Act 3 summary

Salarino and Solanio discuss the rumors that yet another of Antonio’s ships has been wrecked. They are
joined by Shylock, who accuses them of having helped Jessica escape. The two Venetians proudly take
credit for their role in Jessica’s elopement. Shylock curses his daughter’s rebellion, to which Salarino
responds, “There is more difference between thy flesh and hers than between jet and ivory” (III.i.32–
33). Salarino then asks Shylock whether he can confirm the rumors of Antonio’s lost vessels. Shylock
replies that Antonio will soon be bankrupt and swears to collect his bond. Salarino doubts Shylock’s
resolve, wondering what the old man will do with a pound of flesh, to which Shylock chillingly replies
that Antonio’s flesh will at least feed his revenge. In a short monologue, Shylock says Antonio has
mistreated him solely because Shylock is a Jew, but now Shylock is determined to apply the lessons of
hatred and revenge that Christian intolerance has taught him so well.

Salarino and Solanio head off to meet with Antonio, just as Tubal, a friend of Shylock’s and a Jew, enters.
Tubal announces that he cannot find Jessica. Shylock rants against his daughter, and he wishes her dead
as he bemoans his losses. He is especially embittered when Tubal reports that Jessica has taken a ring—
given to Shylock in his bachelor days by a woman named Leah, presumably Jessica’s mother—and has
traded that ring for a monkey. Shylock’s spirits brighten, however, when Tubal reports that Antonio’s
ships have run into trouble and that Antonio’s creditors are certain Antonio is ruined.

Scene 2

In Belmont, Portia begs Bassanio to delay choosing between the caskets for a day or two. If Bassanio
chooses incorrectly, Portia reasons, she will lose his company. Bassanio insists that he make his choice
now, to avoid prolonging the torment of living without Portia as his wife. Portia orders that music be
played while her love makes his choice, and she compares Bassanio to the Greek hero and demigod
Hercules. Like the suitors who have come before him, Bassanio carefully examines the three caskets and
puzzles over their inscriptions. He rejects the gold casket, saying that “[t]he world is still deceived with
ornament” ([Link].74), while the silver he deems a “pale and common drudge / ’Tween man and man”
([Link].103–104). After much debate, Bassanio picks the lead casket, which he opens to reveal Portia’s
portrait, along with a poem congratulating him on his choice and confirming that he has won Portia’s
hand.
The happy couple promises one another love and devotion, and Portia gives Bassanio a ring that he
must never part with, as his removal of it will signify the end of his love for her. Nerissa and Gratiano
congratulate them and confess that they too have fallen in love with one another. They suggest a double
wedding. Lorenzo and Jessica arrive in the midst of this rejoicing, along with Salarino, who gives a letter
to Bassanio. In the letter, Antonio writes that all of his ships are lost, and that Shylock plans to collect his
pound of flesh. The news provokes a fit of guilt in Bassanio, which in turn prompts Portia to offer to pay
twenty times the sum. Jessica, however, worries that her father is more interested in revenge than in
money. Bassanio reads out loud the letter from Antonio, who asks only for a brief reunion before he
dies. Portia urges her husband to rush to his friend’s aid, and Bassanio leaves for Venice.

Analysis: Act III, scenes i–ii

The passage of time in The Merchant of Venice is peculiar. In Venice, the three months that Antonio has
to pay the debt go by quickly, while only days seem to pass in Belmont. Shakespeare juggles these
differing chronologies by using Salarino and Solanio to fill in the missing Venetian weeks.
As Antonio’s losses mount, Shylock’s villainous plan becomes apparent. “[L]et him look to his bond,” he
repeats single-mindedly (III.i.39–40). Despite his mounting obsession with the pound of Antonio’s flesh,
however, he maintains his dramatic dignity. In his scene with the pair of Venetians, he delivers the
celebrated speech in which he cries, “Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions,
senses, affections, passions . . . ? If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you
poison us do we not die?” (III.i.49–55). We are not meant to sympathize entirely with Shylock: he may
have been wronged, but he lacks both mercy and a sense of proportion. His refusal to take pity on
Antonio is later contrasted with the mercy shown him by the Christians. But even as we recognize that
Shylock’s plans are terribly wrong, we can appreciate the angry logic of his speech. By asserting his own
humanity, he lays waste to the pretensions of the Christian characters to value mercy, charity, and love
above self-interest.

hylock’s dignity lapses in his scene with Tubal, who keeps his supposed friend in agony by alternating
between good and bad news. Shylock lurches from glee to despair and back, one moment crying, “I
thank God, I thank God!” (III.i.86), and the next saying, “Thou stick’st a dagger in me” (III.i.92). But even
here he rouses our sympathy, because we hear that Jessica stole a ring given to him by his late wife and
traded it for a monkey. “It was my turquoise,” Shylock says. “I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor. I
would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys” (III.i.100–103). Villain though he may be, we can
still feel sorrow that Jessica—who is suddenly a much less sympathetic character—would be heartless
enough to steal and sell a ring that her dead mother gave her father.

