document_title: Ariel (The Little Mermaid)

question_text: what did ariel give up in the little mermaid

text: Ariel (The Little Mermaid)

text: Development[edit]

text:
"I heard Part of Your World, Jodi Benson singing that, and it just captivated me. I have to do that. And I went and told those guys, 'I really wanna do Ariel.' And they said, 'Well, I don’t know. This is supposed to be a pretty girl. Can you do that?' I said, 'Look, I have to do Ariel. I mean, I can feel it in my heart.'"[6]

— Glen Keane, Ariel's supervising animator

text: Ariel was based on the title character of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid", but co-director and writer Ron Clements felt that the mermaid in the original story was too tragic and rewrote the character, resulting in Ariel.[7]

text: Jodi Benson, who was predominantly a stage actress, was chosen to voice Ariel because the directors felt "it was really important to have the same person doing the singing and speaking voice".[7] Clements stated that Benson's voice had a unique "sweetness" and "youthfulness".[8] When recording the vocals for "Part of Your World", Benson asked that the lights in the studio be dimmed, to create the feeling of being deep under the sea.[6][9] "Part of Your World", which was referred to by songwriter Howard Ashman as the "I Want" song,[7] was originally going to be cut from the final film, owing to Jeffrey Katzenberg's belief that it slowed the story down,[6][7] but Ashman and Keane fought to keep it in.[7][10]

text: Ariel's original design was developed by animator Glen Keane. Her appearance was based on a number of inspirational sources, including Glen Kleane's wife,[11] actress Alyssa Milano (who was 16 at the time in addition to hosting the making of the special on Disney Channel,[12]) and model-comedian Sherri Stoner, who provided live-action references for the animators during the development of the film.[7][9] The movement of Ariel's hair underwater was based on footage of astronaut Sally Ride while she was in space.[12] Extra reference was given by filming Stoner swimming in a pool, which also helped guide Ariel's aquatic movement.[13]

text: A challenge in animating Ariel for the 1989 film was the color required to show Ariel in the changing environments, both under the sea and on land, for which the animators required thirty-two color models, not including costume changes. The bluish-green color of Ariel's fin was a hue specially mixed by the Disney paint lab; the color was named "Ariel" after the character. The choice of red as Ariel's hair color was the subject of dispute between the filmmakers and studio executives who wanted the character to have blonde hair. It was noted that red hair contrasted better with Ariel's green tail, red was easier to darken than yellow, and Disney's live-action branch Touchstone Pictures had recently released Splash that had a blonde mermaid; Ariel's red hair was ultimately kept.[7]

text: In an interview, Jodi Benson stated that for Ariel's Beginning, the writers revised the script multiple times to make sure Ariel retained her relevance in a more modern context. Benson complained to them that they wrote Ariel out of character and suggested they bring her back to her roots.[14]

text: Characteristics[edit]

text: Ariel is the youngest of King Triton and Queen Athena's seven daughters.[4] She is often seen in the company of Flounder, her best friend, and Sebastian, her father's advisor who is often assigned to keep an eye on her. In the television series and first film, Ariel has a fascination with the human world and often goes off to find human artifacts that she displays in a secret grotto.[3][15] Ariel is often rebellious, wandering off on her own to explore her surroundings, and frequently disobeys the orders of her father or Sebastian, causing conflict between the characters. In The Little Mermaid, she is depicted as being willing to do anything to be with Prince Eric, even giving up her voice to become human.[3] Clements described her as a typical teenager, prone to errors of judgment.[12] She also is incredibly curious, and her curiosity often leads her into dangerous situations.

text: Ariel is kind and caring to others no matter what their circumstances, as depicted in the television series. In an early episode, Ariel helps an orphaned merboy who had fallen in with a bad crowd.[16] In another episode, Ariel befriends a supposed bad luck creature and protects it from Ursula and other merfolk who wish it harm.[17] Ariel appears as an adult in Return to the Sea and gives birth to a daughter named Melody, becoming the first, and currently, only, Disney princess to become a mother. Ariel is protective of her daughter, as Triton was of Ariel in the first film. After Morgana threatens Ariel and King Triton, Prince Eric and Ariel build a wall around the palace to protect Melody from Morgana and other terrors of the ocean. Although it protected her, it could not protect her curiosity.[5] Ariel's Beginning depicts her personality as it was in the original film after Jodi Benson had advocated returning the character to her roots.[14] Ariel is once again rebellious, and after her father decrees music to be banned in Atlantica she runs away with Sebastian and his band.

text: Appearances[edit]

text: The Little Mermaid[edit]

text: Ariel first appears in The Little Mermaid (1989), in which she is shown as being adventurous and curious about the world of humans, a fascination which angers both her father King Triton and his court composer Sebastian, as merfolk are not allowed to make contact with the human world. She and Flounder go in search of human objects, which they take to a seagull named Scuttle for appraisal. Ariel falls in love with a human prince named Prince Eric after saving him from drowning, and visits the sea witch, Ursula, who agrees to turn her into a human in exchange for her voice. Ariel must make Prince Eric fall in love with her and romantically kiss her within three days, lest she belong to Ursula forever.

text: Unknown to Ariel, this agreement is part of Ursula's bigger plan to trap Ariel's father, King Triton and steal his magical trident. After being transformed, she is soon found by Eric and is taken back to his castle. Ariel almost manages to obtain the "kiss of true love", but is stopped by Ursula's underhanded tactics. On the third day, Ursula transforms herself into a human, calling herself "Vanessa" and using Ariel's voice, and bewitches Eric to make him marry her. After learning from Scuttle that the woman is Ursula in disguise, Ariel disrupts the wedding and regains her voice but the sun sets as Ariel and Prince Eric are about to kiss, transforming Ariel back into a mermaid. After transforming herself back into her true witch form, Ursula takes Ariel back into the ocean, where she is met by King Triton and Sebastian.

text: Triton trades himself for Ariel, enabling Ursula to steal his crown and enabling her to claim his trident, a fascination which angers Ariel, who will not allow Ursula to destroy merfolk and humans. In the battle that follows, Ariel is trapped at the bottom of a whirlpool. Before Ursula can destroy her, Eric kills Ursula by ramming a derelict ship's splintered prow through her. After Ursula dies, her spell is broken, and King Triton and the merfolk are transformed back to normal merpeople. At the end of the film, after King Triton uses his magical trident to transform her into a human, Ariel leaves the sea to live in the human world, and she and Eric marry and live happily ever after.[3]

text: Television series[edit]

text: A prequel television series that originally aired from 1992 to 1994, depicts Ariel's life as a mermaid under the sea with Sebastian, Flounder, and her father. Ariel appears in all 31 episodes of the series, which is set an unspecified time before the first film. The series follows Ariel's adventures with her friends and family and sometimes has Ariel foiling the attempts of enemies that are intent on harming her or the kingdom of Atlantica.

