The Merchant of Venice Day Two Slide Show ENGL 305 Dr. Fike Review • MV includes a mixture of classical and Christian elements. • Although.
Download ReportTranscript The Merchant of Venice Day Two Slide Show ENGL 305 Dr. Fike Review • MV includes a mixture of classical and Christian elements. • Although.
Slide 1
The Merchant of Venice
Day Two Slide Show
ENGL 305
Dr. Fike
Slide 2
Review
• MV includes a mixture of classical and Christian elements.
• Although not officially a problem comedy, it is darker than MSND
(festive comedy) and is therefore a good example of what the
Bedford calls “mixed modes.”
• The sadness of Antonio, the central character, has numerous
possible causes; but the ones that we favored last time are that he is
overly fond of Bassanio, who is moving toward marriage, and that
material acquisition is ultimately disappointing.
• Shylock has a secret desire to harm Antonio, but private hatred
becomes public motivation, possibly when he finds out that Jessica
has traded the ring that Leah (his late wife) gave him.
Slide 3
Why Shylock Seeks Revenge
• We noted that Shylock’s “aside” indicates a
desire to harm Antonio, but that private desire
probably doesn’t become public intention until
Shylock learns that Jessica has used his ring to
buy a monkey.
• On the next slide, I explore the psychological
implications of their father-daughter relationship
in terms of projection.
Slide 4
My Take on Shylock
In The Merchant of Venice, the antagonistic pair of gendered opposites is
the father/daughter syzygy of Shylock and Jessica. The Jew may be so
leery of losing his daughter to romance because he has already lost
his wife, Leah, to death; therefore, he possessively projects the part of
his anima that appropriately attaches to a wife onto his daughter, an
imbalance in which disappointment festers. “Just as the mother seems
to be the first carrier of the projection-making factor for the son, so is the
father for the daughter,” writes Jung (CW 9ii, 28/14). I am suggesting that
projection, in Shylock and Jessica’s case, works in the opposite direction as
well—the daughter receives the father’s projections. But when Jessica
leaves with Lorenzo, taking Shylock’s money and an important animatoken, the ring that Leah gave him, he is deprived of father/daughter
relations and reminded of the missing husband/wife conjunction. As a
result, he becomes centered on himself and fixed on revenge. For
Hillman, Jung’s syzygy theory accounts for such a reaction in the wake of
psychological loss: “An animus that loses its soul (anima) connection,
that posits itself as independent of the syzygy, is ego … [or] what
Jung calls the ‘monotheism of consciousness.’” In Shylock’s case, egoconsciousness manifests as a desire for strict justice. [emphasis added]
--Dr. Fike
Slide 5
Today’s Main Topic: Venturing
• The American Heritage Dictionary: n. 1.
An undertaking that is dangerous, daring,
or of doubtful outcome. 2. Something at
hazard in a venture; stake. --tr. 1. To
expose to danger or risk. 2. To brave
dangers of: ventured the high seas in a
light boat.
Slide 6
More on Venturing
• “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
• Venturing involves risking something for
the sake of gain.
Slide 7
Usury: One Type of Venturing
• Lending money at a rate of interest.
• May I have readers for the next 6 slides?
Slide 8
Jo McMurtry, Understanding Shakespeare’s England: A Companion
for the American Reader, pages 80-81
“England, or for that matter western
Europe, did not have in the sixteenth
century banks of the sort we know today.
No central banks offered customers the
convenience of savings plans or personal
loans. Banking functions were evolving in
various parts of the economy, but one
could not go to one place and conduct
one’s financial business with the kind of
assistance we know today.
Slide 9
McMurtry, continued
“With regard to the ease with which monetary operations
could take place, a considerable difference existed
between large-scale and small-scale transactions. A
small businessman had no means of transferring money
easily. With no paper currency and no regular systems
of credit, he had to carry around bags of coins. A large
trading company had more scope. It might, for example,
set up a system of agents and pay its accounts through
bills of exchange, thus keeping the wheels of commerce
turning. Since these bills were drawn on a specific
mercantile house, the necessary element of faith was
easy to achieve.
