Saturday, February 8, 2014

Questions for Acts 1 and 2 of The Merchant of Venice


Close Reading Questions for Acts 1 & 2 of The Merchant of Venice

Answer TWO of the following...

1. In general, discuss the tonal difference between the scenes in Venice and those in Belmont.  Why might we argue that these worlds seem to inhabit two entirely different plays?  Is it too much to argue that Venice is the ‘tragedy’ and Belmont the ‘comedy’?  Are there specific reasons for making this case?

2. As in As You Like It, how can we understand character relationships through the use of verse and prose?  Who speaks what and when?  Focus on a specific moment when the difference between prose and verse matters. 

3. The 2004 Radford version of The Merchant of Venice seemed to play up the homoerotic possibility between Antonio and Bassanio.  Do we see any hints of this in the text itself?  Consider specifically Act 1, Scene 1, when Bassanio tells Antonio of his plan to woo Portia.  Since there are no stage directions but only language, what does the language tell us—or hint at—if anything? 

4. Reading the bare text of Shylock, does he come across as a human being or a caricature?  What lines might give him unexpected depth—or comic buffoonery?  How might Shakespeare want him to be read/played in a specific scene?  Do you think Pacinio was faithful to the text in this regard, or did he add too much 20th century perspective on his character? 

5. The Merchant of Venice seems to have a lot of superfluous male characters, such as the frustratingly similarly named Salerio and Salanio, as well as Gratiano, Lorenzo, and even Lancelot, the clown.  Why are all these characters here, milling about?  What do some—or all—of them add to the atmosphere of the play?  Are their lines important?  Do they help us read the major players, or some other aspect of the play?  Are the nods to comic convention, or are they from a much darker play entirely?  

10 comments:

  1. 1. Venice does seem to be the place of tragedy throughout The Merchant of Venice. Belmont gives the impression that it is filled with quick witted women who are surrounded by fortune hunting, boastful men who can’t help but humiliate themselves. The land away from Venice seems to be full of hope—for although Portia is bound by her father’s will, she treats her potential suitors courteously (to their faces) and seems accepting of her situation—and a sense of playfulness.

    Venice on the other hand, is introduced to us through Antonio’s melancholy, a mysterious affliction that seems to have no origin. Although Antonio and Bassanio do seem to genuinely care for each other, their friendship is marked with debt. Bassanio has misused Antonio’s affections for monetary gain in the past, despite his professed love of the man.

    Belmont is portrayed as the land of opportunity and promise. It is the place Bassanio goes to find his fortune. It is the land of the medieval romance, where dead fathers can choose their daughters’ husbands by trial.

    2. I thought one of the most abrupt and interesting switches between prose and blank verse was the one that occurred during the first conversation between Bassanio, Antonio, and Shylock. While Shylock seems perfectly contented to speak prose with Bassanio, he immediately switches to verse when Antonio enters the conversation.

    This serves to drive home the animosity Shylock and Antonio feel for each other. Shylock knows Antonio sees him as a dog, and so uses verse, the language of the court, as a kind of offhanded insult to Antonio’s sensibilities.

    Another interesting use of verse occurs between Antonio and Bassanio in Act One, Scene One. Although Antonio and Bassanio profess to be good friends, and they do indeed prove it as the story progresses, they still use the formal way of speaking with each other. The strangeness of their speech is compounded by the fact that in the very next act Portia and Nerissa, two women professed to be equally close friends, speak in prose. Perhaps then, there is more to Antonio and Bassanio’s relationship than the selfless friendship that they claim to have.

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  2. 3. We know before Bassanio enters that he is Antonio’s “most noble kinsman” and that they have a close relationship. In Act I Scene I, Antonio seems desperate to do anything he can to please Bassanio. We also know from this scene that Bassanio has borrowed a large amount of money from Antonio. In my thinking, if this were a regular close friendship, borrowing a lot of money from someone and not paying them back would be cause to end the friendship. Even with family members—if your brother keeps asking you for money and not paying you back, you are eventually going to stop giving in and letting him have your money. But Antonio isn’t upset in the least, in fact, he is happy to loan Bassanio more money. Antonio claims “my purse, my person, my extremest means Lie all unlocked to your occasions” Antonio is willing to do anything that Bassanio asks of him, no matter what it is (Shakespeare 7). That seems like Antonio is smitten with Bassanio and they have more than a regular friendship.

