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Teaching The Merchant of Venice

A pound of fresh.

  • Activities: 13
  • Quiz Questions: 205

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Big Willy Shakespeare is a guy who wrote in three modes—comedy, tragedy, and history. But The Merchant of Venice is a play that's kind of none of the above and also all of the above. The point is: this play defies characterization. We like to think that maybe, just maybe, this is Shakespeare's way of telling us that plays—and people, dagnabbit—can't be characterized by a few elements (like religion or genre) alone.

This is a lot to contend with, on top of all the linguistic acrobatics, wit, and poetry at work (it's Shakespeare, after all). Luckily, we're here to help your high school students plumb the depths of this play and make sense of its many facets.

In this guide, you'll find

  • an opportunity to address the elephant in the room: anti-Semitism in The Merchant of Venice.
  • an exploration of the abstract idea of justice and how it works in the play.
  • a look at Shakespearean comedy, and how The Merchant of Venice fits in (or doesn't).

If you're interested in challenging the way your students think about prejudice, social mores, and the status quo, this is the right play—and the right Shmoop guide—for you.

What's Inside Shmoop's Literature Teaching Guides

Shmoop is a labor of love from folks who love to teach. Our teaching guides will help you supplement in-classroom learning with fun, engaging, and relatable learning materials that bring literature to life.

Inside each guide you'll find quizzes, activity ideas, discussion questions, and more—all written by experts and designed to save you time. Here are the deets on what you get with your teaching guide:

  • 13 – 18 Common Core-aligned activities to complete in class with your students, including detailed instructions for you and your students
  • Discussion and essay questions for all levels of students
  • Reading quizzes for every chapter, act, or part of the text
  • Resources to help make the book feel more relevant to your 21st-century students
  • A note from Shmoop's teachers to you, telling you what to expect from teaching the text and how you can overcome the hurdles

Want more help teaching Teaching The Merchant of Venice?

Check out all the different parts of our corresponding learning guide.



Instructions for You

Objective: Wait—The Merchant of Venice is actually classified as a comedy? Let's review for a minute. Shylock and Antonio agreed that if Antonio could not pay back his loan, Antonio would give Shylock a pound of his flesh. Not an unreasonable demand seeing that Antonio liked to kick and spit at Shylock in his spare time. In the end, Shylock loses his daughter, all his possessions, and has to convert to Christianity—even though Antonio had agreed to the whole pound of flesh thing. Hardly high hilarity.

In this activity, students are going to learn about the genre of black comedy and explore how The Merchant of Venice fits into that genre.

Materials: The Merchant of Venice text

Timing: Approximately one hour

Step 1: Open up with a quick question:

Say: "So Shakespeare wrote lots of different types of play: comedies, tragedies, histories, and romances. After having read the play, what would you classify it as? Partner up with a neighbor for two minutes and discuss what you think it is, and be prepared to explain why."

After two minutes, begin calling on different pairs to share their responses.

Once several teams have had shared their thoughts, provide them the answer: The Merchant of Venice is classified as a comedy.

Step 2: Working with their same partner, have the students come up with qualities in the play that make it a comedy. Have them use the text to support their ideas with specific examples: Give them no more than 10 – 15 minutes for this, and then have them share their examples. You may want to write them on the board. Some things that they should come up with include:

  • Lots of falling in love and multiple marriages (Bassanio and Portia, Lorenzo and Jessica, Gratiano and Nerissa)
  • Disguised characters (Portia, Nerissa)
  • Comedy/a clown to add humor (Lorenzo)
  • Exotic lands (Belmont)
  • Happy ending (Everyone is happy at the end, except Shylock.)

Step 3: Despite the comedic elements, there's something very unfunny running through the entire play. TV shows, movies, plays, and books that take terrible situations and treat them lightly are, of course, referred to as black or dark comedy.

Ask your students: Have you ever heard of black comedy? What do you think it is or how would you define it?

Gather a few answers and then share this handy-dandy definition that the literary geniuses at Shmoop have concocted:

Black comedy is a subgenre of comedy that's all about making light of terrible situations. We're talking about really terrible situations here, like death, disease, racism, and violence. Predictably, it tends to make people uncomfortable. But when done well—and carefully—it can also be really funny.

Say to your students: Have you seen any black comedies—movies or shows that really should not be that funny, but are? Pulp Fiction is a great example; ask them for others.

If they struggle coming up with a movie or show, offer the following as some suggestions of black comedies that they might have seen. (This resource gives you even more black comedy suggestions.)