Slide 10
McMurtry, continued
“On this comparatively large scale, and
particularly when the business was being done
abroad, loans could be arranged, usually at a
reasonable rate of interest because the borrower
was not helpless and might seek better terms
elsewhere. Nations as well as companies were
involved here. The financial wizard Sir Thomas
Gresham, for example, spent much of his career
in Antwerp negotiating loans for the Tudor
sovereigns.
Slide 11
McMurtry, continued
“International finance owed a considerable
amount of its growth to the Jewish
moneylenders who in many countries of
Europe had become an important part of
the picture. Holland particularly welcomed
refugees fleeing persecution elsewhere, in
contrast to England’s continuing medieval
bias.
Slide 12
McMurtry, continued
“The association between Jews and lending money on
interest, or usury, had been mandated, in the view of
many Englishmen, by the Bible itself, which appeared to
say that Jews might charge interest from Christians and
that Christians should not charge interest from each
other. Upon examination one finds that this
interpretation depends on a somewhat twisted logic. In
Exodus 22:25 and Deuteronomy 23:19, Jews are
forbidden to lend money ‘upon usury’ to fellow Jews but
are allowed (in Deuteronomy) to enter such transactions
with ‘strangers’—interpreted as Christians, although an
Old Testament text could hardly be specific about this
particular type of stranger. Neither passage goes into
the question of what kind of loans strangers are allowed
to make to each other.
Slide 13
McMurtry, continued
“Gradually, during the sixteenth century, England’s official attitude toward
the charging of interest, whether by Jews or Christians, shifted. The view of
capital as a commodity like any other—warehouse space, for example—to
be made available for lease on certain terms, began to win practical
acceptance, and the notion that money might ‘breed’ other money no longer
seemed an offense against nature. Between 1545 and 1552, Parliament
allowed certain types of interest-bearing loans to be made, provided the
interest charged was no higher than ten percent. (This stipulation referred
to transactions within England. Loans arranged in foreign countries, even if
English merchants or the English government were involved, had never
come under Parliament’s authority.) The ban on usury was renewed in
1552 but was finally lifted in 1571, the same year that Gresham opened the
London Royal Exchange—a handsome, four-story building modeled after
the bourse at Antwerp, with a central court surrounded by arcaded
walkways where merchants might discuss business matters without having
to stand in the rain. The building served as a quite practical symbol of
England’s increasing prominence in the world’s economy.”
Slide 14
Exodus 22:25
“If you lend money to any of my people
with you who is poor, you shall not be to
him as a creditor, and you shall not exact
interest from him.”
Slide 15
Deuteronomy 23:19-20
“You shall not lend upon interest to your
brother, interest on money, interest on
victuals, interest on anything that is lent for
interest. To a foreigner you may lend
upon interest, but to your brother you
shall not lend upon interest; that the Lord
your God may bless you in all that you
undertake in the land which you are
entering to take possession of it”
(emphasis added).
Slide 16
The Point Is…
• The Jewish position was that you don’t
lend money on interest to your brothers,
but it is okay to loan money to a foreigner.
• Christians interpreted this to mean that
Jews could loan money to Christians.
Slide 17
What About the Bond in MV?
• It is NOT usurious!
• It simply imposes a penalty, one that
Shylock passes off as a joke.
• In other words, the loan is in Christian
terms—“gratis,” no interest.
• Cf. 1.3.41: “He [Antonio] lends out money
gratis and brings down / The rate of
usance here with us in Venice.”
Slide 18
More on Shylock and the Bond
• Shylock claims that loaning money without
interest reflects his interest in brotherhood:
“To buy his favor I extend this friendship”
(1.3.167).
• His actual intention, however, is more
sinister—to “catch him [Antonio] upon the
hip” (1.3.38-49).
• And Shylock gets in trouble when he loans
money on Christian terms—i.e., without
interest.
