The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare | Act 1, Scene 1

Professor Regina Buccola of Roosevelt University provides an in-depth summary and analysis of Act 1, Scene 1 of William Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice.


A parable illustrating the consequences of greed and usury, William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is among the most controversial of his plays.

The comedy centers on Antonio, who has extended credit to his friend Bassanio so that he may pursue the beautiful Portia. But in order to do so, Antonio must use the services of Jewish money lender Shylock.

When Bassanio arrives to seek Portia’s hand in marriage, he finds that money will not be enough. Portia’s father has created a challenge to choose a suitor for her. He has set up three caskets, or boxes. The man who chooses the casket with Portia's portrait inside gets her hand. Luckily, he chooses correctly.

Unfortunately, when Antonio’s ships are lost, Shylock takes him to court in an effort to collect on his debt—which, in the absence of monetary compensation, will take the form of a pound of flesh.

When Shylock will not agree to mercy, Portia disguises herself as a lawyer and finds that should Shylock take Antonio's blood, which is not part of the contract, his own life will be forfeit. Since it is impossible to take a pound of flesh without spilling blood, Shylock's claim is void. The result finds Shylock losing his fortune to Antonio and the state.

This comedy is often characterized as blatantly anti-Semitic, which is supported by the rampant anti-Jewish sentiment of the day. While to modern eyes this reads as astonishingly stereotypical, the play remains valuable for its somewhat sympathetic depiction of the slings and arrows endured by European Jews.

Famous playwright William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice was written around 1596-97 at the height of his career. Borrowing from existing Italian and medieval stories for the characters and basic plot, his characterization of the Jewish Shylock and “Christian” Venetians highlights social, religious, and moral tensions of the time.

The Merchant of Venice contains many powerful symbols including rings symbolizing the strongest of human bonds, flesh representing life which is more valuable when threatened, and gold symbolizing power and status. Other themes include appearances versus reality, worth, prejudice, and mercy.


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[kiara]

My English literature exam is tomorrow and I am studying for it. The video is very nice and it is a quick way to summarize! thank you

[Lenicyl]

Srsly 3 mins and this taught me more than 3 days of trying to read that book thx

[akshaini.]

the explanation and animation was amazing. i have my exams tomorrow and this helped me a lot. thankss !!

[atifkhan-pqkc]

you are my hero man i was sure i was failing the test
keep up the amazing work

[saiaryanmalladi]

This is a great help for me too. Thank you Prof Regina Buccola

[urrboyynsethan]

thanks so much so you deserve more than 5 million subs for helping all us students for our exams and essays

[flhoneycomb]

who else is trying to do some summer reading project and cant read enchantment table.

[rokith]

Bruh thanks not gonna lie well explained and animating.(it takes me million years to make a good frame)

[mrd]

This video helped me a lot non of my teachers will explain it such a easy way thank u maam for this video

[loveleensharma]

thanks for teaching us this much big scene in so little time

[hugoq]

I'm just starting to read The Merchant of Venice and will be watching these after reading each scene. They're good!

[sanchit]

all the best to all of you for you next exams

[jahanvinair]

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Love from india 😁

[harikantroy]

Thanks for making this video and teaching it in such a short time.

[shreyaschitale]

Thank you for the video. Tomorrow I have my English Literature exam. Very good series

[Teenfun-iqim]

Helpful. I have my exams on Monday and this is good revision

[theengineerguy]

Passed out 2015 ICSE. Here for Nostalgia. Those were the good days.

[gammagamer]

Thanks Ma'am it helped me lot for exams

[punkcapybara]

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[anjanakumari]

Thanks mam this video was very help ful to me