1. Themes
1.1. Prejudice and hatred are cyclical and difficult to escape
1.1.1. "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? it 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 villany you teach me, I will execute; and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction." -Shylock
1.1.2. I have heard/Your grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify/His rigorous course. But since he stands obdurate/And that no lawful means can carry me/Out of his envy’s reach, I do oppose/My patience to his fury, and am armed/To suffer with a quietness of spirit/The very tyranny and rage of his.
1.2. Mercy is a necessary quality and should be freely given
1.2.1. "The quality of mercy is not strain'd,/It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven/Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;/It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes:/'T is mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes/The throned monarch better than his crown;/His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,/The attribute to awe and majesty,/Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;/But mercy is above this sceptred sway;/It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,/It is an attribute to God himself;/And earthly power doth then show likest God's/When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,/Though justice be thy plea, consider this,/That, in the course of justice, none of us/Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;/And that same prayer doth teach us all to render/The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much/To mitigate the justice o thy plea;/Which is thou follow, this trict court of Venice/Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.
1.3. It is difficult to to emphasize love and loyalty over personal gain
1.3.1. Bassanio: Let me choose, For as I am, I live upon the rack. Portia: Upon the rack, Bassanio? Then confess/What treason there is mingled with your love.
1.3.2. Portia: Why, this bond is forfeit! And lawfully by this the Jew may claim A pound of flesh to be by him cut off Nearest the merchant’s heart.—Be merciful. Take thrice thy money. Bid me tear the bond. Shylock: When it is paid according to the tenor./It doth appear you are a worthy judge. You know the law. Your exposition/Hath been most sound. I charge you by the law,/Whereof you are a well-deserving pillar,/Proceed to judgment. By my soul I swear/There is no power in the tongue of man/To alter me. I stay here on my bond.
2. Acts
2.1. ONE
2.1.1. Introduces the characters with them talking about love and business, gives hints about what goes on between Portia and Bassanio's characters
2.1.1.1. Antonio, Salarino, Salanio talk about business
2.1.1.2. Bassanio tells Lorenzo and Gratiano that he thinks Portia likes him
2.1.1.3. Nerissa and Portia discuss potential suitors for Portia, Portia says she thinks she likes Bassanio
2.1.1.4. Shylock, Bassanio, and Antonio discuss money and business?
2.2. TWO
2.2.1. "Behold, there stand the caskets, noble prince:/If you choose that wherein I am contain'd,/Straight shall our nuptial rites be solemnized:/But if you fail, without more speech, my lord,/You must be gone from hence immediately." -Portia
2.2.2. Portia and the Prince of Morocco talk about how the Prince wants to be Portia's suitor and brags about himself; they make a deal to meet after supper
2.2.3. Jessica passes Launcelot a letter to secretly give to Lorenzo (she does not her father knowing that she is contacting him), Jessica wants to become Lorenzo's wife
2.2.4. Lorenzo tells Gratiano, Salarino, and Salanio to disguise themselves at his house after supper and come back to the place in one hour, Lorenzo tells Launcelot he agrees with Jessica, and he tells Gratiano, Salarino, and Salanio that he plans to whisk her away
2.2.5. Launcelot passes Lorenzo's message along and tell her to sneak out of her house
2.2.6. Gratiano, Salarino, Lorenzo, and Jessica all find out from Antonio that there is no masquerade
2.3. THREE
2.3.1. Prince of Morocco and Prince of Arragon visit Portia to try to choose the casket that says that they win over Portia. However, both fail to choose the right casket and leave the last one, the correct one, to be chosen by a final suitor.
2.3.2. Shylock finds out that Jessica has ran away and he wants to find her because she stole from him
2.3.3. Shylock also finds out that Antonio lost three of his ships
2.3.4. Bassanio comes to visit Portia and picks the correct (lead) casket and receives a ring. Portia tells him that as long as he has the ring, he will have her love. Gratiano and Nerissa are also in love.
2.3.5. Once Bassanio and Gratiano find out about Antonio's ships, they leave to go support him. After that, Portia and Nerissa plan to go to Venice disguised as guys.
2.4. FOUR
2.4.1. Portia shows up in place of a lawyer at the trial with Antonio and Shylock
2.4.2. Portia tells Shylock to show Antonio mercy and people ask Shylock to spare Antonio's life, but Shylock refuses to change his mind
2.4.3. Bassanio offers Shylock twice the money he gets according to the bond
2.4.4. Portia reads the bond as the lawyer and says he gets a pound of Antonio's flesh, as long as he does not let Antonio bleed. Since this is impossible, Shylock accepts Bassanio's offer instead.
2.4.5. Portia also tells Shylock that he is guilty of trying to harm another citizen, which then leads to him having to give half of his goods to the state and the other half to Antonio
2.5. FIVE
2.5.1. Bassanio does not realize the lawyer is his wife even after the trial is over. He keeps thanking the lawyer and tries to repay her, which only results in Portia asking Bassanio for his ring as a gift of thanks. She succeeds.