Slide 19
A Critic’s View
• “When he loans money without interest, he
is forcing Antonio to borrow as friends and
equals borrow.”
• “He has been admitted to the society to
the extent that he has been allowed to
lend money gratis, as its members do.”
• Source: Paula Brody, “Shylock’s Omophagia: A Ritual Approach to
‘The Merchant of Venice,’” Literature and Psychology 17 (1967), 230
and 232. (Omophagia is the eating of raw flesh.)
Slide 20
The Problem
• But Shylock’s sinister intention regarding the
bond makes it clear that Otherness is still a
factor.
• As the Bible says, there are brothers, and there
are others.
• Despite the interest-free loan, Antonio still views
Shylock as one of the latter, and Shylock sees
himself the same way. As a sign of this
disconnection, the loan, while interest-free, is not
penalty-free.
• Point: Shakespeare is playing with the biblical
background on usury, but ultimately the Jew is
still the Other.
Slide 21
Venturing and Usury;
Venturing and the Caskets
These themes come together in the passages
where Shylock justifies his business practices
and where the suitors choose a casket.
Note: Those of you working on the casket
scenes will need to divide the questions and
passages up. (The casket handout is something
one of my former students found; you are
welcome to use it, but you may need to look
beyond what it lays out.)
Slide 22
Group Activity: 10-15 Minutes,
Groups of 3-5 People
• Your texts:
•
– 1.3.69-100
– Genesis 30:25 to 31:16
• What is the relationship
between the two texts?
• What is Shylock saying?
• What is Antonio’s
criticism?
• How does venturing
inform your reading of the
two texts?
•
•
•
•
•
Passages:
– 1.2.12-34: Portia’s father
– 2.7.13ff.: Morocco
– 2.9.19ff.: Aragon
– 3.2.1ff.: Bassanio
Why does Portia’s father establish the
casket test?
Why don’t Morocco and Aragon
choose correctly? Are they
appropriate for her?
What about Bassanio? Is he more
appropriate for her?
Does Portia play by the rules of the
casket test when Bassanio chooses?
How is Belmont unlike Shylock’s
house? See 2.3.2 and 2.5.29ff.
Compare 5.1.60ff.
Slide 23
Shylock and Biblical Allusion
• Your texts:
– 1.3.69-100
– Genesis 30:25 to 31:16
• What is the relationship between the two
texts?
• What is Shylock saying?
• What is Antonio’s criticism?
• How does venturing inform your reading of
the two texts?
Slide 24
Questions about the Casket Test
(a particular venture)
• Why does Portia’s father establish the casket
test? See 1.2.27.
• Why don’t Morocco and Aragon choose
correctly? Are they appropriate for her?
• Does Portia play by the rules of the casket test
when Bassanio chooses?
• What about Bassanio? Is he more appropriate
for her? See 1.1.161-63, 1.2.110, and 3.2.77.
• How is Belmont unlike Shylock’s house? See
2.3.2 and 2.5.29ff. Compare 5.1.60ff.
Slide 25
“Third time’s a charm.”
• Numerology is to mathematics as
astrology is to astronomy.
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/mysticpolitics/
6333162973/
Slide 26
“3”
• The number 3 suggests:
– Union of opposites (male and female) in
marriage.
– Reunification/reconciliation.
– Wholeness/completeness.
– Unity, harmony, human love, and divine love
(Trinity).
Slide 27
From a Bulgarian Student’s
Undergraduate Term Paper
“Thus, there is a kind of heavenly aura about the number
three as a sign of divine love which unites two lovers into
one. It combines the limited nature of each to generate
a limitless experience shared by both. It leads to the
highest expression of love, which unites all lovers in
general. In this sense we can conclude that the
presence of the number three as a major motif in the
casket scene in MV is a favorable omen for the choice
that needs to be made by Portia’s wooers. The use of
that number suggests that love, in its noblest form will
triumph in the end.”
Slide 28
More on Venturing (FPC)
• How else does MV make use of the motif
of venturing?