    4. I think that Shylock certainly brings humanity to the text; although, as a new age reader, that could be a lot of biased on my part. The genius and beauty of Shakespeare is when he gives the audience what they want, he does it in his way. Although I’m sure Shylock was played as a monster or a caricature, the text does not lie. The text lets the reader know that Shylock, although a Jew, is a human, with human emotions and feelings. In the fifth act, when we know Shylock is trying to kill someone, we still feel sympathy for him. That’s powerful. I think Pacinio did a wonderful job portraying Shylock, but as to whether his performance was too modernized, I can’t say for certain. I feel that there is too much of a disconnect for modern readers to fully understand or comprehend the terrible ways in which the Jewish people were treated at the time, therefore we automatically will have more sympathy for Shylock than readers of Shakespeare’s time would have.

    -Tori Watson

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  3. 1. Venice does seem tragic. Jessica and Lorenzo elope in a way reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet--the balcony, the dire secrecy, a feeling of exile, the "father who lost a daughter" could be Capulet as much as Shylock. Shylock himself is described in terms vaguely like Richard or Macbeth--as a villain, a devil. There is a deadly contract between Shylock and Antonio, and a bitter hatred the former openly shows where Antonio denies or ignores it entirely. Launcelot actively abandons his master in a way to seem as if he were merely transferring work. Jessica seems to feel absolutely no remorse for leaving her father the way she does, almost seeming to enjoy doing it in a way alien to a maiden in love. The city feels enclosed, polluted, by these relationships. Belmont, by contrast, is farcical, open-feeling, with many "lovers" trying to woo the most beautiful woman in the play--her looks are angelic in description, her estate the envy of many. The casket challenge is directly from a fairy tale--the humblest holding the greatest treasure, everything else dross. Kind of like the sisters where one is sent into the woods, meets a supernatural group, and is blessed for her kindhearted nature by every word she speaks generating jewels of every kind and gold besides, and the other, witnessing her fortune, does the same, only to get toads and snakes instead. Or of the woodcutter who loses his axe, and a fairy who brings up two valuable-looking axes which he refuses until he sees the right one--and gets all of them in return. These seeming "markers" indicate that yes, Belmont is a romantic comedy and Venice is a thriller and romantic tragedy in the making--the former Antonio and Shylock, the other affecting Jessica and Lorenzo. Either way, Shylock is caught in both types.

    Jessie Randall

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  4. 5. Salerio and Solanio seem like a dual Greek chorus, describing Shylock's reaction to the discovery of his daughter's flight. Gratiano talks too much--much like Mercutio. He's also one of Bassanio's best friends. Lorenzo seems to have the quiet voice of Benvolio, but his romantic function to Jessica is a kind of Romeo Montague--Montague being in this case a stand-in for religion. Launcelot is a straight-up fool like the one in King Lear--or Bottom from Midsummer Night's Dream. These characters, I think, are a form of subtext--they are like, but unlike, the characters I just described, adding to the atmosphere by being darker versions of them without direct deaths. They seem extraneous to Antonio, Portia, and Nerissa, but that's because they are a crowd of friends who adore them. They are a kind of train for Bassanio, highlighting his greatness because he has so many good friends--and his friendship in turn highlights the greatness of Portia and Antonio by being the two he loves most. They are all a stand-in for the entire society of Venice, speaking its words and attitudes. They are like so many different comedic characters in personality, but their function is darker. They all actively look down their noses at Shylock, describing him as a devil, or acting as if he were a hindrance in some form or another--or an idiot, the cases of the first two, for rousing so many in an uproar to chase after his daughter and his money. No one wants to be his friend, just as no one was a friend of Richard III or Macbeth in their times of evil reign. For the play's purposes, their reactions are the stage upon which Shylock's villainy is played.

    Jessie Randall

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  5. 2. I am much more aware of the use of verse and prose after reading As You Like It, and I am happy to find that it has added comedic elements and set a correct tone for ambiguous scenes. For example, in Act 1 Scene 1 Lorenzo, Gratiano, Antonio, and Bassanio are having a discussion in verse. After Lorenzo and Gratiano exit, Bassanio rants in prose "Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice. His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff: you shall seek all day ere you find them, and when you have then they are not worth the search" (pg 7). This comment conveys that these men are perfectly aware of the airs they are putting on, and complaints and gossip are a lower form of communication and are spoken in prose. There is no response to his outburst, probably because as a prose-y side comment it isn't worth a response. In Act 2 Scene 9 the Prince of Argon uses the most obvious form of verse. He responds in verse that follows rhyme and rhythm, the most formal approach of speech. He laments, "with one fool's head I came to woo,/ But I go away with two./ Sweet, adieu; I'll keep my oath/ Patiently to bear my wroth" (35). The formality of his farewell is appropriate because he has lost the chance to marry Portia; he is essentially giving a concession speech.

