Although the plot turns on Antonio's predicament, his character is not sharply drawn.

He is a rich
man, and a comfortable man, and a popular man, but still he suffers from an inner sadness. One
obvious, dramatic reason for Antonio's quiet melancholy is simply that Shakespeare cannot give
Antonio too much to do or say without taking away valuable dialogue time from his major
characters. Therefore, Shakespeare makes Antonio a quiet, dignified figure.
One of Antonio's most distinguishing characteristics is his generosity. He is more than happy to
offer his good credit standing so that Bassanio can go to Belmont in the latest fashions in order to
court Portia. And one of the reasons why Shylock hates Antonio so intensely is that Antonio has
received Shylock's borrowers by lending them money at the last minute to pay off Shylock; and
Antonio never charges interest. He is only too happy to help his friends, but he would never
stoop to accepting more than the original amount in return. Antonio's generosity is boundless,
and for Bassanio, he is willing to go to the full length of friendship, even if it means that he
himself may suffer for it.
Antonio is an honorable man. When he realizes that Shylock is within his lawful rights, Antonio
is ready to fulfill the bargain he entered into to help Bassanio. "The Duke cannot deny the course
of the law," he says. And later, he adds that he is "arm'd / To suffer, with a quietness of spirit . . .
For if the Jew do cut but deep enough, / I'll pay it presently with all my heart."
Antonio's courage and goodness are finally rewarded; at the end of the play, when the three pairs
of lovers are reunited and happiness abounds at Belmont, Portia delivers a letter to Antonio in
which he learns that the remainder of his ships has returned home safely to port.

Basss
Bassanio's character is more fully drawn than Antonio's, but it does not possess the powerful
individuality that Shakespeare gives to his portraits of Portia and Shylock. First off, when one
begins considering Bassanio, one should dismiss all the critics who condemn him for his
financial habits. Bassanio's request to Antonio for more money is perfectly natural for him. He is
young; he is in love; and he is, by nature, impulsive and romantic. Young men in love have often
gone into debt; thus Bassanio has always borrowed money and, furthermore, no moral stigma
should be involved. Shakespeare needs just such a character in this play for his plot.
If Bassanio is not a powerful hero, he is certainly a sympathetic one. First, he has some of the
most memorable verse in the play — language which has music, richness, and dignity. Second,
he shows us his immediate, uncalculated generosity and love; this is especially obvious when
Bassanio, who has just won Portia, receives the letter telling him of Antonio's danger. Bassanio
is immediately and extremely concerned over the fate of Antonio and is anxious to do whatever
is possible for his friend. Here, the situation is melodramatic and calls for a romantic, seemingly
impossible, rescue mission.
When at last Bassanio and Portia are reunited, he speaks forthrightly and truthfully to her. He
refuses to implicate Antonio, even though it was at Antonio's urging that he gave away his
wedding ring to the judge who cleverly saved Antonio's life: "If you did know," he tells Portia,
"for what I gave the ring / And how unwillingly I left the ring . . . You would abate the strength
of your displeasure." No matter how powerful the circumstances, he admits that he was wrong to
part with the ring because he had given his oath to Portia to keep it. As the play ends, Bassanio's
impetuous nature is once more stage-center. Speaking to his wife, he vows: "Portia, forgive me
this enforced wrong; . . . and by my soul I swear / I never more will break an oath with thee." Of
course, he will; this, however, is part of Bassanio's charm. He means it with all his heart when he
swears to Portia, but when the next opportunity arises and he is called on to rashly undertake
some adventure full of dash and daring, he'll be off. Portia knows this also and loves him deeply,
despite this minor flaw.

