Important Extracts from: The Merchant of Venice: Reference to the Context

Important Extracts from: The Merchant of Venice

Act I Scene (i)

1.“ In sooth, I know not why I am so sad;
It wearies me; you say it wearies you;
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn;(5)
And such a want-wit sadness makes of me,
That I have much ado to know myself.”

Reference to the Context: These lines have been taken form William Shakespeare’s play ‘The Merchant of Venice’, Act I Scene (i). These are the very opening lines of the scene. Antonio is sad and his friends Salarino and Solanio are asking him the cause of his sadness. But he is unable to find out the reason.

Explanation: Antonio tells his friends that in reality he is unable to find out the reason of his sadness. HE is also worried to know the reason for his sadness. He does not know wherefrom that sadness entered his mind. What is its reason? What type of sadness is this? He says that he is unable to recognize it. These lines show Antonio’s melancholy nature.

2. ‘My ventures are not in one bottom trusted,
Nor to one place; nor is my whole estate
Upon the fortune of this present year:(45)
Therefore my merchandise makes me not sad.’

Reference to the Context: These lines have been taken form William Shakespeare’s play ‘The Merchant of Venice’, Act I Scene (i). As we know Antonio is sad. He is unable to find out the reason of his sadness. His friend Salarino says that he might be sad because his all ships are in the sea. They are at risks of so many types. But Antonio refuses to be sad because of that reason.

Explanation: Antonio tells Salarino that he does not send all of his ships at one point in the sea. He sends them in different directions. He thanks fortune for that. Thus he does not agree to the reason given by Salarino. These lines show Antonio’s melancholy nature.

3. Let me play the fool!
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come;
And let my liver rather heat with wine,(85)
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans.
Why should a man whose blood is warm within
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster?
Sleep when he wakes and creep into the jaundice
By being peevish?

Reference to the Context: These lines have been taken form William Shakespeare’s play ‘The Merchant of Venice’, Act I Scene (i). In this scene, Gratiano tells Antonio that he is sad and a changed person on that day. At this Antonio tells him that God has given different roles to everyman to play in his life. So he has also been given a different role to play. His role is to play a sad role in his life. After that Gratiano speaks the above quoted lines.

Explanation: Gratiano replies Antonio that he would not like to play sad role in life. He would like to play the role of a ‘fool’ or a joker. He tries to tell Antonio that it is not good to be sad in life. He suggests to him to laugh with joy. Let wrinkles appear on his face while laughing without any topic. He would also like to drink alcohol to make his liver heat up rather than make his young heart cool down with groans of sadness. He does not find any logic in sitting sad and somber like his grandparents when his blood is warm. He should not behave like old people, who seem to be sleeping while they are awake. Their faces look like those of the patients of jaundice.

5. There are a sort of men, whose visages
Do cream and mantle like a standing pond;
And do a wilful stillness entertain,
With purpose to be dress'd in an opinion(95)
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit;
As who should say, I am Sir Oracle,
And, when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!

Reference to the Context: These lines have been taken form William Shakespeare’s play ‘The Merchant of Venice’, Act I Scene (i). In this scene, Gratiano tells Antonio that he is sad and a changed person on that day. At this Antonio tells him that God has given different roles to everyman to play in his life. So he has also been given a different role to play. His role is to play a sad role in his life. After that Gratiano speaks the above quoted lines.

Explanation: Here Gratiano generalises his ideas about the people who look serious. He says that there are some people in the world whose faces do not match the ideas they have got in their minds. William Shakespeare compares their faces to the surface of the ponds which are covered with some cream-like material. It shows that they observe silence to hide their inner hollowness. They want to show that they are full of wisdom, seriousness and depth. But in reality, they are not so. They think themselves ‘Sir Oracle’. They do not allow others to speak when they start speaking. The word oracle is associated with the people who predict the future.

6.I'll tell thee more of this another time:

But fish not with this melancholy bait,(105)
For this fool-gudgeon, this opinion.

Word-meaning: Gudgeon: it is a small freshwater fish, used as a bait by anglers
Reference to the Context:  Same as above in extract 5.

Explanation: Gratiano advises Antonio not to waste his time and spoil his health by keeping himself in sad mood. He uses an imagery here. He imagines that Antonio is fishing at the bank of a river. He has not used any useful bait for fishing. His bait is only melancholy nature. It means he is just wasting his time. He would get nothing but sadness and disappointment.

Antonio-Bassanio Relationship: Its Dramatic Importance: The Merchant of Venice

Q7. Antonio-Bassanio Relationship: Its Dramatic Importance

Ans. The relationship between Antonio and Bassanio is the very basis of the main plot of The Merchant of Venice. Without this relationship of close friendship between these characters, several major incidents in the play would not have taken place. Bassanio could never have been gone to Belmont to win Portia’s hand for marriage.

There would have been no bond story. There would have been no Casket Scene in which we come to know about several qualities of Portia and Bassanio’s characters. There would have been no Trial scene that throws much light on several characters like Portia, Bassanio, Antonio, shylock, Gratiano, Jessica and even the Duke.

If we see in totality this relationship keeps on moving the ball of action of the main plot of the play at a quick pace. The interest of the reader/audience also remains maintained (intact).

Let’s now have a glimpse of this relationship of close friendship between Antonio and Bassanio.

Antonio-Bassanio relationship becomes crystal clear to the reader in act I, Scene (i).

