Unit 19 The Merchant of Venice

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616 )

威廉·莎士比亚（William Shakespeare）1954年4月生于英格兰特拉福德镇(Stratford-Upon-Avon)，父亲叫约翰·莎士比亚;（John Shakespeare），是个手套商人。莎士比亚的父亲在他出生时非常富有，但是后来被控卷入黑市羊毛交易，而家道中落，并失去了市议员的位置。

1596年，莎士比亚唯一的儿子Hamnet死亡，于1596年8月11日安葬。很多人相信莎士比亚的名剧《哈姆雷特》（Hamlet）就是为了纪念他的儿子的. 1597年，莎士比亚把他在特拉福德镇的“一栋家宅、两间畜舍、两个花园、两个果园，和其他所有东西”以60英镑的价格售出，到伦敦，成了一名著名的演员和作家。

他最后还成为一家剧团的合伙人——张伯伦勋爵剧团（The Lord Chamberlain‘s Men）,是以资助它的贵族的名字命名的。该剧团十分受到欢迎，以至于当伊丽莎白一世去世后，詹姆士一世赞助了它，剧团更名为国王剧团。他得以在伦敦的富人区买了一栋房子，还在家乡特拉福德镇拥有一座最大的住宅。

1609年莎士比亚发表了他的十四行诗，其中很多是写给一个神秘的女人（“Dark Lady”）和一个男人（“Fair Lord”）的。他大约在1611年退休，从此之后就再也没有发表其他作品了，直到1616年去世。巧合的是，他与同时代的另一个西班牙大文豪塞万提斯死在同一天。中国著名剧作家汤显祖也于同一年去世。

Tragedies 罗密欧与朱丽叶 (Romeo and Juliet) 哈姆雷特(Hamlet) 麦克白(Macbeth) 李尔王(King Lear) 哈姆雷特(Hamlet) 奥赛罗(Othello) 考利欧雷诺斯(Coriolanus) 脱爱勒斯与克来西达 (Troilus and Cressida) 雅典的泰蒙(Timon of Athens) 诗

Comedies 错中错(The Comedy of Errors) 皆大欢喜(All's Well That Ends Well) 如愿(As You Like It) 仲夏夜梦(A Midsummer Night's Dream) 无事生非(Much Ado About Nothing) 一报还一报(Measure for Measure 第十二夜(Twelfth Night or What You Will) 威尼斯商人(The Merchant of Venice) 空爱一场(Love's Labor's Lost) 冬天的故事(The Winter's Tale)

histories 亨利四世，第一卷（Henry IV, part 1） 亨利四世，第二卷（Henry IV, part 2） 亨利五世（Henry V） 亨利六世，第一卷（Henry VI, part 1） 亨利六世，第二卷（Henry VI, part 2） 亨利六世，第三卷（Henry VI, part 3） 亨利八世（Henry VIII） 约翰国王（King John） 理查德二世（Richard II） 理查德三世（Richard III）

poetry 十四行诗（The Sonnets） 爱人的怨诉（A Lover's Complaint） 鲁克丽丝失贞记（The Rape of Lucrece） 维纳斯和阿多尼斯（Venus and Adonis） 热情的朝圣者（The Passionate Pilgrim 凤凰和斑鸠（The Phoenix and the Turtle）

To be or not to be: that is the question.<Hamlet> Meaning: Is it possible or not? Is he alive or not? Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.<King Henry IV> Meaning: The life of leaders isn’t easy. Having many responsibilities, leaders often can’t sleep well.

Neither a borrower nor a lender be. <Hamlet> Meaning: be careful to take or give money to others. You’d better be careful. Romeo, why are you Romeo? Deny your father, and refuse your name…<Romeo & Juliet> Meaning: if only you had a different name, we would not have this problem and would be together forever.

Words,words, only words, mo matter from the heart. Meaning: it’s all empty words, and there isn’t any truth in them. You just talk, but you don,t mean it.

Antonio Bassanio Shylock Portia

Antonio is a rich businessman of the city of Venice Antonio is a rich businessman of the city of Venice. Everyone likes him because he is always ready to help others. At the time of this story his ships are all at sea to trade with foreign countries. Bassanio , Antonio’s best friends, is in love with Portia. Portia is a rich and beautiful lady. She loves Bassanio but they cannot get married because he is too poor. Then Bassanio asks Antonio to lend him three thousand ducats.