    5. The extraneous characters add business to the play that keeps it even more lively than having two seeming unrelated plot points. The most obvious example is the relationship between Lorenzo and Jessica, helped along by the servant Lancelot. They run away together in Act 2 Scene 6, and in Act 2 Scene 8 Soler/lanio are gossiping about Shylock's reaction to her eloping. Their conversation reveals important character elements of Shylock despite the source being less than trustworthy. The men say he was "Crying his stones, his daughter, and his ducats" (32), with an emphasis in the conversation about his distress over the loss of ducats. This is also the scene in which the reader learns that Antonio may not be taking his bond with Shylock seriously. These characters work together and relate to each other in minor but necessary ways. The number of characters seems superfluous, but they each provide an element to the story that makes it more complicating and interesting. It seems to make the play more dramatic, but the amount of dialogue and interaction makes for fantastic comedic opportunities.

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  6. Melissa Williams
    Dr. Grasso
    Shakespeare
    February 9, 2014
    3. I can see why some people within the modern day might think that the hunting incident that Bassanio brings up might be more than just that. His flashback may be of a sexual encounter he had as a teen. When he mentions the arrow or “shaft” as he calls it, sounds much like the shaft that modern people refer to now. “In one of my school days, when I had lost one shaft, / I shot his fellow of the selfsame flight / The selfsame way (7).” Though, I am not quite sure that this is meant to be homoerotic since later on Bassanio admits that he is in love with a woman whom he wishes to woo. All that Antonio brings up about the affair is that he cannot lend the coin to Bassanio at the time because all of his money is tied up in the seafaring trade. To me, it sounds more like that Bassanio engaged in a fight with another school boy of the same pedigree and that he used hunting terms to describe the argument.
    4. At the end of Act 1, Shylock goes into a childlike but violent rant towards the Heavens praying to Abram, one of the fathers of the Jewish faith. This would clearly go against the Jewish faith since one is to pray only to the Creator and that trying to contact was considered taboo for a Jew. “Pray you, tell me this,/ If he should break his day, what should I gain/ By the exaction of the forfeiture?/ A pound of man’s flesh taken from a man is not so estimable, profitable neither (16).” This was meant to make audiences laugh during Shakespeare’s time since no one saw Jews any more than penny pinchers out to steal as much money as they could from Christians. Most of the play mocks Shylock so that the people back then could laugh at how the money lending Jews (mind you, this was the only economic situation allotted them by the kings of the time) were more focused on money than on people’s lives. What people of this time do not realize is that lending at interest was considered a sin, but because the kings needed money flowing through their economy they would let Jews. Also, Jews were let in to be the scapegoats in case something bad like the economy faltering happened. Then, you could slaughter a few hundred Jews and then kick the rest out for a decade or two only to let them back in so you could do it again. Without the Jews, the hatred of the people instantly got aimed at their lords instead of the Jews. That is why things like the ritual killing of the Jews happened at the start of the Crusades happened. They believed wild and clearly fake tales about the Jews, and Jews were only permitted to live under Christian law for one reason: Christians back then believed the Jews knew Yeshua was the Messiah and were too stubborn to admit it. So, Jews were allowed to live to make an example out of them by torturing them brutally. I obtained all of this information from Dr. Sutton. With this information in hand, we can see that our viewing Shylock and the Jews with pity is more 20th and 21st century value oriented. Shakespeare, sadly, was just a man of his times enjoying the cruel festivities around him.

