Tubal Tubal Tubal is a wealthy Jew of Venice, who lends Shylock enough to make up the full three thousand ducats the latter lends to Antonio. Shylock sends him to track down Jessica, though he is unable to do so, only being able to make a list of all the bills she has run up over the course of her flight. He also brings Shylock news that Antonio is on the verge of bankruptcy. SparkNotes: The Merchant of Venice: Character List The Merchant of Venice Plot Overview Analysis of Major Characters Shylock - A Jewish moneylender in Venice. Angered by his mistreatment at the hands of Venice’s Christians, particularly Antonio, Shylock schemes to eke out his revenge by ruthlessly demanding as payment a pound of Antonio’s flesh. Although seen by the rest of the play’s characters as an inhuman monster, Shylock at times diverges from stereotype and reveals himself to be quite human. These contradictions, and his eloquent expressions of hatred, have earned Shylock a place as one of Shakespeare’s most memorable characters. Read an in-depth analysis of Shylock. Portia - A wealthy heiress from Belmont. Portia’s beauty is matched only by her intelligence.

Bound by a clause in her father’s will that forces her to marry whichever suitor chooses correctly among three caskets, Portia is nonetheless able to marry her true love, Bassanio. Far and away the most clever of the play’s characters, it is Portia, in the disguise of a young law clerk, who saves Antonio from Shylock’s knife. Read an in-depth analysis of Portia. Antonio - The merchant whose love for his friend Bassanio prompts him to sign Shylock’s contract and almost lose his life. Antonio is something of a mercurial figure, often inexplicably melancholy and, as Shylock points out, possessed of an incorrigible dislike of Jews. Nonetheless, Antonio is beloved of his friends and proves merciful to Shylock, albeit with conditions. Read an in-depth analysis of Antonio. Bassanio - A gentleman of Venice, and a kinsman and dear friend to Antonio. Bassanio’s love for the wealthy Portia leads him to borrow money from Shylock with Antonio as his guarantor. An ineffectual businessman, Bassanio proves himself a worthy suitor, correctly identifying the casket that contains Portia’s portrait.

Gratiano - A friend of Bassanio’s who accompanies him to Belmont. A coarse and garrulous young man, Gratiano is Shylock’s most vocal and insulting critic during the trial. While Bassanio courts Portia, Gratiano falls in love with and eventually weds Portia’s lady-in-waiting, Nerissa. Jessica - Although she is Shylock’s daughter, Jessica hates life in her father’s house, and elopes with the young Christian gentleman, Lorenzo. The fate of her soul is often in doubt: the play’s characters wonder if her marriage can overcome the fact that she was born a Jew, and we wonder if her sale of a ring given to her father by her mother is excessively callous. Lorenzo - A friend of Bassanio and Antonio, Lorenzo is in love with Shylock’s daughter, Jessica. He schemes to help Jessica escape from her father’s house, and he eventually elopes with her to Belmont. Nerissa - Portia’s lady-in-waiting and confidante. She marries Gratiano and escorts Portia on Portia’s trip to Venice by disguising herself as her law clerk. Launcelot Gobbo - Bassanio’s servant.

A comical, clownish figure who is especially adept at making puns, Launcelot leaves Shylock’s service in order to work for Bassanio. The prince of Morocco - A Moorish prince who seeks Portia’s hand in marriage. The prince of Morocco asks Portia to ignore his dark countenance and seeks to win her by picking one of the three caskets. Certain that the caskets reflect Portia’s beauty and stature, the prince of Morocco picks the gold chest, which proves to be incorrect. The prince of Arragon - An arrogant Spanish nobleman who also attempts to win Portia’s hand by picking a casket. Like the prince of Morocco, however, the prince of Arragon chooses unwisely. He picks the silver casket, which gives him a message calling him an idiot instead of Portia’s hand. Salarino - A Venetian gentleman, and friend to Antonio, Bassanio, and Lorenzo. Salarino escorts the newlyweds Jessica and Lorenzo to Belmont, and returns with Bassanio and Gratiano for Antonio’s trial. He is often almost indistinguishable from his companion Solanio. Solanio - A Venetian gentleman, and frequent counterpart to Salarino.

The duke of Venice - The ruler of Venice, who presides over Antonio’s trial. Although a powerful man, the duke’s state is built on respect for the law, and he is unable to help Antonio. Old Gobbo - Launcelot’s father, also a servant in Venice. Tubal - A Jew in Venice, and one of Shylock’s friends. Doctor Bellario - A wealthy Paduan lawyer and Portia’s cousin. Doctor Bellario never appears in the play, but he gives Portia’s servant the letters of introduction needed for her to make her appearance in court. Balthasar - Portia’s servant, whom she dispatches to get the appropriate materials from Doctor Bellario. More Help Character Directory Character Directory DUKE OF VENICE The Duke of Venice presides over the trial of Shylockï¿½s suit against Antonio. He is helpless to influence matters, being bound by the laws of the state, a position in which Shakespeare often places his rulers in this way the Duke emphasizes a principle to which the playwright was strongly committed: the importance of the law in a well-ordered society.