  • Movies: Inglourious Basterds, American Psycho, Fight Club, Birdman, Bad Santa, Horrible Bosses, American Beauty, Heathers, Fargo, Pulp Fiction, and Dr. Strangelove.
  • TV Shows: American Dad, South Park, and Family Guy.
  • Short stories: "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"

Have the groups share their black comedies and their ideas about what distinguishes them. Here are some qualities that they might come up with:

  • A topic, usually treated with grave seriousness, is made fun of.
  • The ending is rarely happy or just.
  • Lots of poking fun at the way people think and behave
  • Absurd or some really unbelievable aspects
  • The audience tends to sympathize with the victimizer, not the victim.

Step 4: It's time to turn this back to The Merchant of Venice for a few minutes. We discussed how it was a comedy, but let's explore the darker side of it for a few minutes. What makes it a black comedy? What are the darker elements that it discusses? Prod students to identify the following elements:

  • A topic, usually treated with grave seriousness, is made fun of (prejudice).
  • The ending is rarely happy or just (not so happy or just an ending for Shylock, yet the Venetian Yuppies who destroyed him live happily).
  • Lots of poking fun at the way people think and behave (moneylending and greed, social climbing, lack of life balance)
  • Absurd or some really unbelievable aspects (the whole pound of flesh thing)
  • The audience tends to sympathize with the victimizer, not the victim (many will sympathize with Bassanio).

Ask a few closing questions:

  • Do you ever feel sorry of Antonio and Bassanio? When?
  • Do you ever feel sorry for Shylock? When?
  • At the end, whose corner are you in: Shylock's or Antonio's? Why?

Step 5: Let's get your students to bring all of this together and do a bit o' writing by answering this prompt: How does the modern black comedy you've analyzed compare to and contrast with Shakespeare's use of the genre in The Merchant of Venice?

The essay should be about 1,000 words and include two body paragraphs, plus an introduction and conclusion. Quotes and specific examples must be used.

Instructions for Your Students

You must be scratching your head right now when we tell you that The Merchant of Venice is actually classified as a comedy. Absolutely, Shylock and Antonio agreed that if Antonio couldn't pay back his loan, Antonio would give Shylock a pound of his flesh. Not an unreasonable demand seeing that Antonio liked to kick and spit at Shylock in his spare time. In the end, Shylock loses his daughter plus all his possessions and has to convert to Christianity—even though Antonio had agreed to the whole pound of flesh thing. Didn't they have an episode like that on the The Big Bang Theory? Or was it Modern Family? A real knee-slapper!

In this activity, you're going to take a look at a type of comedy called black comedy and explore how The Merchant of Venice fits into that kooky genre of black comedy.

Step 1: Working with a partner, dive right into the play and come up with characteristics and examples that make it a comedy. You get between 10 – 15 minutes for this, and then you're going to share your examples with the class.

Step 2: Despite the comedic elements you've identified, there's something very unfunny that runs through the entire play. TV shows, movies, plays, and books that take terrible situations and treat them lightly are referred to as black, or dark, comedy.

Take two minutes to write a definition of what you think black comedy is. You'll then compare that to what our friends at Shmoop have concocted:

Black comedy is a subgenre of comedy that's all about making light of terrible situations. We're talking about really terrible situations here, like death, disease, racism, and violence. Predictably, it tends to make people uncomfortable. But when done well—and carefully—it can also be really funny.

Think about it: Have you seen any black comedies—movies or shows that really shouldn't be that funny, but are? Pick one or two TV shows, books, or movies that you think might be examples of black comedy and list some characteristics of them. Brainstorm with a partner for 10 minutes to come up with the examples and their characteristics. Then you'll share your thoughts.

Need some inspiration? Here are a few examples:

  • Movies: Inglourious Basterds, American Psycho, Fight Club, Birdman, Bad Santa, Horrible Bosses, American Beauty, Heathers, Fargo, Pulp Fiction, and Dr. Strangelove.
  • TV Shows: American Dad, South Park, and Family Guy.
  • Short Stories: "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"

Step 3: Let's turn this back to The Merchant of Venice for a few minutes. We discussed how it was a comedy, but let's explore the darker side of it for a few minutes. What makes it a black comedy? What are the darker elements that it discusses? Keep working with your partner.

Think about it:

  • Do you ever feel sorry of Antonio and Bassanio? When?
  • Do you ever feel sorry for Shylock? When?
  • At the end, whose corner are you in: Shylock or Antonio? Why?

Step 4: Let's bring all of this together and do a bit o' writing by responding to this prompt: How does the modern black comedy you've analyzed compare to and contrast with Shakespeare's use of the genre in The Merchant of Venice?

The essay should be about 1,000 words and include two body paragraphs, plus introduction and conclusion. Quotes and specific examples need to be used to make your case.