to think.
270	** The caskets are a test of character too, though you would have to be as dense as mud (or, apparently, as dense as a prince) to not spot that.
271	** Launcelot pretends to be somebody else and reporting that "Master Launcelot" is dead when conversing with his nearly-blind father Old Gobbo, to detect if his father can still recognize him with the little sight he still has, and tells him that Margery is his wife and Launcelot's mother, and he is alive and well.
272	* ServileSnarker: Launcelot, whose UltimateJobSecurity allows him to pass snarky comments to his employers without retribution.
273	* ShoutOut: Per usual for Shakespeare, there are allusions to Myth/ClassicalMythology and Literature/TheBible sprinkled throughout the play. Most notable in Act V, when Lorenzo and Jessica spend several minutes comparing themselves to various mythical couples. Whether they realize the irony--all the stories to which they allude end tragically--is unclear.
274	* ShownTheirWork: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodwin_Sands The Goodwins]], where Antonio's ships are wrecked, are actually a real place where there have been over ''2000 shipwrecks.'' British people play cricket on them when the tide is low enough.
275	* SmallRoleBigImpact: Lorenzo and Jessica's elopement is what arguably pushes Shylock over the edge.
276	* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: Launcelot identifies himself to his father when he mentions that Old Gobbo's wife and Launcelot's mother is Margery. Old Gobbo promptly recognizes Launcelot as his son.
277	* SpellMyNameWithAnS:
278	** Depending on the editor, it's "Lancelot" or "Launcelot". Just to make it even more complicated, the original folios spelled it "Lancelet" or "Launcelet", and while his father is "Old Gobbo" in the stage directions, he refers to himself as "La(u)ncelet Iobbe" or "La(u)ncelet Job". "Gobbo" means "hunchback" in Italian though neither of them are, and the Italian form of Job (as in the Biblical Job) is "Giobbe" so some editors have "corrected" the surname to that. "Lancelet" exists on its own as a term for a small sword, so some editors have kept it that way instead of taking his name as a reference to the Arthurian knight.
279	** This type of confusion also determines the presence or absence of a ''whole character''. Either, as in the first quarto, Antonio has two friends--Salarino and Solanio--and a third, Salerio, who delivers a message from him to Bassanio later in the play, or Salerio and Salarino are one and the same, in which case either the copier messed up or Shakespeare forgot how the name was spelled. (Which is plausible, since Shakespeare was notorious for never spelling his ''own'' name the same way twice.)
280	* SpitefulSpit: Shylock notes that Antonio would literally spit on him as a way of showing contempt.
281	* SpoiledSweet: Portia is the richest woman in the area (see ArbitrarilyLargeBankAccount), but she's also as kind as she is wealthy. When she hears that Antonio--who she's never even met--is in financial trouble, she offers triple what he owes to get him off the hook; later, she dons the guise of a male lawyer to save him.
282	* SweetPollyOliver
283	** Jessica dresses as a boy to elope with Lorenzo, with much chagrin.
284	** Portia and Nerissa later dress as young men to aid in Antonio's trial, with less.
285	* {{Symbolism}}: Since this is Shakespeare, any object or motif is pretty much guaranteed to carry plenty of connotations.
286	** The rings Portia and Nerissa use to entrap their new husbands, like rings in general in Shakespeare's time, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything are symbolic of female genitalia]], in addition to their more obvious function as symbols of marital loyalty.
287	** Gloves in Shakespeare's time held a manifold significance. Like rings, they carried sexual connotations. [[HighClassGloves They were status symbols]]; and as such a pair of gloves was a common courtship gift, so came to symbolize romantic initiative. And, of course, gloves and gauntlets were used to issue challenges. So it's very interesting that disguised Portia, directly after preventing Antonio from sacrificing himself for Bassanio, commands:
288	--->'''Portia:''' Give me your gloves; ''I'll wear them for your sake''.
289	* TakeAThirdOption: Instead of running away (thereby committing a sin) or continuing to serve his hated master, Launcelot enlists his father to help him switch jobs.
290	* TakeThat: Portia makes snarky comments about various contemporary European nationalities as personified by her suitors . . . including [[TakeThatAudience her English suitor]], who borrows fashions from other countries but has none of his own (a common caricature of the English at the time).
291	* TemptingFate
292	** Antonio's general attitude while signing the flesh-bond.
293	--->'''Antonio:''' I will not forfeit it:\
294	Within these two months, that's a month before\
295	This bond expires, I do expect return\
296	Of thrice three times the value of this bond.
297	** Bassanio at the beginning of the ring plot:
298	--->'''Bassanio:''' when this ring\
299	Parts from this finger, then parts life from hence:\
300	O, then be bold to say Bassanio's dead!
301	** During the trial scene: of ''course'' Shylock's impassioned declaration, "My deeds upon my head! I crave the law," comes back to bite him.
302	* ThemeNaming: Solanio, Salarino and (if he exists at all and isn't just one of the other two with his name misspelled) Salerio.