Although the Duke is prepared to see Antonio die, as the full rigor of the law dictates, he is merciful to Shylock after the case is resolved in Antonio's favor, thus highlighting another virtue Shakespeare saw in an ideal ruler. MOROCCO Morocco (Morochus) is an African prince and unsuccessful suitor of Portia. Faced with the choice among three caskets ordained by Portia's father, Morocco rationalizes his choice in a long speech (2.7.13-60) that presents a viewpoint that the play as a whole invalidates. Morocco is attracted by the richness of the gold casket, which promises 'what many men desire' (2.7.5), but he finds within it an image of a death's head and a scroll whose message begins with the now-familiar line 'All that glisters is not gold' (2.7.65). Morocco fails because he equates appearance with inner worth and because he cannot imagine hazarding all in pursuit of happiness, unlike Bassanio, who wins Portia by selecting the lead casket, and Antonio, who risks every thing for his friend in accepting Shylock perilous loan.

Portia dislikes the prospect of marrying Morocco. In 2.1 she politely assures him that she recognizes his virtues as a man and a prince, but after his defeat, she is relieved. The Merchant of Venice is a play that acknowledges and makes use of Elizabethan prejudices; not only is it distinctly anti-Semitic, but the two unsuccessful suitorsï¿½both presented as examples of flawed valuesï¿½are a black man and a political enemy of England, the Spaniard ARRAGON. In both the Quarto and First Folio editions of the play, the name Morocco is rendered in Latin, Morochus, and some modern editions follow this practice. ARRAGON Arragon (Aragon) is a Spanish prince and unsuccessful suitor of Portia. In selecting among the caskets of silver, gold, and lead to win Portia's hand, Arragon reveals the arrogance that his name suggests. He rejects the lead casket as unworthy and the gold because its inscription promises 'what many men desire' (2.9.24), and he feels himself superior to the 'common spirits' (2.9.32).

Although Arragon is a somewhat comic figureï¿½he is a caricature Spaniard of a sort familiar to 16th-century English theatre-goersï¿½his failure to select the correct casket illuminates the thematic values of the play. He is presented as a foil to Bassanio, who chooses the humble lead casket and wins the lottery and whose victory reflects on the Spaniard's vanity. Further, the villainous Shylock resembles Arragon in his pride, refusing to relinquish an iota of what he feels he deserves. An unselfish sense of community with others is necessary for romantic success, in the play's scheme of things, and Arragon demonstrates its opposite. ANTONIO Antonio is the title character in The Merchant of Venice. Antonio borrows money from Shylock and agrees to let the usurer cut away a pound of his flesh if he defaults on the repayment. Antonio represents the ideal of selfless generosity that the play advocates. He borrows only in order to help his spendthrift friend Bassanio, who wishes to appear wealthy as he woos Portia.

Antonio's extravagant willingness to risk his moneyï¿½and his lifeï¿½stands in opposition to Shylock's calculating greed. Also, his often expressed fondness for Bassanio represents another literary ideal of Shakespeare's dayï¿½that of close friendship between malesï¿½which the playwright dealt with more extensively in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Although this motif was a common one, some scholars contend that the intensity of Antonio's affection for Bassanio may demonstrate homosexual tendencies in Shakespeare. However, this same relationship has been staged as a father-son or older brother type as Bassanio is usually seen as younger and less experienced. Whatever the true relationship, Antonio is a passive, melancholy, somewhat colorless man, stoical in the face of death and lonely amid the lovers' happiness at the play's end. BASSANIO Bassanio is a friend of Antonio and suitor of Portia. In requesting money from Antonio in order to court Portia in style, Bassanio is indirectly responsible for the peril in which the merchant finds himself when he borrows from Shylock and risks his flesh. But Bassanio is also an important figure in his own right.

He wins Portia by choosing the correct casket in the lottery required by her father, and, in so doing, he demonstrates a 16th-century ideal of romantic love. He distrusts the rich appearance of the gold and silver caskets (3.2.73-107) and instead selects the casket of lead. Such a choice was a conventional indication of selfless love. Only a true lover would value the maid for herself rather than her 'outward shows' (3.2.73), as Bassanio does. He is a leisured gentleman, presumably able to find a wife elsewhere, but he is willing to risk his chances of matrimony in order to win Portia. Like Antonio, he finds value in reaching for the greatest happiness, and is thus placed in opposition to Shylock's stinginess. Similarly, like Antonio and Portia and unlike Shylock, Bassanio gives what he has. He is a good-hearted spendthrift who cannot refuse a request, as when Gratiano announces that he has a favor to ask and is immediately told, 'You have obtain'd it' (2.2. 169). Bassanio is sometimes seen in a rather different light.

