in this video I'm going to provide a brief overview of The Merchant of Venice I won't summarize every event after all the play is over 17,000 words long but I will focus on the main causal events that it'll be helpful to know more about now as I mentioned in another video Shakespeare's plays often begin with a sense of pre-existing discontent that motivates the characters in this play there are two such issues first Antonio the merchant of the place title is unhappy but it's unclear why in the opening scene characters will speculate that he's worried about losing his investments when he denies this they think he might be in love he also denies this but as we'll see in the play he does seem to love Bassanio so this assertion may be nearer the truth Bassanio who's Antonio's young friend also has a problem he wants to marry a woman called Portia but he lacks the money to compete with rivals for her hand in marriage in Act one Bassanio asked Santonio for money but the problem is Antonia doesn't have any available it's tied up in merchandise that's being shipped abroad nevertheless atony oh he's keen to help his friend despite having already lent him money that Bassanio has spent he sends Bassanio to the Venetian moneylenders and tells him to ask for a loan saying that he'll pay it back when he has sold his merchandise abroad the person to whom Bassanio goes for this money is and this complicates matters because Antonio disapproves of usury or the charging of interest on loans and he's also insulted and spit on in public needless to say hates Antonia partly because of his behavior towards him and partly for lending money without charging interest thus affecting Shylock's business the only business is actually allowed to conduct but we should note that offers the loan interest-free at first and Antonio rejects this he doesn't want to be seen as a friend of Shylock's and it's only at this point that proposes the idea that Antonio will give him a pound of flesh if he fails to pay back the loan now having got the loan in act 2 Bassanio makes plans to pursue his goal of marrying Portia and act to ease also the period where the plot becomes more complicated in the Merchant of Venice one of these complications is the isolation and provocation of first his servant Lancelot leaves him to go and work for Bassanio a is then enraged to learn that his daughter Jessica has stolen his money and run away with a Christian someone called Lorenzo now it's important that we see this isolation and provocation because it helps us to understand Shylock's hostile reaction in acts 3 & 4 now as act 3 begins we approach the midpoint and we know from an earlier video that normally one goal is achieved but there's normally a major reversal of fortune and this pattern holds in this plane Bassanio achieves his goal of marrying Portia but we immediately learn that Antonio's ships have all been sunk leaving him unable to pay the money he owes him here the antagonist fights back and demands his pound of flesh but now he's demanding the heart of him this is the first time it's mentioned so effectively this is a death sent for Antonia now this is typical of act 3 in these plays where the stakes are raised and the effects of actions taken in acts 1 & 2 provoke a response from the person or people antagonized in the first half of the play it's at this point that Portia decides to intervene to help Antonia by disguising herself as a lawyer and in act 4 scene 1 the longest scene in the play she judges where the should or should not have his pound of flesh it's enough to say here that she resolves the situation but the way she does is intriguing and I'll deal with that in more detail in another video then finally in act 5 the final plot lines have resolved in this case it is the missing wedding ring at the midpoint bostonia was given a wedding ring by Portia and told never to give it away it turns out that he has given it away and she wants to know where it is this cross-examination is on one level a comic plotline because we know as the members of the audience that Bassanio gave it to Portia when she was dressed as a man and he gave it as a reward for saving Antonio but he also highlights an important fault line in the story Portia loves Bassanio and he loves her but there is a third person Antonia he also loves Bassanio in fact earlier in the play one character suggests that Antonio only loves the world for him ie Bassanio so Antonio's continued presence can be seen as a threat to the relationship between Portia and Bassanio and the way she resolves this final issue is a subject that are discussing more depth in another video give a thumbs up if you enjoyed this video and subscribe now so that you never miss any of my future posts