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GCSE · English Literature

GE.T-MerchantVenice Literature: The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare)

AQA / EDUQAS AQA 8702 / Eduqas C720QA, C720QB · Calculators not allowed · about 95 minutes

Total Marks

Name: _______________________________ Date: ____ / ____ / ______

Answer ALL questions. Show all your working.

The Merchant of Venice, Act 3 Scene 1 (Shylock's 'Hath not a Jew eyes?' speech, extract)

William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (first performed c.1596 to 1598; first printed 1600). Public domain, pre-1928 text. Question material written for Revision Library (original, copyright-free); no past-paper text reproduced.

SALARINO: Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take his flesh. What's that good for?

SHYLOCK: To bait fish withal. If it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies. And what's his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.

State the two locations in which the action of The Merchant of Venice mainly takes place.

(Total for Question 1 is 2 marks)

Identify the two characters who are on stage with Shylock at the start of the extract above.

(Total for Question 2 is 2 marks)

State the name of the merchant whose bond with Shylock is at risk because his ships are feared lost at sea.

(Total for Question 3 is 1 mark)

Identify the term used in the play for the agreement that if Antonio cannot repay his loan, Shylock may take a pound of his flesh.

(Total for Question 4 is 1 mark)

Explain what Shylock means when he says the flesh will 'feed my revenge' at the start of the extract.

(Total for Question 5 is 2 marks)

Identify one rhetorical question used by Shylock in the extract and briefly explain one effect it has on the audience.

(Total for Question 6 is 2 marks)

Analyse how Shakespeare uses the rhetorical question 'Hath not a Jew eyes?' to affect how an audience responds to Shylock.

(Total for Question 7 is 4 marks)

Analyse the effect of the repeated pattern 'If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?'

(Total for Question 8 is 4 marks)

Explore how Shakespeare presents the scale of Shylock's grievances against Antonio earlier in the speech ('He hath disgraced me... heated mine enemies').

(Total for Question 9 is 5 marks)

Analyse how Shakespeare structures Shylock's speech to build towards the repeated word 'revenge'.

(Total for Question 10 is 5 marks)

Using the extract and your knowledge of the whole play, explore how Shakespeare presents Shylock as both a victim of prejudice and a vengeful, threatening figure.

(Total for Question 11 is 6 marks)

Explore how Shakespeare presents Portia as clever and resourceful in the trial scene.

(Total for Question 12 is 5 marks)

Explore the dramatic purpose of Antonio's unexplained melancholy at the very start of the play ('In sooth, I know not why I am so sad').

(Total for Question 13 is 5 marks)

Explore how Shakespeare uses the casket plot in Belmont to explore ideas about appearance versus reality.

(Total for Question 14 is 6 marks)

Explain how the attitudes of an Elizabethan audience towards Jewish people and moneylending might have shaped their response to Shylock.

(Total for Question 15 is 4 marks)

Explore how Shakespeare presents ideas about mercy through Portia's 'the quality of mercy is not strained' speech in the trial scene.

(Total for Question 16 is 6 marks)

Explain the effect of the dramatic irony created when Portia, disguised as the lawyer Balthazar, questions Shylock in the trial scene.

(Total for Question 17 is 4 marks)

Compare how Shakespeare presents the values of Venice and Belmont in the play.

(Total for Question 18 is 6 marks)

Explore how Shakespeare uses Jessica's elopement with Lorenzo to develop ideas about loyalty and betrayal in the play.

(Total for Question 19 is 5 marks)

Starting with this speech, write about how Shakespeare presents Shylock's feelings and attitudes towards Antonio and the Christians in the extract. Write about how Shakespeare presents ideas about prejudice and revenge in The Merchant of Venice as a whole.

(a)Write your essay on how Shakespeare presents ideas about prejudice and revenge, using the extract and the play as a whole. Refer to the writer's methods and to relevant context, and use quotations to support your ideas.(30)

(b)The remaining marks for this question assess the accuracy of your spelling, punctuation and grammar, and your use of specialist literary terminology.(4)

(Total for Question 20 is 34 marks)

Mark scheme · GE.T-MerchantVenice Literature: The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare)

Question 1

B1 Venice (accept 'the city of Venice')
B1 Belmont (accept 'Portia's estate/house')
Answer: Venice and Belmont.