text: Ariel's relationships with various characters from the film are highlighted and expanded, such as the love and occasional conflict between Ariel and her father, how Ariel met Flounder and Scuttle, the relationships between Ariel and her sisters, and Ariel's early fear and avoidance of Ursula the sea witch. Other recurring new characters are also introduced, such as orphaned merboy Urchin and mute mermaid Gabriella that become Ariel's friends, as well as the Evil Manta, Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp, who are Ariel's enemies. Ariel's mother is absent, having already died prior to the events of the series, though she is occasionally mentioned in vague terms. In one episode Ariel comes across Hans Christian Andersen, author of "The Little Mermaid", while he was traveling underwater in a primitive submarine. In the fictionalized encounter she saves Andersen's life, inspiring him to write the story.[18]

text: Some episodes of the series are musical and feature original songs performed by the characters. A soundtrack containing some of these songs was released in 1992 under the title "Splash Hits".[19]

text: The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea[edit]

text: In The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (2000), Ariel, now the new queen of Prince Eric's kingdom has given birth to a daughter named Melody. When Melody's safety is threatened by Ursula's sister Morgana after using her as a hostage to get King Triton's Trident, Ariel and her husband Eric decide they must keep Melody away from the sea. So they build a large wall to separate it from the castle.

text: But Melody's love of the sea proves too strong and she visits Morgana, who turns her into a mermaid temporarily. King Triton uses his trident to transform Ariel back into her own mermaid form to find and rescue Melody. Morgana tricks Melody into taking part in a plot to steal her grandfather King Triton's trident. Together with Tip the Penguin and Dash the Walrus she goes to Atlantica and succeeds in acquiring the trident. Ariel arrives as they return with it to Morgana, and tries to persuade Melody to give back the trident. Morgana captures Ariel, tightly wrapping her tentacle around Ariel's mouth and body. She then seals Melody behind a block wall. Tip and Dash rescue Melody and Ariel manages to free themselves. Morgana then uses the trident's magic to force everyone to bow before her.

text: Melody manages to grab the trident and returns it to King Triton, who then punishes Morgana by sending her to the bottom of the ocean frozen in a block of ice. Triton returns Ariel to human form, the wall separating Eric's castle from the sea is torn down, and contact between humans and merfolk is restored.[5]

text: The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning[edit]

text: The prologue of The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning (2008) shows Ariel as a young mermaid, living happily with her father, King Triton, her mother, Queen Athena, and her six older sisters. As Ariel and her family relax in a lagoon, a pirate ship approaches and everyone flees except Athena, who returns to recover a music box Triton had given her and is killed when the ship crushes her. Afterwards, a devastated King Triton bans all music from Atlantica and throws the music box deep into the ocean. Ariel and her sisters grow up forgetting music and living under their father's strict rules, enforced by Marina del Rey, their governess.

text: Ariel meets Flounder and follows him to a secret underground club where Sebastian and his band play music. There she sings the song "I Remember", which reminds her of her distant past surrounded by love and music, and of her mother. Ariel introduces her sisters to the club, but eventually they are caught thanks to Marina, who had followed them. Sebastian and his band are imprisoned and the club is closed under Triton's orders. After arguing with Triton, Ariel breaks the band out of prison and escapes with them.

text: With Sebastian's assistance, Ariel finds her mother's music box, and they decide to return it to Triton. On their way back to Atlantica, they encounter Marina, and a struggle ensues in which Ariel is knocked unconscious, witnessed by Triton. Ariel makes a full recovery, and a remorseful Triton allows music back into Atlantica.[4]

text: In other media[edit]

text: Tie-in music albums[edit]

text: In addition to the film's official soundtrack, two original music albums were released by Walt Disney Records for the franchise: Sebastian from The Little Mermaid (1990) and The Little Mermaid: Songs from the Sea (1992). The former is a cover album mainly focusing on Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian, with Ariel providing supporting vocals, while the latter is a concept album of original songs that depict a day in Ariel's life under the sea. Ariel also appears in Songs and Story: Ariel's Christmas Under the Sea, a Christmas-themed mini-album with a read-along story and two original songs.[20] Jodi Benson performs in-character as Ariel in all these albums.

text: Printed media[edit]

text: Ariel appears in a number of printed media that have been released as part of the franchise.

text: A series of twelve prequel novels were published in 1994 by Disney Press, following young Ariel's adventures living under the sea with her sisters and father. The titles are: Green-Eyed Pearl and Nefazia Visits the Palace by Suzanne Weyn; Reflections of Arsulu and The Same Old Song by Marilyn Kaye; Arista's New Boyfriend and Ariel the Spy by M. J. Carr; King Triton, Beware!, The Haunted Palace and The Boyfriend Mix-Up by Katherine Applegate; The Practical-Joke War by Stephanie St. Pierre; The Dolphins of Coral Cove by K. S. Rodriguez; and Alana's Secret Friend by Jess Christopher.[21] The novels mostly focus on the domestic setting of Ariel and her sisters living together.

text: In 1992 Disney Comics released a four-issue The Little Mermaid Limited Series comic book series.[22] In 1994 Marvel Comics released its own title, Disney's The Little Mermaid, which ran for twelve issues.[23] All these comics are prequels to the film, and feature Ariel a mermaid living under the sea having adventures with Flounder and Sebastian, and thwarting villains that wish to take over or destroy Atlantica.

text: Disney Princess[edit]

text: In 2000, Ariel became an official member of the newly launched Disney Princess line, an umbrella franchise that includes various Disney princesses under its banner. Ariel is one of the original 8 characters that were included at the franchise's launch. The franchise is directed at young girls and covers a wide variety of merchandise, including but not limited to magazines, music albums, toys, video games, clothes, and stationery.[24]

text: This franchise includes illustrated novels starring the various princesses, two of which are about Ariel: The Birthday Surprise and The Shimmering Star Necklace. Both novels are written by Gail Herman, and contain original stories about Ariel's life as a human and Eric's wife, but still maintaining close relationships with her father and sisters under the sea.[25][26] The franchise also includes illustrated short stories about Ariel's life as a human, such as Ariel and the Aquamarine Jewel,[27] Ariel's Dolphin Adventure,[28] and Ariel's Royal Wedding.[29] Ariel also appears as a supporting character in one volume of the Japanese manga Kilala Princess, where she is seen in her pre-movie mermaid form.

text: Jodi Benson provides Ariel's voice for her appearances in the Disney Princess music albums, DVDs, and video games. The first original song released for this franchise is "If You Can Dream", which featured Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Pocahontas, Jasmine and Mulan singing together. Other original songs that feature Ariel are "I Just Love Getting Dressed for Tea", "Manners and Etiquette", "The Princess Dance" and "Happy Birthday, Princess" from Disney Princess Tea Party (2005); "Christmas Is Coming!", "Christmas in the Ocean", "Ariel's Christmas Island" and "The Twelve Days of Christmas" from Disney Princess Christmas Album (2009);[30] and "Ariel's Sing-Along Sea Song: the Crab Song" from Disney Princess Party (2010).[31] Ariel also appears in the franchise video games Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey (2007), Disney Princess: Magical Jewels (2007) and Disney Princess: My Fairytale Adventure (2012).

