Name: The Merchant of Venice
Author: William Shakespeare

How you explore The Merchant of Venice on Literah

The cast, the places, the objects, the plot, and the author’s own words — each one a card in a feed you scroll on your phone. One at a time, at your pace, in any order you like.

Built for your phone. Literah is designed for mobile, so your worlds travel with you. On a laptop it shows a QR code to carry the world to your phone.
A feed, not a wall of text. 18 characters, 8 places, 15 objects and 11 plot beats, each its own card with its own illustration.
The author’s own words. 40 passages of The Merchant of Venice sit in the feed verbatim, exactly as William Shakespeare wrote them, each with a short reading of what it is doing. The map is ours; the prose is always the book’s.
The same scroll, a better world. The gesture you already give away to feeds, spent on William Shakespeare instead.

9:41

The Cast

Antonio

Main · Venetian Christian merchant circle

A sad merchant offers his purse, credit, and body for the friend he loves.

Locations

Venice

city

A hard bright city where ships, credit, insults, and contracts share the same streets.

Passage

Antonio is troubled by a sadness so deep he no longer knows himself.

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The Author’s Pen

Knowing Not Why So Sad

ANTONIO. In sooth I know not why I am so sad, It wearies me, you say it wearies you; But how I caught it, found it, or came by it, What stuff ’tis made of, whereof it is born, I am to learn. And such a want-wit sadness makes of me, That I have much ado to know myself.

Reading

The play opens on a man who cannot account for his own mood, and treats that as a genuine puzzle rather than a passing complaint. Antonio runs through every way you might explain a feeling, how he "caught it, found it, or came by it," as if sadness were a disease, a lost object, or a purchase, and comes up empty on all of them. What unsettles him is not the sadness itself but what it does to his grip on who he is: it makes such a "want-wit" of him that he has "much ado to know myself." He begins the merchant's play by being unable to name his own stock.

World Index

The Plot

A Sadness and a SuitThe Bond of FleshThe Casket LawA House Comes ApartThe Daughter and the DucatsThe Lead CasketThe Letter from VeniceThe TrialThe Letter of the LawThe Ring Given AwayThe Rings Come Home

The Cast

AntonioBassanioShylockPortiaJessicaLorenzoNerissaGratianoTubalPrince of MoroccoPrince of ArragonLauncelet GobboDuke of VeniceSalarinoSolanioSalerioStephanoPortia’s father

Locations

BelmontBelmont avenue and gardenCourt of justicePortia’s houseShylock’s houseStreet outside Shylock’s houseThe RialtoVenice

Objects of Note

Antonio’s shipsJessica’s ducats and jewelsJessica’s letterJessica’s pageboy disguiseLawyer and clerk disguisesLeah’s ringNerissa’s ringPortia’s ringThe bondThe gold casketThe lead casketThe pound of fleshThe silver casketThe three casketsThree thousand ducats

Core Concepts

Exclusion teaches revenge its languageFreedom comes by mastering rules, not escaping themLove becomes a form of debtMercy sounds divine but moves through powerThe comic ending leaves someone outside the musicWorth hides behind dangerous surfaces

The Author's Pen

Bassanio Seeks PortiaAntonio’s Credit in VeniceCannot Choose Nor RefusePortia Remembers BassanioAntonio Is SufficientShylock's Ancient GrudgeThe Forfeit of FleshMorocco Pleads His SuitConscience and the FiendJessica’s Secret LetterJessica's Planned EscapeWho Bids Thee CallJessica the Torch BearerAll That Glisters Is Not GoldMy Daughter My DucatsAntonio's Shipwreck RumorI Will Assume DesertShared Humanity, Shared RevengeLeah's Ring and Antonio's ForfeitPortia Awaits the ChoiceThe World Deceived With OrnamentThe Scroll of My FortuneThe Ring and All I AmLove Summons BassanioShylock Demands His BondPortia as a Young ManSaved By My HusbandThe Duke Expects MercyMercy Seasons JusticeJustice or MercyAntonio’s EndNo Jot of BloodThe Law Hath Another HoldThe Ring RefusedPortia Accepts the RingIn Such a NightThe Missing RingAntonio Becomes Surety AgainLife And Living

Plot point 01

A Sadness and a Suit

Antonio cannot name his sadness, but Bassanio already needs his purse.

