Antonio

Antonio is a merchant of Venice who has invested deeply in overseas ventures, to the
extent that he no longer has any ready money left.

However, he is highly respected in the merchants’ quarter, and his credit is strong with
them, especially since he has dispersed his investments widely enough that it is unlikely
they will all fail. He is a deeply melancholic man, strongly attached to Bassanio, and for
love of him risks his credit to the tune of three thousand ducats to allow the younger
man to woo his lady. He is also known for lending to friends and taking no interest, and
he despises those who do otherwise, particularly Shylock – at times even paying the
debt of people trapped by their borrowing from the moneylender. The level of
detestation he has for that man has led him even to the indignity of spitting on him, and
it is an uncomfortable moment when he is brought to have to borrow money from the
man he has publically called a dog. When Shylock calls him out on his previous insulting
behavior, he merely grows irate and insults him some more. Antonio is so certain of the
return of his ships that he accepts Shylock’s bond of a pound of flesh should he default
on repaying the loan in time. Over the next three months, however, his ships are
wrecked one by one, and he is left owing the pound of flesh to Shylock. Finding the
moneylender impossible to reason with, he resolves to cease trying, and readies himself
to die, hoping only for Bassanio to come and see him one last time before then. On
being saved by the unexpected advocacy of the young lawyer, he is merciful, merely
making sure that Shylock’s daughter and her husband, Antonio’s young friend Lorenzo,
will inherit his wealth, and that the Jewish moneylender’s soul will be saved by his
becoming a Christian. In thanks, he gives his gloves to the young lawyer when so
requested, and convinces Bassanio to give up the ring the lawyer wants. He goes with
Bassanio to Belmont, where he discovers the lawyer’s identity, and that he is not ruined
after all, as three of his ships have come to port.

Bassanio
Bassanio is a young gentleman of Venice who has squandered all his fortune and is
therefore in dire need of a rich wife.

A great friend of Antonio’s, he convinces the latter to lend him the necessary money for
him to properly woo Portia. He invites Shylock to dine with them over the matter of a
loan for this, allowing Lorenzo to abduct Jessica. He agrees to let his friend Gratiano
follow him to Belmont on condition that he keep himself under control. He is greatly
liked by Portia and Nerissa, as well as Portia’s servants, but he insists on attempting the
test of the caskets without waiting, despite Portia’s entreaties. Winning by choosing
humbly, he is overjoyed to have gained the lady, though his joy is soon tempered by
hearing of Antonio’s troubles, and he rushes from Portia to see what he can do to save
him. He does not recognize his wife when she is dressed as a man, and refuses to give
her (as lawyer) the ring he received from her (as herself) and had sworn to never part
from until Antonio asks him to, at which point he immediately does. He half-hopes to
hide the fact, but is unsuccessful. He is desperate to excuse himself, and greatly relieved
when it turns out that the learned lawyer was actually his wife in disguise. Whether his
greater love is to Antonio or Portia remains uncertain, however.

Portia
Portia is an extraordinarily rich heiress of Belmont constrained by her father’s will to
accept in marriage whichever suitor successfully passes the test of the three caskets.

Luckily, as an unsuccessful suitor must swear to never marry, most of them refuse to go
as far as the ordeal, but she is still not overly glad of her circumstances. She has no taste
for dark-complexioned men, though she is tactful enough not to say so directly to the
Prince of Morocco. She is highly hopeful that Bassanio will succeed, but worried enough
that she begs him to wait a few days before attempting the task, as she does not want
him to leave as he will have to if he fails. By this point she definitely knows which casket
is the successful one, and she has a song sung during his meditations that contains
many words rhyming with "lead." On being won, she is somewhat uncertain as to what
she is, now that all her wealth has passed to Bassanio. She is either wildly generous or
has no actual sense of money, offering a massive fortune to Bassanio to help Antonio
with Shylock. She is also highly intelligent and trained in law, and knows enough that
she quickly conceives a plan to secretly save Antonio’s life disguised as a man. With the
help of instructions from her father’s old friend Bellario, she is able to do so, though she
drags it out unconscionably, giving Shylock multiple opportunities to stop, but letting
him get to the point of killing Antonio before revealing that he cannot and stripping him
of his wealth. As thanks for saving Antonio’s life, she receives the ring that she gave
Bassanio that he had sworn never to part with. Not best pleased by this, especially as he
has earlier sworn he’d give her up to save Antonio, she leads him a merry dance on his
return to Belmont, refusing to listen to his protestations of good faith and swearing that
she would sleep with the lawyer who had the ring should he come along. Having
properly panicked Bassanio, she reveals the trick, to his evident relief. She is also able to
let Antonio know that he is not ruined after all, one of his ships having made it to shore,
though she refuses to say how she knows.

Shylock
Shylock is a Jewish moneylender in Venice, who detests and despises Christians.