text: Broadway musical[edit]

text: Ariel appears in the Broadway adaptation of the 1989 film, which ran at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre with previews from November 3, 2007, leading to opening night on January 10, 2008. This original production closed on August 30, 2009, but other US and international productions have followed since. The character of Ariel for the stage adaptation was originated by Sierra Boggess, with the role also portrayed later by actresses Chelsea Morgan Stock and Michelle Lookadoo. Jodi Benson, the original voice actress for Ariel, attended the musical's opening night.[32]

text: In order to portray the characters underwater, the actors wore Heelys wheeled footwear, which simulate the gliding action of swimming creatures.[33] The actors playing Ariel and the other merfolk had wire-frame tails attached to their hips. Subsequent productions feature different designs for Ariel and the merfolk; the Dutch and Japanese productions use wirework and aerial stunts to create the illusion of underwater swimming.[34]

text: The stage musical follows the basic structure of the film, but there are some differences between the two. In this version, Ursula is Triton's sister and Ariel's aunt. In a new subplot, Grimsby holds a contest inviting all the princesses in the land for a singing competition for Eric to choose his bride; Ariel cannot sing, but she dances for Eric, and he chooses her. Ariel also has a more active role in the final battle, where she is the one who defeats Ursula by destroying her Nautilus shell that contains her power.

text: In addition to the songs in the film, Ariel has new songs by Alan Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater. "The World Above" is Ariel's introductory song, where she expresses her admiration and curiosity with the human world, "Beyond My Wildest Dreams" is performed after Ariel has become human and given up her voice, and is used to express her thoughts about the human world and Eric, and "If Only (quartet)" is a quartet between Ariel, Eric, King Triton and Sebastian where all four express longing and sadness for their current situation: Ariel saddened that she only has one day left to get Eric to kiss her, Eric's confusion of falling for Ariel despite longing for the mysterious girl who saved his life, King Triton's regret at driving Ariel away, and Sebastian for his inability to help Ariel achieve her dreams.

text: Disney Parks[edit]

text: Ariel makes regular appearances in the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, having a special location called Ariel's Grotto at most of them. Ariel's Grotto was torn down at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom owing to the Fantasyland expansion.[35] "The Little Mermaid" mini-land can be found in the Magic Kingdom's New Fantasyland. It includes a replica of Prince Eric's Castle, a dark ride called Ariel's Undersea Adventure, a market called "Prince Eric's Village Market", and Ariel's meeting grotto.[36] She has a major role in Mickey's PhilharMagic and stars in her own live stage shows at Disney's Hollywood Studios and Tokyo DisneySea. A dark ride based on the movie was designed for Disneyland Paris but never built. A re-designed version of the attraction, called Ariel's Undersea Adventure, was built as part of the major expansion for Disney California Adventure Park.[35][37] She also has her own hotel at the Disney's Art of Animation Resort. There is a land in Tokyo DisneySea titled "Mermaid Lagoon". It features many rides and attractions themed around the Little Mermaid. A clone of the dark ride found in Disney California Adventure Park and Magic Kingdom was to be a part of Fantasyland in Hong Kong Disneyland but was never built. A clone of the dark ride was also supposed to be in Tokyo DisneySea but was canceled due to budget reasons.[38] A Little Mermaid dark ride is or was planned in every Disney resort worldwide.

text: Video games and television[edit]

text: Not long after the film was released, late Muppet creator Jim Henson proposed a live-action show based on the film, titled Little Mermaid's Island. Ariel was to be portrayed by Marietta DePrima, and she would interact with various puppet characters created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Two episodes of this series were filmed but not aired due to complications after Henson's death.[39]

text: Ariel appears in various video games based on the films, including the two adaptations of the first film (one for NES and Game Boy, known as The Little Mermaid, and one for Sega consoles called Ariel the Little Mermaid) and the popular Kingdom Hearts series. In the first Kingdom Hearts, Ariel's story has an unrelated plot to that of the movie.[40] Ariel also makes an appearance in the sequel, Kingdom Hearts II, where its storyline loosely follows the plotline of the 1989 film.[41] They're also was an appearance card in the video game Mickey's Memory Challenge on 1993. Other video games based on the character include a pinball adaption of the second movie and three children's titles for personal computers: Ariel's Story Studio, The Little Mermaid Activity Center and Disney's The Little Mermaid Print Studio. In addition, Ariel appears in multiple games within the Disney Princess line of games, including Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey and Disney Princess: My Fairytale Adventure.

text: In 2001, Ariel appeared occasionally in the animated television series Disney's House of Mouse as one of Mickey's guests at the nightclub. She is seen in both her mermaid and human forms.

text: On November 24, 2013, Ariel made a brief appearance in a TV special Sofia the First: The Floating Palace, which is part of the computer-animated television series Sofia the First. In the special, Sofia is trying to help her mermaid friend, Oona, whose underwater kingdom is under threat. Sofia wishes for help, and the magical amulet of Avalor summons Ariel in her mermaid form, who gives Sofia advice on what to do. Ariel performs the song "The Love We Share" with Sofia.

text: Once Upon a Time[edit]

text: A live-action version of Ariel appeared in the ABC television series Once Upon a Time, where she was played by JoAnna Garcia.[42][43]

text: Concert[edit]

text: In 2016 a stripped-down concert version of The Little Mermaid was staged at the Hollywood Bowl, featuring the songs from the film and four songs from the Broadway musical. Sara Bareilles performed the role of Ariel for the first two nights of the concert (June 4 and 5), while Jodi Benson, the original voice actress for Ariel, reprised her role for the June 6 performance.[44]

text: Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2[edit]

text: Ariel, alongside other Disney Princesses, is set to cameo in the film, as was announced at the 2017 D23 Expo.[45]

text: Reception and legacy[edit]

text: Ariel has received a mixed reception from critics. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the character, writing that "Ariel is a fully realized female character who thinks and acts independently, even rebelliously, instead of hanging around passively while the fates decide her destiny".[46] James Bernardelli of Reelviews wrote that Ariel can be viewed as a template for future Disney heroes and heroines. He also praised Jodi Benson's vocal performance for the character.[47] In an article for Empire, Levi Buchanan stated that Ariel is "powerful and self-reliant".[48] Janet Maslin of The New York Times complimented Ariel, stating that "teenagers will appreciate the story's rebellious heroine" and went on to praise Ariel's wit.[49] Josh Tyler of Cinema Blend wrote favorably about Ariel although he believed that the character was eroticized, stating, "The scene where Ursula rips out her throat and gives her extremely naked parts below the waist is almost titillating, though I'm sure to little kids it seems entirely innocent".[50] Similarly, reviewer John Puccio said that "Ariel is perhaps the sexiest-looking animated character the Disney artists have ever drawn".[51] In his review of Ariel's Beginning, James Plath of DVD Town wrote, "For little girls, Ariel is one of the most beloved of Disney princesses, and she holds a warm place in the hearts of parents as well".[52] Rory Aronsky of Film Threat praised Jodi Benson's vocal performance in Ariel's Beginning, writing that "Benson adds more to the appeal of Ariel for older fans, and younger girls just learning about her, as well as generations not born yet who will undoubtedly become attached to her, ensuring the continued existence of the franchise".[53]