Some critics regard him as an heiress-hunting playboy whose irresponsibility endangers Antonio. However, Bassanio objects to Antonio's acceptance of Shylock's bond (1.3.150-151) and is persuaded only by his friend's assurances that he will certainly be able to repay the loan. And although Bassanio refers to Portia's wealth when he first mentions the idea of marrying her (1.1.161-176), this does not necessarily make him a gold-digger. Such considerations were normal in the 16th century; one would not discuss courtship without bringing up the subject of wealth. For Shakespeare's audience, and for the playwright himself, such behavior was ordinary, and Bassanio was surely intended as a romantic hero, a personification of good fortune in love. SOLANIO Solanio is a friend of Antonio. Solanio is a cultured gentleman whose conversation in elegant verse reflects the advanced civilization of his city. He is difficult to distinguish from his companion Salerio. In commenting on the action, these two gentlemen present facts and ideas.

For instance, consoling the melancholy Antonio in 1.1, they speak of his status as a wealthy and successful merchant, and in 2.8 they offer a picture of Shylock's despair and rage at Jessicaï¿½s elopement and speculate that the Jew will vent his anger on Antonio if he can. In 3.1 they tease Shylock, eliciting from him his famous speech claiming equality with Christians. Solanio is simply a conventional figure whose main purpose is to further the development of more significant characters. SALERIO Salerio (Salarino) is a friend of Antonio, Salerio, whose conversation in elegant verse reflects his position as a cultured gentleman of Venice, is difficult to distinguish from his companion Solanio. They present certain facts to the audience, as when, consoling the melancholy Antonio in 1.1, they refer to his status as a wealthy and successful merchant. In 2.8 the same figures discuss Shylockï¿½s despair and rage at Jessicaï¿½s elopement (which Salerio has assisted) and speculate that the Jew will vent his anger on Antonio if he can.

In 3.1 they tease Shylock, eliciting from him his famous speech claiming equality with Christians. Salerio is simply a conventional figure whose role is to further the development of more significant characters. In some editions Salerio's part, except in 3.2, is assigned to Salarino, who is thought of as a separate character. However, most modern scholarship holds that the latter name is simply a 16th-century typographical error. GRATIANO Gratiano is a friend of Bassanio and lover of Nerissa. Gratiano is a crude and frivolous companion. As Bassanio himself puts it, 'Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing' (1.1.114). He can be tactless, as in 1.1, where he is the only one of Antonio's friends who fails to see the propriety of leaving Antonio and Bassanio to confer privately. Bassanio, fearful that his friend will embarrass him before Portia, feels constrained to chastise him, 'Thou art too wild, too rude, and bold of voice . . .' (2.2.172).

Gratiano's bluff heartiness turns ugly in the trial scene (4.1), when he baits the desperate Shylock, and his lewd remarks, as in 3.2.216, mark him as a lesser person than the gentlemanly Bassanio. His courtship of Nerissa is simply an echo of Bassanio's wooing of Portia and seems to have no point but symmetry; such doubling was very popular among Elizabethan audiences. Gratiano's name comes from the Italian Commedia Dellï¿½Arte tradition, where it was used for a stock character, the comical doctor. LORENZO Lorenzo is the suitor and then husband of Jessica and a friend to Antonio, Bassanio, and Gratiano. Lorenzo is a stock theatrical figure, a stylish young aristocrat with little distinctive personality. However, the rhapsodies of Lorenzo and Jessica on moonlight and music in 5.1 provide the play's finest lyric poetry.

Lorenzo's musing on the music of the spheres (5.1.55-65) presents an idea of universal harmony that is appropriate to the play's conclusion, in which the oppositions that have been its principal substanceï¿½love versus greed, justice versus mercyï¿½are resolved. SHYLOCK Shylock is the Jewish money-lender who seeks to kill the title figure, Antonio, by claiming a pound of his flesh, as provided for in their loan agreement. Shylock is a stereotypical Jew, shaped by anti-Semitic notions that were prevalent in Shakespeare's England. He accordingly possesses the two standard features ascribed to Jews at the time, a vicious hatred of Christians and the practice of usury, the latter entailing an obsessive miserliness. However, Shakespeare's portrayal of Shylock does not demonstrate his intent to promote or display anti-Semitism; he simply took the figure from his anti-Semitic source and used it for traditional comic purposes. But his genius also transformed the character into something far grander. Shylock has so fascinated generations of readers and theatre-goers hat, although his name has become a byword for the warped personality of the unscupulous miser, few can avoid feeling sympathy for him.

The miser was a frequent comic villain in the drama and literature of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance, and Shylock belongs to this lineage. He represents the killjoy against whom pleasure-loving characters unite. He is a schemer whose icy shrewdness daunts Bassanio in 1.3. When Antonio enters in the same scene, Shylock reveals in an aside (1.3.36-47) his deep-seated hostility towards the merchant ï¿½For he is a Christian'. Yet his first words to Antonio are fawning compliments, and we immediately recognize the cruel usurer as a hypocrite as well. Throughout the play he is repeatedly associated with the devil (e.g., in 3.1.19-20)^The famous speech in which he seemingly asserts his basic humanityï¿½'Hath not a jew eyes? ...' (3 1 47-66)ï¿½is actually a baleful and chilling assertion of his intention to murder Antonio.

