Jessica (The Merchant of Venice) Shylock's line's adherence to the Jewish faith. Literary critics have historically viewed the character negatively, highlighting her theft of her father's gold, her betrayal of his trust, and apparently selfish motivations and aimless behaviour. Since the end of the 20th century their views have been more moderate and nuanced, pointing to an alternate reading that allows her actions to be motivated by love and generosity, and being driven by Shylock's own tyrannical and immoral behaviour. The central plot of "The Merchant of Venice" is relatively straightforward: Antonio borrows money from Shylock to help his friend, Bassanio, court Portia, but, through
The London Merchant to the change in comedy made by Richard Steele's "The Conscious Lovers", a play that refined sensibility in comedy and depicted the middle class as modern gentry "The London Merchant" asserts the ethics of the merchant, creating Thorowgood as a character who exemplifies all of the desired values that a merchant should have. While exchange and trade are important issues to the merchant, they are also key factors in the text itself as they become metaphors throughout the play. Imperial commerce was growing in the eighteenth century, and Thorowgood describes this phenomenon as a circulation throughout the world. For example,