The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice is William Shakespeare's play linking Antonio's dangerous agreement with Shylock to Bassanio's courtship of Portia. A financial bond becomes a test of how literally an obligation may be enforced, while the trial places arguments about mercy beside the exercise of legal power. Courtship tests and exchanged rings extend questions of promises and interpretation beyond the courtroom. The treatment of Shylock exposes religious hostility within the play's social world, making sympathy and judgment difficult to separate. Its mixture of comedy and coercion leaves unresolved tensions beneath the apparent settlement of its plots.