Shylock grows more and more malevolent until, in the trial scene (41) he melodramatically hones on his shoe the knife with which he hopes to kill the merchant while obstinately refusing to grant mercy, even for huge sums of money As is true of all comic villains there is never any doubt that Shylock will be defeated in the end, and he is therefore never truly threatening. Further, Shylock is broadly comical at times; in this respect he somewhat resembles the Vice of the medieval Morality Play. His stinginess has a humorous quality of caricature to it, and he is depicted as a subject for ridicule in all but one of his scenes, even in the trial scene In his first meeting with Antonio he justifies his usury by citing instances from the Bible, but he comically selects stories of crafty dealing (1.3.66-83) that actually cast him in a bad light. In 2.5, his dream is mocked by Launcelot, and his obsessive insistence on locking his house is humorously crotchety.

In 3.1, following the renowned speech in which he asserts his thirst for revenge, a change of tone-preparing the audience for a return to Belmont in 3.2ï¿½presents him as a farcical villain who becomes ludicrous as he oscillates hysterically between rage and delight when Tubal tells him of Jessicaï¿½s extravagance and Antonio's misfortune. Even at the trial, Shylock repeatedly makes himself clownish, chortling over the absence of a surgeon naively exulting in the pretence of Portia that he will win his case, and hastily trying to recover his money when he finds he has lost. Only in 3.3 is Shylock purely evil, making more imperative the development of Portia's counterplot in 3.4. As villain, Shylock embodies the negative element in several sets of opposing values whose conflicts provide the major themes of the play. First, he is the crabbed old man who opposes the expansive young lovers. His daughter flees him, saying that his 'house is hell' (2.3.2), and his contrast to Bassanio is carried forward to Portia's victory over him in the courtroom.

The final scene (5.1) rings with Shylock's absence, as young love triumphs. Further, he represents justice, as opposed to mercy, insisting on the letter of the law and refusing to accept any reduction of the terms of his contract with Antonio. Most significantly, he personifies greed, in contrast to the generosity of Antonio and Portia. In comically crying, 'My daughter! My ducats! My daughter!' (2.8.15), Shylock reveals that he loves money as much as, if not more than, Jessica. Among the reasons he gives for hating Antonio is a commercial one: the Merchant, in making interest-free loans, has depressed the going rate. Thus Shylock's love of money generates acrimony and strife. It is evidence of Shakespeare's creative empathy that even an evil stereotype is developed to the extent that Shylock is. Not content with a conventional stage villain, the playwright gives Shylock's personality an extraordinary duality. Many of his speeches, even the most humorous and/or malicious, can be construed as cries of anguish: the villain is also a victim, we sense.

It is easy to deride the two-faced miser who comically equates his daughter and his ducats, but it is also easy to perceive an old man, enraged by betrayal, who has begun to lose his mind. The usurer is given an opportunity to justify his practice in 1.3, and his solemn citations from the Bible have dignity and are not to be taken as only self-incriminating. He is finally subjected to a total and humiliating defeat: his oaths on his religion are nullified, and he is forced to convert. Yet our response to him remains complex. When the crushed moneylender last exits at the close of 4.1, he may be seen as an unrepentant malingerer ('I am not well . . .' [4.1.392]), as a hopeful Christian convert ('I am content' [4.1.389]), or simply as a properly beaten cur and an appropriate target for the cruel jests of Gratiano. The scene may also be effectively played so as to give Shylock his pride, broken but not vanquished; this image diminishes the righteous triumph of Antonio's defenders.

Most strikingly, perhaps, Shylock so vividly evokes Venetian anti-Semitism in 3.1. 47-66 that this speech is generally taken as a plea for fair and humane treatment, when it is in fact a justification for an extremely inhumane demand. Repeatedly, the playwright offers the possibility of contradictory responses (as he did, at about the same time, in creating Falstaff). However, it is basic to the nature of the character that, although Shylock has come to his extreme behavior through suffering, his behavior is nonetheless unacceptable: he is fundamentally a ruthless villain who plans to kill Antonio. Shakespeare does not ignore the process whereby Shylock has become what he is, but he is nonetheless appallingly vicious. Shylock himself says, '. . . since I am a dog, beware my fangs' (3.3.7). This complex and powerful character dominates the play, despite his relatively small part: he appears in only five scenes and speaks fewer than 400 lines. His multi-faceted nature complicates the work substantially, and it has sometimes inspired criticism on the grounds that it upsets the graceful development proper to a romantic comedy.

Shakespeare may have been aware of this problem when he disposed of his villain in Act 4; the final act affirms the triumph of the lovers without his disturbing presence. Like many of Shakespeare's characters, Shylock lends himself to many interpretations, and he remains as compelling as ever; he anticipates the power and pathos of such later protagonists as Othello and Lear. But although we may recognize the deformed grandeur and nobility of Shylock, we must not lose our awareness of the ideal of loving community that is at the heart of the play, an ideal to which Shylock at bottom runs counter. Nevertheless, the playwright's complex and humane sensibility brought forth a villain whose downfall cannot be wholeheartedly enjoyed. We are forced to recognize the moral cost involved in his defeat, and to acknowledge that hatred is not easily overcome. Shylock's name has puzzled scholars. Shakespeare may have derived it from shallach, the Hebrew word meaning 'cormorant', a term often used abusively to describe usurers, who were equated with that greedy fish-eating bird.