text: In their review of The Little Mermaid, the staff of TV Guide wrote that Ariel resembled "a big-haired, denatured Barbie doll, despite her hourglass figure and skimpy seashell brassiere".[54] Tamara Weston of Time wrote that while Ariel is less passive and more strong-willed than her predecessors, she still "gives up her voice to be with a man" who comes to her rescue at the film's climax.[55] Hal Hinson of The Washington Post wrote that it would be difficult for children to relate to Ariel's "feelings of disenchantment and longing for another world" and that she "doesn't have much personality". However, Hinson also wrote a positive statement about Ariel, saying it was "refreshing ... to see a heroine who has some sense of what she wants and the resources to go after it".[56] Nell Minow of Common Sense Media had a mixed view of Ariel, praising her for being "adventuresome, rebellious, and brave" but also criticizing that she "gives up everything – her family, her home, her voice – for love, even though her trust in the sea witch puts everyone she loves in danger".[57] Daphne Lee of The Star called Ariel "annoying" and went on to state that Ariel "is a silly girl who gives up her voice and her family for a man she knows next to nothing about".[58]

text: Despite her mixed critical reception, Ariel remains popular with audiences and is considered one of Disney's most iconic animated characters, with her specific color combination of red hair, lavender seashells and green tail making her distinctly identifiable.[8] A poll in the Internet Movie Database showed Ariel to be the second most alluring animated character after Jessica Rabbit.[59] In August 2011, Jodi Benson was honored with a Disney Legend for her work as Ariel and her other projects at Disney.[60]

text: A bi-annual convention called ArielCon is dedicated to the character.[61] Ariel is an official "ambassador" for the "Keep Our Oceans Clean" campaign by Environmental Defense, The National Maritime Sanctuary, and The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.[62][63] From 2007 onwards, Disney launched an advertising campaign called Disney Dreams Portraits featuring celebrities dressed up as various Disney characters and photographed Annie Leibovitz; Julianne Moore was photographed as Ariel for this campaign.[64] "Hipster Ariel" has become a popular internet meme, utilizing a screenshot of Ariel with photoshopped glasses accompanied by a humorous caption.[65][66] Ariel's distinct appearance makes her the subject of "look-alike" events and competitions.[67] In the reality TV show and dancing competition Dancing With the Stars, Candace Cameron Bure, Peta Murgatroyd, Marla Maples and Sasha Pieterse dressed up as Ariel in their performances in seasons 18, 20, 22 and 25 respectively.


document_title: The Merchant of Venice

question_text: when was the merchant of venice first performed

root

text: The Merchant of Venice

text: Characters[edit]

text:
Antonio – a prominent merchant of Venice in a melancholic mood
Bassanio – Antonio's friend; suitor to Portia; later the husband of Portia
Gratiano – friend of Antonio and Bassanio; in love with Nerissa; later the husband of Nerissa
Lorenzo – friend of Antonio and Bassanio; in love with Jessica; later the husband of Jessica
Portia – a rich heiress; later the wife of Bassanio
Nerissa – Portia's waiting maid – in love with Gratiano; later the wife of Gratiano; disguises herself as Stephano
Balthazar – Portia's servant, whom Portia later disguises herself as
Shylock – a miserly Jew; moneylender; father of Jessica
Jessica – daughter of Shylock, later the wife of Lorenzo
Tubal – a Jew; friend of Shylock
Launcelot Gobbo – servant of Shylock; later a servant of Bassanio; son of Old Gobbo
Old Gobbo – blind father of Launcelot
Leonardo – slave to Bassanio
Duke of Venice – authority who presides over the case of Shylock's bond
Prince of Morocco – suitor to Portia
Prince of Arragon – suitor to Portia
Salarino and Solanio – friends of Antonio and Bassanio[2]
Salerio – a messenger from Venice[2]
Magnificoes of Venice, officers of the Court of Justice, gaoler, servants to Portia, and other attendants

tag: ul

text: Summary[edit]

text: Bassanio, a young Venetian of noble rank, wishes to woo the beautiful and wealthy heiress Portia of Belmont. Having squandered his estate, he needs 3,000 ducats to subsidise his expenditures as a suitor. Bassanio approaches his friend Antonio, a wealthy merchant of Venice who has previously and repeatedly bailed him out. Antonio agrees, but since he is cash-poor – his ships and merchandise are busy at sea – he promises to cover a bond if Bassanio can find a lender, so Bassanio turns to the Jewish moneylender Shylock and names Antonio as the loan's guarantor.

tag: p

text: Antonio has already antagonized Shylock through his outspoken antisemitism, and because Antonio's habit of lending money without interest forces Shylock to charge lower rates. Shylock is at first reluctant to grant the loan, citing abuse he has suffered at Antonio's hand. He finally agrees to lend the sum to Bassanio without interest upon one condition: if Antonio is unable to repay it at the specified date, Shylock may take a pound of Antonio's flesh. Bassanio does not want Antonio to accept such a risky condition; Antonio is surprised by what he sees as the moneylender's generosity (no "usance" – interest – is asked for), and he signs the contract. With money at hand, Bassanio leaves for Belmont with his friend Gratiano, who has asked to accompany him. Gratiano is a likeable young man, but is often flippant, overly talkative, and tactless. Bassanio warns his companion to exercise self-control, and the two leave for Belmont.

text: Meanwhile, in Belmont, Portia is awash with suitors. Her father left a will stipulating each of her suitors must choose correctly from one of three caskets – one each of gold, silver and lead. If he picks the right casket, he gets Portia. The first suitor, the Prince of Morocco, chooses the gold casket, interpreting its slogan, "Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire", as referring to Portia. The second suitor, the conceited Prince of Arragon, chooses the silver casket, which proclaims, "Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves", as he believes he is full of merit. Both suitors leave empty-handed, having rejected the lead casket because of the baseness of its material and the uninviting nature of its slogan, "Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath". The last suitor is Bassanio, whom Portia wishes to succeed, having met him before. As Bassanio ponders his choice, members of Portia's household sing a song which says that "fancy" (not true love) is "engend'red in the eyes, / With gazing fed";[3] Bassanio chooses the lead casket and wins Portia's hand.

text: At Venice, Antonio's ships are reported lost at sea so the merchant cannot repay the bond. Shylock has become more determined to exact revenge from Christians because his daughter Jessica eloped with the Christian Lorenzo and converted. She took a substantial amount of Shylock's wealth with her, as well as a turquoise ring which Shylock had been given by his late wife, Leah. Shylock has Antonio brought before court.

text: At Belmont, Bassanio receives a letter telling him that Antonio has been unable to repay the loan from Shylock. Portia and Bassanio marry, as do Gratiano and Portia's handmaid Nerissa. Bassanio and Gratiano leave for Venice, with money from Portia, to save Antonio's life by offering the money to Shylock. Unknown to Bassanio and Gratiano, Portia sent her servant, Balthazar, to seek the counsel of Portia's cousin, Bellario, a lawyer, at Padua.