• What other examples are there?
• Brainstorm: Write down examples in your
notes. You might go right down the list of
characters before 1.1 and consider each
one in terms of venturing.
• Share them with the class.
Slide 29
Summary of Venturing
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Antonio sends his ships abroad.
Shylock loans Antonio money.
Antonio loans Bassanio money (again). See 1.1.140ff.
Jessica runs away with Lorenzo (cf. Rachel).
Lorenzo runs away with Jessica (cf. Jacob in a foreign land:
Shylock:Jessica::Laban:Rachel).
The suitors: Morocco, Aragon, Bassanio venture (3.2.10) for Portia’s hand
in marriage. See 2.7.9 and 2.9.31ff. (For a connection between Morocco
and Lancelot, see 3.5.36-37. Does Portia fear miscegenation?)
Lancelot ventures when he switches from Shylock to Bassanio (cf. the shift
from the Old Testament to the New Testament). (Lancelot:Old
Gobbo::Jacob:Isaac.)
Prodigal son allusion: “the prodigal Christian,” 2.5.16. (Prodigality means
both extreme wastefulness [son] and extreme generosity [father]. Cf.
Sylvan Barnet’s article, “Prodigality and Time in The Merchant of Venice” in
PMLA 87.)
Jason: 1.1.170, 3.2.241-42. (Jason’s success with the golden fleece is the
opposite of the prodigal son’s unsuccessful venture.)
Slide 30
Jason and the Golden Fleece
• Re. Carroll’s idea that Portia is “a kind of domesticated
Medea,” I wrote: “The myth’s imagery enables a tight
nexus that reinforces this possibility: the golden fleece,
Portia’s golden hair, Shylock’s gold ducats, the gold
casket. Perhaps he who wins the lovely blonde Portia
will experience something like the disappointment that
Jason suffers after winning the fleece, that Shylock feels
when his daughter runs off with his ducats, or that
Morocco must embrace after choosing the gold casket.
The motif may also extend to Antonio’s trading abroad
because the fleece was ‘a common image for the great
fortunes the Elizabethan merchant-adventurers hoped
for.’” END
The Merchant of Venice
Day Two Slide Show
ENGL 305
Dr. Fike
Slide 2
Review
• MV includes a mixture of classical and Christian elements.
• Although not officially a problem comedy, it is darker than MSND
(festive comedy) and is therefore a good example of what the
Bedford calls “mixed modes.”
• The sadness of Antonio, the central character, has numerous
possible causes; but the ones that we favored last time are that he is
overly fond of Bassanio, who is moving toward marriage, and that
material acquisition is ultimately disappointing.
• Shylock has a secret desire to harm Antonio, but private hatred
becomes public motivation, possibly when he finds out that Jessica
has traded the ring that Leah (his late wife) gave him.
Slide 3
Why Shylock Seeks Revenge
• We noted that Shylock’s “aside” indicates a
desire to harm Antonio, but that private desire
probably doesn’t become public intention until
Shylock learns that Jessica has used his ring to
buy a monkey.
• On the next slide, I explore the psychological
implications of their father-daughter relationship
in terms of projection.
Slide 4
My Take on Shylock
In The Merchant of Venice, the antagonistic pair of gendered opposites is
the father/daughter syzygy of Shylock and Jessica. The Jew may be so
leery of losing his daughter to romance because he has already lost
his wife, Leah, to death; therefore, he possessively projects the part of
his anima that appropriately attaches to a wife onto his daughter, an
imbalance in which disappointment festers. “Just as the mother seems
to be the first carrier of the projection-making factor for the son, so is the
father for the daughter,” writes Jung (CW 9ii, 28/14). I am suggesting that
projection, in Shylock and Jessica’s case, works in the opposite direction as
well—the daughter receives the father’s projections. But when Jessica
leaves with Lorenzo, taking Shylock’s money and an important animatoken, the ring that Leah gave him, he is deprived of father/daughter
relations and reminded of the missing husband/wife conjunction. As a
result, he becomes centered on himself and fixed on revenge. For
Hillman, Jung’s syzygy theory accounts for such a reaction in the wake of
psychological loss: “An animus that loses its soul (anima) connection,
that posits itself as independent of the syzygy, is ego … [or] what
Jung calls the ‘monotheism of consciousness.’” In Shylock’s case, egoconsciousness manifests as a desire for strict justice. [emphasis added]
--Dr. Fike
Slide 5
Today’s Main Topic: Venturing
• The American Heritage Dictionary: n. 1.
