Introduction

Use this Real-Life Lens Plan to help students dive deep into Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and examine the play’s themes, characters, beliefs, and language through the lens of how we treat each other. What causes people to treat others with compassion or cruelty? Are people inherently compassionate or cruel? What lessons can Shakespeare’s depiction of the relationship between Christians and Jews in Renaissance Venice teach people today?

Materials

  • The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
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Introduce the Lens

To activate students’ thinking, choose one or two of the following Real-Life Links to use in an engagement activity. Have students read or watch and discuss the content. Encourage students to jot down notes, or record class notes on the board for future reference.

Pose the following Big Idea Questions to the class:

Are there universal rules about how people should treat one another? Do you have rules that you always follow no matter what? 

Think about the world around you, perhaps your school community or your country. What examples do you see of people treating others with compassion? What examples do you see of cruelty? Why do you think people act the way they do?

Engagement Activity 

1. Have students write quick initial answers to the questions.

2. Have them discuss the questions in small groups. Ask students to think back over the past few days to identify examples of compassionate treatment of others and cruel treatment of others they have witnessed or heard about. (Remind them not to use names in discussing their observations.)

3. Ask students to choose one example of cruel behavior, discuss what rules of civility were broken, and then brainstorm what an onlooker could have said or done to improve the situation.

4. Following discussion, ask a volunteer from each group to share what they talked about with the class.

CCSS

Introduce the Driving Questions

Begin by having students write their own questions about the lesson topic. Encourage them to think about what they already know about how people treat each other and what they’re interested in exploring further. 

Hand out the Driving Questions Worksheet. Review the questions as a class. Students should enter initial answers to the questions as they read The Merchant of Venice. They will revisit the questions and revise their answers following the lesson activities, classroom discussion, and completion of the text. Remind students to support their responses with text evidence.

Integrate the Driving Questions into your classroom discussions. Use them to help guide students’ thinking about the Big Idea Questions. 

1. Contrast Antonio and Bassanio in terms of how they treat other people. Are you more like Antonio or Bassanio? 

2. Shylock and Antonio both treat one another with scorn and distaste. Which character is more empathetic? Explain. 

3. What do you learn about Shylock in Act 2, Scene 5? Would you consider him to be a moral person?  

4. What does Shylock’s “Hath not a Jew . . . ” speech in Act 3, Scene 1 tell you about humanity in Venice? 

5. How do you interpret Shylock’s insistence on taking a pound of Antonio’s flesh instead of the large sum of money he is offered? What interests drive Shylock? 

6. Do Portia’s actions toward Shylock in Act 4, Scene 1, show mercy, a lack of mercy, or both? Explain. 

7. Which character in the play demonstrates the most compassion and humanity?

CCSS

Introduce the "Through the Lens" Activity

Activity: The Golden Rule

In this activity, students will apply the Golden Rule to their own past actions and experiences.

Share with students the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Ask them to think of examples from their own life that demonstrate times they lived according to the Golden Rule and times they did not follow it. Have them write a few sentences about each example. (If students are uncomfortable writing about their own experiences, they can write about someone they know or a character in a story or film.) In their sentences, students should note what provoked their treatment of others (kind or unkind), what they did, and how the other person or people reacted.

Once students have written about their examples, ask them to think about how these incidents, specifically how they acted and the results of their actions, made them feel. Have them write a paragraph or draw a set of pictures showing how they felt. 

When all students have completed their personal response, conduct a whole-class discussion asking questions, such as: What caused you to treat others in the manner you did? What would you say to someone else if you witnessed this treatment? Do you think you would do the same thing again?

Before moving on, explain that students will explore how characters in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice treat others through their words, actions, and expectations.

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Rather than having all students write about personal experiences, have a few volunteers describe a time when they failed to follow the Golden Rule. After each story, the class can brainstorm together what the volunteer could have done to treat the other person/people more respectfully. Proceed to the discussion as outlined above.

Increase difficulty

After the discussion, have students list what they consider to be the five most important principles to following the Golden Rule, such as, “Be kind,” “Never lie,” etc.

Introduce the Final Project

Before moving on, introduce the final projects to the class (see below for details). Have students choose the project they will complete and encourage them to keep their project in mind as they read the text. Facilitate the formation of project groups if necessary.

Assign the Midpoint Activities

Activity 1: Intolerance in Venice

Students will identify, examine, and analyze instances of intolerant behavior depicted in Acts 1 and 2. Students will: 

  • Look through the text to find and cite five examples of intolerant behavior. 

  • Write a sentence or two explaining why this intolerant behavior was considered to be acceptable in Venice in the late 1500s. 

  • Use their examples to write a brief essay in which they explain and respond to these intolerant behaviors from a modern point of view.

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Have small groups of students work together to locate the examples. Then have students produce a quick first draft of their essay. Next, have student pairs exchange drafts and provide each other with constructive feedback. Finally, allow time for students to revise their writing and produce a final draft.