The name has also been associated with Shiloh, a name used in Genesis 49:10 for the coming Messiah, and with Salah or Shelah, the father of Eber, from the whom the Hebrews took their name (Genesis 10:24, e.g.). Also, Shakespeare may have adapted a 16th-century English word for a contemptible idler, shullock or shallock. TUBAL Tubal is a friend of Shylock. In 3.1 Tubal tells Shylock that he has been unable to find his friend's daughter, Jessica, who has eloped, but that he has heard reports other extravagance with the money she has stolen from her father Tubal also discloses that Antonio has suffered grave commercial losses, thus putting him at the mercy of Shylock, who has loaned him money. Shylock's responses, alternating from delirious anger to exultant delight, are grimly humorous. Tubal's name occurs among the list of descendants of Noah in Genesis 10-2- Biblical scholars of Shakespeare s day thought it meant 'confusion' or 'slander', though modern scholars believe it refers to an ancient tribe.

LAUNCELOT GOBBO Launcelot is the comical servant first of Shylock, then of Bassanio, for whom he is also a professional Fool. Launcelot carries messages and announces impending arrivals, but his role in the action is otherwise unimportant. His humor is clever and resourceful, but often broad and laced with standard devices. In 2.2, when he first appears, he wittily imitates legal precision in describing the overcoming of his conscience; in he same scene he draws on the ancient comic routine of mistaken identity, teasing his blind father, Old Gobbo. He frequently misuses wordsï¿½a regular feature of Shakespearean clowningï¿½as when he mistakes 'reproach' for 'approach' (2.5.20) and 'impertinent' for 'pertinent' (2.2.130). He engages Lorenzo in a battle of puns and deliberate misunderstandings in 3.5, and in 5.1 he raucously imitates the blare of hunting horns. A standard stage Clown, he has no particular personality aside from his buffoonish wit.

Launcelot is called 'clown' in the stage directions of old editions, but he does not have the rustic qualities sometimes associated with that stock theatrical figure (although the terms 'clown' and 'fool' were somewhat interchangeable), and here the term may merely indicate that the part was played by the clown of the company, who specialized in broadly comic roles. Launcelot provides evidence of Elizabethan anti-Semitism. In 2.2 he delivers a comic monologue in which he recounts a dispute between his conscience and a fiend as to whether or not he should leave Shylock's service. This passage and Launcelot's subsequent conversation with his father help to establish Shylock's reputation as a miser in virulently anti-Semitic terms. Similarly, in 3.5 he jests with Jessica on the likelihood of her damnation as a Jew, reflecting centuries of Christian prejudice. Although plainly intended as comical, Launcelot's attitude surely indicates something of the spirit in which Shakespeare's audience received Shylockï¿½as an obvious villain, at least in part because he is Jewish. OLD GOBBO Gobbo is the father of Launcelot Gobbo.

He is nearly blind and is teased by Launcelot, who pretends to be a stranger and informs the old man that his son has died. Rewarded by his father's distress, Launcelot tells him the truth and enlists him to help approach Bassanio about a job. After providing these few moments of incidental mirth, Gobbo disappears from the play. LEONARDO Leonardo is a servant of Bassanio. In 2.2 Leonardo speaks one line when he is instructed to arrange Bassanio's trip to Belmont. BALTHASAR Balthasar is a servant of Portia. In 3.4 Balthasar is sent with a letter to Portia's cousin, setting in motion her plan to impersonate a lawyer at the hearing of Shylockï¿½s suit against Antonio. Portia later takes Balthasar's name as part of her disguise. STEPHANO Stephano is a servant of Portia. In 5.1 Stephano tells Lorenzo and Jessica that his mistress will be returning to Belmont shortly. PORTIA Portia is the lover of Bassanio and defender of his friend Antonio. Portia, disguised as a lawyer, saves Antonio from the revenge of Shylock.

Initially a passive young woman at the mercy other father's odd matchmaking device, the lottery of caskets, she emerges as a touching lover with Bassanio in 3.2 and achieves a grand maturity when she defends Antonio in 4.1. Her address to Shylock on the virtues of mercy (4.1.180-198) is renowned as one of the finest passages Shakespeare wrote; it is certainly his most effective presentation of Christian ideals. Her tactics in the trialï¿½leading Shylock to believe he can win his case and thus eliciting from him his demands for the strictest interpretation of the lawï¿½have been deplored as high-handed, and they are certainly unethical by modern standards. But Shakespeare was composing an allegory, not a legal precedent, and Portia's strategy emphasizes the instructive paradox that Shylock's rigid insistence on the letter of the law proves to be his own undoing. Portia, defending Antonio because he is the friend of her beloved, evidences the power of love itself, conquering Shylock, whose calculating usury is opposed to the generosity of the young lovers and Antonio.