Question 2

B1 Salarino
B1 Solanio
Answer: Salarino and Solanio.

Question 3

B1 Antonio cao
Answer: Antonio.

Question 4

B1 the bond (accept 'the forfeit'/'the contract')
Answer: The bond.

Question 5

B1 identifies that a pound of human flesh has no practical use to Shylock, unlike bait for fish (oe)
B1 explains that its only value to him is emotional, satisfying his desire to punish Antonio (oe)
Answer: The flesh is worthless to Shylock in any practical sense; its only purpose is to satisfy his desire for revenge against Antonio.

Question 6

B1 identifies a valid rhetorical question, e.g. 'Hath not a Jew eyes?' or 'If you prick us, do we not bleed?'
B1 explains a valid effect, e.g. it forces the audience to acknowledge Shylock's shared humanity/challenges their assumptions (oe)
Answer: Example: 'Hath not a Jew eyes?'; effect: it forces the audience to silently agree, acknowledging Shylock's humanity despite the prejudice shown against him.

Question 7

Level 1 (1-2): Simple, general comment that the question makes the audience feel sorry for Shylock or think he is human too; little reference to specific words.
Level 2 (3-4): Clear analysis of how the direct rhetorical question forces the audience to silently supply the answer 'yes', and how the escalating list of physical features ('eyes... hands, organs') builds a logical case for shared humanity.
Indicative content:
- the rhetorical question format demands the audience answer the (obvious) question in their own minds, actively involving them in acknowledging Shylock's humanity
- listing concrete physical features ('eyes', 'hands', 'organs', 'dimensions') builds an escalating, almost legal case, moving from the general to the specific
- the question directly challenges Salarino and Solanio, and by extension the audience, to justify their prejudice, putting them, not Shylock, on the defensive
- coming straight after 'I am a Jew', the question exposes prejudice as the only 'reason' given for Antonio's contempt, presenting it as irrational

Question 8

Level 1 (1-2): General comment that the repeated pattern shows Jews and Christians are the same; little reference to specific technique.
Level 2 (3-4): Clear analysis of the anaphoric repetition of 'If you...' building a rhythmic, escalating argument, from minor pain to death, climaxing in the darker parallel about revenge.
Indicative content:
- anaphora ('If you prick us... if you tickle us... if you poison us') creates a building rhythm that mimics rational, persuasive argument, almost like a legal or rhetorical exercise
- each clause escalates in severity, from minor pain (prick) to death (poison), intensifying the emotional force of the argument
- the pattern's final clause breaks from proving shared humanity to asking about shared vengeance, revealing the argument's true purpose
- the balanced, almost symmetrical sentence structure contrasts with the violence being described, making Shylock's control over his own rhetoric strikingly clear

Question 9

Level 1 (1-2): General comment that Shylock lists complaints against Antonio, with little reference to specific words.
Level 2 (3-4): Clear explanation of how the list of verbs (disgraced, hindered, laughed, mocked, scorned, thwarted, cooled, heated) covers financial, social and personal harm.
Level 3 (5): Exploratory analysis of how the asyndetic list creates a breathless, accumulating effect suggesting years of pent-up resentment, and how the paired opposites show Antonio has damaged Shylock's whole social position, not just his business.
Indicative content:
- the list of verbs moves from financial harm ('hindered me half a million') to social humiliation ('scorned my nation'), showing the grievance is both personal and communal
- the lack of connecting words (asyndeton) builds a rapid, breathless momentum, suggesting years of suppressed anger finally released
- the paired contrast 'cooled my friends, heated mine enemies' shows Antonio has damaged Shylock's relationships as well as his business, isolating him further
- ending the list with the blunt question 'and what's his reason? I am a Jew' exposes that all this harm stems from prejudice alone, not from anything Shylock has done

