Act 3 — The Merchant of Venice — AQA GCSE English Literature 8702
AQA GCSE English Literature · 8702
Act 3
The plot, part by part
What you need to know
Antonio's lost ships and Shylock's 'Hath not a Jew eyes?' speech, Bassanio's choice of the lead casket and his marriage to Portia,
Antonio's arrest, and Portia's plan to go to Venice disguised as a man.
Key quotations: 'Now, what news on the Rialto?', 'let him look to his bond', 'To bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge', 'I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes?', 'If you prick us, do we not bleed?', 'The villainy you teach me I will execute', 'I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys', 'Tell me where is fancy bred', 'The world is still deceived with ornament', 'Myself and what is mine to you and yours / Is now converted', 'Here are a few of the unpleasant'st words / That ever blotted paper!', 'I'll have my bond; speak not against my bond', 'The duke cannot deny the course of law'.
Structure: Shylock's revenge and Bassanio's happiness rise together, so Antonio's letter breaks into the happiest moment at Belmont.
Context: the 'Hath not a Jew eyes?' speech read as a plea for shared humanity or as a justification of revenge, and why Venice's law must hold for foreign traders.
