Jessica (The Merchant of Venice) father's casket of Ducats, motivates Shylock's vengefulness towards Antonio; she serves as a mirror highlighting the differences between Shylock's Jewish household and Portia's Christian one; and serves as the means by which Shylock is forcibly converted to Christianity. Her first appearance on stage is in Act 2, Scene 3, in a brief scene with Launcelot Gobbo. Gobbo is leaving Shylock's service to give his allegiance to Bassiano, and Jessica bemoans the loss of his company in a household that is "hell". She speeds him along, to avoid her father seeing their interaction, with a Ducat as a parting gift and
Jessica (The Merchant of Venice) Warburton's note—in his 1765 edition: "The commentator should have remarked, that this speech is not, even in his own edition, the speech of the "Jewess"." The lines in question are usually assigned Lorenzo. The next was by Edmond Malone in his 1790 edition. The editor of the "Second Folio" (1632) had emended the line "If a Christian do not / play the knave and get thee, I am much deceived", substituting "did" for "do". This changed the meaning, as an acerbic Malone points out: Malone's position turned out to be somewhat controversial. In his revised edition in 1821, multiple notes