Being short of money just then Antonio goes to Shylock to borrow the money, Shylock has always hated Antonio, because Antonio has often in public shown how cruel and terrible Shylock is . Shylock agrees to lend Antonio the money, but Antonio must promise to allow Antonio the money, but Antonio must promise to allow Shylock to take a pound of flesh from any part of his body if he cannot pay the money back after three months. Antonio agrees to this, takes the money and gives it to Bassanio.

On the day Bassanio and Portia get married, they receive a letter from Antonio saying that all his ships have been lost at sea. Now he himself does not have enough money to pay back the three thousand ducats and so he must give Shylock one pound of his flesh. Portia thinks of a clever plan to save Antonio. she asks a good friend who is a doctor of law, to lend her some of his lawyer’s clothes and books. Dressed as a lawyer, she arrives at the court of the Duke, where Antonio case is decided.

As the Duke is wondering what to do, Portia gives him a letter from the famous lawyer whom she has visited. In the letter it says that Portia is a learned young doctor from Rome who is young but very wise. The Duke accepts Portia to take the place of the famous lawyer and handle this difficult case.

gets married with Portia with the money borrowed from Shylock. a cruel businessman lends Antonio 3000 ducats. Bassanio Antonio’s best friend gets married with Portia with the money borrowed from Shylock. Antonio A kind merchant of Venice borrows 3000 ducats from Shylock for Bassanio . Portia a rich and beautiful woman marry Bassanio, also acts as the lawyer. The duke President of Venice head of the court.

Shylock Antonio Portia Bassanio

Word study masterpiece n.= great works This is a masterpiece of Beethoven .

2. mercy n.= sympathy, have a pity to adj. = merciful 对罪犯的仁慈，就是对人民的残忍。 Mercy to the criminal may be cruelty to the people. 报纸对他进行了无情的评击。 The newspaper attacked him without mercy.

at the mercy of have mercy of/ upon show mercy to sb 看在上帝的份上，可怜可怜这些穷苦的人们吧。 For the sake of God, please have mercy on these poor people. 他们发现自己完全处于征服者的摆布之下。 They found themselves completely at the mercy of the conquerors.

revenge n.= deliberate punishment or injury in return for what one has suffered 哈姆雷特想为他父亲的死报仇 Hamlet wanted revenge for his father’s death. 他报复了他们对他的 伤害。 He took his revenge for the harm they had done to him.

What’s the ideas behind the play?

T or F

Shylock hated Antonio and wanted to take the chance to kill him. 2.Bassanio offered to pay Shylock much more money than Antonio had borrowed from him. 3. Shylock accepted Bassanio’s offer.

4. Portia, Bassanio’s wife, pretended to be a judge. 5. Bassanio recognize his wife at the court at the first sight. 6. Portia agreed to change the law a little.

What’s your opinion of Portia? Portia is a very wise and clever lady. 2.What is your opinion of Shylock? A very cruel and mean man. 3.Why do you think Shylock prefers to take his pound of flesh instead of the money from Bassanio? Because Shylock wants to take this opportunity to kill him.

4.What are the two meaning of “I’ll pay him back with all my heart”? Literally, with the heart which he will cut out of my body. Metaphorically, I’m willingly to pay back all the money.

5. (1) Usually, things are weighed with a balance 5. (1) Usually, things are weighed with a balance. Weighs go into the left scale and things into the right scale. (2) She wants to remind Shylock that he must cut exactly a pound of flesh from Antonio, no more, no less. (3) The deeper meaning of the balance is justice. In Portia’s court of law, morals are weighed.

Background: Antonio and Bassanio borrow 3000 ducats from Shylock.

Conflict: shylock insists in having his pound of flesh.

Climax: Portia declares Shylock may have a pound of flesh to be cut nearest to Antonio’s heart , no more, no less. And if Shylock lets one drop of Antonio’s blood fall, he will lose all his land and money.

Ending : Portia not only saved Antonio but also made Shylock give half of his money to the city of Venice.