text: The climax of the play takes place in the court of the Duke of Venice. Shylock refuses Bassanio's offer of 6,000 ducats, twice the amount of the loan. He demands his pound of flesh from Antonio. The Duke, wishing to save Antonio but unable to nullify a contract, refers the case to a visitor. He identifies himself as Balthazar, a young male "doctor of the law", bearing a letter of recommendation to the Duke from the learned lawyer Bellario. The doctor is Portia in disguise, and the law clerk who accompanies her is Nerissa, also disguised as a man. As Balthazar, Portia repeatedly asks Shylock to show mercy in a famous speech, advising him that mercy "is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes" (IV, i, 185). However, Shylock adamantly refuses any compensations and insists on the pound of flesh.

text: As the court grants Shylock his bond and Antonio prepares for Shylock's knife, Portia deftly appropriates Shylock's argument for "specific performance". She says that the contract allows Shylock only to remove the flesh, not the "blood", of Antonio (see quibble). Thus, if Shylock were to shed any drop of Antonio's blood, his "lands and goods" would be forfeited under Venetian laws. She tells him that he must cut precisely one pound of flesh, no more, no less; she advises him that "if the scale do turn, But in the estimation of a hair, Thou diest and all thy goods are confiscate."

text: Defeated, Shylock concedes to accepting Bassanio's offer of money for the defaulted bond, first his offer to pay "the bond thrice", which Portia rebuffs, telling him to take his bond, and then merely the principal, which Portia also prevents him from doing on the ground that he has already refused it "in the open court". She cites a law under which Shylock, as a Jew and therefore an "alien", having attempted to take the life of a citizen, has forfeited his property, half to the government and half to Antonio, leaving his life at the mercy of the Duke. The Duke pardons Shylock's life. Antonio asks for his share "in use" until Shylock's death, when the principal will be given to Lorenzo and Jessica. At Antonio's request, the Duke grants remission of the state's half of forfeiture, but on the condition that Shylock convert to Christianity and bequeath his entire estate to Lorenzo and Jessica (IV,i).

text: Bassanio does not recognise his disguised wife, but offers to give a present to the supposed lawyer. First she declines, but after he insists, Portia requests his ring and Antonio's gloves. Antonio parts with his gloves without a second thought, but Bassanio gives the ring only after much persuasion from Antonio, as earlier in the play he promised his wife never to lose, sell or give it. Nerissa, as the lawyer's clerk, succeeds in likewise retrieving her ring from Gratiano, who does not see through her disguise.

text: At Belmont, Portia and Nerissa taunt and pretend to accuse their husbands before revealing they were really the lawyer and his clerk in disguise (V). After all the other characters make amends, Antonio learns from Portia that three of his ships were not stranded and have returned safely after all.

text: Sources[edit]

text: The forfeit of a merchant's deadly bond after standing surety for a friend's loan was a common tale in England in the late 16th century.[4] In addition, the test of the suitors at Belmont, the merchant's rescue from the "pound of flesh" penalty by his friend's new wife disguised as a lawyer, and her demand for the betrothal ring in payment are all elements present in the 14th-century tale Il Pecorone by Giovanni Fiorentino, which was published in Milan in 1558.[5] Elements of the trial scene are also found in The Orator by Alexandre Sylvane, published in translation in 1596.[4] The story of the three caskets can be found in "Gesta Romanorum", a collection of tales probably compiled at the end of the 13th century.

text: Date and text[edit]

text: The date of composition for The Merchant of Venice is believed to be between 1596 and 1598. The play was mentioned by Francis Meres in 1598, so it must have been familiar on the stage by that date. The title page of the first edition in 1600 states that it had been performed "divers times" by that date. Salerino's reference to his ship the Andrew (I,i,27) is thought to be an allusion to the Spanish ship St. Andrew, captured by the English at Cádiz in 1596. A date of 1596–97 is considered consistent with the play's style.

text: The play was entered in the Register of the Stationers Company, the method at that time of obtaining copyright for a new play, by James Roberts on 22 July 1598 under the title The Merchant of Venice, otherwise called The Jew of Venice. On 28 October 1600 Roberts transferred his right to the play to the stationer Thomas Heyes; Heyes published the first quarto before the end of the year. It was printed again in a pirated edition in 1619, as part of William Jaggard's so-called False Folio. (Afterward, Thomas Heyes' son and heir Laurence Heyes asked for and was granted a confirmation of his right to the play, on 8 July 1619.) The 1600 edition is generally regarded as being accurate and reliable. It is the basis of the text published in the 1623 First Folio, which adds a number of stage directions, mainly musical cues.[6]

text: Themes[edit]

text: Shylock and the antisemitism debate[edit]

text: The play is frequently staged today, but is potentially troubling to modern audiences due to its central themes, which can easily appear antisemitic. Critics today still continue to argue over the play's stance on the Jews and Judaism.

text: Shylock as a villain[edit]

text: English society in the Elizabethan era has been described as "judeophobic".[7] English Jews had been expelled under Edward I in 1290 and were not permitted to return until 1656 under the rule of Oliver Cromwell. In Venice and in some other places, Jews were required to wear a red hat at all times in public to make sure that they were easily identified, and had to live in a ghetto protected by Christian guards.[8]

text: Shakespeare's play may be seen as a continuation of this tradition.[9] The title page of the Quarto indicates that the play was sometimes known as The Jew of Venice in its day, which suggests that it was seen as similar to Marlowe's The Jew of Malta. One interpretation of the play's structure is that Shakespeare meant to contrast the mercy of the main Christian characters with the vengefulness of a Jew, who lacks the religious grace to comprehend mercy. Similarly, it is possible that Shakespeare meant Shylock's forced conversion to Christianity to be a "happy ending" for the character, as, to a Christian audience, it saves his soul and allows him to enter Heaven.[10]

text: Regardless of what Shakespeare's authorial intent may have been, the play has been made use of by antisemites throughout the play's history. The Nazis used the usurious Shylock for their propaganda. Shortly after Kristallnacht in 1938, The Merchant of Venice was broadcast for propagandistic ends over the German airwaves. Productions of the play followed in Lübeck (1938), Berlin (1940), and elsewhere within the Nazi territory.[11]

text: In a series of articles called Observer, first published in 1785, British playwright Richard Cumberland created a character named Abraham Abrahams who is quoted as saying, "I verily believe the odious character of Shylock has brought little less persecution upon us, poor scattered sons of Abraham, than the Inquisition itself."[12] Cumberland later wrote a successful play, The Jew (1794), in which his title character, Sheva, is portrayed sympathetically, as both a kindhearted and generous man. This was the first known attempt by a dramatist to reverse the negative stereotype that Shylock personified.[13]

text: The depiction of Jews in literature throughout the centuries bears the close imprint of Shylock. With slight variations much of English literature up until the 20th century depicts the Jew as "a monied, cruel, lecherous, avaricious outsider tolerated only because of his golden hoard".[14]

text: Shylock as a sympathetic character[edit]

text: Many modern readers and theatregoers have read the play as a plea for tolerance, noting that Shylock is a sympathetic character. They cite as evidence that Shylock's "trial" at the end of the play is a mockery of justice, with Portia acting as a judge when she has no right to do so. The characters who berated Shylock for dishonesty resort to trickery in order to win. In addition, Shakespeare gives Shylock one of his most eloquent speeches:

text:
Salerio. Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take his flesh. What's that good for?
Shylock. To bait fish withal; if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me and hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies – and what's his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.

