The Merchant of Venice: Characters

Shylock

• The play's centre: a Jewish moneylender in Venice who lends Antonio 3,000 ducats against the famous bond of a pound of flesh.
• Shakespeare presents him as both wronged and dangerous: spat on and called a dog by the Christians, yet cold in his pursuit of revenge once the bond falls due.
• He carries the central theme of prejudice and outsiders: his speech "Hath not a Jew eyes?" insists that a Jew bleeds and feels like any Christian.
• The key debate is villain or victim: a cruel man bent on murder, or a victim crushed by Christian Venice, stripped of wealth and forced to convert?

Examiners often set questions on both his isolation and his treatment.

Portia

• The rich heiress of Belmont, bound by her dead father's will to marry whichever suitor picks the right casket.
• Witty, clever and the most capable character in the play.
• Shakespeare presents her as sharper than the men: she defeats Shylock in court disguised as a male lawyer.
• She voices the play's ideal of the "quality of mercy", urging Shylock to soften justice with compassion (despite showing him little mercy).
• A strong woman who has to work in disguise, as women could hold no legal power openly in Venice.
• The trick of the rings lets her out-manoeuvre her own new husband.

Antonio

• The titular "merchant of Venice": a wealthy, respected trader whose fortune is tied up in ships at sea, and Bassanio's devoted friend.
• Inexplicably melancholy from the start (many readings see his love for Bassanio as the reason).
• Embodies Christian generosity (staking his life to fund Bassanio's courtship) but also Christian prejudice (openly abusing Shylock without remorse).
• Mostly passive after the bond: he resigns himself to death and is saved by Portia instead.

Bassanio

• A young Venetian nobleman and Antonio's closest friend.
• Runs out of money and needs a loan to court Portia.
• Shakespeare presents him as charming and well-liked but financially reckless (the cause of the loan that traps Antonio).
• Signals against judging by appearances: he rejects the gold and silver for plain lead and wins Portia.
• Whether he marries for love or money is left deliberately open (he first describes Portia as a rich heiress before praising her virtues).

Jessica

• Shylock's only daughter, who is ashamed of him.
• Elopes with the Christian Lorenzo and takes a casket of her father's money and jewels.
• Torn between blood and belief: she states she is Shylock's daughter but without his manners, converting to Christianity for marriage.
• Her flight is key in Shylock's tragedy and revenge, and it unsettles the play's view of prejudice: a Jewish character gladly leaving her faith for Christianity.
• The Christians treat her conversion as a happy ending, but her lack of belonging in the final act suggests otherwise.

Lorenzo

• A young Christian Venetian, Bassanio and Antonio's friend.
• Loves and elopes with Shylock's daughter Jessica.
• A minor character used mainly for the elopement and as a lyrical, romantic voice of the Christian world.
• He and Jessica are rewarded at the end with the wealth taken from Shylock in court, an outcome some readers find uncomfortable.
• He opens the final act with a moonlit speech on music and harmony, setting the romance of Belmont against the harshness of the Venice courtroom.

Other characters

Nerissa

• Portia's quick-witted maid and companion, who mirrors Portia in the trick of the rings.
• Marries Gratiano.

Gratiano

• Bassanio's loud, coarse friend.
• The blunt voice of Christian prejudice at the trial.
• Marries Nerissa.