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The Merchant of Venice - Act 3, scene 4

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Act 3, scene 4.

Portia entrusts the management of her household to Lorenzo and pretends to leave with Nerissa for a house of an order of nuns. She sends a messenger to Dr. Bellario of Padua and tells Nerissa that they, in disguise as men, will follow their husbands to Venice.

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The Merchant of Venice

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The Merchant of Venice

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When Portia learns about Antonio’s plight in Act 3 Scene 2, she has never met the merchant and yet she goes to great lengths to help him. When playing a role it is important for an actor to think about what motivates their character and drives them to do the things that they do in the play. For example, is Portia driven by a desire to help a friend of Bassanio because of her love, or because she feels threatened by Bassanio's close relationship with Antonio? Considering these dilemmas, one of the key questions for Portia is:

Why does Portia help Antonio?

We’ve started to think below about some of the reasons why Portia helps Antonio. See if you can complete the grid to make four points that could answer this question. It doesn’t matter if you agree or not, as long as you can back it up! Looking at the following scenes might also help you to collect evidence:

• Act 3 Scene 2: Explore Portia’s reactions when she finds out what has happened to Antonio. What are her main concerns and how does she act on them?
• Act 3 Scene 4: Look at how Portia talks about Bassanio and his friend Antonio to Lorenzo. How does she view Bassanio and his friends? Why does she think of them in this way?
• Act 4 Scene 1: After saving Antonio, look at the way in which Portia (as ‘Balthasar’) refuses payment. What justification for her actions does she give to Bassanio? What does this reveal about her motives and attitude to Antonio?

Explanation

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In the very first scene of the play Bassanio admits that he wants to go to Belmont to try and win Portia, ‘a lady richly left’, who he considers ‘fair and, fairer than that word / Of wondrous virtues’ (1:1). Bassanio succeeds in both winning her hand in marriage through her father’s ‘lott’ry’ and also winning Portia’s heart. In order to understand why Portia falls for Bassanio, we need to ask the following question:

What does Bassanio do to impress Portia?

We’ve started to think below about how Bassanio makes Portia fall in love with him. See if you can complete the grid to make four points that could answer this question. It doesn’t matter if you agree or not, as long as you can back it up! Looking at the following scenes might also help you to collect evidence:

• Act 1 Scene 2: Portia listens to Nerissa’s advice and opinions and places a lot of emphasis on that. Look at how Nerissa encourages Portia to prefer Bassanio. What are the reasons Nerissa gives for liking him? How does Bassanio differ from the other suitors that the ladies discuss?
• Act 3 Scene 2: Look at Portia’s ‘I pray you tarry’ speech and see if you can make inferences from what she says about why she likes Bassanio and how he has won her over. Why does she like him?
• Act 3 Scene 2: Examine the way in which Bassanio deliberates over the caskets. How is Bassanio’s reasoning different from the Prince of Morocco and the Prince of Arragon? Why is this impressive? Do you think that Bassanio’s reasoning makes him seem like a more appealing suitor than the others?

Antonio and Shylock's relationship is crucial to understanding The Merchant of Venice. In the early part of the play, Antonio is forced to ask Shylock for money, despite his dislike of the Jewish moneylender. However Shylock's hatred of Antonio leads him to demand a high price if he is unable to pay. This demand is Shylock's revenge but it is vital to consider why Shylock might want revenge and what Antonio has done to create this animosity. As a result, it is important for anyone writing about these characters and any actor playing Antonio to consider the question:

Why does Shylock hate Antonio?

We’ve started to think here about some of the reasons why Shylock so passionately dislikes Antonio. See if you can complete the grid to make four points that could answer this question. It doesn’t matter if you agree or not, as long as you can back it up! Looking at the following scenes might also help you to collect evidence:

• Act 1 Scene 3: Take a look at the reasons Shylock gives the audience for why he dislikes Antonio. What does he claim Antonio has done in the past? What does this reveal about Antonio?
• Act 3 Scene 1: Look at what Shylock says in response to Salerio, who wants to know why Shylock is so keen to take a pound of Shylock’s flesh. How persuasive are his arguments and why?

Numerous characters in the play make it very clear that they despise Shylock. When playing a role, actors often ask what motivates their characters’ feelings and actions and start to explore this. One way of starting this process is to look in the text for evidence that might explain their characters’ attitudes towards other characters in the play. In the case of Shylock, this involves looking at why so many characters feel so negatively about him and asking:

Why do so many characters hate Shylock?

