-sources include Il Pecorone (1558) by Ser Giovanni, a lost play entitled The Jew, and The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe.

-though grouped with the comedies, it lacks lightness and benevolence; instead it verges on the tragic.

-the play focuses upon anti-semitism, money, and death; additionally, the clowns do not offer refreshing moments of laughter.

-may be thought of as folk story made into a fairy tale.

-there is a dual plot: the casket plot and the bond plot; a less significant sub-plot is the Christian-Jew love story between Jessica and Lorenzo.

-of the main characters, there is mixed critical judgment. Antonio, loyal to a fault, is nonetheless melancholy and bigoted; Portia, the bright young woman really steals the show with her courtroom mastery of Shylock; Shylock, though not the main character, commands a great deal of our attention because he is so psychologically fascinating; he is money grubbing but in our most honest moments so are many of us.

-the central theme of the play concerns the relationship between mercy and justice, between the new law and the old law, between the spirit and the flesh; other than Measure for Measure, this play may be the most explicitly focused on Christian ideas and themes.