text: It is difficult to know whether the sympathetic reading of Shylock is entirely due to changing sensibilities among readers, or whether Shakespeare, a writer who created complex, multi-faceted characters, deliberately intended this reading.

text: One of the reasons for this interpretation is that Shylock's painful status in Venetian society is emphasised. To some critics, Shylock's celebrated "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech redeems him and even makes him into something of a tragic figure; in the speech, Shylock argues that he is no different from the Christian characters.[15] Detractors note that Shylock ends the speech with a tone of revenge: "if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?" Those who see the speech as sympathetic point out that Shylock says he learned the desire for revenge from the Christian characters: "If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."

text: Even if Shakespeare did not intend the play to be read this way, the fact that it retains its power on stage for audiences who may perceive its central conflicts in radically different terms is an illustration of the subtlety of Shakespeare's characterisations.[16] In the trial Shylock represents what Elizabethan Christians believed to be the Jewish desire for "justice", contrasted with their obviously superior Christian value of mercy. The Christians in the courtroom urge Shylock to love his enemies, although they themselves have failed in the past. Jewish critic Harold Bloom suggests that, although the play gives merit to both cases, the portraits are not even-handed: "Shylock's shrewd indictment of Christian hypocrisy delights us, but … Shakespeare’s intimations do not alleviate the savagery of his portrait of the Jew…"[17]

text: Antonio, Bassanio[edit]

text: Antonio's unexplained depression – "In sooth I know not why I am so sad" – and utter devotion to Bassanio has led some critics to theorise that he is suffering from unrequited love for Bassanio and is depressed because Bassanio is coming to an age where he will marry a woman. In his plays and poetry Shakespeare often depicted strong male bonds of varying homosociality, which has led some critics to infer that Bassanio returns Antonio's affections despite his obligation to marry:[18]

text:
ANTONIO: Commend me to your honourable wife:
Tell her the process of Antonio's end,
Say how I lov'd you, speak me fair in death;
And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge
Whether Bassanio had not once a love.
BASSANIO: But life itself, my wife, and all the world
Are not with me esteemed above thy life;
I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all
Here to this devil, to deliver you. (IV,i)

text: In his essay "Brothers and Others", published in The Dyer's Hand, W. H. Auden describes Antonio as "a man whose emotional life, though his conduct may be chaste, is concentrated upon a member of his own sex." Antonio's feelings for Bassanio are likened to a couplet from Shakespeare's Sonnets: "But since she pricked thee out for women's pleasure,/ Mine be thy love, and my love's use their treasure." Antonio, says Auden, embodies the words on Portia's leaden casket: "Who chooseth me, must give and hazard all he hath." Antonio has taken this potentially fatal turn because he despairs, not only over the loss of Bassanio in marriage, but also because Bassanio cannot requite what Antonio feels for him. Antonio's frustrated devotion is a form of idolatry: the right to live is yielded for the sake of the loved one. There is one other such idolator in the play: Shylock himself. "Shylock, however unintentionally, did, in fact, hazard all for the sake of destroying the enemy he hated; and Antonio, however unthinkingly he signed the bond, hazarded all to secure the happiness of the man he loved." Both Antonio and Shylock, agreeing to put Antonio's life at a forfeit, stand outside the normal bounds of society. There was, states Auden, a traditional "association of sodomy with usury", reaching back at least as far as Dante, with which Shakespeare was likely familiar. (Auden sees the theme of usury in the play as a comment on human relations in a mercantile society.)

text: Other interpreters of the play regard Auden's conception of Antonio's sexual desire for Bassanio as questionable. Michael Radford, director of the 2004 film version starring Al Pacino, explained that although the film contains a scene where Antonio and Bassanio actually kiss, the friendship between the two is platonic, in line with the prevailing view of male friendship at the time. Jeremy Irons, in an interview, concurs with the director's view and states that he did not "play Antonio as gay". Joseph Fiennes, however, who plays Bassanio, encouraged a homoerotic interpretation and, in fact, surprised Irons with the kiss on set, which was filmed in one take. Fiennes defended his choice, saying "I would never invent something before doing my detective work in the text. If you look at the choice of language … you'll read very sensuous language. That's the key for me in the relationship. The great thing about Shakespeare and why he's so difficult to pin down is his ambiguity. He's not saying they're gay or they're straight, he's leaving it up to his actors. I feel there has to be a great love between the two characters … there's great attraction. I don't think they have slept together but that's for the audience to decide."[19]

text: Performance history[edit]

text: The earliest performance of which a record has survived was held at the court of King James in the spring of 1605, followed by a second performance a few days later, but there is no record of any further performances in the 17th century.[20] In 1701, George Granville staged a successful adaptation, titled The Jew of Venice, with Thomas Betterton as Bassanio. This version (which featured a masque) was popular, and was acted for the next forty years. Granville cut the clownish Gobbos[21] in line with neoclassical decorum; he added a jail scene between Shylock and Antonio, and a more extended scene of toasting at a banquet scene. Thomas Doggett was Shylock, playing the role comically, perhaps even farcically. Rowe expressed doubts about this interpretation as early as 1709; Doggett's success in the role meant that later productions would feature the troupe clown as Shylock.

text: In 1741, Charles Macklin returned to the original text in a very successful production at Drury Lane, paving the way for Edmund Kean seventy years later (see below).[22]

text: Arthur Sullivan wrote incidental music for the play in 1871.[23]

text: Shylock on stage[edit]

text: Jewish actor Jacob Adler and others report that the tradition of playing Shylock sympathetically began in the first half of the 19th century with Edmund Kean,[24] and that previously the role had been played "by a comedian as a repulsive clown or, alternatively, as a monster of unrelieved evil." Kean's Shylock established his reputation as an actor.[25]

text: From Kean's time forward, all of the actors who have famously played the role, with the exception of Edwin Booth, who played Shylock as a simple villain, have chosen a sympathetic approach to the character; even Booth's father, Junius Brutus Booth, played the role sympathetically. Henry Irving's portrayal of an aristocratic, proud Shylock (first seen at the Lyceum in 1879, with Portia played by Ellen Terry) has been called "the summit of his career".[26] Jacob Adler was the most notable of the early 20th century: Adler played the role in Yiddish-language translation, first in Manhattan's Yiddish Theater District in the Lower East Side, and later on Broadway, where, to great acclaim, he performed the role in Yiddish in an otherwise English-language production.[27]