An undertaking that is dangerous, daring,
or of doubtful outcome. 2. Something at
hazard in a venture; stake. --tr. 1. To
expose to danger or risk. 2. To brave
dangers of: ventured the high seas in a
light boat.
Slide 6
More on Venturing
• “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
• Venturing involves risking something for
the sake of gain.
Slide 7
Usury: One Type of Venturing
• Lending money at a rate of interest.
• May I have readers for the next 6 slides?
Slide 8
Jo McMurtry, Understanding Shakespeare’s England: A Companion
for the American Reader, pages 80-81
“England, or for that matter western
Europe, did not have in the sixteenth
century banks of the sort we know today.
No central banks offered customers the
convenience of savings plans or personal
loans. Banking functions were evolving in
various parts of the economy, but one
could not go to one place and conduct
one’s financial business with the kind of
assistance we know today.
Slide 9
McMurtry, continued
“With regard to the ease with which monetary operations
could take place, a considerable difference existed
between large-scale and small-scale transactions. A
small businessman had no means of transferring money
easily. With no paper currency and no regular systems
of credit, he had to carry around bags of coins. A large
trading company had more scope. It might, for example,
set up a system of agents and pay its accounts through
bills of exchange, thus keeping the wheels of commerce
turning. Since these bills were drawn on a specific
mercantile house, the necessary element of faith was
easy to achieve.
Slide 10
McMurtry, continued
“On this comparatively large scale, and
particularly when the business was being done
abroad, loans could be arranged, usually at a
reasonable rate of interest because the borrower
was not helpless and might seek better terms
elsewhere. Nations as well as companies were
involved here. The financial wizard Sir Thomas
Gresham, for example, spent much of his career
in Antwerp negotiating loans for the Tudor
sovereigns.
Slide 11
McMurtry, continued
“International finance owed a considerable
amount of its growth to the Jewish
moneylenders who in many countries of
Europe had become an important part of
the picture. Holland particularly welcomed
refugees fleeing persecution elsewhere, in
contrast to England’s continuing medieval
bias.
Slide 12
McMurtry, continued
“The association between Jews and lending money on
interest, or usury, had been mandated, in the view of
many Englishmen, by the Bible itself, which appeared to
say that Jews might charge interest from Christians and
that Christians should not charge interest from each
other. Upon examination one finds that this
interpretation depends on a somewhat twisted logic. In
Exodus 22:25 and Deuteronomy 23:19, Jews are
forbidden to lend money ‘upon usury’ to fellow Jews but
are allowed (in Deuteronomy) to enter such transactions
with ‘strangers’—interpreted as Christians, although an
Old Testament text could hardly be specific about this
particular type of stranger. Neither passage goes into
the question of what kind of loans strangers are allowed
to make to each other.
Slide 13
McMurtry, continued
“Gradually, during the sixteenth century, England’s official attitude toward
the charging of interest, whether by Jews or Christians, shifted. The view of
capital as a commodity like any other—warehouse space, for example—to
be made available for lease on certain terms, began to win practical
acceptance, and the notion that money might ‘breed’ other money no longer
seemed an offense against nature. Between 1545 and 1552, Parliament
allowed certain types of interest-bearing loans to be made, provided the
interest charged was no higher than ten percent. (This stipulation referred
to transactions within England. Loans arranged in foreign countries, even if
English merchants or the English government were involved, had never
come under Parliament’s authority.) The ban on usury was renewed in
1552 but was finally lifted in 1571, the same year that Gresham opened the
London Royal Exchange—a handsome, four-story building modeled after
the bourse at Antwerp, with a central court surrounded by arcaded
walkways where merchants might discuss business matters without having
to stand in the rain. The building served as a quite practical symbol of
England’s increasing prominence in the world’s economy.”
