Is Bassanio right in distrusting, and wrong in accepting such a bond?

The long pedigree of Jewish and Christian antipathy and its
illustration in this bond by the characters that are its exemplars.

What is to be gathered of Portia in this Act before she meets again
with Bassanio?

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Are Anthonio and Shylock more individual than typical?

Does the Act close with assurance of good luck or foreboding of bad?

Is Bassanio a fortune hunter?

Is he to blame for what follows?


ACT II

PORTIA'S CASKETS

Why is Jessica's story intertwined with Portia's? What dramatic
purposes does it serve? Are Jessica and Launce alike justified in
leaving Shylock? Why? (See Introduction to the Play in First Folio
Edition for suggestion). Is the Jew's lament for his daughter although
piteous, inadequate.