"Antonio, a successful but cash-poor merchant, approaches Shylock, a wealthy moneylender, for a loan to help his young friend Bassanio woo the fair Portia. Despite being longtime enemies, Shylock grants the request, but demands one pound of Antonio's flesh if the debt is not repaid on time. When Antonio defaults on the loan, Shylock seeks what is legally owed him but soon learns that those to whom evil is done, do evil in return." - Container.

Under John Barton's direction, two members of the Royal Shakespeare Company explore Shakespeare's character Shylock to demonstrate how shakespeare develops a character and the multiplicity of ways in which his characters can be understood. Given the same text from The merchant of Venice and the same direction, the different readings of the part demonstrate the infinite variety of Shakespeare's work.

This program is about the Elizabethan relish of words -- their resonances, onomatopoeia, alliteration and antithesis. How Shakespeare uses language to define character, and how his characters use heightened language to achieve the intentions.