Status Updates From تاجر البندقية

He asks to be lead to the casket and he pulls out his scimitar. He mourns that he’s fierce in battle and can beat any opponent, but, in this matter, the outcome is due to luck (fortune) and not skill. In this case, an unworthy opponent may win and he may die of grief. She tells him he will go to dinner first and try his fortune afterwards.

AII SI There is more imagery of the sun. The Moroccan prince asks Portia to forgive his hue. He claims that maidens of his clime thinks he’s just fine. Portia tells him that she has no choice in the matter because his father set up this lottery. Then she says something hilarious: he’s just as good as anyone she’s seen so far. That’s not saying much. LOL The story is also full of risk, chance, and lottery.

Bassiano falls for Shylock’s smooth words while Antonio points out even the Devil can quote Scripture. Then Antonio and Shylock get testy with each other and the ugly comes out. Antonio is surprised that he will not charge interest if the bond is a pound of Antonio’s flesh. He thinks he is getting off cheap. What is interesting to me is that flesh is meat and therefore sacrifice. It cannot be eaten so it is useless.

He acts kind and generous when deep down inside Shylock is seething (which is shown in his asides, which are always the true feelings of a character). There is some comedy in this scene and the tension between Jews and Christians is addressed here, too. Shylock retells the story about the piebald sheep and goats and I wonder if this is to foreshadow the choices of his daughter later in the play.

AI SIII In the third scene, Bassiano borrow 3 thousand ducats for 3 months. Delicious! Earlier, Janus (two faces) is mentioned and it seems to foreshadow Shylock. He hates Christians and Antonio, in particular, for how he has treated Shylock in the past (spitting on him and calling him names). The generosity of Antonio also undercuts Shylock’s ability to make money. Shylock sees how overextended Antono is.

Portia is safe. She hopes she will remain chaste as Diana (moon) and then Nerissa reminds her of the Venetian scholar that her foather knew. Portia remembers his name, Bassiano. Four strangers wish to take her leave and a fifth has arrived, the Prince of Morocco.

The Scot wants to box the English baron with the French for his surety. I think there might be a political comment in that for it was written during QEI’s reign. The German is a drunkard. When sober, he’s a little lower than man. When drunk, a little higher than beasts. CHAIN of BEING. She could put a glass of wine on the wrong casket to solve that problem. Nerissa tells her that they have told her their selections.

The Neapolitan prince can only talk of horses and she wonders if his mother played false with the blacksmith. Count Palatine is melancholy and she’d rather marry a dead guy. The French lord doesn’t know who is his and seems to have many personalities and she thinks he’s mad. She cannot understand the English baron and he seems to have bought a different item of his ensemble from a different country.

Portia is upset because she is not allowed to choose her future husband nor can she reject the one chosen. There are three caskets made of gold, silver, and lead in true fairy tale fashion. The one who choses the casket with her picture will win her hand. She lacks the attitude of Charlotte Lucas who sees any marriage as a lotteruy, whether you love the guy or not. Nerissa asks her about each suitor, one by one.

AI SII In the first act, we meet the male lead (Bassiano) and, in the second act, we meet the female lead (Portia). It opens like a fairy tale and Jane Austen. Instead of an entail, she is required to marry according to her deceased father’s will. He set up three caskets ( Her friend Nerissa doesn’t think she is bad off because she’s rich but then she wonders if the middle way is better (moderation).

Being the good freind that he is, Antonio offers to get credit so that he can help Bassiano win Portia. Again, if we are thinking of Portia as an image of Christ, how many times are we dragged down by trying to help someone who is lost?

Arrows are intereting for they evoke the rays of the sun but also of the huntress Diana, the moon. Antonio tells him that my purse is your purse. The imagery around Portia is interesting. She lives at Belmont (beautiful mountain -- paradise on Earth?). She is rich and fair and all value her worth. Suitors have come from all over to win her hand. She has sunny locks as bright as the golden fleece.

Antonio asks Bassiano how his secret pilgrimage went. I wonder about Portia. Is she an image of Christ? Bassiano moans that he has gone into debt and disabled his estate to win her. Don’t we all try to win God’s favor by proving ourselves worthy? Does Bassiano imply base as in lower in status? He explains his situation with the metaphor of losing arrows. He keeps losing them and his friend keeps bailing him out.

The younger two call the three “worthier” and “good” but it can be taken two ways. They really are better OR they are the opposite and the youngers speak like two-faced Janus. I’m watching a college production on youtube (Thomas Aquinas College 4/1/2026) and they choose the comic route. Gratiano asks to play the fool and he also seems to be comic relief in this trio. After some foolish talk, Gratiano and Lorzenz go.

AI SI Previewing for next year. Antonio is a wealthy merchant of Venice who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders, for all his assets are out at sea. He denies it to two of his younger friends, so they think he is in love, which he denies. They describe all the signs of love according to the Elizabethan convention. Three of his rowdy friends show up, and the younger ones take off.