The Merchant of Venice in the court of the Duke of Venice. Shylock refuses Bassanio's offer of 6,000 ducats, twice the amount of the loan. He demands his pound of flesh from Antonio. The Duke, wishing to save Antonio but unable to nullify a contract, refers the case to a visitor. He identifies himself as Balthasar, a young male "doctor of the law", bearing a letter of recommendation to the Duke from the learned lawyer Bellario. The doctor is Portia in disguise, and the law clerk who accompanies her is Nerissa, also disguised as a man. As Balthasar, Portia repeatedly asks Shylock to show
The Jew (play) Shylock in William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" and Barabas in Christopher Marlowe's "The Jew of Malta". In a series of articles called "Observer", first published in 1785, Cumberland created a character named Abraham Abrahams who would later serve as a template for Sheva, the title character in "The Jew". In one instalment of "Observer", Abrahams is quoted as saying, "I verily believe the odious character of Shylock has brought little less persecution upon us, poor scattered sons of Abraham, than the Inquisition itself." A decade later, in writing "The Jew", Cumberland sought to create a positive image of a