unit 3: the merchant of venice

MEETINGs 1 and 2: act one

How does Bassanio introduce us to Portia? What do we learn of her? Does that description prove accurate in the next scene when we actually meet her?

Under what bondage does Portia live? How does she live under her father’s rule even after he’s died?

One of the central questions we’ll need to answer about this play concerns anti-semetism: Is Shakespeare’s characterization of Shylock a sympathetic one? How can we know? What is our first impression of Shylock? What are his motivations? How does he speak? How is he treated? What do we hear in his soliloquy?

Homework:

Read 2.1, pages 33-35.

MEETING 3: act two

Set Speech Analysis.

Review of Act One

Today we’ll alternate between reading and watching as much of Act Two as we can: Is Shylock a kind of scapegoat for the Christians? In what ways is Shylock different from the Christians, and in what ways is he similar? The language of this play is dominated by references to money and value. How do these references contribute to your understanding of changes in the marketplace in Elizabethan England, and how do the play's economic themes extend beyond the marketplace and raise questions about the value of life and love?

Homework:

(1) Finish reading whatever we did not finish of Act Two.

(2) Begin work on your speech analysis.

MEETING 4: acts two and three

Let’s begin today by looking at a sample speech analysis from a student from last year.

Review of Act Two: First, how have your opinions about Shylock evolved from the beginning of the play, if at all? Secondly, love and hate dominate Act 2: Find examples of both of each in Act 2. What does alternating between these scenes of love and hate suggest?

We’ll move through 3.1 together, including Shylock’s famous speech. Look to the bottom activity on page 76.

Homework:

(1) Read 3.2 before tomorrow’s class.

(2) Continue work on your speech analysis.

MEETING 5: act three

We’ll begin today with a few sample sentences to review for the next sentence composition quiz. Take the following two independent clauses and combine them into one simple sentence with an absolute phrase and one simple sentence with a participial phrase. Add an appositive phrase to one of them.

Shylock lacks mercy in demanding the return of his bond from Antonio.

Shylock demands letter-of-the-law justice.

Next, we’ll practice for your speech analysis by looking closely at three of the key speeches in Act Three: Shylock’s “Hath not a Jew eyes?” in 3.1, Bassanio’s “So may the outward shows be least themselves” in 3.2, and Portia’s “lord… governor… king” speech in 3.2.

We’ll move through 3.3 together at the end of class.

Homework:

(1) Read 3.4 before Monday’s class. The vocabulary and sentence composition quiz will include a small Merchant of Venice component, so please be ready to demonstrate your knowledge of (1) the list one vocabulary words, (2) the first two sets of sentence patterns, and (3) Acts 1-3 of The Merchant of Venice. Buy one, get two free!

(2) Finish your speech analysis. Have it posted to turnitin.com by 8a Monday, and please bring a hard copy to class.

MEETINGS 6 and 7: act four

First, a vocabulary and sentence composition quiz. I’ll then introduce quiz 3.

We’ll then begin to read and watch the pivotal scene in the play, 4.1. What does Shakespeare want to teach us about mercy’s relationship to justice?

Consider first Marjorie Garber’s quote about the problematic nature of Shakespeare’s play:

"The ambivalence that an audience feels about this play is something built into the play and emerging from it. If we alternately sympathize with Shylock and criticize him; admire Bassanio's energy and deplore his mercantile motives and his use of other people; bask in the glory of Portia's wit and wisdom, her "godlike amity," and critique her as a woman who will always get her way, regardless of the wishes and the feelings of others--if we feel this ambivalence--it is not because the play fails but because it succeeds. The Merchant of Venice is a deeply disturbing play, whose interpreters over time have sought to purge it of its most dangerous and disturbing energies. It is a play in which the question of intention, of what Shakespeare may have intended, is relevant but not recoverable, and finally not determinative. Portia the goddess, or Portia the spoiled rich girl, the wealthy heiress? Shlylock the noble man of suffering and dignity, or Shylock the small-minded patriarch who prizes spiteful victories? Bassanio the impassioned lover, or Bassanio the fortune-hunter? Comedy or tragedy? The history of the play's interpretations encompasses all of these alternatives, and more. Meaning is disseminated here--it will not be contained. And this is an index of the play's enormous theatrical and emotional power."

Homework:

(1) Bring Hamlet to our next class.