The Merchant of Venice

In The Merchant of Venice the path to marriage is hazardous. To win Portia Bassanio must pass a test prescribed by her fathers will choosing correctly among three caskets or chests. If he fails he may never marry at all. Bassanio and Portia also face a magnificent villain the moneylender Shylock. In creating Shylock Shakespeare seems to have shared in a widespread prejudice against Jews. Shylock would have been regarded as a villain because he was a Jew. Yet he gives such powerful expression to his alienation due to the hatred around him that in many productions he emerges as the hero.