Portia's final actï¿½accepting, in the person of the young lawyer 'Balthasar', her own ring from Bassanio and then twitting him with disloyaltyï¿½has been seen as arbitrary and graceless, but the episode fittingly closes the play. It recapitulates the play's lesson that love and forgiveness are superior to self-centered greed. By invoking Shylock's attitude, insisting on the letter of Bassanio's oath, Portia reasserts a negative value that she immediately repudiates when she for- gives her new husband, and the play closes on a note of loving reconciliation. Before she appears, Portia is described by Bassanio in extravagantly poetic terms (1.1.161-172), and we envision her as an almost supernatural ideal of womanhood. However, with her opening line,'. .my little body is aweary of this great world' (1.2.1-2), she instantly becomes human. Her simultaneously grand and companionable nature charms us throughout the play.

She is an open young woman who can describe herself as 'an unlessoned girl, unschooled, unpracticed' (3.2.159) and who can giggle with Nerissa over the disguises they will wear (3.4) and over the trick they will play on their husbands-to-be (4.2). At the same time, she inspires Bassanio's rhapsody and, most important, she is a resourceful and commanding figure who takes Antonio's fate in hand and delivers him. Shakespeare thus enshrines in virginal youth a gallant, courageous, and worldly woman. However, Portia has an unattractive feature, to modern sensibilities: she clearly partakes of the 16th-century English racial prejudice and anti-Semitism that are reflected in this play. Addressing Shylock in court in 4.1, she repeatedly calls him 'Jew', and she is frank about her distaste for Morocco black complexion in 1.2.123-125 and 2.7.79.

On the other hand, she is willing to marry the African prince if he wins the lottery of caskets, as she declares in 2.1.13-22, and her attitude towards Shylock's Jewishnessï¿½manifested only in the trial sceneï¿½is extremely mild, compared to that of other characters. The Merchant of Venice accommodates the prejudices of its original audiences, but Portia is not a significant bearer of this theme, and we are in no doubt that Shakespeare intended her as a delightful heroine. Portia is a fine example of the frank and fearless young women who appear in many of the plays; like Rosaline, Beatrice, Rosalind, and Helena, she seems to embody an ideal of femininity that the playwright held and put forth often. Spirited and capable, she is willing to enter a man's worldï¿½in this case, that of the lawï¿½in pursuit of her aims, yet she ultimately accepts the conventional Elizabethan woman's status, that of a wife, at least theoretically subservient to her husband. NERISSA Nerissa is lady-in-waiting to Portia. Nerissa is a pert and lively companion to her mistress.

In the early scenes involving the lottery of the three caskets, she assures the uneasy heiress that all will be well, and she seconds Portia in the practical joke of the betrothal rings in 5.1. Her courtship by Gratiano echoes that of Portia by Bassanio; such symmetrical couples were quite popular in the Elizabethan theatre. JESSICA Jessica is the daughter of Shylock and lover of Lorenzo. Jessica is an apparently demure young woman who nevertheless abandons her father and her religion willingly in eloping with Lorenzo, and she also steals Shylock's money. Tubal reports her extravagance with these funds in 3.1. In 5.1 the romantic rhapsodies of Lorenzo and Jessica provide the play's finest lyric poetry and establish the triumph of love, a major theme of the work. Jessica's behavior to her father has often been criticized, and, if Shylock is viewed as a sympathetic or tragic character, his daughter can only seem immoral. Moreover, her desertion and theft seem to be related to the anti-Semitism that infects this play.

Referring to Jessica's enthusiastic readiness to steal from her father, Gratiano avers that she is 'a gentle [i.e., gentile], and no Jew' (2.6.51). That is, she qualifies as a Christian by her actions against a Jew. However, the play is clearly a traditional romantic Comedy, and Jessica's role in that context is a simple one. She flees to romantic love from the prison other father's miserly household, which she describes as -hell' (2.3.2). In doing so, she illustrates a bold example of the opposition between love and greed that lies at the heart of the play. Further, her theft of her father's funds reflects Shylock's traditional function as a comic villain (although Shakespeare enlarged the character considerably) and was probably received by the play's original audiences as a comeuppance to the miser, a traditional subject of comical raillery. Jessica is humorous as she steals, archly asserting that the weight of a purloined casket is 'worth the pains' and saying she will 'gild myself with moe ducats' as she leaves (2.6.33, 49-50).

She is essentially a secondary character, graceful but uncomplicated. Only her relationship to Shylock inspires comment. Servant Serving-man is the servant of Portia. The Serving-man brings his mistress word that four unwanted suitors are leaving and that another suitor, the Prince of Morocco, is arriving. Serving-man (2) is the servant of Antonio. In 3.1 the Serving-man tells Salerio and Solanio that his master wishes to see them. Messenger Mercy or Monkeys — Utah Shakespeare Festival By Cheryl Hogue Smith Often in Shakespeare’s plays, minor characters with little stage time radically alter the course of action onstage. Without these interesting and unexpected theatrical detours, the major events of the play would not occur as they do. One especially memorable example is Margaret in Much Ado about Nothing, without whom Claudio would never have “witnessed” the liaison in Hero’s window that temporarily derails Hero and Claudio’s wedding. Or imagine Othello devoid of Iago’s wife, Emilia, without whom Iago would never have gotten Desdemona’s kerchief in order to set Othello up for his tragic fall.

