1. Unit 19 The Merchant of Venice
Warming-up and listening
Unit 19 The Merchant of Venice

2. Who wrote these plays ?

3. What do you know about Shakespeare ?
Shakespeare as the foremost literary talent of his own , Elizabethan Age and ,even more impressively , as a
genius whose creative achievement has never
been surpassed in any
Age.

4. Shakespeare’s works What do you know about his works ?How
many categories are they divided into ?
Poetry
Shakespeare’s
works
History
Plays
Comedy
Tragedy

5. Do you know the following plays ? What
categories do they belong to ?
King Henry IV
Hamlet
Troilus & Cressida
Romeo&Juliet

6. Hamlet
King Henry IV
History
Tragedy

7. Romeo & Juliet
Tragedy
Troilus &Cressida
Comedy

8. History 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）

9. Tragedy
0罗密欧与朱丽叶(Romeo and Juliet) o 马克白(Macbeth)又译：麦克白、
麦克白斯、麦克佩斯)
o 李尔王(King Lear) o 哈姆雷特(Hamlet)又译：汉姆雷特、 汉姆莱特、哈姆雷) o 奥赛罗(Othello)又译：奥瑟罗 o 裘力斯·凯撒(Julius Caesar) o 安东尼与克莉奥佩屈拉(Antony and Cleopatra) o 科利奥兰纳斯(Coriolanus) o 雅典的泰门(Timon of Athens)

10. Comedy
o 错中错(The Comedy of Errors)
(又译：错中错喜剧、错误的喜剧) o 终成眷属(All's Well That Ends Well)又译：如愿 o 皆大欢喜(As You Like It) o 仲夏夜之梦(A Midsummer Night's Dream) o 无事生非(Much Ado About Nothing)又译：捕风捉影 o 一报还一报(Measure for Measure)
又译：请君入瓮、量罪记、将心比心 o 暴风雨(The Tempest) o 驯悍记(Taming of the Shrew) o 第十二夜(Twelfth Night or What You Will) o 威尼斯商人(The Merchant of Venice)

11. Comedy
o 温莎的风流娘们(The Merry Wives of Windsor) o 爱的徒劳(Love's Labour's Lost) o 维洛那二绅士(The Two Gentlemen of Verona)
又译：两贵亲 o 泰尔亲王佩力克尔斯(Pericles Prince of Tyre) o 辛白林(Cymbeline) o 冬天的故事(The Winter's Tale) o 暴风雨(The Tempest) o 特洛埃围城记(Troilus and Cressida)

12. 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）

13. From which plays do the following lines
Come from ?
1. To be or not to be : that’s the question .
2. Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.
3. Neither a borrower nor a lender be .
4.Romeo, Romeo, why are you Romeo ?
Deny your father , and refuse your name ..?
5. Words , words ,only words , no matter
from the heart ?

14. Hamlet To be or not to be: that is the question. Meaning:
Is it possible or not? Is he alive or not?

15. Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.
King Henry IV
The life of leaders isn’t easy .Having many
Responsibilities , leaders often can’t sleep
very well.

16. Neither a borrower nor
a lender be.
Be careful to take or
give money to others.
You’d be careful .

17. Romeo & Juliet
Romeo, Romeo, why are you Romeo? Deny your father, and refuse your name…
If only you had a different name , we would
not have this problem.

18. Troilus & Cressida
Words, words, only words, no matter from the heart.
It is all empty words ,and there isn’t any
truth in them .You just talk ,but you don’t
mean it .

19. Listening (P66)
You will listen to one
of Shakespeare’s play
The Merchant
Of Venice

20. 1. In which city does the play take place ?
A: Venice
2. How much time passes between the
beginning of the play and the end ?
A: About three months
3. How much money does Bassanio need to
marry Portia ?
A: 3,00 ducats
4. What must Antonio give Shylock if he can
not pay back the debt ?
A: a pound of flesh from any part of his body

21. Listen to the tape and explain who is who is
who in The Merchant of Venice .Who are
they ? What do they do in the play ? What
is the relation to the other characters in the
play ?

22. Antonio
Bassanio
Shylock
Portia

23. Shylock
cruel
businessman
lends
Shylock is a _____ ___________ .He_____
_______ 3,000 ducats.
Antonio

24. Antonio
rich
businessman
Antonio is a ____ ___________who likes to
_____ other people .He _____ his friend
________, but because of that he gets into
_________ with Shylock.
Help
helps
Bassanio
trouble

25. Portia beautiful rich Portia is a _______ and ____________
woman . She will ______ Bassanio . She
also acts as the role of the _______ .
marry
lawyer

26. Bassanio friend best Bassanio is Antonio’s ______ ________.
He gets married with _____, after getting
________ help from Antonio .
Portia
Financial

27. Speaking Talk about Shakespeare and his plays
Recounting detail in conversation

28. What makes a play a masterpiece is that the
ideas behind the play are about problems
which are still important to people of different
ages in modern times . We can find several
such ideas in Shakespeare ‘s play
The Merchant of Venice .
Now work in groups of four .Find examples
for each situation in modern life and discuss
Whether it is right or wrong .

29. Mercy and revenge :Some people don’t like
each other or are even enemies .It sometimes
happens that some people are in a position
where they can make an important decision
about a person they hate .In the play ,
Shylock gets the chance to kill Antonio , and
he would .However , when the roles are
turned around , it is Shylock who must beg
Duck to save his life . Despite the fact that
nobody really likes Shylock , the Duck does
not want to kill him. What would you do if you
Had your worst enemy in your power ?

30. Love and Money : Bassanio cannot marry
Portia because he doesn’t have enough
money .It happens everywhere around the
world : two young people love each other ,
but when the boy is poor or doesn’t have a
good job , often the parents of the girl
don’t allow them to get married .Maybe you
Know some examples in your hometown.
Are the parents right ? If not , what do you
think about a situation like that ? What
should be done ?

31. Useful Expressions
Correct me if I’m wrong , but …..
One of the most important facts is……
As far as I know …….
You shouldn’t forget that …….
You could , for example , ……..
After all ,…….
What shouldn’t be forgotten is ….
The way I would go about it ….
But in this particular case …..