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  7. 3. I think the first little hint that we get at the depth of Antonio and Bassanio’s relationship is when all of the other superfluous male characters take their leave of Antonio just because Bassanio has shown up. They refer to him as “better company” and imply that Bassanio’s visit might be able to make him “merry”. I think that if Bassanio were just another friend then the others wouldn’t feel the need to leave the room and leave the two alone. Next I think the way that Antonio claims that his “extremist means” are “unlocked” to Bassanio’s “occasions” is a bit suspect. Extremist means could simply be him promising to give all he has, but it could also be hinting that his extremities area available to him as well. The way that Bassanio gives his reasons for marrying, namely money, before bothering to mention who the girl is, is also suspicious. For the most part people don’t usually need to justify why they want to marry.
    5. I had wondered why there were so many seemingly superfluous characters in this play as well, and many of them don’t seem to be saying much at all. In Act 1 Scene 1 Bassanio even notes that Gratanio “speaks an infinite deal of nothing”. I haven’t read the entire play yet, but I think the excessive male characters are around for at least two reasons. One is comedic, there isn’t a jester in this play so maybe Shakespeare had to spread those lines that question the other plays amongst a few different characters. I think the other purpose is to highlight how much of a man’s world it is that Portia and Nerissa, and to some extent Jessica, live in. Portia particularly knows how to work this world and it’s laws to her advantage, but Jessica seems to have spent much of her life under her father’s thumb and unlike Portia, really seems to fade into the background after her grand escape. If anything Portia’s marriage brings her into the limelight in the play.

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  8. The male characters such as Portia’s suitors especially, to me, show Shakespeare’s opinion of courtship, women’s “real thoughts” on their “game” (slang for woo-ing skills, num-chuck skills). Girls only get guy with good skills, or do they? I remember writing at the beginning of the play, “So many names ending in O!” Which as I remember, Way of the World used many names starting with M. It is your typical comedic, Kelsey, Chelsey, Becky, Britney situation except with men. Think of Goodfellas, all these men have terrible morals, and like Goodfellas they lack identity. Plus Goodfellas also has distinction between classes.
    Belmont is another Forest of Arden for Shakespeare where he can express his/her/? opinions of values/morals that Shakespeare believes to better his audience. When Belmont and Venice inter-mix there are realizations, and plot twists that make for an interesting and interactive play. Characters in leaving from one to the other setting are more developed by doing so, and better understood by Shakespeare’s audience. Belmont is also an aid to understanding character’s intentions and purpose, plus overall humor.

    P.S. If I were to readapt the play, I would be a female actress who dresses as a merchant of venice, Felicio! Unlike Rosalynde I wouldn't expose my female self at all in the play. I would bro it up with all my Italian buddies, Antonio, etc.,

    This is Felicia obviously. I'm in a hurry and don't remember the password to my google account so today I'm anonymous.

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  9. Nikki Ennis

    1. I don't think its too much to argue that Venice is the tragedy and Belmont is the comedy. In fact, I would say it was a justified assumption. Belmont is almost this 'Utopia' island with beautiful princesses and happily ever afters, while Venice is darker and full of dishonesty and bigotry.

    4. In regards to Shylock, his character almost seems like this constant reminder that this is not entirely a comedy. Just when you think it might be, his character busts in screaming "Hey! Remember me? Life isn't all fun and games for everyone". He adds depth and realism to the play, and I think Pacino's interpretation was a fair one, especially in his reaction to Antonio's pursuit of a loan for Bassanio.

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  10. 1. Venice is depressing, dark, and full of deceit and despair where Belmont is full of the fairy tale life of riches, beauty, happiness and love. We might argue that they seem to inhabit two entirely different play because they seem to be telling the tale of two different worlds one dark and dreary the other of a world so…surreal and jovial. It is not too much to argue that Venice is the tragedy and Belmont that comedy. I think that the reasons are much like that of Swift in “Guliver’s Travels to take something real very controversial within the society in which Shakespeare the author lives like the maltreatment and discrimination of Jews and exposing it for how truly awful it is but hiding it at the same time in a tale of other worlds.

    3. I think the first hint that we get of any homoerotic in Radford’s version is the way Antonio looks for and at Bassanio as he passes by all sprawled out in the boat and as he is coming into the house of Antonio to call on him. Then in both the reading and in Radford’s version the language regarding Bassanio and Antonio makes homoerotic possibilities seem even more possible when all leave the two alone as soon as Bassanio arrives leaving Antonio Solanio parts saying, we leave you now with better company.” Then the hint that Bassanio will surely make Antonio “merry” is another odd yet significant hint. Antonio says to Bassanio, “My purse, my person, my extremest means Lie all unlocked to your occasions.” For this language it is odd to consider that it is being said man to man seems more like the language of lover’s. Kinda sounds like, “All that is mine is yours including myself” sounds almost like a vow or profession of love.
    ~Lisa Edge~

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