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• For OCR, The Merchant of Venice is examined in Section B of the Exploring Poetry and Shakespeare paper.

You will be asked to either:

• write in detail about an extract from the play and then write about the play as a whole
• or write about a key theme or idea in the play as a whole, using specific examples from the play.

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Remember

This is a closed book exam, so you will not be allowed to take a copy of the text in with you.

You will be given two question options to choose from. You should choose one to answer.

• One option requires you to write about an extract from the play and link your ideas to the play as whole.

• The other asks you to write about a key theme, using specific examples from the play.

These questions will be similar to the ones below.

Example questions

Option 1

In this extract, Antonio is asking Shylock for money. Shylock recalls how Antonio has treated him in the past.

Explore the theme of hatred and prejudice.

Refer to this extract from Act 1, Scene 3 and elsewhere in the play.

Or

Option 2

How are relationships between fathers and daughters represented in The Merchant of Venice?

Explore at least two moments from the play to support your ideas.

Your exam response will be marked using Assessment Objectives (AOs).

The ones for these questions are below.

Whichever question you choose, you will need to include ideas about context.

Context means the time in which the play was written.

• You can think about attitudes and ways of life in Shakespeare’s time.
• You can refer to Shakespeare’s contemporary playwrights and historical facts.
• You can compare the time in which the play was written with the way people live now.
• You can think about how modern directors might stage the play and how modern audiences might react to it.

At the start of your answer, it is helpful to have a short introduction.

An effective introduction should give a summary of the ideas you are about to present, and link to the question and the writer’s message.

After your introduction, each paragraph should include:

• A topic sentence, which uses some of the language of the question, to introduce your argument

• Evidence that supports your argument

• Analysis of the effects of language or dramatic techniques

• A final sentence that acts as a mini-summary.

You could include a short conclusion at the end of your answer to summarise the points you have made.

If you choose to answer the question on the extract, think about:

As part of your answer you will need to analyse Shakespeare’s use of language, structure and form in a given extract.

What could you write about these lines from the extract when discussing prejudice and intolerance?

In this extract, Antonio is asking Shylock for money. Shylock recalls how Antonio has treated him in the past.

Explore the theme of hatred and prejudice.

Refer to this extract from Act 1, Scene 3 and elsewhere in the play.

Answers could include:

In this extract, Shylock is subjected to antisemitic abuse from Antonio that shows the intolerance that many Christians felt for Jewish people during Shakespeare’s time. Antonio is intolerant of Shylock’s different religious views and calls Shylock a “misbeliever”.

In addition to being verbally insulted, the extract shows that Shylock is physically abused by Antonio by being spat and kicked at. Shylock reminds Antonio that he “did void your rheum upon my beard” and “foot me as you spurn a stranger cur”. It is as if Shylock is not even human – he is treated worse than a dog. Shockingly, Antonio acknowledges his behaviour, seemingly without remorse, “I am as like…to spit on thee again, to spurn thee, too” and says that he would do the same again if he had the chance.

In the extract, Shylock answers Antonio. He says that Jewish suffrance is like a badge – Jewish people have been forced to put up with so much prejudice and intolerance that they have become used to it and respond with “a patient shrug”. Shylock mocks this state of affairs when he asks if he should be grateful that Antonio wants to do business with him. He asks if he should “bend low” and speak with “whisp’ring humbleness”.

In the OCR exam, you can either answer a question based on a textual extract or answer a question based on a key theme or idea in the play.

Example question

How are relationships between fathers and daughters represented in The Merchant of Venice? Explore at least two moments from the play to support your ideas.

In the example question provided, you are asked to think about relationships between fathers and daughters in this play.