Mercy in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

This lesson is about Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice and has been written primarily for students who are already familiar with the play.

Topic: Shakespeare

Level: B1-B2

Time: 80 minutes

Aims:

  • To develop students’ vocabulary on the theme of mercy.
  • To give students practise in reading for specific information.
  • To revise the plot of The Merchant of Venice and raise students’ awareness of one of the play’s central themes: mercy.

Materials:

The lesson plan and student worksheet can be downloaded below in PDF format.

Audio:

Click here to listen to the original of Portia's speech

Click here to listen to the modern translation of Portia's speech

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