What is the conflect of the play Merchant of Venice?

Answer 1

The conflict is between Antonio and Shylock but Shylock is hated by everyone in Venice because he was a Jew, so that's Bassanio, Portia and all the other people in the play

Answer 2

As anyone who has read Shakespeare knows, there are many subplots and so these need to be studied to be understood. The main plot is about a man called Antonio. He is very good friends with a man called Bassanio. Bassanio needs three thousand ducats (currency) to travel to Belmont and claim the love of Portia, an esteemed character and the heart throb of many men. To borrow this money, they go to a man called Shylock, who offers them the money at a cost of one pound of Antonio's flesh if it isn't repaid in three months. Bassanio claims the love of Portia, but the money isn't paid in the three months, due to complications. Antonio is taken to court. Just before the flesh is taken, Portia, dressed as a male lawyer, manages to find a loophole. He can take the pound of flesh but by law of Venice he mustn't draw blood. In the end Shylock has lost all his money and Bassanio has claimed Portia's love, and Antonio still has his pound of flesh.

Answer 3

A series of things happen:

1. Antonio (a merchant of Venice) declares to his friends that he is sad and that he does not know exactly why he is.

2. Bassanio (Antonios friend and colleague) learns of a woman known as portia (a rich woman from belmont) who is bound by her fathers will to marry the suitor who chooses correctly out of three caskets that are made out of 3 different materials.

3. Bassanio asks Antonio for a loan as to pay to become one fo portias suitors.

4. Antonio cannot pay Bassanio as he has not received any money from his ships that are to come back within a certain period of time.

5. Antonio suggest Bassanio should take out a loan and that he will pay back whoever Bassanio takes a loan off when he gets the money (note: the money used in Venice at the time was known as ducats).

6. Bassanio borrows the money off Shylock. Shylock is a Jew (this is relevant to the story as you will later find out). The reason Bassanio does this is because Shylock does not make his loan takers pay any interest on their loans.

7. Shylock agrees to this, even though Antonio has always had a very mean attitude towards Shylock. This is probably due to the fact that Shylock is a Jew.

8. Shylock adds some arrangements to the loan. If Antonio cannot pay Shylock back 300 ducats within 3 months, Shylock will be allowed to have a pound of Antonios flesh.

9. Antonio agrees to this arrangement. Launcelot Gobbo (a (in my opinion) badly treated worker for Shylock delivers a letter to Jessica).

10. Shylocks Daughter, Jessica, plans on eloping with Lorenzo. Launcelot delivers a message to Lorenzo.

11. A masquerade is planned for Bassanio. Launcelot quits his job with Shylock and starts working for Bassanio.

12. Jessica plans to elope with Lorenzo during the time frame of the masquerade.

13. Portia (mentioned earlier) has just been greeted by her first suitor. He is the prince of Morroco. Portia does not like the fact that the prince of morroco is black and hopes that he doesnt choose the right casket (that Portia is a heroine in the play and that she has such racist thoughts might show how racist William Shakespeare was at the time that he wrote the play). Portia also hopes that the Prince of Morroco chooses the wrong casket because she has seen Bassanio and hopes that he becomes a suitor and chooses the right one.

14. The prince of morroco chooses the wrong casket (the gold one).

15. The Prince of Aragon arrives.

16. The Prince of Aragon chooses the wrong casket (the silver one).

17. Jessica and Lorenzo elope to Portias house in Belmont. Jessica steals many of Shylocks belongings and ducats on the way out.

18. The masquerade is cut short as Bassanio ships off to Belmont.

19. Bassanio arrives with his friend, Gratiano, in Belmont.

20. Bassanio chooses the right casket (the lead one).

21. Gratiano plans to get married with Portias maid, Jessica.

22. Bassiano and Portia plan to get married.

23. Bassiano and Gratiano find out that Antonios ships have been destroyed at sea and that he cannot pay Shylock back.

24. Bassanio and Gratiano plan on going to the trial between Shylock and Antonio.

25. On leaving, Jessica and Portia present Bassanio and Gratiano with two rings which are to be kept by their sides at all times.

26. Bassanio and Gratiano go to the trial.

27. Portia and Jessica dress up as men and go to the trial.

28. Portia pretends to be a judge and jessica pretends to be Portias helper.

29. Antonio gets ready to have his pound of flesh removed.

30. Portia says that Shylock can cut off the pund of flesh but is not allowed to spill any of Shylocks blood.

31. Shylock is made to become a christian and to give all his property and ducats to jessica and lorenzo, upon Antonios request (it was illegal for a christian to be a money lender).

