Status Updates From Merchant of Venice: No Fear...

Antiono has complete confidence that he will have three times three the value of the bond (27,000 ducats) in three months. He calls the offer kindness. After Shylock leaves, Antonio takes Shylock’s offer as kindness but Bassanio is suspicious. I wonder how the play would change had Antonio truly reconciled. However, then there would be no play. LOL

Antonio refuses. He will probably continue to spit on him and call him names. He says to treat him like an enemy and, if he doesn’t pay his debt, then he must pay the penalty. Apparently, he did so with an angry outburst because he must not like how Shylock called him out. I can see Goddard’s point here. Shylocks acts nice (but we know his hatred) and sets up a merry sport. The interest is a pound of flesh.

Antonio has called him names (including dog) and spit on Shylock’s wool clothing and beard and Shylock has born it patiently. Shylock asks if this now voids Antonio’s spit and name-calling. He asks if a dog can lead money. Should he grovel while lending Antonio money. This could be acted two ways: genuine or fake. He is full of hatred but would he forgive if Antonio took the next step in reconciliation.

Shylock uses this as an opportunity to teach Antonio that what Jacob did with the ewes and rams is an indirect form of interest. His point is that thrift is a blessing if theft was not involved. Antonio says that blessings are in the hands of heaven and he does not think gold and silver can multiply like sheep. Before calculating the interest, he reminds Antonio of how he’s been treated by Antonio.

His words are measured but his asides are not. He says Antonio is a fawning publican. He hates him for two main reasons: Antonio lends money for free, cutting into Shylock’s business, and Antonio rails (complains violently) at him in front of others for charging interest and for being a Jew. We can see why Shylock hates him in kind. Then Shylock asks Antonio why he is borrowing because it’s against his principles.

Act I introduces the three key players in three acts: Antonio, Portia, and Shylock. The first thing Shylock says three thousand ducats, plus it’s in three months! Shylock says Antonio is good (sufficient) while Bassanio assumes it means good (ie, versus evil). Here is third example of hazard: having all the ships at sea. Shylock refuses to dine with Bassanio and Antonio because he implies he is a Jew.

Nerissa brings up a 7th and that is Bassanio. I love that! However, she is rejecting everyone from another land and accepting one most like her land (technically Italy was not united in this time). She is looking at exteriors and some are odd. She does know Bassanio much better. Maybe knowing him prevents her from seeing beyond the surface of others. She outright rejects Morocco for his complexion. Superficial.

The right man will know how to read the clues and pick the right casket. It’s like passing a test of wisdom. It’s all about the outer versus the inner of the casket pointing to the outer versus the inner of the soul. She even admits that she can teach 20 to do the right thing but can’t follow her own advice. She can teach the letter but cannot follow the spirit. She mocks 6 suitors (for good reason).

Portia (golden curls) is the golden casket. She like Antonio has melancholy but hers is due to her father’s casket situation. She reminds me of Elizabeth for finding it fun to mock her suitors. She does not want to follow the will of her dead father but I can’t help but wonder if it is like US not wanting to follow the will of our father in Heaven. Nerissa says to trust him because he is virtuous.

He is a bit like the prodigal son, going to the father for money, only he does it more than once. Antonio has a huge fortune and he is willing to give freely what he has. His issue is cash flow: it’s all tied up elsewhere. He says how his purse is unlocked to Bassanio (hat tip to the casket story). Bassiano uses the word hazard foreshadowing the lead casket. He hopes that by marrying a rich lady he can pay his debt.

The S and S friends foreshadow the wrecks. The water imagery goes really well with Venice and with chaos because of the disordered lives of many characters. Lorenzo is also under the influence of Mercury. He is eloquent in his poetry but he is a thief and helps Jessice to steal gold ducats from her father Shylock. Bassanio has a debt he cannot pay (like all of us) and he wants to extend himself further to win Portia.

Could he be the silver casket? At first Antonio talks about chaos and his mind tossing. He denies that it is money (Mercury) and love (Venus)--the play’s title! Perhaps it is the emptiness of his soul. In the original bond story by Florentino, “Antonio” runs out of money trying to help “Bassanio.” Shakespeare pulls the shipwreck from the original casket story and puts it into the bond story.

Antonio starts out melancholy (lead, Saturn) on the inside even though on the outside he is gold (a wealthy merchant). I wonder if this means he is disordered and if he is the golden casket. It certainly foreshadows the threat of death in his life. There’s always combining and recombining in Shakespeare: 3 becomes 6 becomes 4 becomes 2. Gratianos may be a lovable rogue. He comes across as a fool but also quicksilver.

The name is interesting. Marlowe named his play The Jew of Malta. Shakespeare names his The Merchant of Venice. Merchant (Mercury and commerce with an opportunity for alchemy: quicksilver and MERCY) and Venice (named for Venus love--mercy is an expression of love). Marlowe makes it obvious the play is about the Jew. Shakespeare leaves us wondering. Is Antonio the Merchant or Shylock?

I’ve read Goddard and I do find his view interesting. What if the fairy tale lenses give us the gold and Goddard’s thinking give us the lead? What if the structure is either gold with lead on the inside or vice versa? I wonder. He could be saying to the glittery people in his audience that they are dead on the inside if the part with Shylock does not settle them. Is he the stone cold Old Law or something else?