Portia is the romantic heroine of the play, and she must be presented on the stage with much
beauty and intelligence. Of her beauty, we need no convincing. Bassanio's words are
enough; thus we turn to her love for Bassanio. Already she has given him cause to think that
it is possible that he can woo and win her, for on an earlier visit to Belmont, Bassanio did
"receive fair speechless messages" from her eyes. And when Nerissa mentions the fact that
Bassanio might possibly be a suitor, Portia tries to disguise her anxiety, but she fails.
Nerissa understands her mistress. Portia is usually very self-controlled, but she reveals her
anxiety concerning Bassanio a little later when he has arrived at her mansion and is about to
choose one of the caskets. She has fallen in love with him, and her anxiety and confusion
undo her. "Pause a day or two," she begs, for "in choosing wrong, / I lose your company."
She thus makes sure that he knows that it is not hate that she feels for him.
Bassanio's correct choice of the casket overwhelms Portia. She wishes she had more of
everything to give Bassanio: "This house, these servants and this same myself / Are yours,
my lord: I give them with this ring." She willingly shares all she owns with Bassanio. Once
master of her emotions, she has fallen completely under the spell of love's madness. Love is
a reciprocal giving and receiving, and so it is with perfect empathy that she sends her
beloved away almost immediately to try and save his friend Antonio. They will be married,
but their love will not be consummated until his friend is saved, if possible.
Portia's second characteristic that is most readily apparent is her graciousness — that is, her tact
and sympathy. Despite her real feelings about the Prince of Morocco, Portia answers him politely
and reassuringly. Since the irony of her words is not apparent to him, his feelings are spared. She
tells him that he is "as fair / As any comer I have look'd on yet / For my affection." She shows
Morocco the honor his rank deserves. But once he is gone, she reveals that she did not like
him. "A gentle riddance," she says; "Draw the curtains."
When the Prince of Arragon arrives, Portia carefully addresses him with all the deference due his
position. She calls him "noble." But after he has failed and has left, she cries out, "O, these
deliberate fools!" To her, both of these men are shallow and greedy and self-centered; yet to their
faces, she is as ladylike as possible. Lorenzo appreciates this gentle generosity of spirit; when
Portia has allowed her new husband to leave to try and help his best friend out of his difficulty,
he says to her: "You have a noble and a true conceit / Of god-like amity."
In the courtroom, Portia (in disguise) speaks to Shylock about mercy, but this is not merely an
attempt to stall; she truly means what she says. It is an eloquent appeal she makes. Her request
for mercy comes from her habitual goodness. She hopes, of course, to soften his heart, knowing
the outcome if he refuses. But the words come from her heart, honestly and openly and naturally.
Finally, of course, what we most remember about Portia, after the play is over, is her wit and her
playfulness. Even when Portia is complaining to Nerissa about the terms of her father's will, she
does so wittily: "Is it not hard, Nerissa, that I cannot choose one nor refuse none?" And then she
ticks off, like a computer, the eccentricities of the six suitors who have arrived at Belmont to try
for her hand. They are either childish, humorless, volatile, ignorant, too fantastically dressed,
weak, or have a drinking problem. She is clearly glad to be rid of them all when it is announced
that they are departing.
We recall too the humorous way that she imagines dressing like a man and aping the mannerisms
of all of the men she has observed in her short life. She bets Nerissa that she can out-man any
man when it comes to swaggering and playing the macho bit: "I have within my mind / A
thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks, / Which I will practise." Men are as transparent as
stale beer to her; she revels in turning the tables and having a bit of fun even while she is on a
daring mission to try and save Antonio's life. And even in the courtroom, when Bassanio
extravagantly offers his life for Antonio's, Portia quips in an aside that "Your wife would give
you little thanks for that, / If she were by, to hear you make the offer."
The entire ring plot is Portia's idea, and she and Nerissa relish the prospect of the jest at their
husbands' expense. Bassanio swears over and over that he never gave his ring away to another
woman (and he is more than a little embarrassed to admit that he gave it to another man), but
with a fine sense of comedy, Portia plays the role of the "angry wife" just as well as she played
the role of the "learned young lawyer" at Antonio's trial.
Only when Portia first falls in love with Bassanio does she lose all self-control; once she regains
control of herself, she takes matters in hand until the very end of the play, and there she displays
total command of the situation. "You are all amazed," she tells them, and then she shows them a
letter from Padua, explaining everything, and she gaily invites them inside where she will
continue to explain and entertain. She is a delightful creature, one of Shakespeare's most
intelligent and captivating heroines.

Shylock
Shylock is the most vivid and memorable character in The Merchant of Venice, and he is
one of Shakespeare's greatest dramatic creations. On stage, it is Shylock who makes the
play, and almost all of the great actors of the English and Continental stage have attempted
the role. But the character of Shylock has also been the subject of much critical debate: How
are we meant to evaluate the attitude of the Venetians in the play toward him? Or his
attitude toward them? Is he a bloodthirsty villain? Or is he a man "more sinned against than
sinning"? One of the reasons that such questions arise is that there are really two stage
Shylocks in the play: first, there is the stage "villain" who is required for the plot; second,
there is the human being who suffers the loss of his daughter, his property, and, very
importantly for him, his religion.
Shylock's function in this play is to be the obstacle, the man who stands in the way of the
love stories; such a man is a traditional figure in romantic comedies. Something or someone
must impede young, romantic love; here, it is Shylock and the many and various ways that
he is linked to the three sets of lovers. The fact that he is a Jew is, in a sense, accidental.
Shakespeare wanted to contrast liberality against selfishness — in terms of money and in
terms of love. There was such a figure available from the literature of the time, one man
who could fulfill both functions: this man would be a usurer, or moneylender, with a
beautiful daughter that he held onto as tightly as he did his ducats. Usury was forbidden to
Christians by the church of the Middle Ages, and as a consequence, money lending was
controlled by the Jews; as a rule, it was usually the only occupation which the law allowed
to them. As a result, a great deal of medieval literature produced the conventional figure of
the Jewish moneylender, usually as a minor character, but also too, as a major character.