Slide 14
Exodus 22:25
“If you lend money to any of my people
with you who is poor, you shall not be to
him as a creditor, and you shall not exact
interest from him.”
Slide 15
Deuteronomy 23:19-20
“You shall not lend upon interest to your
brother, interest on money, interest on
victuals, interest on anything that is lent for
interest. To a foreigner you may lend
upon interest, but to your brother you
shall not lend upon interest; that the Lord
your God may bless you in all that you
undertake in the land which you are
entering to take possession of it”
(emphasis added).
Slide 16
The Point Is…
• The Jewish position was that you don’t
lend money on interest to your brothers,
but it is okay to loan money to a foreigner.
• Christians interpreted this to mean that
Jews could loan money to Christians.
Slide 17
What About the Bond in MV?
• It is NOT usurious!
• It simply imposes a penalty, one that
Shylock passes off as a joke.
• In other words, the loan is in Christian
terms—“gratis,” no interest.
• Cf. 1.3.41: “He [Antonio] lends out money
gratis and brings down / The rate of
usance here with us in Venice.”
Slide 18
More on Shylock and the Bond
• Shylock claims that loaning money without
interest reflects his interest in brotherhood:
“To buy his favor I extend this friendship”
(1.3.167).
• His actual intention, however, is more
sinister—to “catch him [Antonio] upon the
hip” (1.3.38-49).
• And Shylock gets in trouble when he loans
money on Christian terms—i.e., without
interest.
Slide 19
A Critic’s View
• “When he loans money without interest, he
is forcing Antonio to borrow as friends and
equals borrow.”
• “He has been admitted to the society to
the extent that he has been allowed to
lend money gratis, as its members do.”
• Source: Paula Brody, “Shylock’s Omophagia: A Ritual Approach to
‘The Merchant of Venice,’” Literature and Psychology 17 (1967), 230
and 232. (Omophagia is the eating of raw flesh.)
Slide 20
The Problem
• But Shylock’s sinister intention regarding the
bond makes it clear that Otherness is still a
factor.
• As the Bible says, there are brothers, and there
are others.
• Despite the interest-free loan, Antonio still views
Shylock as one of the latter, and Shylock sees
himself the same way. As a sign of this
disconnection, the loan, while interest-free, is not
penalty-free.
• Point: Shakespeare is playing with the biblical
background on usury, but ultimately the Jew is
still the Other.
Slide 21
Venturing and Usury;
Venturing and the Caskets
These themes come together in the passages
where Shylock justifies his business practices
and where the suitors choose a casket.
Note: Those of you working on the casket
scenes will need to divide the questions and
passages up. (The casket handout is something
one of my former students found; you are
welcome to use it, but you may need to look
beyond what it lays out.)
Slide 22
Group Activity: 10-15 Minutes,
Groups of 3-5 People
• Your texts:
•
– 1.3.69-100
– Genesis 30:25 to 31:16
• What is the relationship
between the two texts?
• What is Shylock saying?
• What is Antonio’s
criticism?
• How does venturing
inform your reading of the
two texts?
•
•
•
•
•
Passages:
– 1.2.12-34: Portia’s father
– 2.7.13ff.: Morocco
– 2.9.19ff.: Aragon
– 3.2.1ff.: Bassanio
Why does Portia’s father establish the
casket test?
Why don’t Morocco and Aragon
choose correctly? Are they
appropriate for her?
What about Bassanio? Is he more
appropriate for her?
Does Portia play by the rules of the
casket test when Bassanio chooses?
How is Belmont unlike Shylock’s
house? See 2.3.2 and 2.5.29ff.
