Everything on the GCSE English Literature The Merchant of Venice: Context poster is written out below, section by section. Use it to search the sheet, copy parts into your own notes, or check a fact quickly.
Use context to support points you make about Shakespeare's ideas or his audience's responses. Link contextual facts you mention to specific moments, and to the question you're answering. Facts without explanation score nothing.
Attitudes to Jews in Shakespeare's England
Jews had been expelled from England in 1290 and were not allowed back until 1656, so almost no one in Shakespeare's audience had ever met a practising Jew. What they thought they knew came from the Church, which blamed Jews for the death of Christ, and from the stage villain (Barabas in Marlowe's The Jew of Malta). Negative sentiment ran especially high in 1594, when Roderigo Lopez, Queen Elizabeth's Jewish doctor, was executed for plotting to poison her.
Use it for:
- The Christians spitting on Shylock and calling him a dog (1.3).
- His "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech (3.1), which cuts against the stereotype.
- His forced conversion at the trial (4.1).
Usury and moneylending
Usury meant lending money at interest, and Christian teaching condemned it as a sin - money, they argued, should not "breed" more money. Barred from owning land and most trades, Jews across Europe were pushed into moneylending and then despised for it. The outrage was hypocritical: England had legalised interest up to 10% in 1571, and most of its own lenders were Christian. Antonio lends "gratis" (interest-free) and undercuts Shylock, which is half of why Shylock hates him.
Use it for:
- Antonio's contempt for Shylock's trade (1.3).
- Shylock's defence of interest through the story of Jacob's sheep.
- Antonio's "lend it rather to thine enemy".
Venice: a trading republic
Venice was the richest trading city in Europe, a cosmopolitan port where merchants of every nation and faith did business. That wealth depended on trust: foreign traders had to know the Venetian courts would enforce every signed contract, which is why not even the Duke can simply cancel Shylock's bond. Venice tolerated Jews as moneylenders but shut them at night inside a walled, guarded quarter - the original Ghetto, created in 1516.
Use it for:
- The trial turning on the rule of law (4.1).
- Shylock forfeiting his wealth "as an alien" who plotted a citizen's death.
- Antonio's fortune riding on ships still at sea.
Mercy and justice in a Christian society
Christianity set mercy and forgiveness (the New Testament) against the strict justice of "an eye for an eye" (which Elizabethans linked to the "old law" of the Jews). The play maps that contrast onto Christian and Jew: Shylock demands the exact letter of his bond, while Portia pleads for mercy. Her "quality of mercy" speech calls mercy a divine quality, warning that none of us would be saved if judged by justice alone. It's ironic that the victorious Christians then show Shylock little of it.
Use it for:
- Portia's "the quality of mercy" speech (4.1).
- Shylock holding to the letter of the bond.
- Shylock's forced conversion handed down to him as "mercy".
Women and marriage / property
Upon marriage, a woman (and any wealth she possessed) passed from her father's control to her husband's. Marriage was as much about property and alliance as love. Portia is the richest and cleverest figure in the play, yet she cannot choose her own husband - her dead father's casket test decides it for her. The only way she gains real power is by disguising herself as a man, since a woman could not act as a lawyer (and on Shakespeare's stage a boy played her anyway).
Use it for:
- Portia bound by the caskets, unable to choose or refuse (1.2).
- Disguised as a lawyer to win the trial (4.1).
- Jessica defying her father by eloping, and the ring trick testing her new husband.