He makes his money by charging interest on his loans, and dislikes Antonio for not
doing so and therefore ruining his business – particularly as Antonio sometimes pays
the debts of those who cannot repay their loans in time, and therefore spoils Shylock’s
enrichment by taking control of their forfeitures. When he calls Antonio out on the
latter’s insults, he merely provokes more insults from the merchant. He decides to ask
for a pound of flesh as his bond from Antonio, apparently as a jest. He is a miser and
something of a puritan, having no taste for music or other reveling, starving his servant
and letting him wear out his clothes rather than replacing them. Considering Launcelot a
spendthrift, he is happy to let him leave to go serve Bassanio, as this will make the latter
go through his money more swiftly. Even his daughter considers him cruel. He flies into
a wild passion when she flees his house, taking with her massive amounts of his money,
and has her chased after as much if not more for the money than for her own sake.
Knowing that Antonio was aware of this abduction, and hearing that the latter is ruined,
he is delighted at the possibility of cutting out the merchant’s heart. He is able to justify
revenge on the basis of the bad behavior of Christians. His insistence on the letter of the
law will be his undoing, leaving him not only unable to kill Antonio, but losing all the
extra money offered him, the return of his principal, and soon forfeiting all of his wealth
and his life. He accepts to turn Christian to save his life, but is left ill by the sudden
reversal in his fortune. He is not a particularly nice man.

Jessica
Jessica is Shylock’s daughter. She does not have the happiest of home-lives with her
father, finding it only relieved by Lancelot’s jesting.

She feels wrong that she does not actually like her father, but she cannot agree with his
ways. Falling in love with Lorenzo, she plots with him to run away together. She is
practical-minded enough to let him know how much money she can bring with her. She
disguises herself as a boy to facilitate her flight, though she is deeply embarrassed to do
so. Fleeing to Genoa with him and hence escaping a fun-denying father, she spends a
great deal of money in the flush of her freedom, even giving up an heirloom ring for a
monkey. She follows Lorenzo to Belmont, and assures the others that her father will not
relent in the matter of Antonio’s bond. Finding Launcelot again there, she takes his
teasing well. She matches wits well with those she meets, swearing that she would be
able to find more examples of nights and lovers than Lorenzo could. She does not speak
on hearing what happened to her father, nor on learning that she and Lorenzo will
inherit all his wealth on his death.

Lorenzo
Lorenzo is a friend of Bassanio. In love with Shylock’s daughter Jessica, he helps her run
away from her father’s, with the aid of Graziano and Salerio.
He flees with her to Genoa, before moving on to Belmont at Salerio’s insistence, to help
support Bassanio when the latter finds out about Antonio’s losses. Portia asks him to
take charge of Belmont while she is gone on her retreat during Bassanio’s absence. He
has a great appreciation of nighttime and a deep love of music, but is not quick-witted
enough to keep up with Lancelot’s wordplay. He is delighted to discover himself to be
Shylock’s heir.

Gratiano
Gratiano is a friend of Bassanio. A great talker, he is almost impossible to shut up, and
can be unmannerly, to the extent that Bassanio only allows him to accompany his trip to
Belmont on condition that he keep himself under control.

He helps Lorenzo abduct Jessica, which almost makes him late for the departure to
Belmont. He falls in love with Nerissa, Portia’s lady-in-waiting, who agrees to marry him
on condition that Bassanio succeeds in the task of the caskets. He has no compunction
about admitting to the mercenary nature of Bassanio’s choice of bride. He returns to
Venice with Bassanio on his mission to rescue Antonio, and gives his tongue free rein
during the trial, spitting out invective against Shylock, and then mercilessly mocking him
once the carpet is pulled out from under him. Like Bassanio, he is willing to prefer
Antonio’s life to his newly-acquired wife’s. The law-clerk manages to convince him to
give his wedding ring as a gift of thanks in return, which leads to some problems on his
return to Belmont, as he had sworn to Nerissa that he would never remove it. He gives
away that Bassanio has done much the same. On it being revealed that Nerissa and the
clerk were one and the same, he is much relieved to discover that he has not in fact
been cuckolded, and closes the play on a bawdy pun

Nerissa
Nerissa is Portia’s lady-in-waiting, verbal sparring partner, and friend. She is a merry
wench.

Fully supportive of her mistress in all, she has high hopes that Bassanio will return to
Belmont. She agrees to marry Gratiano on condition that Bassanio succeed in the task of
the caskets. When this is accomplished, she is quite happy to do so. At his request, she
takes care of Jessica when the latter arrives at Belmont. She joins Portia in dressing up as
men to save Antonio’s life, playing the part of a law clerk. Hearing Gratiano swear that
he’d prefer her dead if that might save Antonio’s life, she is not best pleased, and in
return convinces Gratiano to give her (as the law clerk) the ring that she gave him (as
herself) which he had sworn never to remove. On his return to Belmont, she rants at him
upon hearing it, and manages to twist him around her little finger, swearing that she’s
slept with the clerk before doing so with her husband.