Character guide

Portia

major

Also known as Sweet Portia, fair Portia

Portia commands wealth, wit, and a household of admirers, yet a dead father's riddle governs whom she may wed. She watches the parade of princes gamble for her hand with sharp, impatient intelligence, and when Bassanio arrives she must temper desire with obedience. Her resourcefulness—and her willingness to enter a man's world disguised—turns her from prize into the play's most formidable mind.

Shylock

major

Also known as old Shylock, the Jew

Shylock lends where Christians will not, charging interest that earns him both profit and contempt in a city that despises his faith. Antonio has spat on him and called him dog; when the merchant needs a loan, Shylock sees a chance to bind his enemy to a lethal contract. His insistence on the letter of the bond—'I'll have my bond'—drives the play's central crisis and forces Venice to confront the justice it owes its outsider.

Bassanio

major

Also known as Lord Bassanio, Signior Bassanio

Bassanio has already squandered one fortune and now needs another to court Portia, so he turns to Antonio for the means. His easy charm and genuine affection win him allies, but his finances entangle his closest friend in a bond with a man who wishes Antonio harm. His choice among the caskets—and his honesty about being 'worse than nothing'—tests whether love can survive the debts that made it possible.

Antonio

major

Also known as Signior Antonio, the merchant

Antonio's argosies sail to Tripolis, Mexico, and England, but he insists his fortune is not the source of his unexplained grief. He lends Bassanio money he does not have, signing Shylock's bond without hesitation—an act of devotion that exposes how much he gives and how little he asks. His ships, his bond, and his strange sorrow converge to make him the play's most vulnerable figure.

Gratiano

supporting

Also known as Signior Gratiano

Gratiano cannot abide silence or sorrow, and he tells Antonio plainly that too much respect for the world is what makes men lose it. He talks his way into Bassanio's expedition and into marriage with Nerissa, matching her wit with his own. His mockery of Shylock sharpens the play's unease, showing how easily Venice's Christians laugh at the man they have wronged.

Nerissa

supporting

Nerissa shares Portia's confidences and her sense of humor, teasing her about the suitors and trading barbs with Gratiano. When Portia devises a scheme to intervene in Venice, Nerissa dresses as a clerk and stands beside her, proving that the Belmont women act as a pair. Her marriage to Gratiano mirrors her mistress's union, tying the household's fortunes together.

Lorenzo

supporting

Also known as young Lorenzo

Lorenzo belongs to the young Venetian set that gathers around Bassanio and Antonio, welcome at dinner and trusted with errands. His desire for Jessica pulls against the city's hard lines of faith and family, turning affection into theft and elopement. In the play's early-middle movement he becomes the human hinge between Shylock's house and Belmont, carrying both a stolen daughter and stolen ducats into the world of music and courtship.

Jessica

supporting

Also known as fair Jessica, gentle Jessica

Jessica lives caught between her father's guarded household and the glittering Venetian society she watches from the edges. Her love for Lorenzo demands a break that is also a betrayal, taking his ring, his ducats, and herself away in a single night. She matters because her flight splits Shylock's world open, giving the play its sharpest test of loyalty, conversion, and what a daughter owes a father.

Launcelot Gobbo

supporting

Also known as young Master Launcelot, honest Launcelot

Launcelot works the lowest rung of Venice's social ladder, serving Shylock while dreaming of Bassanio's livelier household. His comic argument with his own conscience over whether to run away turns a small domestic decision into a running joke about hunger, loyalty, and self-interest. He matters because his defection and his clowning thread through the play's middle, lightening its darker bargains while quietly measuring the cost of serving Shylock.

Salerio

minor

A friend of Antonio and Bassanio who reports shipwrecks.

Salanio

minor

Another friend of Antonio who discusses his misfortunes.

Salarino

minor

A Venetian gentleman and friend of Antonio.

Prince of Morocco

minor

Also known as the Moor

A suitor who chooses the gold casket and fails.

Prince of Arragon

minor

Also known as Arragon

A suitor who chooses the silver casket and fails.

Doctor Bellario

minor

Also known as Bellario

A learned lawyer who sends Portia his opinion and robes.

Duke of Venice

minor

Also known as Duke

Presides over the trial of Shylock versus Antonio.

Old Gobbo

minor

Also known as Gobbo

Launcelot's blind father who brings a gift to Bassanio.

Tubal

minor

Also known as good Tubal

A Jewish friend of Shylock who reports Jessica's spending.

Stephano

minor

A messenger who brings news to Portia in Belmont.

Leonardo

minor

Bassanio's servant sent to prepare for the Belmont trip.

Gaoler

minor

Also known as Shylock Gaoler

The jailer who guards Antonio before the trial.

Balthasar

minor

Portia's servant sent to Bellario with letters.