Context & Introduction

Before studying The Merchant of Venice, it is essential to understand the world Shakespeare was writing in and the ideas that shaped the play. This lesson covers the Elizabethan era, attitudes towards Jews and money-lending, the significance of Venice, and the play's genre and sources.

The Elizabethan Era

Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice around 1596–1598, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Key features of the period include:

A rigidly hierarchical society — the monarch sat at the top, followed by nobility, gentry, and commoners.
The Church of England was the established religion. England was a Protestant country, and Catholicism was treated with suspicion.
Theatre was booming — the public playhouses (including Shakespeare's Globe) attracted audiences from every social class.
Exploration and trade were expanding England's contact with other cultures and economies.

Anti-Semitism in Elizabethan England

Understanding the treatment of Jews is crucial to reading this play:

Jews had been officially expelled from England in 1290 by Edward I. There was no significant Jewish community in England during Shakespeare's lifetime.
Most Elizabethans had never met a Jewish person — their ideas came from stereotypes, religious teaching, and earlier literature.
Jews were commonly portrayed as villains, usurers, and Christ-killers in medieval mystery plays and popular culture.
In 1594, Dr Roderigo Lopez (a Portuguese-Jewish physician) was executed for allegedly trying to poison the Queen — this event fuelled anti-Semitic feeling and may have prompted Shakespeare to write the play.
Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta (c. 1589) featured Barabas, a cartoonishly villainous Jewish character — Shakespeare's Shylock is far more complex.

Key Context Point

Shakespeare's audience would have expected Shylock to be a straightforward villain. The fact that Shakespeare gives him such powerful, sympathetic speeches (e.g. "Hath not a Jew eyes?") is what makes the play so interesting — and so debated.

Venice as a Setting

Shakespeare chose Venice deliberately:

Venice was the greatest trading city in Europe — a hub of international commerce.
It was known for its cosmopolitan, multicultural character — Christians, Jews, Muslims, and people from across the Mediterranean lived and traded there.
Venice had a Jewish ghetto (established 1516) — Jews were allowed to live and work in a restricted area, but faced significant legal restrictions.
The Venetian legal system was famous for its strict enforcement of contracts — essential to the bond plot.
Venice represented wealth, sophistication, and mercantile values — a contrast to the pastoral, romantic world of Belmont.

Venice	Belmont
Commerce and money	Love and harmony
Legal conflict	Music and romance
Male-dominated trade	Female-dominated household
Harsh realism	Fairy-tale idealism

Attitudes to Money-Lending and Usury

The bond plot depends on Elizabethan attitudes to lending money at interest:

Usury (charging interest on loans) was condemned by the Christian Church as a sin.
Jews were prohibited from most trades and professions in many European cities — money-lending was one of the few occupations open to them.
This created a bitter paradox: Christians needed Jewish money-lenders but despised them for the very practice they were forced into.
Antonio lends money without interest (gratis) — he is presented as the virtuous Christian alternative to Shylock's usury.
However, Antonio also spits on Shylock and calls him a "dog" — his virtue is questionable.

Key Quote

Shylock: "You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog, / And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine" (Act 1, Scene 3)

Genre: Comedy or Problem Play?

The Merchant of Venice is classified as a comedy in the First Folio (1623), but it does not fit neatly into one genre:

Comedy Elements

Multiple marriages at the end (Bassanio/Portia, Gratiano/Nerissa, Lorenzo/Jessica)
The casket plot follows fairy-tale conventions
Disguise and deception (Portia and Nerissa as lawyers)
A happy resolution at Belmont with music and harmony
The ring plot provides comic confusion

Problem Play Elements

Shylock's forced conversion to Christianity is deeply troubling
The play's treatment of anti-Semitism raises uncomfortable questions
The trial scene is not comic — it is tense and potentially tragic
Jessica's theft and elopement involve betrayal of her father
The play's "happy ending" is happy only for the Christians

Modern critics often call it a "problem play" or "problem comedy" because it resists easy classification. The comedy sits uneasily alongside the cruelty shown to Shylock.

Source Material

Shakespeare drew on several sources:

Source	What Shakespeare Used
Giovanni Fiorentino, Il Pecorone (1558)	The flesh-bond story and the lady of Belmont
The Gesta Romanorum (medieval)	The casket test (choosing between gold, silver, and lead)
Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta (c. 1589)	The figure of the Jewish villain — but Shakespeare made Shylock far more human
The Lopez affair (1594)	Renewed public interest in stories about Jews

Shakespeare combined these sources into a single play with two interwoven plots: the bond plot (Shylock and Antonio) and the casket plot (Portia and her suitors).

Summary

Shakespeare wrote the play c. 1596–1598, during a period of intense anti-Semitism.
His audience had no direct experience of Jewish people — their views came from stereotypes and prejudice.
Venice was chosen for its mercantile, legalistic, and cosmopolitan character.
Usury (charging interest) was a major ethical issue — Jews were forced into money-lending, then despised for it.
The play is technically a comedy but raises deeply uncomfortable questions — many critics call it a problem play.
Shakespeare drew on Italian novella sources and the casket story from medieval collections.