2.5.2. Gratiano also gives up his ring to Nerissa, who is also disguised as a man along with Portia.
2.5.3. Jessica and Lorenzo talk to each other about how much they love each other and Portia and Nerissa come back
2.5.4. Portia and Nerissa tell their husbands that they were the lawyer and the lawyer's clerk in Venice after their husbands tell them about the rings
3. Characters
3.1. Shylock
3.2. Bassanio
3.3. Antonio
3.4. Nerissa
3.5. Portia
3.6. Jessica
3.7. Launcelot
3.8. Lorenzo
3.9. Salarino
3.10. Salanio
3.11. Salerio
4. Vocabulary
4.1. spurn
4.1.1. reject with disdain or contempt
4.1.2. reject, rebuff, dismiss
4.1.3. I asked for another slice of cake at a birthday party, but unfortunately, my request was spurned.
4.2. argosy
4.2.1. a large merchant ship from Venice
4.2.2. ship
4.2.3. it may have been because we couldn't understand how it was written, but the class did not react even when we were told Antonio lost three argosies.
4.3. gabardine
4.3.1. a smooth, dull-woven cloth
4.3.2. fabric
4.3.3. she loathed the feeling of the gabardine skirt against her skin on school day afternoons.
4.4. hie
4.4.1. go quickly, to strive, to hasten
4.4.2. hurry up
4.4.3. Hie, hie, we'll be late!
4.5. cudgel
4.5.1. a short, thick stick that is used as a weapon
4.5.2. club, stick, bludgeon, baton
4.5.3. he chased after me, waving a cudgel before his dirtied face
4.6. impertinent
4.6.1. not showing proper respect
4.6.2. rude, disrespectful, insolent, ill-mannered, impolite
4.6.3. you must use your manners at someone else's house, or else they will believe you are an impertinent guest
4.7. surfeit
4.7.1. to stop wanting something after having too much of it
4.7.2. cram, overfeed, overindulged, glut
4.7.3. any college student will understand that no one ever surfeits with instant noodles
4.8. scant
4.8.1. not being enough or adequate
4.8.2. inadequate, insufficient, little, minimal, deficient
4.8.3. at dinnertime i was given a scant amount of food, eventually leading to me needing a snack later in the night
4.9. peruse
4.9.1. to read or study carefully
4.9.2. study
4.9.3. we went to an art museum, and i got lost by perusing the exhibits for too long.
4.10. cozen
4.10.1. to trick or deceive
4.10.2. cheat, trick
4.10.3. I felt betrayed after my sibling cozened me after an unfair coin flip.
4.11. amorous
4.11.1. showing, feeling, or relating to sexual desire
4.11.2. romantic, lustful, ardent, passionate, lovesick
4.11.3. Their eyes glistened with evident amorous love for each other.
4.12. alight
4.12.1. descend from a form of transportation
4.12.2. detrain, dismount
4.12.3. Three hours later, my aunt alighted from her flight that brought her to our hometown for Christmas.
4.13. scruple
4.13.1. a feeling of doubt before completing an action
4.13.2. hesitation, uneasiness, cold feet
4.13.3. It is often in marriages written in romance novels when the two main lovers in the book try to overcome their scruples before their wedding.
4.14. contrived
4.14.1. to create or bring something about using skill and artifice
4.14.2. create, engineer, construct
4.14.3. His "concepts" always involved contriving some sort of invention, even though they always end up malfunctioning.
4.15. compulsion
4.15.1. a desire or obligation to do something
4.15.2. urge, obligation, desire, impulse, drive
4.15.3. After tennis practice, she heads straight for the showers due to her cleanliness compulsions.
4.16. epitaph
4.16.1. something written in memory of someone that has died or passed away, such as a marking on a tombstone
4.16.2. inscription, elegy, commemoration, obituary
4.16.3. Please have a pleasant epitaph prepared for when I die.
4.17. viands
4.17.1. an item of food
4.17.2. food
4.17.3. My mom told me she was just going to "run some errands", but then she came back five hours later with a full car trunk of viands.
4.18. semblance
4.18.1. the outward appearance of something, especially when the reality is different
4.18.2. facade, front
4.18.3. the semblance of a jack-in-the-box can be just as colorful as the inside of one.
4.19. obdurate
4.19.1. stubbornly refusing to change one's opinion or course of action
4.19.2. stubborn, pigheaded, adamant, firm
4.19.3. my parents are always obdurate about saying no when I ask them to bring me to the local ice cream shop.
4.20. gourmandize
4.20.1. eat greedily
4.20.2. devour
4.20.3. i happily gourmandized my dinner after a long day of hungry work hours.