It is from this medieval literary tradition that Shakespeare borrows the figure of Shylock, just as
Marlowe did for his Jew of Malta. Some commentators have said that the character of Shylock is
an example of Elizabethan (and Shakespeare's own) anti-Semitism. In contrast, many have seen
the creation of Shylock as an attack on this kind of intolerance. But Shakespeare, they forget,
was a dramatist. He was not concerned with either anti- nor pro-Semitism, except in the way it
shaped individual characters in his plays to produce the necessary drama that he was attempting
to create. The play is thus emphatically not anti-Semitic; rather, because of the nature of
Shylock's involvement in the love plots, it is about anti-Semitism. Shakespeare never seriously
defined or condemned a group through the presentation of an individual; he only did this for the
purposes of comedy by creating caricatures in miniature for our amusement. Shylock is drawn in
bold strokes; he is meant to be a "villain" in terms of the romantic comedy, but because of the
multi-dimensionality which Shakespeare gives him, we are meant to sympathize with him at
times, loathe him at others. Shakespeare's manipulation of our emotions regarding Shylock is a
testament to his genius as a creator of character.
When Shylock leaves the courtroom in Act IV, Scene 1, he is stripped of all that he has. He is a
defeated man. Yet we cannot feel deep sympathy for him — some, perhaps, but not much.
Shakespeare's intention was not to make Shylock a tragic figure; instead, Shylock was meant to
function as a man who could be vividly realized as the epitome of selfishness; he must be
defeated in this romantic comedy. In a sense, it is Shakespeare's own brilliance which led him to
create Shylock as almost too human. Shylock is powerfully drawn, perhaps too powerfully for
this comedy, but his superb dignity is admirable, despite the fact that we must finally condemn
him. Perhaps the poet W. H. Auden has given us our best clue as to how we must deal with
Shylock: "Those to whom evil is done," he says, "do evil in return." This explains in a few words
much of the moneylender's complexity and our complex reactions toward him.
Summary
Bassanio a gentleman of Venice requires 3000 ducats to pay for his travel expenses to Belmont.
Bassanio wishes the money as he is seeking to wed the Heiress Portia. Bassanio turns to his good
friend Antonio, who is a wealthy merchant.
Unfortunately, Antonio's money is tied up on Ships doing business. He, however has offered to
be Guarantor, they attempt to borrow money from a wealthy Jew, Shylock. Shylock reluctantly
agrees, but on the condition that if he doesn't pay the 3000 Ducats by three months than, Antonio
has to give up a pound of his flesh, closest to the heart. They agree to the Bond.
Portia, in her home at Belmont has been visited by many suitors. From her dead fathers wishes
her suitors were required to choose between a lead, silver, or a gold casket. The one who chooses
the casket containing her portrait, would be her husband. No man has yet chosen the correct
casket.
Jessica, the daughter of Shylock wishes to change into Christianity, against her father's will and
marry the Christian Lorenzo. She runs away with him, and takes some of her father's fortune.
Shylock is furious and vows revenge.
Bassanio with friend Gratiano travel to Belmont to, Portia is delighted to hear this, as he is the
one she wants to marry. Before hand the prince of Morocco and the prince of Aragon had tried
but failed to choose the correct casket. Bassanio takes his time in choosing the casket - he
chooses the lead casket; the correct one. Gratiano, woes Nerissa, and the four prepare to be wed.
Bassanio's friends arrive with a messenger, he receives a letter from Venice, it said that Antonio's
ship had not yet arrived and Shylock was demanding his pound of flesh, as the money had not
been paid. Bassanio is extremely upset about this news. Portia reassures him and offers to pay
any amount possible or do anything she can. The men set off back to Venice.
Portia along with Nerrissa conduct a plan to help Antonio, they tell Lorenzo and Jessica to mind
the house while they wait for their husbands in a monastery. They plan to dress up as Lawyers in
order to defend Antonio in court.
The two women enter the courtroom with a message that the doctor Balthasar (Portia) has being
sent to replace the original doctor, Bellario. Portia begins her case with a plea for mercy, she
begs him to forfeit the bond and accept three times the amount. Shylock refuses, as he wants to
take his revenge on the Christains who have criticized him because he is a Jew.
Portia then reads the bond and discovers that Shylock is only allowed to take one pound of
Antonio's flesh. She tells him that he can take his pound of flesh on the condition that he takes
exactly one pound of flesh and only flesh. No blood shall be shed. Shylock is forced to forfeit the
bond, if he does go outside the conditions than he too will be punished. Since he forfeited the
bond, but threatened the life on a Venetian, Shylock was forced to give up his money, half to
Antonio the other half to the general state. Antonio takes pity on the Jew and declines his half of
the money, he tells the court that Shylock can keep his money, but on the condition that he
change into Christianity and leave his money to his daughter on his death. The Jew painfully
agrees.
The men gratefully thank doctor Balthasar and her clerk, they offer them anything they desire.
Portia and Nerissa both ask for Bassanio's and gratiano's rings. Reluctantly they hand it to them,
as it was a present from their wives who told them never to lose it.
Portia and Nerissa return home, soon after Bassanio, Antonio, and Gratiano return with the good
news. Portia and Nerrissa demand to know what happened to the rings, the men apologized and
explained the situation. Portia and Nerissa show them the rings and explain that they were the
two doctors.