Quotes (The Merchant of Venice)
This section highlights the key quotes from The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare. These quotes are essential for understanding the main themes, characters, and conflicts in The Merchant of Venice. Each one encapsulates significant moments in the play and is helpful for your revision.
“In sooth, I know not why I am so sad.” (Antonio – Act 1, Scene 1)
Context: Antonio opens the play by expressing his inexplicable sadness.
Significance: Reflects Antonio's melancholy and sets the tone for his character. His sadness may stem from financial worries or his deep affection for Bassanio.
“I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano, / A stage where every man must play a part, / And mine a sad one.” (Antonio – Act 1, Scene 1)
Context: Antonio explains his melancholy view of life.
Significance: Highlights his pessimistic outlook and evokes the idea of life as performance, a recurring theme in Shakespeare's works.
“The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.” (Antonio – Act 1, Scene 3)
Context: Antonio criticises Shylock for using the Bible to justify charging interest on loans.
Significance: Demonstrates Antonio’s prejudice against Shylock and the religious tension between Christians and Jews.
“I hate him for he is a Christian.” (Shylock – Act 1, Scene 3)
Context: Shylock reveals his hatred for Antonio.
Significance: Highlights the religious conflict between Jews and Christians. Shylock’s hatred is personal and deep-rooted, illustrating the central theme of prejudice.
“All that glisters is not gold.” (Prince of Morocco – Act 2, Scene 7)
Context: This is the message found inside the gold casket.
Significance: One of the play’s central messages—appearances can be deceiving. Bassanio will later choose the lead casket, symbolising his ability to look beyond outward beauty.
“Mislike me not for my complexion, / The shadowed livery of the burnished sun.” (Prince of Morocco – Act 2, Scene 1)
Context: The Prince of Morocco asks Portia not to judge him by his dark skin.
Significance: Reveals the racial prejudices of the time and highlights the theme of outward appearances versus inner worth.
“I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes?” (Shylock – Act 3, Scene 1)
Context: Shylock defends his right to revenge, pointing out that Jews and Christians are both human.
Significance: This speech humanises Shylock and questions the mistreatment of Jews, bringing attention to the theme of shared humanity amidst religious conflict.
“The quality of mercy is not strain’d, / It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven.” (Portia – Act 4, Scene 1)
Context: Portia pleads for Shylock to show mercy during the courtroom scene.
Significance: Reflects the Christian value of mercy, contrasting it with Shylock’s insistence on strict justice. It highlights the central moral conflict between mercy and the law.
“I will have my bond.” (Shylock – Act 3, Scene 3)
Context: Shylock refuses any settlement and insists on the terms of his bond—Antonio’s pound of flesh.
Significance: Shylock’s stubborn pursuit of revenge and justice over mercy leads to his downfall, underscoring his role as both a victim and a villain.
“But love is blind, and lovers cannot see / The pretty follies that themselves commit.” (Jessica – Act 2, Scene 6)
Context: Jessica speaks these lines as she prepares to elope with Lorenzo.
Significance: Highlights the theme of love and its irrationality. Jessica’s words also foreshadow the challenges in her and Lorenzo’s relationship due to her abandonment of her father and heritage.
“I am a daughter to his blood, / I am not to his manners.” (Jessica – Act 2, Scene 3)
Context: Jessica explains her feelings about her father, Shylock.
Significance: Highlights Jessica’s rejection of her father and his values, as well as the strained relationship between them, which is driven by religious and personal conflict.
“Let me play the fool.” (Gratiano – Act 1, Scene 1)
Context: Gratiano suggests Antonio should lighten up and enjoy life more.
Significance: Contrasts Gratiano’s carefree nature with Antonio’s seriousness, adding a layer of comic relief and presenting different attitudes towards life in the play.
“O, my ducats! O, my daughter!” (Shylock – Act 2, Scene 8)
Context: Shylock laments the loss of both his money and his daughter, Jessica, who has eloped with Lorenzo.
Significance: This line is often used to show Shylock’s perceived obsession with wealth, but it also reflects his personal grief over the betrayal by his daughter.
“If you repay me not on such a day, / In such a place, such sum or sums as are / Expressed in the condition, let the forfeit / Be nominated for an equal pound / Of your fair flesh.” (Shylock – Act 1, Scene 3)
Context: Shylock sets the terms of his bond with Antonio.
Significance: This agreement is central to the plot, as it leads to the trial and Shylock’s demand for justice over mercy. It highlights Shylock’s desire for revenge against Antonio.
“You that choose not by the view, / Chance as fair and choose as true.” (Portia – Act 3, Scene 2)
Context: These are the words found in the lead casket, chosen by Bassanio.
Significance: Represents the theme of appearance versus reality. Bassanio’s success in choosing the lead casket shows his wisdom and ability to look beyond surface beauty.
“How far that little candle throws his beams! / So shines a good deed in a naughty world.” (Portia – Act 5, Scene 1)
Context: Portia reflects on the power of goodness in a corrupt world.
Significance: This metaphor links light with goodness, reinforcing the moral lessons of the play about mercy and virtue overcoming selfishness and vengeance.
“I am a tainted wether of the flock, / Meetest for death.” (Antonio – Act 4, Scene 1)
Context: Antonio resigns himself to death in the courtroom, believing that Shylock will take his pound of flesh.
Significance: Reflects Antonio’s melancholic and fatalistic attitude. His willingness to sacrifice himself for Bassanio reveals the depth of their friendship.
“I’ll have my bond; speak not against my bond.” (Shylock – Act 3, Scene 3)
Context: Shylock repeats his insistence on the bond, rejecting all pleas for mercy.
Significance: This stubbornness and obsession with vengeance reveal Shylock’s refusal to accept compromise, setting up his eventual downfall when the bond is turned against him in court.
“So may the outward shows be least themselves: / The world is still deceived with ornament.” (Bassanio – Act 3, Scene 2)
Context: Bassanio reflects on the deceptive nature of appearances when choosing the lead casket.
Significance: Illustrates the play’s key theme that appearances can be misleading. Bassanio’s success in looking beyond wealth and beauty reflects his insight into true value.
“I’ll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool, / To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield / To Christian intercessors.” (Shylock – Act 3, Scene 3)
Context: Shylock refuses to show mercy, rejecting the pleas of the Christian characters.
Significance: Demonstrates Shylock’s deep-seated anger and refusal to conform to Christian ideals of forgiveness, further highlighting the play’s exploration of justice versus mercy.