text: Kean and Irving presented a Shylock justified in wanting his revenge; Adler's Shylock evolved over the years he played the role, first as a stock Shakespearean villain, then as a man whose better nature was overcome by a desire for revenge, and finally as a man who operated not from revenge but from pride. In a 1902 interview with Theater magazine, Adler pointed out that Shylock is a wealthy man, "rich enough to forgo the interest on three thousand ducats" and that Antonio is "far from the chivalrous gentleman he is made to appear. He has insulted the Jew and spat on him, yet he comes with hypocritical politeness to borrow money of him." Shylock's fatal flaw is to depend on the law, but "would he not walk out of that courtroom head erect, the very apotheosis of defiant hatred and scorn?"[28]

text: Some modern productions take further pains to show the sources of Shylock's thirst for vengeance. For instance, in the 2004 film adaptation directed by Michael Radford and starring Al Pacino as Shylock, the film begins with text and a montage of how Venetian Jews are cruelly abused by bigoted Christians. One of the last shots of the film also brings attention to the fact that, as a convert, Shylock would have been cast out of the Jewish community in Venice, no longer allowed to live in the ghetto. Another interpretation of Shylock and a vision of how "must he be acted" appears at the conclusion of the autobiography of Alexander Granach, a noted Jewish stage and film actor in Weimar Germany (and later in Hollywood and on Broadway).[29]

text: Adaptations and cultural references[edit]

text: Film and TV versions[edit]

text: The Shakespeare play has inspired several films.

text:
1914 – silent film directed by Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley

Weber, who also stars as Portia, became the first woman to direct a full-length feature film in America with this film.
The Merchant of Venice on IMDb

1916 – The Merchant of Venice, a silent British film directed by Walter West for Broadwest.

The Merchant of Venice on IMDb

1923 – The Merchant of Venice, a silent German film directed by Peter Paul Felner.

The Merchant of Venice on IMDb

1941 – Shylock, an Indian Tamil language film directed by the duo Sama-Ramu.[30]
1969 – The Merchant of Venice, an unreleased 40-minute television film directed by and starring Orson Welles; the film was completed, but the soundtrack for all but the first reel was stolen before it could be released.

The Merchant of Venice on IMDb

1972 – British video-taped television version directed by Cedric Messina for the BBC's Play of the Month series

Cast includes Maggie Smith, Frank Finlay and Charles Gray and Christopher Gable

1973 – British video-taped television version directed by John Sichel

The cast included Laurence Olivier as Shylock, Anthony Nicholls as Antonio, Jeremy Brett as Bassanio, Joan Plowright as Portia, Louise Purnell as Jessica.
The Merchant of Venice on IMDb

1980 – A BBC video-taped version for the BBC Television Shakespeare directed by Jack Gold

The cast includes Gemma Jones as Portia, Warren Mitchell as Shylock and John Nettles as Bassanio
The Merchant of Venice on IMDb

1996 – A Channel 4 television film directed by Alan Horrox

The cast included Paul McGann as Bassanio and Haydn Gwynne as Portia
The Merchant of Venice on IMDb

2001 – A BBC television film directed by Trevor Nunn

Royal National Theatre production starring Henry Goodman as Shylock
The Merchant of Venice on IMDb

2002 – The Maori Merchant of Venice, directed by Don Selwyn.

In Maori, with English subtitles. The cast included Waihoroi Shortland as Shylock, Scott Morrison as Antonio, Te Rangihau Gilbert as Bassanio, Ngarimu Daniels as Portia, Reikura Morgan as Jessica.
The Maori Merchant of Venice on IMDb

2003 – Shakespeare's Merchant, directed by Paul Wagar and produced by Lorenda Starfelt, Brad Mays and Paul Wagar.

Shakespeare's Merchant on IMDb

2004 – The Merchant of Venice, directed by Michael Radford and produced by Barry Navidi.

The cast included Al Pacino as Shylock, Jeremy Irons as Antonio, Joseph Fiennes as Bassanio, Lynn Collins as Portia, and Zuleikha Robinson as Jessica.
The Merchant of Venice on IMDb

text: Operas[edit]

text:
Josef Bohuslav Foerster's three-act Czech opera Jessika was first performed at the Prague National Theatre on 16 April 1905.
Reynaldo Hahn's three-act French opera Le marchand de Venise was first performed at the Paris Opéra on 25 March 1935.
The late André Tchaikowsky's (1935–1982) opera The Merchant of Venice premiered at the Bregenz Festival[31][32] on 18 July 2013.

text: Cultural references[edit]

text: The play contains the earliest known use of the phrase "with bated breath" (by Shylock, in Act I, Scene 3, "Shall I bend low and, in a bondman's key, / With bated breath and whisp'ring humbleness, / Say this ..."), which has come into common use to convey the idea of restraining one's breathing in anticipation or supplicance (in which the archaic "bated" is often misidentified as "baited" in modern usage).[33][34][35]

text: Arnold Wesker's play The Merchant tells the same story from Shylock's point of view. In this retelling, Shylock and Antonio are fast friends bound by a mutual love of books and culture and a disdain for the crass anti-Semitism of the Christian community's laws. They make the bond in defiant mockery of the Christian establishment, never anticipating that the bond might become forfeit. When it does, the play argues, Shylock must carry through on the letter of the law or jeopardise the scant legal security of the entire Jewish community. He is, therefore, quite as grateful as Antonio when Portia, as in Shakespeare's play, shows the legal way out. The play received its American premiere on 16 November 1977 at New York's Plymouth Theatre, with Joseph Leon as Shylock and Marian Seldes as Shylock's sister Rivka. This production had a challenging history in previews on the road, culminating (after the first night out of town in Philadelphia on 8 September 1977) with the death of the larger-than-life Broadway star Zero Mostel, who was initially cast as Shylock. The play's author, Arnold Wesker, wrote a book chronicling the out-of-town tribulations that beset the play and Zero's death called The Birth of Shylock and the Death of Zero Mostel.

text: David Henry Wilson's play Shylock's Revenge, which was first performed by The University Players at the Audimax (University of Hamburg) on 9 June 1989, can be seen as a full-length sequel to Shakespeare's drama.

text: The title of the film Seven Pounds is a reference to the "pound of flesh" from the play.

text: Edmond Haraucourt, the French playwright and poet, was commissioned in the 1880s by the actor and theatrical director Paul Porel to make a French-verse adaptation of The Merchant of Venice. His play Shylock, first performed at the Théâtre de l'Odéon in December 1889, had incidental music by the French composer Gabriel Fauré, later incorporated into an orchestral suite of the same name.[36]

text: One of the four short stories comprising Alan Isler's Op Non Cit is also told from Shylock's point of view. In this story, Antonio was a boy of Jewish origin kidnapped at an early age by priests.

text: Ralph Vaughan Williams' choral work Serenade to Music draws its text from the discussion about music and the music of the spheres in Act V, scene 1.

text: In both versions of the comic film To Be or Not to Be the character "Greenberg", specified as a Jew only in the later version, gives a recitation of the "Hath Not a Jew eyes?" speech to Nazi soldiers.[37]

text: In The Pianist, Henryk Szpilman quotes a passage from Shylock's "Hath Not a Jew eyes?" speech to his brother Władysław Szpilman in a Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, Poland, during the Nazi occupation in World War II. Given the questioning of Antisemitism in the speech and also the Nazi use of the play for antisemitic propaganda purposes, the quote is seen as particularly poignant and symbolic.