Question 10

Level 1 (1-2): General comment that the speech builds up to Shylock wanting revenge, with little reference to structure.
Level 2 (3-4): Clear explanation of how the speech moves from a list of grievances, to the rhetorical humanity argument, to the direct question 'shall we not revenge', showing a clear logical progression.
Level 3 (5): Exploratory analysis of how the repetition of 'revenge' frames the whole speech, and how the final short exchange ('Revenge... Why, revenge') breaks from Shylock's flowing sentences into blunt short answers, giving the word maximum dramatic weight.
Indicative content:
- 'revenge' opens the speech ('it will feed my revenge') and returns at its climax, framing the whole argument
- the shift from long, balanced sentences to the short, repeated answers 'Revenge' and 'Why, revenge' creates a dramatic, almost shocking simplicity after the speech's earlier complexity
- structurally, the speech moves from personal grievance, to a universal argument for shared humanity, to a justification of revenge as the natural, taught consequence of mistreatment
- ending on 'I will execute... and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction' shows Shylock turning the argument into a direct threat, preparing the audience for his insistence on the bond in the trial scene

Question 11

Level 1 (1-2): Simple, general comments about Shylock being treated badly and/or wanting revenge, with limited textual reference.
Level 2 (3-4): Clear reference to specific moments showing Shylock as victim (insulted, spat on) and as a threat (insisting on the bond), with some relevant quotation.
Level 3 (5-6): Detailed, well-supported exploration of Shylock's dual presentation, showing how his case for shared humanity coexists with his explicit intent to 'better the instruction' of villainy, continued in the trial scene where his legalism becomes both weapon and downfall.
Indicative content:
- in the extract, Shylock catalogues specific mistreatment (disgraced, scorned, mocked) and elsewhere in the play recalls being spat on and called 'dog' by Antonio, establishing him as a victim of sustained, personal prejudice
- his rhetorical question 'Hath not a Jew eyes?' builds real sympathy by insisting on shared humanity
- yet the same speech ends by embracing 'revenge' as a taught response, and Shylock later refuses all offers of money to spare Antonio's life, choosing to pursue his bond to its most violent conclusion
- in the trial scene, Shylock's insistence on 'the letter of the bond' shows him as rigid and vengeful, willing to kill for a grievance, which shifts audience sympathy away from him
- giving Shylock both the most humanising speech in the play and its most alarming demand for violence makes him a genuinely ambiguous figure rather than a simple villain or victim

Question 12

Level 1 (1-2): General comment that Portia is clever, e.g. she saves Antonio, with limited textual reference.
Level 2 (3-4): Clear reference to specific moments (her disguise as the lawyer Balthazar, her close reading of the bond) showing her intelligence, with some relevant detail.
Level 3 (5): Exploratory comment on how Portia allows Shylock to believe he has won before exposing the bond's fatal flaw, showing both legal skill and dramatic timing.
Indicative content:
- Portia disguises herself as a young male lawyer, Balthazar, showing resourcefulness and a willingness to defy gender expectations to solve the crisis
- she initially appears to grant Shylock's claim, appealing first to mercy before turning to the law, building suspense and letting Shylock condemn himself through his own insistence on the bond
- her close, literal reading of the bond ('a pound of flesh' but 'not one drop of blood') turns Shylock's own legalism against him, a clever reversal of his earlier argument
- her intervention also invokes a further Venetian law penalising an alien who seeks the life of a citizen, showing thorough legal preparation as well as quick thinking
- her success shows a woman succeeding in a formal, male-dominated public space, contrasting with her more constrained role earlier in the casket plot

Question 13

Level 1 (1-2): General comment that Antonio is sad for no clear reason, with limited development.
Level 2 (3-4): Clear explanation that the unexplained sadness creates intrigue and sets a slightly uneasy tone before the main plot begins.
Level 3 (5): Exploratory comment on how this unresolved melancholy foreshadows Antonio's vulnerability through the bond, and invites ongoing critical debate that gives his character depth beyond his role as the plot's obliging merchant.
Indicative content:
- opening the play with an unexplained sadness immediately creates intrigue and a slightly ominous tone, despite the play's classification as a comedy
- Antonio's friends suggest business worries or lovesickness, but he rejects both, leaving the cause deliberately ambiguous
- some critical readings link his sadness to close, possibly romantic feelings for Bassanio, who is about to leave to court Portia, adding emotional complexity to his motive for signing the bond
- the melancholy foreshadows Antonio's later vulnerability and passivity as the bond plot puts his life at risk, establishing him as someone prepared to sacrifice himself for others from the outset