Bassanio’s successful choice seems inevitable and brings the drama of the caskets to an end. Bassanio’s
excellence is made clear in his ability to select the correct casket, and his choice brings the separated
strands of the plot together. Portia, who is the heroine of the play—she speaks far more lines than
either Antonio or Shylock—is free to bring her will and intelligence to bear on the problem of Shylock’s
pound of flesh. Once Lorenzo and Jessica arrive, the three couples are together in Belmont, but the
shadow of Shylock hangs over their happiness.

Critics have noticed that Jessica is ignored by Portia and the others at Belmont. Her testimony against
her father may be an attempt to prove her loyalty to the Christian cause, but the coldness of Portia,
Bassanio, and the others is an understandable reaction—after all, she is a Jew and the daughter of their
antagonist. Lorenzo may love her, but she remains an object of suspicion for the others.

Act 3 scene 3

Shylock escorts the bankrupt Antonio to prison. Antonio pleads with Shylock to listen, but Shylock
refuses. Remembering the many times Antonio condemned him as a dog, Shylock advises the merchant
to beware of his bite. Assured that the duke will grant him justice, Shylock insists that he will have his
bond and tells the jailer not to bother speaking to him of mercy. Solanio declares that Shylock is the
worst of men, and Antonio reasons that the Jew hates him for bailing out many of Shylock’s debtors.
Solanio attempts to comfort Antonio by suggesting that the duke will never allow such a ridiculous
contract to stand, but Antonio is not convinced. Venice, Antonio claims, is a wealthy trading city with a
great reputation for upholding the law, and if the duke breaks that law, Venice’s economy may suffer. As
Solanio departs, Antonio prays desperately that Bassanio will arrive to “see me pay his debt, and then I
care not” ([Link].36).

Act 3 scene 4
Lorenzo assures Portia that Antonio is worthy of all the help she is sending him, and that if Portia only
knew the depths of Antonio’s love and goodness, she would be proud of her efforts to save him. Portia
replies that she has never regretted doing a good deed, and goes on to say that she could never deny
help to anyone so close to her dear Bassanio. Indeed, Antonio and Bassanio are so inseparable that
Portia believes saving her husband’s friend is no different than saving her own husband. She has sworn
to live in prayer and contemplation until Bassanio returns to her, and announces that she and Nerissa
will retire to a nearby monastery. Lorenzo and Jessica, she declares, will rule the estate in her absence.
Portia then sends her servant, Balthasar, to Padua, where he is to meet her cousin, Doctor Bellario, who
will provide Balthasar with certain documents and clothing. From there, Balthasar will take the ferry to
Venice, where Portia will await him. After Balthasar departs, Portia informs Nerissa that the two of
them, dressed as young men, are going to pay an incognito visit to their new husbands. When Nerissa
asks why, Portia dismisses the question, but promises to disclose the whole of her purpose on the coach
ride to Venice.

Acts 3 scene 5

Quoting the adage that the sins of the father shall be delivered upon the children, Launcelot says he
fears for Jessica’s soul. When Jessica claims that she will be saved by her marriage to Lorenzo, Launcelot
complains that the conversion of the Jews, who do not eat pork, will have disastrous consequences on
the price of bacon. Lorenzo enters and chastises Launcelot for impregnating a Moorish servant.
Launcelot delivers a dazzling series of puns in reply and departs to prepare for dinner. When Lorenzo
asks Jessica what she thinks of Portia, she responds that the woman is without match, nearly perfect in
all respects. Lorenzo jokes that he is as good a spouse as Portia, and leads them off to dinner.

ACT 3 SCENE 1
Solanio and Salerio discuss the news that another of Antonio’s ships has been lost. Shylock arrives and
accuses them of being complicit in Jessica’s elopement. They insult him and ask if he has heard the news
about Antonio’s ‘loss at sea’. Shylock cares only that Antonio will ‘look to his bond’. Salerio doubts that
Shylock will go through with taking Antonio’s flesh and asks what it would be ‘good for?’

