Exam-style questions for Merchant of Venice - AQA

• For AQA, The Merchant of Venice is examined in Paper 2 of your English Literature exam.

• You will be asked to write in detail about an extract from the play and then write about the play as a whole.

Remember

This is a closed book exam, so you will not be allowed to take a copy of the text in with you.

In your exam, you will be given a two-part question, similar to the one below.

Example question

Read the following extract from Act 1, Scene 3 of The Merchant of Venice and then answer the question that follows.

At this point in the play, Antonio is asking Shylock for money and Shylock is recalling Antonio’s past treatment of him.

Starting with this speech:

1. How does Shakespeare explore the theme of prejudice and intolerance in this conversation?

2. How does Shakespeare explore the theme of prejudice and intolerance in the play as a whole?

If you choose to answer the question on the extract, think about:

Your exam response will be marked using Assessment Objectives (AOs).

The ones for these questions are below.

As part of your answer you will need to analyse Shakespeare’s use of language, structure and form in a given extract.

What could you write about these lines from the extract when discussing prejudice and intolerance?

When writing your answer, you should also consider the context in which The Merchant of Venice was written.

• You can think about attitudes and ways of life in Shakespeare’s time.
• You can refer to Shakespeare’s contemporary playwrights and historical facts.
• You can compare the time in which the play was written with the way people live now.
• You can think about how modern directors might stage the play and how modern audiences might react to it.

At the start of your answer, it is helpful to have a short introduction.

An effective introduction should give a summary of the ideas you are about to present, and link to the question and the writer’s message.

After your introduction, each paragraph should include:

• A topic sentence, which uses some of the language of the question, to introduce your argument

• Evidence that supports your argument

• Analysis of the effects of language or dramatic techniques

• A final sentence that acts as a mini-summary.

You could include a short conclusion at the end of your answer to summarise the points you have made.

Example question

Read the following extract from Act 1, Scene 3 of The Merchant of Venice and then answer the question that follows.

At this point in the play, Antonio is asking Shylock for money and Shylock is recalling Antonio’s past treatment of him.

Starting with this speech:

1. How does Shakespeare explore the theme of prejudice and intolerance in this conversation?
2. How does Shakespeare explore the theme of prejudice and intolerance in the play as a whole?

Answers could include:

(1) In this extract, Shylock is subjected to antisemitic abuse from Antonio that shows the intolerance that many Christians felt for Jewish people during Shakespeare’s time. Antonio is intolerant of Shylock’s different religious views and calls Shylock a “misbeliever”.

In addition to being verbally insulted, the extract shows that Shylock is physically abused by Antonio by being spat and kicked at. Shylock reminds Antonio that he “did void your rheum upon my beard” and “foot me as you spurn a stranger cur”. It is as if Shylock is not even human – he is treated worse than a dog. Shockingly, Antonio acknowledges his behaviour, seemingly without remorse, “I am as like…to spit on thee again, to spurn thee, too” and says that he would do the same again if he had the chance.

In the extract, Shylock answers Antonio. He says that Jewish suffrance is like a badge – Jewish people have been forced to put up with so much prejudice and intolerance that they have become used to it and respond with “a patient shrug”. Shylock mocks this state of affairs when he asks if he should be grateful that Antonio wants to do business with him. He asks if he should “bend low” and speak with “whisp’ring humbleness”.

Answers could include:

(2) Throughout the play, characters use prejudicial language against Shylock and other Jewish characters. He is called “dog Jew”, “usurer” and “the Jew” rather than by his own name. At the end of the play, he is even forced to convert to Christianity against his will, denying him his right to live his life as he wishes.

In other parts of the play, Shylock is given a similar opportunity to speak about Jewish suffering. In Act 3, Scene 1, Shylock challenges two Christian characters to see him as a human being. By asking “Hath not a Jew eyes?” Shylock highlights the antisemitic behaviour of the Christian characters in the play, exposing their prejudicial views, and appealing to the audience for his own human rights and equal treatment.

The play can be seen as controversial because of its portrayal of antisemitism, which was common in Europe at the time Shakespeare was writing. In Venice in particular, Jewish people had been forced to live in a separate area of the city since 1516.

Recently, modern audiences have questioned whether Shakespeare himself was guilty of prejudice and intolerance in writing The Merchant of Venice. Some believe that the classification of the play as a comedy, and the cruel treatment of Shylock is evidence of Shakespeare’s antisemitism. Others believe that by giving Shylock a voice, Shakespeare wanted to shine a light on the antisemitism of his time.