303	* ThenLetMeBeEvil: Summed up with a memorable line, spoken in response to Antonio's pleading:
304	-->'''Shylock:''' Thou call'dst me dog before thou hadst a cause,\
305	But since I am a dog, beware my fangs.
306	* TheyCallMeMrTibbs: A large portion of Act II, Scene 2, is devoted to comedy based on Elizabethan usage of this trope.
307	-->'''Launcelot:''' Talk you of young Master Launcelot?\
308	'''Old Gobbo:''' No master, sir, but a poor man's son; his father, though I say it, is an honest exceeding poor man, and, God be thanked, well to live.\
309	'''Launcelot:''' Well, let his father be what he will, we talk of young ''Master'' Launcelot.\
310	'''Old Gobbo:''' Your worship's ''friend'' and Launcelot, sir.
311	* ThoseTwoGuys: Antonio and Bassanio's two friends Salerino and Solanio, who are always together.
312	* TookALevelInBadass: Portia, at first the typical love interest, goes on to save the day as the smartest lawyer in Venice.
313	* TranslationConvention: {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d heavily when Portia complains that she can't understand the English baron:
314	-->'''Portia:''' ... he hath neither Latin, French, nor Italian, and you will come into court and swear, I have a poor penniworth in the English.
315	* TricksterGirlfriend: Portia, for Bassanio: she gives him a ring, asking not to give it to anyone else. Then, disguised as a male lawyer, she tricks him into giving her the ring as gratitude. At the end of the play, she pretends to be angry and accuses him of infidelity, then gives him back the ring and implies that she slept with the doctor to get it. Eventually, she admits that she was the doctor herself.
316	* UsedToBeMoreSocial: According to Gratiano, [[BrokenBird Antonio]] was not always this melancholy. Indeed, he has a loyal following of friends and acquaintances who are just now beginning to get sick of his gloom.
317	* UnbuiltTrope: It plays very much like one would expect a deconstruction of Panto tropes to. The villain is unpleasant and mean in all the ways you expect a panto-villain to be, but he's also the most put-upon character in the play: he begins as the underdog and ends stripped of everything, his money, his daughter, even his religion. With the exception of his murderous intent all other characters treat him far worse than he treats them, and they largely hate him simply for being a Jew.
318	* UngratefulBastard: Jessica not only runs away from home and abandons her father to a solitary life, she also robs him of much of his money and to twist the knife further, allegedly sells a ring he gave her that belonged to his wife--her mother--for a ''monkey''. It's implied that Shylock might be an {{Abusive Parent\|s}}, but that's still a pretty heartless list of crimes to commit against anyone, let alone your own father.
319	* {{Unishment}}: It starts to seem that paying the flesh-bond (sacrificing himself for Bassanio) is [[DeathSeeker exactly what Antonio wants]]. His extreme eagerness to hasten the trial and give Shylock his forfeit goes beyond FaceDeathWithDignity or GetItOverWith.
320	-->'''Antonio:''' I do beseech you\
321	Make no more offers, use no further means,\
322	But with all plain and brief conveniency\
323	''Let'' me ''have'' judgement and the Jew his will.
324	* UpperClassEquestrian: One of Portia's unseen suitors, a Neapolitan prince, does nothing but talk about his horse and he is exceptionally proud of the fact that he can shoe it himself. Portia opines that this skill set may be the result of the prince's [[YourMom mother]] having an [[MamasBabyPapasMaybe affair with a blacksmith.]]
325	* VowOfCelibacy: Any suitor who attempts Portia's EngagementChallenge is required to swear an oath that he will not court, or marry, any other woman for the rest of his life should he be unsuccessful.
326	* WarriorPrince: The Prince of Morocco, one of Portia's suitors. In his introductory scene he boasts about his prowess as a fighter and of his conquests on the battlefield.
327	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse
328	** In a comic-relief scene, Lorenzo and Launcelot are bantering and it turns out that Launcelot got a Moorish woman pregnant. Launcelot makes a joke about it, and it's never mentioned again. A few scholars have suspected that the line is the final remnant of a [[WhatCouldHaveBeen lost subplot.]]
329	** Solanio disappears completely after Act III (and so does Salarino [[SpellMyNameWithAnS if he isn't Salerio]]), with both of them displaced as Antonio's companions once Bassiano and the others return to Venice.
330	--->'''Salanio:''' [[LampshadeHanging We leave you now with better company]].
331	* WhereDaWhiteWomenAt: One of the noblemen who tries to win Portia is the Prince of Morocco. She's relieved when he chooses the wrong casket and gets sent home, not least because of his dark skin. Later in the play, it turns out that Launcelot's been having some kind of offscreen affair with a "Moor" (and gotten her pregnant).
332	* YourMom: Launcelot comes up with a whole bunch of these when he and Jessica discuss her parentage.
333

Context Theatre / TheMerchantOfVenice