Merchant of Venice

Hello guys! So how did you like my joke? I spent a whole month laughing about it, so I didn't have time to post the next blog post!
Ok, just kidding, it was because of exam preparation that I didn't post another blog post. But I'm back!
So recently we're studying Shakespeare's play, "Merchant of Venice"(in your face Strand 2 people!), and I think that posting what I've collated from the lessons on the text would help with my revision, and of course to let you guys know what "Merchant of Venice"(MOV for short) is about. So look out for my MOV blog posts to know more about the Shakespearean play!
To let you know about the gist of the play, I'll first be posting on the three main plots of the text.

They are the Casket plot, Pound of Flesh plot and the Ring plot.

So, in the casket plot, it starts out in Venice, where Bassanio pours out his heart and says that he wants to marry Portia. The two other suitors to Portia, the Prince of Morocco and Prince of Arragorn also come to Belmont, Portia’s hometown in search of her hand in marriage. Bassanio has to borrow money from Antonio, but Antonio has put all his wealth on 3 ships at sea, thus he offers his credit to Bassanio to borrow money from moneylenders in Venice. This gives rise to the Pound of Flesh plot. After getting the money, we move to Belmont, where these are the conditions:

(1) One of the three caskets, gold, silver and lead, have Portia’s portrait, and whoever chooses the casket that contains Portia’s casket marries Portia.

(2) However those who choose the wrong casket cannot marry again and stay a bachelor.

This plot ends when the Prince of Morocco and Prince of Arragorn choose the gold and silver casket and see a skull and fool in the caskets respectively. Bassanio chooses the lead casket, and of course beholds Portia’s portrait within. Bassanio then marries Portia and Nerissa, Portia’s assistant or handmaid, marries Gratiano who followed Bassanio to woo Portia. Thus ends the Casket plot.

Next comes the Pound of Flesh plot. Here, Shylock, a Jewish moneylender whom Bassanio goes to is willing to lend money to Bassanio. However, his ulterior motive is seen when he does not charge interest but wants a pound of Antonio’s flesh should he not be able to repay the loan by the stipulated time of 3 months. Antonio agrees very willingly as his ships come back to port 2 months before the date, and thus there is ample time to return the money. However, things turn out badly and the ships don’t come back to port. When Shylock refuses Portia’s offer of 12 times the loan, she and Nerissa cross-dress in men’s clothes to enter the courthouse as Antonio’s lawyer and her assistant respectively. The reason for Shylock’s lack of mercy is because his only medium of revenge on Antonio and he is not protected by Christian Protestant mercy. In the end, Portia turns the law around to rear its head at Shylock when Shylock is dumbfounded by her logic of Shylock not being able to shed a drop of blood. Antonio is then saved from a grisly fate, while Shylock is charged with trying to take a Venetian citizen’s life. Shylock is spared the death sentence, but he is forced to give away 1/2 his money and convert to a Christian, an ultimate humiliation for an devout Jew like Shylock. Portia and Nerissa ask for the rings that they gave their husbands (they were present at the courthouse) as fees for the case. Bassanio and Gratiano have no choice but to give them up. Thus ends the Pound of Flesh plot, but this gives rise to the Ring plot.

Portia and Nerissa tease and chide their husbands back in Belmont when it is revealed to them that they were actually the lawyers to Antonio and give back their rings. The rings are a token of respect and companionship and a fusion of friendship and marriage. Portia and Nerissa took their husbands’ rings to teach them the value of marriage and to test them whether they would be faithful to them. It is also Portia’s way of vying for attention of Bassanio from an unknowing Antonio as it seems to her that Bassanio is devoting too much time to Antonio and regards Antonio as a threat or obstacle to their love. Thus then ends the Ring plot, which concludes the play after much festivity in Belmont.