At Bassanio’s entry on the stage, Solanio tells Antonio:

‘Here comes Bassanio, your most noble kinsman, …’

Bassanio is Antonio’s kinsman also. We also come to know that Antonio is ready to do anything for his friend, Bassanio. Bassanio also confides (opens his heart to) in him his heart’s secrets.

In this scene, Antonio asks him to tell him about his love:

‘Well, tell me now what lady is the same/ To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage…’

Here Bassanio does tell about Portia and also requests his friend about a fresh loan in order to reach Belmont to take part in the casket contest. He says:

‘Tis not unknown to you, Antonio/ How much I have disabled mine estate…’

Thus Bassanio opens his heart to Antonio and tells him about Portia, his love, in his most poetic manner. But he needs a fresh loan to reach Belmont to take part in the casket contest. Antonio has recently invested all his money on ships. At present, he has no cash with him. But he cannot see his friend sad. So he manages somehow a loan of three thousand ducats from Shylock, the cruel money lender of Venice.

But he has to sign a dangerous bond. If he fails to repay the loan in fixed time, then, Shylock would be free to cut one pound of flesh from Antonio’s body part that is very close to his heart. Bassanio stops him to sign this bond, but Antonio is hopeful that his ships would return in time with profits in his business.

It is this loan that lands Antonio in Shylock’s death trap. The reason for Shylock’s enmity with Antonio is just the latter’s (Antonio’s) generous nature. He gives loan to people without any rate of interest. Thus Shylock considers Antonio his business rival.

Bassanio takes part in the casket contest and wins Portia’s hand for marriage. But as soon as he comes to know about Antonio’s troubles, he reaches Venice at once to save Antonio. Ithappened that Antonio’s all ships were destroyed in the sea.

According to the bond’s condition, Shylock was free to cut one pound of flesh from Antonio’s body.

In the meantime, Portia reaches Venice in the guise of a lawyer in male dress. She enters the Duke’s court and proceeds to argue. She saves Antonio very cleverly from Shylock’s death trap. She also proves the Jew guilty of a crime against humanity and gets him duly punished.

Thus in the Trail scene, Bassanio’s character is also redeemed (saved/recovered). Otherwise, the reader would have thought him to be a spendthrift person who marries Portia for money. He offers his life to Shylock in order to spare his friend’s life.

Thus we see that the relationship between Antonio and Bassanio has a lot of dramatic significance.

Female Characters in The Merchant of Venice

Q6. Female Characters in ‘The Merchant of Venice’

Ans. William Shakespeare is a past master in creating life-like characters in his plays. There is large range of male and female characters in his plays painted in different shades of colours in life. Some of his female characters like Cordelia in King Lear, Portia in The Merchant of Venice, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Desdemona in Othello and so on are really wonderfully created female characters.

Let’s discuss female characters in the Merchant of Venice.

Shakespeare seems to have created female characters in this play intentionally stronger than their male counterparts. We have three female characters: Portia Jessica and Nerissa.

Portia dominates by her qualities not only the female but also the male characters. She has several qualities of head and heart. She has intelligence, wisdom, loyalty, romantic nature, presence of mind, confidence, kindness, wit, humour, etc.

These qualities make her stature very high. The reader/audience loves her even in her weak moments of life, when she feels herself caught in a difficulty due to the vow given to her late father. She is not free to choose her husband of her choice. She respects her father’s strange will unto the last. She shows her deep love for Bassanio and deep respect and loyalty to her father. She is also full of the milk of human kindness. When she comes to know from Bassanio about  Antonio’s  difficulty, she at once tells her husband to stop all his work and go to Venice to save his friend.

It is her presence of mind that she at once makes a plan to reach Venice to save Antonio in the Duke’s court. She intelligently and very confidently handles Antonio’s case. Thus she not only saves Antonio but also gets Shylock punished for his crime that he committed against humanity.

In this way, she also overshadows not only other female characters but also male ones including her husband Bassanio, who has been created in low profile. It is later on, Bassanio’s character is redeemed (saved/recovered) when he reaches Venice to help Antonio in the Duke’s court. There he shows much concern for his friend’s life. He offers Shylock several times more money than it was taken as a loan from him. But the Jew is not ready to forgive Antonio. Bassanio also tells the Jew that he can cut every part of his body but spare Antonio’s life.

Another female character is Jessica. She is Shylock’s daughter. She elopes with her lover Lorenzo taking with her a lot of valuables from her house. She does not love her father. She condemns him for his evil-doings. She also calls her house a hell. She feels ashamed of being called Shylock’s daughter. although she feels bad for such types of feelings for her father. Lorenzo and Jessica waste Shylock’s money when they stay at several places during elopement time. Thus we do not have a very high opinion about Jessica. She loves money. That is why she took diamonds and ducats with her. In Portia’s absence, Lorenzo and Jessica take care of her house.

The third female character in the play is Nerissa, who marries Gratiano. She is Portia’s woman-in-waiting. She provides (gives) company to her. Portia shares her thoughts and feelings with her. In Act I, Scene (ii), Portia feels sad to think that she is not free to choose the husband of her choice. Then she tells Portia that her father was really a wise person. She consoles her that she would finally get a husband who would truly love her. Nerissa also accompanies Portia in the Duke’s court. In the ring episode also, Nerissa has an equal part to play. In a way, she has been created as a foil to Portia to highlight her qualities.

In this way, there are three female characters in The Merchant of Venice, who dominate their male counterparts.