ct I

Antonio, a Christian trader, is awaiting the arrival of his ships. He is in a fo

ul temper and his friends Salarino and Solinio attempt to raise his spirits. Bas
sanio, a local aristocrat whose profligacy has left him on hard times, enters. T
he Christian community is portrayed as remarkably tight-knit; Bassanio reveals t
hat he has a plan by which he hopes to pay off many of his debts. Antonio says t
o Bassanio:
"I pray you, good Bassanio, let me know it;
And if it stand, as you yourself still do,
Within the eye of honour, be assured,
My purse, my person, my extremest means,
Lie all unlock'd to your occasions."
Bassanio intends to marry Portia, a rich heiress from Belmont, thus securing his
financial future. However, in order to court Portia, Bassanio needs to give the
impression that he is wealthy, not just a scrounger attempting to secure his fo
rtune through a fortunate marriage. He asks Antonio to loan him money, but Anton
io says that all his wealth is tied up in his foreign enterprises; however, he o
ffers to borrow money for Bassanio - his credit being worth more in Venice:
"Thou know'st that all my fortunes are at sea;
Neither have I money nor commodity
To raise a present sum: therefore go forth;
Try what my credit can in Venice do:
That shall be rack'd, even to the uttermost,
To furnish thee to Belmont, to fair Portia."
Portia is being wooed by many suitors, as one leaves another arrives, but she re
members fondly the soldier Bassanio who stayed with her many years ago.
Meanwhile Bassanio enters into negotiations with Shylock, a Jew who has made his
money through usury. Bassanio asks for money from Shylock, telling him that Ant
onio will act as guarantor. Shylock bears an unstated grudge against Antonio, bu
t agrees to make the loan, if he can meet with Antonio first. Bassanio invites h
im to dinner, but Shylock refuses, showing a strength of feeling and conviction
in his ideals that neither the weak Antonio nor the playboy Bassanio can manage:
"Yes, to smell pork; to eat of the habitation which
your prophet the Nazarite conjured the devil into. I
will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you,
walk with you, and so following, but I will not eat
with you, drink with you, nor pray with you."
Shylock despises Antonio because he lends money without charging interest, thus
making Shylock's profession more difficult and more scorned. Antonio is shocked
that Shylock wants him to pay interest on the loan for Bassanio. In this section
, the antipathy between the Christians and the Jew is made all too clear. Howeve
r, the traffic is not all one-way. Shylock is portrayed as being much more world
ly and at home in the cutthroat world of business, whereas the Christians seem n
ave and over-trusting. Furthermore, when Shylock details the bullying tactics of
the Christians, how they spit on him and insult him, we can understand his wish
to exact some sort of revenge - although the method chosen is in keeping with hi
s vicious nature.
Shylock's form of money lending - by which he charges interest - is financially
sound, whereas the Christian method is economically unviable. Shakespeare may we
ll be quietly mocking the Christians throughout the play with his use of the pun
between 'usury' and 'ewes'. He refers to making his money breed as fast as ewes
and lambs. Whenever sheep are referred to, the images are favourable to Shylock
. This is because he is 'fleecing' the Christians. It is to Antonio's peril that
he presumes that Shylock is merely making a rather dark-humoured joke when he a
sks for a pound of flesh as surety.
"Shylock:
If you repay me not on such a day,

In such a place, such sum or sums as are

Express'd in the condition, let the forfeit
Be nominated for an equal pound
Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken
In what part of your body pleaseth me.
Antonio:
Content, i' faith: I'll seal to such a bond
And say there is much kindness in the Jew."
Antonio is, however, unworried. His ships return with their various goods within
the month and he should have no trouble in paying Shylock.