Question 14

Level 1 (1-2): General comment that the caskets teach a lesson about not judging by looks, with limited textual reference.
Level 2 (3-4): Clear reference to the gold, silver and lead caskets and their inscriptions, with some comment on what each suitor's choice reveals about him.
Level 3 (5-6): Detailed exploration of how the caskets' inscriptions comment on appearance versus reality, and how the successful suitor's reasoning links the Belmont subplot thematically to the Venice plot's concerns about surface value versus true worth.
Indicative content:
- the gold casket's inscription ('who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire') tempts suitors motivated by superficial desire, and both Morocco and Arragon, who choose gold or silver, fail
- the successful suitor, Bassanio, chooses lead, reasoning that 'the world is still deceived with ornament', explicitly rejecting appearance in favour of substance
- this test structurally rewards a character who can distinguish true worth from surface appeal, mirroring Portia's own later test of the letter versus the spirit of the law in the trial scene
- the theme connects Belmont's romantic plot to Venice's commercial and legal plot, suggesting the whole play questions where true value lies, in gold, in bonds, or in character
- Bassanio's choice can be seen as slightly self-interested given his earlier borrowing from Antonio, inviting debate about whether he is a wholly admirable romantic hero or a more opportunistic figure

Question 15

Level 1 (1-2): General comment that Elizabethan audiences would have been prejudiced against Jewish people, with limited development.
Level 2 (3-4): Clear explanation linking specific historical context (expulsion of Jews from England, moneylending as one of few permitted trades, contemporary anti-Jewish feeling) to how an original audience might have reacted to Shylock, noting that Shakespeare's writing complicates a straightforwardly prejudiced response.
Indicative content:
- Jewish people had been formally expelled from England since 1290, so most Elizabethan audience members would have had no direct contact with Jewish communities and relied on stereotype and stage tradition
- moneylending at interest (usury) was widely viewed as sinful for Christians, which pushed Jewish communities in medieval and early modern Europe into finance as one of the few professions permitted to them, feeding a stereotype Shylock partly embodies
- the 1594 trial and execution of Roderigo Lopez, a converted Jew accused of plotting to poison Elizabeth I, had recently intensified anti-Jewish feeling in London, providing a topical, hostile context for the play
- despite this context, Shakespeare gives Shylock the extract's humanising rhetoric, meaning the play may both draw on and unsettle its original audience's prejudice, rather than simply confirming it

Question 16

Level 1 (1-2): General comment that Portia asks Shylock to be merciful, with limited textual reference.
Level 2 (3-4): Clear reference to key images (mercy falling like 'gentle rain from heaven') with some relevant comment.
Level 3 (5-6): Detailed exploration of how Portia presents mercy as a divine, freely given quality that benefits both giver and receiver, directly opposing Shylock's earlier logic of taught revenge, considering whether the play presents mercy as genuinely offered or demanded only of Shylock.
Indicative content:
- the image of mercy as 'gentle rain from heaven' presents it as natural, abundant and freely given, contrasting with the rigid, transactional language of the bond
- describing mercy as 'twice blest' (it blesses 'him that gives and him that takes') presents it as mutually beneficial, unlike revenge, which Shylock earlier presented as a cycle each side inflicts on the other
- Portia links mercy to kingship and to God ('it is an attribute to God himself'), giving it religious authority a Christian audience would recognise and value
- the speech directly answers Shylock's extract, where revenge is framed as a natural, taught response to wrongdoing; Portia argues instead that mercy, not retaliation, is the higher virtue
- some readings note the irony that mercy is demanded of Shylock but barely extended to him afterwards (forced conversion, loss of his estate), questioning how genuinely the play's Christian characters live up to Portia's ideal

Question 17

Level 1 (1-2): General comment that the audience knows something the characters do not, with limited development.
Level 2 (3-4): Clear explanation that the audience's knowledge of Portia's true identity creates tension and anticipation, as every question 'Balthazar' asks carries a hidden purpose, adding a layer of enjoyment to watching the other characters fail to recognise her.
Indicative content:
- the audience knows Balthazar is Portia while Shylock, Antonio, Bassanio and the Duke do not, creating dramatic irony throughout the scene
- this irony builds suspense, as the audience waits to see how and when Portia's legal trap (the flesh but no blood clause) will be revealed
- it also adds comedy and warmth, particularly when Bassanio declares he would sacrifice his wife to save Antonio, unaware his own wife is standing before him
- the device allows Shakespeare to give a female character real legal and intellectual authority within a disguise the plot requires, since a woman could not formally address the Venetian court as herself

