The Merchant of Venice · Chapter
Scene V: A Garden in Belmont explained
In a garden, Launcelot Gobbo teases Jessica about her Jewish heritage, suggesting she is damned for being a Jew's daughter.
What happens
In a garden, Launcelot Gobbo teases Jessica about her Jewish heritage, suggesting she is damned for being a Jew's daughter. Jessica counters that she will be saved by her Christian husband, Lorenzo. Launcelot quips that converting Jews to Christianity will raise the price of pork. Lorenzo enters and joins in the banter, accusing Launcelot of getting a Moorish woman pregnant. After Launcelot leaves, Lorenzo and Jessica discuss Bassanio's wife, Portia, with Jessica praising her beyond compare. Lorenzo playfully compares their own marriage to that of Bassanio and Portia.
Themes in this chapter
Prejudice and Anti-Semitism
Launcelot's teasing about Jessica being damned as a Jew's daughter and his jokes about conversions highlight underlying anti-Semitic attitudes.
Love and Friendship
Jessica and Lorenzo's affectionate banter and their mutual admiration for Bassanio and Portia's marriage underscore the theme of love.
Characters to notice
- Launcelot Gobbo
Engages in witty banter with Jessica and Lorenzo, teasing Jessica about her Jewish heritage and making jokes about conversions and pork.
- Jessica
Defends her conversion to Christianity and praises Portia extravagantly, showing her contentment in her new life with Lorenzo.
- Lorenzo
Exchanges playful insults with Launcelot, then discusses Portia with Jessica, comparing their own marriage favorably.
Key passages
“Yes, truly; for, look you, the sins of the father are to be laid upon the children: therefore, I promise ye, I fear you.”
Indeed, the sins of the father are passed to the children, so I'm afraid for you.
Launcelot uses a biblical concept to tease Jessica about her Jewish heritage.
“I shall be saved by my husband; he hath made me a Christian.”
My husband will save me because he converted me to Christianity.
Jessica asserts her salvation through marriage and conversion.
“This making Christians will raise the price of hogs: if we grow all to be pork-eaters, we shall not shortly have a rasher on the coals for money.”
Converting everyone to Christianity will increase demand for pork, making it expensive and scarce.
Launcelot jokes about the economic impact of religious conversion.