Actors on Characters

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The actors from the Globe’s production of The Merchant of Venice give their opinion about their character’s journey through the play.

Philip Cumbus on Bassanio

Bassanio is a young Venetian renowned for spending money, often not his own. He’s from a noble background and spends a lot of time hanging around with his mates partying hard. He’s quite content with his life, although it’s quite a shallow materialistic existence. He has no sense of responsibility, or emotional depth. Antonio is his main source of funds. He charms Antonio into giving him a huge amount of money: 3,000 ducats. Antonio has to enter into a bond with Shylock to get the money for Bassanio, which Bassanio is concerned about, but he doesn’t engage fully with the depth of what he’s asking from Antonio.

Once Bassanio has Anonio’s money, he prepares to go to Belmont. He has a plan to sort himself out for life with a good sum of money, by marrying Portia. The main transition point in the play, the crux of the dramatic journey, is the point, where Bassanio meets Portia, and actually falls is love. He ventures the caskets and picks the correct one, finding a likeness of Portia inside. He falls in love with Portia, it’s a genuine love and one which throws his whole reason for being into a tumult, because he’s there for a completely different reason now: he’s actually going to be bound to someone he loves.

When he learns that Antonio’s bond is forfeit, it’s a massive blow. He realises that through his fault his friend is likely to die. When you fall in love, things take on a different shape: colours become brighter, and your main focus in life is shifted to being about another person. That’s what happens to Bassanio with Portia and it happens again when he realises what he’s done to his friend – his love for Antonio is mature in this moment. So Bassanio goes back to Venice a changed man, and in the court scene is absolutely bereft.

Bassanio lives in the moment and he’s not very good at emotional multi-tasking. He believes fully in one moment that Portia is the woman of his dreams and the only person in his life, but when he’s with Antonio, he can completely genuinely, shift and be completely devoted to him. The court scene is an emotional barrage for Bassanio, because he’s responsible for what is happening to Antonio.

Once the trail has been resolved, he’s full of life. He gives the ring that he swore to Potia that he'd keep to Balthazar (Portia in disguise). He just doesn’t think about consequences. It's only when he gets back tp Belmont that he realises the seriousness of breaking his vow. Portia toys with him, so that he learns his lesson.

Kirsty Besterman on Portia

Portia lives in Belmont. Her father has recently died and has left three caskets, one with her image inside, for potential husbands to choose from, as a test. If the suitors choose correctly, then they are sworn to marry her. Portia doesn’t know which casket her image is in. Two horrific suitors choose the wrong casket. Then Bassanio arrives and picks the right casket. Portia and Bassanio fall in love. Just before they get married, they hear Antonio’s bad news. They get married, but the marriage isn’t consummated before Bassanio returns to Venice. Arrogantly, Portia believes she can resolve the problem of Shylock’s bond. She and Nerrisa, her maid, dress up as men and travel to Venice. She arrives in the court armed with a wonderful speech – the 'quality of mercy' speech – which she believes will solve everything. It does not work, which is terrifying, because it means that Antonio will die. At the last minute, she remembers the drop of blood clause. The laws which she relays in the court scene come to her in the moment. After the trial Bassanio wishes to thank her and so she tests Bassanio by asking for the ring she gave him. He refuses at first, but later relents when pushed by Antonio. Portia realises that Antonio has made the difference. She returns to Belmont a different woman having learnt about humanity and justice. She is feeling fragile at this point. Bassanio arrives and she castigates him for not having the ring. She then gives the ring back to him and, through much wordplay, pretends to have slept with the doctor who saved Antonio. She really makes him suffer; he redeems himself by vowing that he’ll never break another oath again.

Dale Rapley on Antonio

Antonio is unhappy. He says he doesn’t know why, but he does. He adores Bassanio who is going to Belmont to woo a woman. He loves him so much that he agrees to lend him the money to go. However, because of his merchant ventures, he has to find someone to lend the money to him first. Bassanio finds Shylock the Jew, and Antonio, being a Christian and very anti-Semitic, is reluctant to borrow from him, but Shylock offers to lend the money without charging interest, instead asking for a pound of flesh if he doesn’t repay his bond. Antonio’s ships don’t come in and he has to tell Bassanio he has forfeited the bond. Antonio resigns himself to his fate. He understands why Shylock hates him. He also has respect for the law of Venice and he has signed this bond. He has to agree to what he’s signed to. He also feels that now Bassanio is married, his life is over. He gives up. Once the trial is resolved in his favour Antonio finds a generosity of spirit towards Shylock. The idea of making Shylock a Christian is usually seen as outrageous, but I think in Antonio’s mind he wants to forgive him and he feels that’s the only way he can do it. Antonio’s journey is about coming to terms with losing a very close friend, with whom he’s in love, and understanding the nature of his prejudice.

John McEnery on Shylock

For me it is really important to focus on the text, Shakespeare’s words. If you concentrate and speak the verse with integrity, you will allow the character to come through and the story to be told. I do not research around a part, because Shakespeare tells the actor everything they need to know. It helps to be aware of the structure of each act; to be able to see the range of each scene at once. From this perspective I think that Shylock is determined, from the beginning, to take revenge for the racist insults and treatment he has received in Venice. He intends to kill Antonio from the start. When Tubal tells him that one of Antonio’s ships has gone down, Shylock says: 'I thank God.'(3.1.93). The events of the play, especially the loss of Jessica, intensify this determination, but it’s there from the start. When Portia begins her great speech about mercy, Shylock dismisses it immediately. He will have his bond.

Pippa Nixon on Jessica

Jessica lives with her father, Shylock. She falls in love with a Christian, Lorenzo, and decides to elope with him. They steal away to Belmont in the night, and she takes lots of her father’s riches. Shylock’s desire for revenge against Antonio deepens because his daughter has run away with a Christian. At first, the integration is difficult; she is described by Gratiano as an ‘infidel’, but Portia invites her and Lorenzo to look after her house. Jessica’s thoughts often turn to her father and what is happening with Antonio. Lorenzo doesn’t particularly understand Jessica. In Act 5, they talk about failed lovers. The line which sums up Jessica’s character is: 'I am never merry when I hear sweet music' (5.1.68): it captures the disquiet of her soul. There is a relief in the end, when she realises there could be a reconciliation with her father, but she knows it is a terrible cost.

Nicholas Shaw on Lorenzo

Lorenzo is the least raucous out of the three boys. I think he’s fallen in with a bad crowd with all the boisterous debauchery of Venice. Then, of course, he falls for Jessica. Initially it’s just about the thrill of eloping with someone mysterious, exotic and forbidden. However, once they get to Belmont and Portia has entrusted the governing of the house to him, he matures. His love for Jessica, however problematic, blossoms, and I think his inner qualities show themselves and create the beautiful poetry of Act 5. Lorenzo matures throughout the play and Belmont is where his character truly comes to fruition.

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