Question 18

Level 1 (1-2): General comment that Venice is about business and Belmont is about love, with limited textual reference.
Level 2 (3-4): Clear reference to specific details of each setting (the Rialto, bonds and ducats in Venice; caskets, music and romance in Belmont) with some comment.
Level 3 (5-6): Detailed exploration of how the two settings represent contrasting value systems, while also showing how each world is shaped by the other, since Belmont ultimately provides the legal solution that resolves the Venice plot.
Indicative content:
- Venice is defined by trade, contracts and law: ducats, bonds, ships and the Rialto dominate its scenes, and its central crisis is a legal dispute
- Belmont is defined by romance, harmony and riddle-like tests of character: the casket plot, music and Portia's household create a more idealised, fairy-tale atmosphere
- the two worlds are financially linked from the start, since Bassanio's romantic pursuit of Portia in Belmont is only possible because of Antonio's commercial bond with Shylock in Venice
- Belmont's values ultimately intervene in Venice's crisis, as Portia's legal cleverness resolves the Venice plot, suggesting the two settings are complementary rather than simply opposed
- some readings see Belmont's harmony as fragile or exclusionary, for example Jessica's uneasy assimilation there as a convert, questioning how completely its values of love and mercy are actually achieved

Question 19

Level 1 (1-2): General comment that Jessica leaves her father and this is a betrayal, with limited textual reference.
Level 2 (3-4): Clear reference to specific details (Jessica taking Shylock's money and jewels, disguising herself as a boy to escape) with some relevant comment.
Level 3 (5): Exploratory comment on how Jessica's betrayal complicates the play's sympathies, since Shakespeare gives Shylock's grief a mixture of comic and genuinely painful notes, adding another layer to his sense of persecution before the trial.
Indicative content:
- Jessica elopes with Lorenzo, taking Shylock's money and jewels and converting to Christianity, a clear act of betrayal against her father
- Shylock's anguished, half-comic cry ('my daughter... my ducats') can be played for laughs by other characters on stage, but also reveals real, raw distress at losing his only child
- Jessica's own uneasy comments about home ('our house is hell') complicate a simple reading of her departure as purely joyful, suggesting mixed feelings about leaving her father and community
- this personal betrayal, on top of Antonio's business rivalry and the Christians' general contempt, adds to Shylock's motivation for revenge, making his insistence on the bond partly explicable even as it becomes dangerous
- the elopement subplot mirrors and complicates the play's wider exploration of loyalty, between Bassanio and Antonio, Portia and her father's will, and Shylock and his community, showing loyalty tested in several directions at once

Question 20

(a) L1 (1-6): Simple awareness of Shylock's feelings and the theme of prejudice/revenge, with limited reference to the extract or wider play and little or no relevant context.
(a) L2 (7-12): Some understanding of Shylock's feelings and the theme of prejudice and revenge, with a few relevant references and straightforward comments on language and context.
(a) L3 (13-18): Clear understanding of how prejudice and revenge are presented, supported by relevant quotation from the extract and the wider play, with clear comment on Shakespeare's methods and relevant context.
(a) L4 (19-24): Detailed, well-structured exploration of prejudice and revenge across the play, analysing language, structure and form with well-integrated, relevant context.
(a) L5 (25-30): Sophisticated, critical, sustained exploration of prejudice and revenge across the whole play, with a convincing personal response, precise analysis of Shakespeare's methods and skilfully integrated context, including recognition of ambiguity in how the play treats these themes.
(b) SPaG high (4) consistently high level of accuracy in spelling and punctuation; wide range of sentence structures used effectively; wide range of specialist terminology used accurately (e.g. rhetorical question, anaphora, dramatic irony, levels of response)
(b) SPaG mid (2-3) considerable accuracy in spelling and punctuation; some variety of sentence structures; a good range of specialist terminology used, mostly accurately
(b) SPaG threshold (1) reasonable accuracy in spelling and punctuation; simple sentence structures used with some success; some specialist terminology used
(b) Answer: Marked using the AQA-style SPaG band descriptors above; 0 marks if too little is written to assess accuracy.

Literature: The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare) - Worksheets, Questions and Revision