The Merchant of Venice has such a minor character in Shylock’s friend and fellow Jew, Tubal. Without Tubal’s brief goading of Shylock in 3.1 (all references are from The Riverside Shakespeare), the play would not have veered towards its tragic-comic conclusion in which Antonio’s life and the marriage between Portia and Bassanio were put in serious jeopardy. This crucial scene in the play begins with Solanio and Salario taunting Shylock about his daughter’s elopement and Antonio’s bond. The middle of this short scene ends with Shylock’s famous “Hath not a Jew eyes?” speech (3.1.59), which attempts to show Solanio and Salario that Christians and Jews are, in essence, no different from one another. In fact, this speech is often cited as an argument against the charge that the play and its author are anti-Semitic. Dramatically and rhetorically, it is surely one of the most eloquent and persuasive moments of the play, commanding the sympathy of any audience and constituting even beyond the performance of this play one of the most powerful anti-racist speeches in the history of literature.

Because of this memorable eighteen-line speech, audiences may not really notice that what comes afterwards is actually a pivotal section that sets up the emotional outcome of the entire play. In fact, the short dialogue that follows between Shylock and Tubal pushes Shylock into his notoriously unmerciful state. It’s important to set this scene in context in the play: Jessica has just run off with the gentile Lorenzo. Not only is Shylock wounded by his daughter’s escape, but he is enraged that she took so much of his wealth during her escape. Act 3, scene 1 begins with Solanio and Salario deriding Shylock, and just at the moment when Shakespeare allows audiences to feel sympathy for Shylock, Tubal then appears to ensure that audiences don’t feel sympathy for long. For the remainder of this short scene, Tubal manipulates the conversation so that it fluctuates between Jessica’s betrayal and Antonio’s indebtedness, and, by doing so, Tubal ensures that Shylock’s rage galvanizes him into plotting Antonio’s death. The exchange begins on the subject of Jessica: Shylock: How now, Tubal! what news from Genoa? Hast thou found my daughter?

Tubal: I often came where I did hear of her, but cannot find her. Shylock: Why, there, there, there, there! A diamond gone cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfort! The curse never fell upon our nation till now; I never felt it till now. Two thousand ducats in that, and other precious, precious jewels. 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. No news of them, why so? And I know not what’s spent in the search. Why thou loss upon loss! The thief gone with so much, and so much to find the thief, and no satisfaction, no revenge, nor no ill luck stirring but what lights o’ my shoulders, no sighs but o’ my breathing, no tears but o’ my shedding. (3.1.79-96). During this dialog, as Shylock and Tubal discuss the actions of Shylock’s daughter, audiences can see that Shylock is clearly more incensed that his daughter stole from him than he is about her marrying a Christian.

Sensing Shylock’s rage about his loss of wealth, Tubal brilliantly changes the subject to Shylock’s enemy, Antonio: Tubal: Yes, other men have ill luck too. Antonio, as I heard in Genoa— Shylock: What, what, what? Ill luck, ill luck? Tubal: Hath an argosy cast away, coming from Tripolis. Shylock: I thank God, I thank God! Is it true, is it true? Tubal: I spoke with some of the sailors that escaped the wreck. Shylock: I thank thee, good Tubal. Good news, good news! Ha, ha! Heard in Genoa? (3.1.97­107) Tubal then brings up “Genoa” to move the discussion back to Jessica and her lavish waste of Shylock’s money: Tubal: Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I heard, one night fourscore ducats. Shylock: Thou stick’st a dagger in me. I shall never see my gold again. Fourscore ducats at a sitting, fourscore ducats!

(3.1.108–112) This exchange ends with another reference to Antonio’s fate and Jessica’s betrayal, ending with Jessica’s cavalier sale of her mother’s wedding ring: Tubal: There came divers of Antonio’s creditors in my company to Venice that swear he cannot choose but break. Shylock: I am very glad of it. I’ll plague him; I’ll torture him. I am glad of it. Tubal: One of them showed me a ring that he had of your daughter for a monkey. Shylock: Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal. It was my turquoise; I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor. I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys. Tubal: But Antonio is certainly undone. Shylock: Nay, that’s true, that’s very true. Go, Tubal, fee me an officer; bespeak him a fortnight before. I will have the heart of him if he forfeit, for were he out of Venice I can make what merchandise I will. Go, Tubal, and meet me at our synagogue; go, good Tubal, at our synagogue, Tubal.

(3.1.113–130) To look at this scene closely is to see that Tubal deftly stokes Shylock’s rage to make him more resentful about his lost money than his daughter’s elopement with a Christian. We will, of course, never really know what motivates Tubal to act as Shylock’s torturer or know whether Shylock could have been merciful had his emotions about Antonio not been tied to Jessica’s betrayal. Shylock is a flawed character, and this fact heightens the drama of this play. But 3.1, from “Hath not a Jew eyes” to “I will have the heart of him,” shows audiences the depths of emotion Shylock is capable of feeling. Shylock is deeply wounded and acts out in the only way he can—through demanding the forfeiture of Antonio’s bond and the merchant’s immediate death.