Increase difficulty

Expand the activity by having pairs or small groups of students select one of the scenes featuring intolerant behavior and act it out, but instead of having characters respond the way they did in the play, the students who witness the intolerant behavior should respond the way someone might today.

Activity 2: Shylock and Antonio

Students will complete a close reading of Act 1, Scene 2, in order to conduct a group analysis of the characters of Shylock and Antonio.

Students will:

  • Reread Act 1, Scene 2, and review what Antonio said to Bassanio about Shylock preceding this meeting, taking notes on how the two men treat one another.

  • Organize into small groups to discuss how this scene makes them feel about both Shylock and Antonio.

  • Present their group’s ideas to the class.


Before students discuss the play, instruct them to come up with and agree upon three rules of discussion to ensure fair and respectful treatment of all group members. Guide students to understand that respectful treatment includes using respectful language when speaking, actively listening when another is speaking, not interrupting, waiting for one’s turn to speak, not speaking too long, and using respectful language when disagreeing with another person’s point of view or ideas. 

Model how to respectfully disagree with another person. Use sentence stems such as “I understand that you think _____; however, I believe _____.” “While I respect your statement concerning ____, at the same time, I think _____.” It might be helpful to record some rules for respectful discussion on the board. 

Once groups have concluded their discussion, have each group present their ideas to the class. Groups can focus on their main takeaway about how Antonio treats Shylock and how Shylock treats Antonio.

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Help groups facilitate their discussion and presentation by assigning roles to each student: 

  • facilitator (keeps group on task and ensures everyone gets a turn to speak) 

  • recorder (takes notes) 

  • timekeeper (makes sure group works within allotted time frame and that no student dominates discussion) 

  • reporter(s) (presents group’s findings to the class)

Increase difficulty

As part of their presentation, have students include a report of how well they adhered to their rules of discussion. Have students explain any challenges they faced and how they handled these challenges.

Final Projects

Students will work on their final projects after they have finished reading The Merchant of Venice. Both projects call for small groups.

Final Project 1: The Portrayal of Jews in English Literature

Students will analyze the treatment of Jews in English literature prior to The Merchant of Venice. Working in groups, students will: 

  • Read the excerpted texts and answer the questions on the Jews in Literature Worksheet. 

  • Discuss what each work of literature implies about Jews and compare each text to The Merchant of Venice. Some questions to ask to guide students’ analysis: What similarities exist among the texts? Do Shylock and the Jewish characters have commonalities? In what ways do Jews suffer because of their religion? 

  • Students will use their completed worksheet and their group discussions to evaluate how Jews were perceived in England before and during Shakespeare’s time and write a thesis statement that summarizes their thinking. 

  • Groups will then conduct research to find at least two examples of how religious minorities are treated in society today and compare these examples to how Jews were treated in Shakespeare’s time.  


Students will present their findings in either an oral presentation or a piece of artwork. If possible, students can use an art program to produce a multimedia presentation that includes their thesis statement and the results of their research, including images, digital drawings, quotes from the excerpts, and/or music.

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

To reduce the difficulty of reading and comprehending the excerpts, you may choose to do one of the following: Have students focus solely on the excerpt from The Jew of Malta, provide summaries of the three excerpted works, or read aloud the works with the class and work on general comprehension together. For the research component, guide students in their search terms and locating websites such as the ACLU.

Increase difficulty

Have students read The Jew of Malta (or a detailed summary) and compare the play to The Merchant of Venice in its treatment and presentation of Jewish characters. Students can include this analysis in their final project.

Final Project 2: Dueling Sides of The Merchant of Venice

Students will work in small groups to find passages in The Merchant of Venice that exemplify good treatment and poor treatment of others and then analyze the purpose of these scenes. Students will:

  • Identify several examples from The Merchant of Venice that show both good and poor treatment of others. 

  • Analyze the purpose of each example in the play. Some questions to ask to guide students’ analysis: Why does Shakespeare include this scene? What words does he put in characters’ mouths to emphasize this purpose? What point do you think he is making with this example? 

  • Consider all the passages they have analyzed in order to discuss this big-picture question: What is your takeaway from the play about how people treat others? Are people generally kind and compassionate, or are most people cruel and selfish? 


Student groups will then work together to create a collage of digital media to share what they learned about the play’s message. Collages can directly reflect scenes and passages from The Merchant of Venice or be more representational. Have groups present their completed works to the class.

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Instruct students to focus on Act 4. This act provides enough examples of both good and poor treatment for students to complete their project.

Increase difficulty

Have the group act out an “annotated” version of one of the example passages. Some members of the group can take the role of characters while others act as narrators and commentators, stopping and explicating the action and dialogue as it unfolds.

Assess the Assignments

Use the Rubric for Student Assessment to evaluate student work on the lesson assignments. 

Distribute the Student Reflection Worksheet. Guide students through the self-assessment and reflection questions.

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