We’ve started to think here about some of the reasons different characters dislike Shylock, including his own daughter and servant. See if you can complete the grid to make four points that could answer this question. It doesn’t matter if you agree or not, as long as you can back it up! Looking at the following scenes might also help you to collect evidence:

• Act 1 Scene 3: Look at what Shylock says to Antonio about how the merchant has treated him in the past. What might have driven Antonio to this kind of treatment?
• Act 4 Scene 1: Look at what the Duke and Bassanio say about Shylock and why they think it is unlikely he will show mercy towards Antonio. Where do you think these expectations come from? Do you think they are justified?
• Throughout the play many characters call Shylock derogatory names. Do you notice any similarities in the types of names and insults they use? What does this tell us about the way that they view Shylock?

It is worth noting that, while a lot of characters dislike Shylock, he has a strong friend and ally in Tubal. Shylock has also clearly been affected by the loss of his wife, Jessica's mother, and this needs to be taken into account to form a rounded view of the character. Could you perhaps include this consideration in a point below?

Teacher Notes

For each of the characters on this page we’ve asked some central questions. These are great questions to explore with students in mind maps, or as class debates.

The following activities will also help you explore the history and characters of Shylock, Bassanio and Antonio even further with students.

Introducing Bassanio and Antonio (2011)

This activity can be found on page 3 and takes approximately 40-50 minutes.

Shylock and Antonio (2015)

This activity can be found on page 6 and takes approximately 15 minutes.

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Structured Questions from The Merchant of Venice Act 3 Scene 4

Questions and answers from the merchant of venice act 3 scene 4 by william shakespeare.

• Summary for Merchant of Venice Act 3 Scene 4
• Workbook Solutions for Merchant of Venice Act 3 Scene 4
• Summary of Merchant of Venice for All Acts and Scenes
• Questions and Answers of Merchant of Venice- All Acts and Scenes
• Workbook Solutions for Merchant of Venice- All Acts and Scenes
• Short Summary of Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

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Enter PORTIA, NERISSA, LORENZO, JESSICA, and BALTHASAR

Madam, although I speak it in your presence, You have a noble and a true conceit Of godlike amity; which appears most strongly In bearing thus the absence of your lord. But if you knew to whom you show this honour, How true a gentleman you send relief, How dear a lover of my lord your husband, I know you would be prouder of the work Than customary bounty can enforce you.

I never did repent for doing good, Nor shall not now: for in companions That do converse and waste the time together, Whose souls do bear an equal yoke Of love, There must be needs a like proportion Of lineaments, of manners and of spirit; Which makes me think that this Antonio, Being the bosom lover of my lord, Must needs be like my lord. If it be so, How little is the cost I have bestow'd In purchasing the semblance of my soul From out the state of hellish misery! This comes too near the praising of myself; Therefore no more of it: hear other things. Lorenzo, I commit into your hands The husbandry and manage of my house Until my lord's return: for mine own part, I have toward heaven breathed a secret vow To live in prayer and contemplation, Only attended by Nerissa here, Until her husband and my lord's return: There is a monastery two miles off; And there will we abide. I do desire you Not to deny this imposition; The which my love and some necessity Now lays upon you.

Madam, with all my heart; I shall obey you in all fair commands.

My people do already know my mind, And will acknowledge you and Jessica In place of Lord Bassanio and myself. And so farewell, till we shall meet again.

Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you!

I wish your ladyship all heart's content.

I thank you for your wish, and am well pleased To wish it back on you: fare you well Jessica. Exeunt JESSICA and LORENZO Now, Balthasar, As I have ever found thee honest-true, So let me find thee still. Take this same letter, And use thou all the endeavour of a man In speed to Padua: see thou render this Into my cousin's hand, Doctor Bellario; And, look, what notes and garments he doth give thee, Bring them, I pray thee, with imagined speed Unto the tranect, to the common ferry Which trades to Venice. Waste no time in words, But get thee gone: I shall be there before thee.

Madam, I go with all convenient speed. Exit

Come on, Nerissa; I have work in hand That you yet know not of: we'll see our husbands Before they think of us.

Shall they see us?

They shall, Nerissa; but in such a habit, That they shall think we are accomplished With that we lack. I'll hold thee any wager, When we are both accoutred like young men, I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two, And wear my dagger with the braver grace, And speak between the change of man and boy With a reed voice, and turn two mincing steps Into a manly stride, and speak of frays Like a fine bragging youth, and tell quaint lies, How honourable ladies sought my love, Which I denying, they fell sick and died; I could not do withal; then I'll repent, And wish for all that, that I had not killed them; And twenty of these puny lies I'll tell, That men shall swear I have discontinued school Above a twelvemonth. I have within my mind A thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks, Which I will practise.

Why, shall we turn to men?

Fie, what a question's that, If thou wert near a lewd interpreter! But come, I'll tell thee all my whole device When I am in my coach, which stays for us At the park gate; and therefore haste away, For we must measure twenty miles to-day. Exeunt