Audience members often ask, “Why wasn’t Shylock merciful?” or “Why would Shylock care more about ‘a pound of flesh’ than the tenfold amount of money he could have collected?” The answers lie within this scene and bring us to perhaps a more constructive question: “Why does Tubal use Jessica to provoke and manipulate Shylock into making the choices he does?” This relatively “minor” character is responsible for an immense change in the direction of this play, yet he also helps audiences better understand Shylock’s fury: The quality of mercy may not be strained, but it’s easy to see why it was traded away for a wilderness of monkeys. × The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare : Characters of the Play The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare Characters of the Play The Prince of Arragon and The Prince of Morocco, suitors to Portia. Antonio, a merchant. Salanio, Salarino, and Gratiano, friends to Antonio and Bassanio. Lorenzo, in love with Jessica. Shylock, a rich Jew. Tubal, a Jew, his friend. Launcelot Gobbo, a clown, servant to Shylock.

Old Gobbo, father to Launcelot. Leonardo, servant to Bassanio. Balthasar and Stephano, servants to Portia. Portia, a rich heiress. Lorenzo Lorenzo Lorenzo is a friend of Bassanio. In love with Shylock’s daughter Jessica, he helps her run away from her father’s, with the aid of Graziano and Salerio. He flees with her to Genoa, before moving on to Belmont at Salerio’s insistence, to help support Bassanio when the latter finds out about Antonio’s losses. Portia asks him to take charge of Belmont while she is gone on her retreat during Bassanio’s absence. He has a great appreciation of nighttime and a deep love of music, but is not quick-witted enough to keep up with Lancelot’s wordplay. He is delighted to discover himself to be Shylock’s heir. Characters: The Merchant of Venice — Utah Shakespeare Festival The Prince of Morocco: One of Portia’s unsuccessful suitors The Prince of Arragon: Another unsuccessful suitor Antonio: A wealthy Venetian merchant, Antonio is a close friend of Bassanio.

Bassanio: Frivolous with his money and in love with Portia, Bassanio solicits a loan from his friend Antonio in order to win Portia’s hand. Solanio: A friend of Antonio and Bassanio Gratiano: Bassanio’s light-hearted and talkative friend who falls in love with Portia’s gentlewoman, Nerissa. Salerio: Another friend of Antonio and Bassanio Lorenzo: A friend of Antonio and Bassanio, Lorenzo elopes with Shylock’s daughter, Jessica. Shylock: An intelligent but embittered Jewish moneylender, Shylock lends money to the hated Christian Antonio, with a “pound of flesh” as his bond. He is the father of Jessica. Tubal: A friend of Shylock Launcelot Gobbo: A “clown” and servant of Shylock who thinks Shylock is the devil, Launcelot Gobbo eventually leaves to become Bassanio’s jester. Old Gobbo: The father of Launcelot, Old Gobbo has come to Venice to seek news of his son.

Leonardo: A servant of Bassanio Balthazar: A servant of Portia Stephano: A servant of Portia Portia: Famous for her beauty and wealth, Portia will marry the man who can successfully solve the riddle her deceased father has decreed for her. She marries Bassanio and goes to court to save Antonio. Nerissa: Portia’s merry gentlewoman who marries Gratiano Jessica: The young daughter of Shylock, Jessica falls in love and elopes with the Christian, Lorenzo. × Lorenzo in The Merchant of Venice NEXT Character Analysis Lorenzo is pals with Antonio and Bassanio. More important, however, he's the guy who hits the jackpot when he elopes with Jessica. Remember how Jessica loaded herself up with her dad's ducats and family heirlooms when she ran off to get hitched behind Shylock's back? Well, all of that money becomes Lorenzo's the second he weds Jessica. Now we're not necessarily saying that Lorenzo is a gold digger like Bassanio. We're just saying that Lorenzo is a really lucky guy.

Unlike Bassanio (who talks about Portia like she's a cash cow), when Lorenzo talks about Jessica, he says he loves her because she's smart, beautiful, and loyal: Beshrew me but I love her heartily, For she is wise, if I can judge of her, And fair she is, if that mine eyes be true, And true she is, as she hath proved herself. And therefore, like herself, wise, fair and true, Shall she be placèd in my constant soul. (2.6.54-59) At the same time, we should also point out that Lorenzo makes this declaration of love right after Jessica promises to "gild [her]self / with some more ducats." We also notice in this passage that Lorenzo says "beshrew me [evil befall me] but I love her heartily" (2.6.54). Clearly Lorenzo has at least some anxiety about marrying the daughter of a "faithless Jew" (2.4.41).

This raises an important question: in a play that's chock full of anti-Semitic characters, are we supposed to read Lorenzo's willingness to marry Jessica as a signal of his progressive, open-minded attitude about race and religion? What do you think?

Question: Lorenzo, Tubal and Jessica are all characters in which Shakespeare play?
Answer: The Merchant of Venice