MERCHANT OF VENICE, ACT 2 SCENE 6 & 7, SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA, SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS

 Act II: Scene 6

Summary

Gratiano and Salarino, masked and costumed for Bassanio's party, wait for Lorenzo under the overhanging roof (the "penthouse") of Shylock's house. Gratiano and Salario have been waiting for about an hour now. But, the lover of Jessica, Lorenzo has not yet arrived. Gratiano is puzzled why Lorenzo is late for his rendezvous with Jessica; he knows that lovers usually "run before the dock." Lorenzo's delay is certainly unbecoming of most young lovers.

Suddenly, Lorenzo rushes on stage, apologizes for his being late. Hearing Lorenzo’s call, Jessica appears above, dressed as a boy, and tosses down a casket of money and jewels to Lorenzo. Shyly, she says that she is ashamed to be eloping with her beloved while she is so unbecomingly dressed ugly as a page boy servant. "Cupid himself," she tells Lorenzo, "would blush."

Lorenzo tells her that she must play her part well. She needs to convincingly act as a boy. Lorenzo reveals his plan to Jessica that tonight she will be his torchbearer at Bassanio's party. She does not quite welcome this idea. The idea of "hold[ing] a candle to [her] shames" is awful. She feels that she "should be obscured." 

Lorenzo praises Jessica before Gratiano that he will love her in his "constant soul," for she is "wise, fair, and true." Jessica then enters below, and the lovers and Salarino exit.

Antonio enters and, finding Gratiano, tells him that there will be "no masque tonight." The wind has changed, and Bassanio and his men must sail for Belmont. Gratiano admits that he is relieved that there will be no feasting and no masque. He is anxious to be "under sail and gone tonight."

Analysis

There is no real break between this scene and the preceding one. As Shylock exits, and Jessica exits only moments later, Gratiano and Salarino enter, costumed for the masque and carrying torches. Gratiano, as we might expect, does most of the talking as the two chaps wait beneath the overhanging roof of Shylock's house.

When Lorenzo arrives onstage and Jessica appears above him. Thus the romantic mood is immediately set — except that this romantic heroine is dressed in "the lovely garnish of a boy." On the Elizabethan stage, boys played the role of girls. Shakespeare uses this disguise later in this same play with Portia and Nerissa disguised as a lawyer and his clerk.

Jessica’s role is seen in contrast with Portia's. Portia honours her father’s will and sacrifices her own choice. Jessica, on the contrary, betrays her father. She not only secretly desserts her father but also robs him. Girls are seen off by the father when the latter hands her over to the groom with lots of gifts. The bride before leaving her father’s house wears the best dress. Here is Jessica leaving her father’s house in her ugly disguise. She is ashamed to hold the torch on her own face. 

Act II: Scene 7

Summary

At Belmont, in a room in Portia's house, the Prince of Morocco surveys the three caskets — one of gold, one of silver, and one of lead. He must choose one, and if he chooses the correct one, his reward will be the "fair Portia." As he reads the words engraved on the top of each casket, he ponders each of the symbolic inscriptions. On the leaden casket, he reads, "Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath"; on the silver casket, he reads, "Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves"; and on the golden casket, he reads, "Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire." Portia informs him that the correct casket contains her picture.

There is a caveat. Should he fail, as per the oath taken in the temple, he would not ask any bride’s hand for marriage.

Morocco reviews the inscriptions again and rejects the lead casket as being not worth the high stakes for which he gambles. He ponders a long time over the silver casket. The words "get as much as he deserves" intrigue him. He is quite sure that he deserves Portia; he deserves her "in birth," "in fortune," "in grace," "in qualities of breeding," and most of all, "in love." 

But he rejects the silver casket because he refuses to believe that Portia's father would "immure" a portrait of his treasured daughter in a metal "ten times undervalued [as] tried gold." The prince reasons that a portrait of Portia — a "mortal, breathing saint," a woman whom "all the world desires" — could be only within the golden casket. He chooses, therefore, the golden casket, hoping to find "an angel in a golden bed."

When he unlocks the casket and looks inside, he discovers only a skull ("carrion Death") and a scroll rolled up and inserted within the skull's "empty eye." He takes it out and reads the message: "All that glitters is not gold; . . . Gilded tombs do worms infold." He makes a hasty exit with his entourage. "A gentle riddance," comments Portia.

Analysis

Morocco agrees to take the test of casket opening. He takes the oath and proceeds. Portia directs him to open the casket, where there is her portrait, in one chance.

As Morocco inspects the caskets, he finds inscriptions upon them, which he reads for us. These inscriptions are important. They contain hints. Each succeeding suitor will reflect upon them. As they do so, their analysis will reveal the truth about their own character. The inscriptions are, of course, intentionally ambiguous; they can be interpreted in more than one way. Remembering that this is a romantic comedy, we expect that Morocco will misinterpret them, as will Arragon later, and that finally Bassanio will read the inscriptions and interpret them correctly.

Morocco's long speech, beginning at line 13, was no doubt inserted by Shakespeare to allow the actor plenty of time to move back and forth with much hesitation between the caskets. Talking to himself, he says, "Pause there, Morocco. . . . What if I strayed no further, but chose here?" He is postponing the moment of choice and prolonging the suspense of this dramatic moment. 

 

We have already seen Morocco and know that he is a proud and powerful prince. He has, he says, "a golden mind." Thus he makes the most straightforward and obvious choice — for him: the golden casket, for "Never so rich a gem / Was set in worse than gold." Morocco provides two arguments each for each of the caskets.

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