Compare 5.1.60ff.
Slide 23
Shylock and Biblical Allusion
• Your texts:
– 1.3.69-100
– Genesis 30:25 to 31:16
• What is the relationship between the two
texts?
• What is Shylock saying?
• What is Antonio’s criticism?
• How does venturing inform your reading of
the two texts?
Slide 24
Questions about the Casket Test
(a particular venture)
• Why does Portia’s father establish the casket
test? See 1.2.27.
• Why don’t Morocco and Aragon choose
correctly? Are they appropriate for her?
• Does Portia play by the rules of the casket test
when Bassanio chooses?
• What about Bassanio? Is he more appropriate
for her? See 1.1.161-63, 1.2.110, and 3.2.77.
• How is Belmont unlike Shylock’s house? See
2.3.2 and 2.5.29ff. Compare 5.1.60ff.
Slide 25
“Third time’s a charm.”
• Numerology is to mathematics as
astrology is to astronomy.
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/mysticpolitics/
6333162973/
Slide 26
“3”
• The number 3 suggests:
– Union of opposites (male and female) in
marriage.
– Reunification/reconciliation.
– Wholeness/completeness.
– Unity, harmony, human love, and divine love
(Trinity).
Slide 27
From a Bulgarian Student’s
Undergraduate Term Paper
“Thus, there is a kind of heavenly aura about the number
three as a sign of divine love which unites two lovers into
one. It combines the limited nature of each to generate
a limitless experience shared by both. It leads to the
highest expression of love, which unites all lovers in
general. In this sense we can conclude that the
presence of the number three as a major motif in the
casket scene in MV is a favorable omen for the choice
that needs to be made by Portia’s wooers. The use of
that number suggests that love, in its noblest form will
triumph in the end.”
Slide 28
More on Venturing (FPC)
• How else does MV make use of the motif
of venturing?
• What other examples are there?
• Brainstorm: Write down examples in your
notes. You might go right down the list of
characters before 1.1 and consider each
one in terms of venturing.
• Share them with the class.
Slide 29
Summary of Venturing
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Antonio sends his ships abroad.
Shylock loans Antonio money.
Antonio loans Bassanio money (again). See 1.1.140ff.
Jessica runs away with Lorenzo (cf. Rachel).
Lorenzo runs away with Jessica (cf. Jacob in a foreign land:
Shylock:Jessica::Laban:Rachel).
The suitors: Morocco, Aragon, Bassanio venture (3.2.10) for Portia’s hand
in marriage. See 2.7.9 and 2.9.31ff. (For a connection between Morocco
and Lancelot, see 3.5.36-37. Does Portia fear miscegenation?)
Lancelot ventures when he switches from Shylock to Bassanio (cf. the shift
from the Old Testament to the New Testament). (Lancelot:Old
Gobbo::Jacob:Isaac.)
Prodigal son allusion: “the prodigal Christian,” 2.5.16. (Prodigality means
both extreme wastefulness [son] and extreme generosity [father]. Cf.
Sylvan Barnet’s article, “Prodigality and Time in The Merchant of Venice” in
PMLA 87.)
Jason: 1.1.170, 3.2.241-42. (Jason’s success with the golden fleece is the
opposite of the prodigal son’s unsuccessful venture.)
Slide 30
Jason and the Golden Fleece
• Re. Carroll’s idea that Portia is “a kind of domesticated
Medea,” I wrote: “The myth’s imagery enables a tight
nexus that reinforces this possibility: the golden fleece,
Portia’s golden hair, Shylock’s gold ducats, the gold
casket. Perhaps he who wins the lovely blonde Portia
will experience something like the disappointment that
Jason suffers after winning the fleece, that Shylock feels
when his daughter runs off with his ducats, or that
Morocco must embrace after choosing the gold casket.
The motif may also extend to Antonio’s trading abroad
because the fleece was ‘a common image for the great
fortunes the Elizabethan merchant-adventurers hoped
for.’” END