Shylock replies with ‘to bait fish’ and once again explains how terribly Antonio has treated him in the
past, which leads him to ask ‘what’s his reason?’ and point out that although he is of a different religion
to Antonio, he also has ‘hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions’ and is just as much of a
human being as a Christian; ‘if you prick us do we not bleed?’ One of Antonio’s messengers then arrives
to summon Solanio and Salerio. Shylock and Tubal discuss the ring Jessica now has, which belonged to
her late mother. Shylock tells Tubal how valuable it is to him.
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ACT 3 SCENE 2
Back in Belmont, Bassanio is about to choose one of the caskets, but Portia asks him to ‘pause a day or
two’ so that she won’t ‘lose [his] company’ if he chooses wrong. She admits that she could teach him
how to pick the correct casket, but is reluctant to do so as then she would be ‘forsworn’. Bassanio is
desperate to make his choice immediately since the present state of uncertainty is as torturous as being
‘upon the rack’. Portia calls for music to play whilst Bassanio makes his decision. Bassanio deliberates
and then opts for the lead casket, in which he discovers Portia’s portrait. Both Portia and Bassanio are
overjoyed that he chose correctly. Portia kisses him and gives him a ring, which if he loses will ‘presage
the ruin of [his] love’. Gratiano then asks Bassanio if he is allowed to marry as he has fallen in love with
Nerissa. Bassanio agrees to the match.

Lorenzo, Jessica and Salerio then arrive and give Bassanio a letter. In the letter Bassanio discovers that
all of Antonio’s ‘ventures failed’ and he explains to Portia that he had no wealth of his own, but
borrowed money from Antonio, his ‘dearest friend’. Salerio and Jessica explain that Shylock is now
determined to ‘have Antonio’s flesh’. Portia offers to pay Shylock double what Antonio owed and after
hearing Antonio’s letter, urges Bassanio to travel swiftly to his friend.
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ACT 3 SCENE 3
Antonio is in jail and Shylock obsessively repeats that he will have his bond. Solanio doubts that the
Duke will let Shylock go ahead with claiming the pound of flesh, but Antonio is convinced that ‘the Duke
cannot deny the course of law’. He sends Solanio away and prays that Bassanio will come and visit him.
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ACT 3 SCENE 4
Lorenzo tells Portia how ‘true a gentlemen’ Antonio is and that if she knew him, she’d be even prouder
of her willingness to help him. Portia replies that since Antonio and Bassanio are so close, in her eyes
she is saving Bassanio if she saves Antonio. She then announces that she has decided to withdraw to a
monastery ‘to live in prayer and contemplation’ with Nerissa until both of their husbands return. She
says that Lorenzo and Jessica can take the place of herself and Lord Bassanio at Belmont while she is
away.

After Lorenzo and Jessica leave, Portia instructs Balthasar to deliver a letter to her cousin, Doctor
Bellario, in Mantua and to bring back the ‘notes and garments’ that Bellario gives to him. Balthasar
leaves with the letter and Portia reveals to Nerissa that they will dress up as men and go to Venice.
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ACT 3 SCENE 5
Lancelet teases Jessica, saying that he’s scared that she has inherited the sins of her father and that she
is ‘damned’. He expresses his hope that she’s in fact not Shylock’s daughter but Jessica points out that
that would make her a ‘bastard’ and then she might inherit the sins of her mother, making her ‘damned
by both father and mother’. Jessica points out that she thinks she’ll be ‘saved’ by her husband as she’s
now become a Christian, like him.

Lorenzo arrives and interrupts their conversation, announcing that Lancelet has got a woman pregnant
before instructing him to get dinner ready. Lorenzo asks Jessica what she thinks of Portia and she
expresses her admiration for Portia.
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THINGS TO NOTICE IN ACT 3

 Look at how Shakespeare begins to reveal the news of Antonio’s lost ships. Why is this important? How
does this build tension and suspense?
 Notice the way in which Shylock’s determination to have his ‘bond’ intensifies. How does this shape your
opinion of Shylock? What more do we learn about his motivation? How does Jessica’s elopement affect
him?
 Notice how Portia talks to Bassanio before he chooses the casket. How can you tell that she likes him? Is
there ever a point that you think Bassanio might not choose the correct casket? Why do you think Portia
calls for music?
 Act 3 is important because it builds the tension and the drama. What do you think are the most
dramatic moments in this act and why? Why do you think Shakespeare includes the caskets and how do
Portia and Bassanio differ in their approach to it?