The Merchant of Venice 1.What kind of person is Antonio/ Shylock/ Portia? Antonio:kind, always ready to help others greedy, cruel, bitter Portia: Shylock: clever, wise 2.How do you know their character? 1) Who was Antonio?( A merchant of Venice.) 2) Who was Antonio’s best friend and what did he want to do? (Bassanio. He wanted to marry Portia.) 3) What was the problem? (He had no money and went to borrow from Antonio.) 4) How did Antonio help Bassanio? (He borrowed the money from Shylock on condition that if he did not repay the money at the end of three months, Shylock could take one pound of flesh from any part of Antonio’s body)

5) What happened to Antonio later? (His ships were all lost at sea. He had to give Shylock the pound of his flesh.) 6) How did Antonio get rid of the trouble? (With the help of Portia.) Suppose you are Antonio, tell us the story according to the key words. Key words: Antonio, merchant, one day, Bassanio, Portia, money, Shylock, condition, flesh, unfortunately, lost, fortunately, no more, no less, blood, punished

I’m Antonio, a merchant of Venice. One day, Bassanio, my best friend, wanted to borrow money from me because he needed the money to marry Portia. All my ships were at sea and I had no money then. I borrowed the money from Shylock, a moneylender I hated very much, on condition that if I could not repay the money at the end of three months, I would have to give him one pound of my flesh from any part of my body. Unfortunately, all my ships were lost at sea and I had to give Shylock the pound of flesh. Fortunately, Portia thought of a good idea. She pretended to be a lawyer and declared at the court that Shylock might take the pound of flesh, but no more, no less, nor any blood. How could he manage to do it? He had to give up and was punished.

1) Who was Shylock?(A moneylender of Venice.) 2) Why did he hate Antonio? (Because Antonio had many times scolded him publicly for his being greedy and cruel.) 3) Why did Shylock lend money to Antonio? (Because Shylock was bitter. He thought it a golden chance to pay Antonio back according to the bitter agreement.) 4) How did he feel when he knew the bad news for Antonio? Why? (He felt very happy because he could kill Antonio.) 5) What was the result of the trial? (Shylock had to give half of his money and goods to the city of Venice and had to promise to leave the other half on his death to his daughter and her husband.)

6) How did he feel when he heard the judgement? (He felt unhappy, disappointed and angry.) Suppose you are Shylock, tell us the story according to the key words. Key words: Shylock, moneylender, money, hate, Antonio, one day, surprised, chance, condition, happy, news, kill, the judge, no more, no less, blood, give up, money and goods, disappointed, angry I’m Shylock, a moneylender of Venice. I like money very much. I hateAntonio because he has many times scolded me publicly. He said I was greedy and cruel. One day, I was surprised that he wanted to borrow money from me. It was a golden chance to pay him back. I lent the money on condition that I could take one pound of his flesh from any part of his body if he could not repay the money at the end

of three months. How happy I was when I heard the news that his ships were all lost at sea! I could kill him now. But the judge declared that I could take the pound of flesh, but no more, no less, nor any blood. How could I manage to do that? I had to give up and give half of my money and goods to the city of Venice, the other half to my daughter and her husband on my death! I was unhappy, disappointed and angry. 1) Who was portia?(A beautiful rich woman, Bassanio’s wife.) 2) What did she do when she knew the bad news for Antonio? (She pretended to be a lawyer and went to help Antonio.) 3) Did she have a good plan to deal with the troublesome case? (Yes.) 4) How did she control Shylock at the court step by step? (Her advice, the cxplanation about mercy, her not changing the law and her first declaration made Shylock sure that he could kill Antonio, so he refused to accept the advice and money except the law to be carried out correctly.)

5) How did Portia defeat Shylock? (In the end she declared that Shylock might take the pound of flesh, but no more, no less, nor any blood and refused his demand for the more money according to the law. He had to give up.) Suppose you are Portia, tell us the story according to the key words. Key words: Portia, my husband, decided, pretended, plan, tried, advantages of mercy, refused to change, declared, sure, kill, over and over again, controlled, step by step, in the end, no more, no less, blood

I’m Portia, Bassanio’s wife. My husband borrowed money from Antonio to marry me. But Antonio borrowed the money from Shylock, a greedy, cruel moneylender, on one bitter condition. When I knew that Antonio would have to give Shylock the pound of flesh, I decided to help him. I pretended to be a lawyer and had a good plan to deal with the troublesome case. First, I tried to persuade Shylock to have mercy on Antonio, explained the advantages of mercy and refused to change the law. Then I declared that Shylock could take the pound of flesh. This made Shylock feel sure that he could kill Antonio. He refused to accept my advice and the more money except the law to be carried out correctly over and over again. I controlled him step by step. In the end I declared that he might take the pound of flesh, but no more, no less,

nor any blood and refused his demand of the more money. He had to give up. 3. Act out the play. 4. What have you learned from this play? 5. Assignment: Write a short passage according to your understanding about the sentence “How can you hope for mercy yourself when you show none?”