text: Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List depicts SS Lieutenant Amon Göth quoting Shylock's "Hath Not a Jew eyes?" speech when deciding whether or not to rape his Jewish maid.

text: The rock musical Fire Angel was based on the story of the play, with the scene changed to the Little Italy district of New York. It was performed in Edinburgh in 1974 and in a revised form at Her Majesty's Theatre, London, in 1977.

text: Christopher Moore combines The Merchant of Venice and Othello in his 2014 comic novel The Serpent of Venice, in which he makes Portia (from The Merchant of Venice) and Desdemona (from Othello) sisters. All of the characters come from those two plays with the exception of Pocket, the Fool, who comes from Moore's earlier novel based on King Lear.

text: Jane Lindskold's book Changer contains a scene in which the protagonists consider "using Portia's gambit from The Merchant of Venice" to escape from a situation and binding contract analogous to Antonio's.

text: In its article "Unconventional Director Sets Shakespeare Play In Time, Place Shakespeare Intended", the online satirical news site The Onion satirized the contemporary fashion of altering the play's setting.[38]

text: The play has been quoted and paraphrased several times in the Star Trek Universe:

text:
In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, while attacking the USS Enterprise in a cloaked Klingon Bird of Prey, General Chang says the following: "Tickle us, do we not laugh? Prick us, do we not bleed? Wrong us, shall we not revenge?"
In "The Naked Now", the second episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, an "intoxicated" Lt. Cmdr. Data paraphrases Shylock when explaining to Captain Picard how an advanced android can become affected similarly to a biological entity, saying, "I have pores, humans have pores. I have fingerprints, humans have fingerprints. My chemical nutrients are like your blood. If you prick me, do I not...leak?"
Diane Duane's novel, Dark Mirror, contains quotes from a Mirror Universe version of the play. In it, Portia successfully argues that Antonio does indeed owe Shylock a pound of flesh, a sentence which is actually carried out (Antonio's heart is cut out and given to Shylock). Portia's speech is also much more authoritarian – "The quality of mercy must be earned, and not strewn gratis on the common ground..."

text: In the film OSS 117: Lost in Rio, the final speech of Von Zimmel parodies Shylock's tirade.

text: In the Brazilian film A Dog's Will, the marriage bargain involving a lump-sum payment or the skin off Chicó's back is foiled by reference to the legal contrivance familiar from the play — that is, the skin may be owing but not a drop of blood must be taken with it.

text: In Hey Arnold! episode, "Eating Contest / Rhonda's Glasses," Rhonda, becoming fed up with the treatment toward the geeks, yells “If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh?,” a direct quote from Shylock's famous speech.

text: In David Fincher's 1995 film, Seven, John Doe coerces the lawyer, Eli Gould, to remove a pound of flesh and place it on a scale (symbolizing the scales of justice) prior to murdering him.

text: Notes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ Bloom, Harold, ed. (2009). William Shakespeare: Comedies. Infobase Publishing. p. 1. ISBN 1604136316.
^ Jump up to: a b The Three Sallies – Salarino, Solanio, and Salerio
Jump up ^ Merchant of Venice: Act 3, Scene 2, Lines 67–68
^ Jump up to: a b Muir, Kenneth (2005). "The Merchant of Venice". Shakespeare's Sources: Comedies and Tragedies. New York: Routledge. p. 49. ISBN 0-415-35269-X.
Jump up ^ Bloom (2007: 112–113)
Jump up ^ Stanley Wells and Michael Dobson, eds., The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 288.
Jump up ^ Philipe Burrin, Nazi Anti-Semitism: From Prejudice to Holocaust. The New Press, 2005, p. 17. ISBN 1-56584-969-8.
Jump up ^ The Virtual Jewish History Tour – Venice
Jump up ^ Hales, John W. "Shakespeare and the Jews", The English Review, Vol. IX, 1894.
Jump up ^ Beauchamp, Gorman (2011). "Shylock's Conversion" (PDF). Humanitas. 24: 55-92. Retrieved October 26, 2017.
Jump up ^ Lecture by James Shapiro: "Shakespeare and the Jews".
Jump up ^ Newman, Louis I. (2012). Richard Cumberland: Critic and Friend of the Jews (Classic Reprint). Forgotten Books.
Jump up ^ Armin, Robert (2012). Sheva, the Benevolent. Moreclacke Publishing.
Jump up ^ David Mirsky, "The Fictive Jew in the Literature of England 1890–1920", in the Samuel K. Mirsky Memorial Volume.
Jump up ^ Scott (2002).
Jump up ^ Bloom (2007), p. 233.
Jump up ^ Bloom (2007), p. 24.
Jump up ^ Bloom, Harold (2010). Interpretations: William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. New York: Infobase. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-60413-885-6.
Jump up ^ Reuters. "Was the Merchant of Venice gay?", ABC News Online, 29 December 2004. Retrieved on 12 November 2010
Jump up ^ Charles Boyce, Encyclopaedia of Shakespeare, New York, Roundtable Press, 1990, p. 420.
Jump up ^ Warde, Frederick (1915). The Fools of Shakespeare; an interpretation of their wit, wisdom and personalities. London: McBride, Nast & Company. pp. 103–120. Archived from the original on 2006-02-08. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
Jump up ^ F. E. Halliday, A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964, Baltimore, Penguin, 1964; pp. 261, 311–12. In 2004, the film was released.
Jump up ^ Information about Sullivan's incidental music to the play Archived 25 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine. at The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, accessed 31 December 2009
Jump up ^ Adler erroneously dates this from 1847 (at which time Kean was already dead); the Cambridge Student Guide to The Merchant of Venice dates Kean's performance to a more likely 1814.
Jump up ^ Adler (1999), p. 341.
Jump up ^ Wells and Dobson, p. 290.
Jump up ^ Adler (1999), pp. 342–44.
Jump up ^ Adler (1999), pp. 344–50.
Jump up ^ Granach (1945; 2010), pp. 275–9.
Jump up ^ Guy, Randor (29 March 2014). "Blast from the Past: Shylock (1941)". The Hindu. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
Jump up ^ "The Merchant of Venice – World premiere", Bregenzer Festspiele. Archived 2 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
Jump up ^ "André Tchaikowsky – Composer".
Jump up ^ "Bated breath". The Phrase Finder.
Jump up ^ "Bated breath – Shakespeare Quotes". eNotes.com.
Jump up ^ "Word Origin and History for bate". Dictionary.com.
Jump up ^ Nectoux, Jean-Michel (1991). "Gabriel Fauré: A musical life". Cambridge University Press: 143–46. ISBN 0-521-23524-3
Jump up ^ Sammond, Nicholas; Mukerji, Chandra (2001). Bernardi, Daniel, ed. Classic Hollywood, Classic Whiteness. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp. 15–27. ISBN 0-8166-3239-1.
Jump up ^ [1]

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