Merchant of Venice Study Guide

"all that glisters..."

"All that glisters is not gold..." says the scroll in the golden casket. What does this mean? I have an idea, but im not sure that it is right. Can you help? Thanks!

Posted By vivian h #81935 at Oct 21, 2009 4:04 PM in Merchant of Venice || 1 reply

Antonio--gay?

I've read some commentary that suggests that Antonio is homosexual.  He is in love with Bassanio; this explains his melancholy at the beginning of the play, his willingness to lend him so much money and to give his life to save Bassanio's. 

Any reactions?

Posted By coco s #17435 at Oct 29, 2007 3:41 PM in Merchant of Venice || 5 replies

portia's character with mercy---please help a.s.a.p!!

In the Merchant of Venice, how accurate is it to say that Portia was shown little mercy by the community?
my evidence will be that portia shows filial piety only because she knows that the community will not show her any mercy if she choose not to do so. from jessica's example where she is never fully accepted by the christians even though she rebelled against a jew and this just showed filial piety was held in high regard. (conversation with Lancelot) therefore portia was smart enough to keep to her father's will on the surface (she does ask Nerissa to do all sorts of things) however, this deprived her the right to choice (she complains about it) and resulted in an insecure character. all these resulted as a result of society showing little mercy to her.

This is for a literature essay test. Will the marker say that I am making baseless statements or I am reading too much into the text? Thanks for your help!

Posted By samuel gregory s #107441 at Oct 11, 2009 8:36 AM in Merchant of Venice || 1 reply