The Merchant of Venice is a play written by William Shakespeare in 1596 and finished writing it in 1598. The play begins with Bassanio wanting to marry Portia. He confronts Antonio to ask him for a loan so that he can have enough money to marry his future wife. Antonio finds that he doesn't have enough money to give Bassanio the loan, so he agrees to be the person to guarantee the loan. The two find Shylock to give him the loan. Portia then welcomes the Prince of Morocco, who has come in an attempt to choose the right coffin to marry her. He chooses the wrong coffin and loses his hand in marriage (Spark Notes: Plot Overview). 3 of the most important things in the show are how people who seem beautiful on the outside can be rotten and evil at heart, giving mercy to enemies can turn them back (Spark Notes: Themes, Motifs & Symbols, par. 3), and how people treat others based on their religion or belief. In this play I realized that people who seem nice and innocent on the outside can be rotten and evil at heart, Portia is a perfect example of this. Throughout the show Portia became more and more evil than she appeared to be at the beginning of the show. She seemed like a nice young woman, but towards the end of the play she turned against Shylock and made him even poorer than he already was: "Tarry, Jew: the law has yet another hold on you. It is enacted in the laws of Venice , if it is proven against a foreigner who by direct or indirect attempts seeks the life of a citizen, the party against whom he plots will take possession of half of his property; the other half reaches the private coffers of the state and the life of the delinquent lies in the mercy of the duke alone, 'against every other voice, warmed and refreshed by the same winter and summer as a Christian? will we not take revenge? If we are like you in this, we will resemble you. If a Jew wrongs a Christian, what is his revenge? If a Christian wrongs a Jew, what should be his suffering with the Christian example? Why, revenge. The wickedness you teach me I will perform - and it will be hard but I will improve the instructions (Shakespeare, 45) I think Shylock did a good job of describing his thoughts in this quote. how he was tired of being treated differently just because of his religion and beliefs. I completely agree with him on how Anthony should have treated him the same as all his Christian friends and family.