32. Portia and Jessica talk to Bassanio and Gratiano (Portia nad Jessica are at this point dressed up as men).

33. Portia requests that she have Bassanios ring.

34. Bassanio refuses to give Portia his ring.

35. Portia and Jessica leave but Bassanio makes Gratiano go after them and give them the rings.

36. When they are all back in Belmont and Jessica and Portia are dressed in their average days clothes, Portia asks the two men where their rings are.

37. Bassanio and Gratiano admit that they had given their rings to the judge and his assistant.

38. Portia and Jessica lie and say they had slept with those two very men and had taken their rings.

39. Portia and Jessica admit that they were lying and that they were actually dressed as men.

40. Jessica forgives Gratiano but Portia refuses to forgive Bassanio.

Answer 4

There are two interconnected plots in the Merchant of Venice.

Plot One concerns Bassanio, a young man about town who has blown all of his money and is hoping to win the hand of a wealthy woman who lives at Belmont (not the racetrack). He needs some cash to support him if he is going to get there and try to get her to marry him. This woman, whose name is Portia, has been left a huge fortune, but only on condition that she cannot marry anyone except the man who passes a test devised by (we assume) her father. There are three chests, one of which has Portia's picture in it. If the prospective suitor guesses wrong he must live a life of celibacy thereafter.

Bassanio goes to his friend Antonio, who is the rich Merchant of the title, to borrow money to woo Portia. However, Antonio is in a cash flow bind at the moment, and will have to borrow the money from a moneylender.

Enter Shylock, the main character in Plot Two of the play. He is a Jewish moneylender who has a grudge against Antonio: not only is he terribly anti-Semitic, but he undercuts Shylock's business by lending money interest-free. What is more, Shylock's daughter Jessica runs off with a guy called Lorenzo, a friend of Bassanio's and just as much of a spendthrift. Not only does she go off with a Gentile yet, she takes a lot of Shylock's money and jewelry, some of which has sentimental value for him, when she goes.

Now Antonio comes to borrow money from Shylock, and Shylock lends it to him without interest, on condition that if it is not paid on the appointed day, Shylock can cut a pound of flesh out of Antonio's chest, which will of course kill him.

All goes well for Bassanio: he passes the casket test and marries Portia. But things do not go so well for Antonio, because none of his ships have come in on time, he's still broke, and cannot pay Shylock. Shylock has him arrested and taken to court so he can collect his pound of flesh.

At court, Bassanio offers to pay Shylock back with generous interest but Shylock will not have it. He wants to kill Antonio. Portia enters, disguised as a male lawyer, and advises the Duke, who is acting as judge. She says that indeed Shylock is entitled to a pound of flesh. Shylock starts sharpening his knife. But, she says as he is about to stab Antonio, the contract doesn't allow him any blood with the flesh, so he had better not shed any. The loophole prevents Shylock from collecting, but the court (under Portia's direction) goes further and orders half of Shylock's money to be given to Lorenzo, who has already blown the money Jessica stole, and orders Shylock further on pain of death to renounce his religion. This last was Antonio's idea. Shylock leaves on the line "I am not well." I guess not.

Well, it's all a happy ending for Bassanio and co., if not for Shylock, but there is one more little trick. Portia insists on taking as her legal fee Bassanio's wedding ring. He's going to refuse but Antonio talks him into giving it away. Naturally when he gets home there is an indignant wife waiting for him and demanding where his wedding ring is when all the time it's in her pocket. Hilarity obviously ensues and the play ends with Portia going on and on and on.

Answer 5

Although The Merchant of Venice is called a comedy, its subplot, which is more tragic in nature, has overshadowed the comic main plot. In the subplot, Antonio the merchant borrows money from Shylock the moneylender. Shylock is Jewish and has been subjected to a lot of ill-treatment from Antonio and everyone else because he is Jewish and also because he lends money at interest, which was the only way he could make his living. He inserts a clause into the loan contract which says that if Antonio defaults on the loan, Shylock can basically kill him (but it doesn't actually say so; it says he can take a pound of flesh from anywhere on Antonio's body.) Well, Antonio does default, and Shylock asks the court to enforce the contract, so he can get his revenge on Antonio for all that anti-semitism Shylock has had to put up with. However, the court embraces a legal loophole and turns the tables on Shylock, depriving him of his right to make a living and his right to practice his own religion.

The conflict here is not really between Shylock and Antonio; it is between Shylock and the Christian society of Venice. He has singled Antonio out as the scapegoat for the wrongs done to him by the whole community. But at the same time, he seeks the aid of that very society (in the form of the court) to complete his revenge, which is why it fails.

Answer 6

The conflict is between Antonio and Shylock but Shylock is hated by everyone in Venice because he was a Jew, so that's Bassanio, Portia and all the other people in the play

Answer 7

Shylock gives money to antonio and antonio cant give it back