Objects of Note

The bond

A friendly loan whose fine print quietly turns a man's body into collateral.

The Cast

Bassanio

Main · Venetian Christian merchant circle

A suitor reaches Belmont on money borrowed against another man’s flesh.

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The Merchant of Venice

William Shakespeare

The cast, locations, objects of note, core concepts, and selected passages in the Author’s Pen - at your own pace.

One of 128 classics in the Literah library

The Merchant of Venice feed, as it appears in your mobile

The plot of The Merchant of Venice

The story beat by beat, as Literah maps it.

A Sadness and a Suit
The Bond of Flesh
The Casket Law
A House Comes Apart
The Daughter and the Ducats
The Lead Casket
The Letter from Venice
The Trial
The Letter of the Law
The Ring Given Away

The author's pen in The Merchant of Venice

The passages themselves, William Shakespeare's own words, as Literah maps it.

Knowing Not Why So Sadch. 1
Bassanio Seeks Portiach. 1
Antonio’s Credit in Venicech. 1
Cannot Choose Nor Refusech. 2
Portia Remembers Bassanioch. 2
Antonio Is Sufficientch. 3
Shylock's Ancient Grudgech. 3
The Forfeit of Fleshch. 3
Morocco Pleads His Suitch. 4
Conscience and the Fiendch. 5
Jessica’s Secret Letterch. 6
Jessica's Planned Escapech. 7
Who Bids Thee Callch. 8
Jessica the Torch Bearerch. 9
All That Glisters Is Not Goldch. 10
My Daughter My Ducatsch. 11
Antonio's Shipwreck Rumorch. 11
I Will Assume Desertch. 12
Shared Humanity, Shared Revengech. 13
Leah's Ring and Antonio's Forfeitch. 13

The characters of The Merchant of Venice

Who is who, as Literah maps it.

Antoniomajor
Bassaniomajor
Shylockmajor
Portiamajor
Jessicamajor
Lorenzosupporting
Nerissasupporting
Gratianosupporting
Tubalsupporting
Prince of Moroccosupporting
Prince of Arragonsupporting
Launcelet Gobbosupporting
Duke of Venicesupporting
Portia’s fathermentioned
Salarinominor
Solaniominor

The locations in The Merchant of Venice

Where it happens, as Literah maps it.

Venicecity
The Rialtomarketplace
Belmontestate
Portia’s househouse
Shylock’s househouse
Street outside Shylock’s housestreet
Court of justicecourt
Belmont avenue and gardengarden

The core concepts in The Merchant of Venice

What the book keeps returning to, as Literah maps it.

Love becomes a form of debt
Mercy sounds divine but moves through power
Worth hides behind dangerous surfaces
Exclusion teaches revenge its language
Freedom comes by mastering rules, not escaping them
The comic ending leaves someone outside the music

The objects of note in The Merchant of Venice

The things that carry meaning, as Literah maps it.

The bond
The pound of flesh
The three caskets
The gold casket
The lead casket
Portia’s ring
Nerissa’s ring
Antonio’s ships
Three thousand ducats
Jessica’s letter
Jessica’s ducats and jewels
Leah’s ring
Lawyer and clerk disguises
Jessica’s pageboy disguise

The offer

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How you explore The Merchant of Venice on Literah

The plot of The Merchant of Venice

The author's pen in The Merchant of Venice

The characters of The Merchant of Venice

The locations in The Merchant of Venice

The core concepts in The Merchant of Venice

The objects of note in The Merchant of Venice

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