The Merchant of Venice is a play written by William Shakespeare in 1596 and completed 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 discovers that he does not have enough money to give Bassanio the loan, so he agrees to be the person who guarantees the loan. The two find Shylock to give him the loan. Portia then welcomes the prince of Morocco, who has come to try 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 play are how people who seem kind on the outside can be rotten and evil at their core, giving pity to enemies can backfire on you (Spark Notes: Themes, Motifs and symbols, par. 3), and how people treat others based on their religion or beliefs. I realized in this play that people who seem nice and innocent on the outside can be rotten and evil at heart, Portia is a perfect example. Throughout the play, Portia became more and more evil than what she seemed to be at the beginning of the play. She seemed like a nice young woman, but towards the end of the play she turned on Shylock and made him even poorer than he already was: "Wait, Jew: The law still has a another hold on you. It is decreed in the laws of Venice, if it is proven against a foreigner that, by direct or indirect attempts, he seeks the life of a citizen, the party against the one he invents will seize half of his property ; the other half goes into the private coffers of the State; and the life of the offender is at the mercy of the Duke alone, "against every other voice." " (Sh...... middle of paper ...... as, healed by the same means, warmed and refreshed by the same winter and summer as a Christian? If you prick us, let's not bleed don't we? If you tickle us, won't we laugh? If you wrong us, won't we take revenge? a Christian, what is his revenge? If a Christian wrongs a Jew, what should his suffering be? Why, revenge that you teach me, I will execute it - and it will be difficult but. I will improve instructions (Shakespeare, 45). I think Shylock did a good job describing his thoughts in this quote how he was tired of being treated differently simply because of his religion and beliefs. totally agree with him about how Antonio should have treated him the same as all his Christian friends and family..