Leading onto something else that’s another human desire, Love. When you really break it down, perhaps love is the root cause of the story's beginning? If Bassanio didn’t love Portia he wouldn't need the money. Essentially, it’s yet another major overarching theme and one that affects the character arcs and storyline drastically. Act 4 scene 1 - Portia becomes a small-time lawyer for the man she loved, Act 2 scene 6 - Jessica converts from her born and raised religion as well as running away from her father for love. The storyline and character arcs are all affected by love, not just romantically too. Antonio’s love for Bassanio is another example that proves strong, agreeing to giving up his own flesh and possibly his life for him, their mutual, maybe platonic love for each other is a connection that I think stands stronger than any of the other dynamics. For their connection and willing sacrifices for one another, they prove to have a strong connection, mutual platonic love or underlying romantic love? I’ll also point out how this dynamic relates to a different modern character dynamic, called yaoi and the ‘type’ of yaoi we see is specifically doomed yaoi, where either both men in the relationship reciprocate feelings but can't be together for some reason or one of them loves the other romantically but feelings aren't reciprocated. I’m not too sure when it comes to coming up with an answer to that part but we can conclude saying that Love is indeed, a huge theme and one that affects the play majorly.
Justice
Finally, Justice.
The infamous ‘pound of flesh’ agreement is a legally binding contract calling for Shylock’s access to justice if his ducats are not brought back to him within three months. It’s an agreement that proved to have flaws within it but overall it stood firm and his refusal of taking money in place of the flesh was what brought them to court in the first place. This theme also portrays some of the legal differences between Christians and those who follow other religions, a prime example is when Shylock is just about to receive his pound of flesh from Antonio, cut near his heart, then portia stops him, saying “This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood. The words expressly are “a pound of flesh”. Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh, but in the cutting it, if thou dost shed one drop of christian blood, thy hands and goods are by the laws of Venice confiscate.” In this line, ‘christian blood’ is the blood that cannot be shed, not just human blood, but Christian blood. This shows us part of the inequalities that the jewish people faced, and how those inequalities weaved into things like the Elizabethan justice system.
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