Jessica (The Merchant of Venice) Jessica (The Merchant of Venice) Jessica is the daughter of Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, in William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" (). In the play, she elopes with Lorenzo, a pennyless Christian, and a chest of her father's money, eventually ending up in Portia and Bassanio's household. In the play's dramatic structure, Jessica is a minor but pivotal role. Her actions motivate Shylock's vengeful insistence on his "pound of flesh" from Antonio; her relationships with Lorenzo and Shylock serves as a mirror and contrast to Portia's with Bassanio and with her father; her conversion to Christianity is the end of
The Masque at Kenilworth and the ancient Greek poet Arion, who arrives astride a dolphin. A performance of the "summer night" scene from "The Merchant of Venice" is given, and then the Queen is sung lovingly to sleep. The "Merchant of Venice" scene is anachronistic, since Shakespeare was a young boy in 1575, but Chorley notes in his preface that Scott had also anachronistically used Shakespeare material. Chorley's effort was ridiculed as "trivial". In addition, Chorley faced much criticism over a misquote of "The Merchant of Venice" in No. 7, "Scene from "The Merchant of Venice"". Chorley's line reads: "Still quiring to the young-eyed