End of play reflection:

Within the entire story, many conflicts are brought about yet in the last two scenes, they are all overcome. Shakespeare's love and romance as well as villain vs. hero clarifies that the play is a comedy. The end of the story included much drama as far as "cheating" and freeing Antonio from losing his pound of flesh. The ending of the story could've resulted in Antonio's death which would've left a shocking effect on the audience. The story itself was very interesting and had an interesting plot ending. In the end, Portia is married to Bassanio, Antonio is left alone wishing he has Bassanio, Graziano is married to Nerissa, Lorenzo is married to Jessica and Shylock is left alone with nothing for his heinous acts. Shakespeare's point of the play was to illustrate the difficult love romance, the division between Christians and Jews at the time and the consequence of murder and usury.




Questions for Reflection and Review



1. In this play, what defined villain vs. hero, was religion. Jews and Christians had a constant battle with each other during this time which led Shakespeare to illustrate the conflict through his play. The main conflict was Shylock, a Jew and Antonio, a Christian as they had an ongoing battle.

During the time of Shakespeare, Jews had been exiled from "England" and were seen as rich snobs. In the play, the practice of usury stirred many issues among the characters. Christian's would borrow money from the Jews whom were wealthy and in this case could not repay them. The villains were the Jews because they were better off than the Christians and Christians would constantly ridicule them causing the Jews to become infuriated.

Shylock was the main bad character and was portrayed as a villain for wanting to kill Antonio. If Antonio killed Shylock he would be considered a hero, only because he was a Christian. This prejudice was the only factor that decided whether one was "good" or "bad".



4. Jessica, the daughter of Shylock, exercises revenge against her father by running away and eloping with a Christian, taking all of his money, and converting from Judaism to Christianity. Through these actions, it is clear that she does not love her father and has no mercy for him.

She stole his jewels and money and spends it carelessly because he was greedy. Shylock cared more about his money and wealth than he did about his daughter. After her disappearance, Shylock wasn't so much worried about his daughter as he was about the things she stole from him, thus showing his true character.

Jessica was so miserable with her father, which leads me to believe she will live "happily ever after" in Belmont with Lorenzo and Portia and Nerissa. Jessica and Lorenzo seem to be not only lovers but best friends because of their joking manner which will create an even better bond between the two.




8. In today's society, the people with power are always the wealthy and it has always been that way from the beginning of time. Money and material things aren't the source of happiness in people, yet we believe that achieving this power and success will bring up eternal joy. Throughout the book, the ideas of money and power and money and happiness are demonstrated through various characters actions.

Shylock, the main villain in the story, is a wealthy Jew. Although he has no power, he believes that his materialistic things are the true source of his happiness. This theory of his, is then proved wrong by the end of the story because he is left alone, with nothing.


Portia, represents the theme of money and power. As heiress to the throne in Belmont, Portia's beauty and wealth has led to her power over men across the globe. High ranked princes and others travel to Belmont in hopes to woo Portia and receive the honor of becoming her husband. The play seems to validify the fact that money doesn't always bring happiness and although it does give one power, the real power lies within ones inner self.