ANTONIO:
“In sooth I know not why I am so sad.”
- Meaning: Honestly, I don’t know why I feel so sad.
- Analysis: The play opens with mystery and melancholy. Antonio’s sadness is unexplained.
- Language device: In media res (we start in the middle of a situation); tone of confusion and emotional heaviness.
- Theme: Melancholy, identity, emotional conflict.
“It wearies me, you say it wearies you.”
- Meaning: It tires me out, and you say it tires you too (he’s aware that his mood affects others).
- Theme: Emotional burden and friendship – his sadness affects his friends as well.
“But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,”
- Meaning: I don’t know how I got this sadness.
- Language device: Tricolon (three-part list), showing confusion and deep thought.
- Theme: Loss of self-awareness, possibly hinting at something deeper like anxiety or emotional repression.
“What stuff ’tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn.”
- Meaning: I don’t know what it’s made of or where it came from.
- Analysis: This deepens the mystery—Antonio is reflective but clueless.
- Theme: Introspection, human emotion.
“And such a want-wit sadness makes of me
That I have much ado to know myself.”
- Meaning: This sadness makes me feel foolish; I can hardly understand myself.
- Language device: Alliteration (“want-wit”); metaphor (sadness makes him lose sense of self).
- Theme: Identity crisis, emotional confusion.
🔹 SALARINO:
“Your mind is tossing on the ocean,”
- Meaning: Your thoughts are like ships being tossed around in the sea.
- Language device: Metaphor – comparing Antonio’s worries to a stormy ocean.
- Theme: Worry, anxiety over business ventures.
“There where your argosies with portly sail
(Like signiors and rich burghers on the flood,
Or, as it were, the pageants of the sea)”
- Meaning: Your big merchant ships (called argosies) with fancy sails look like wealthy noblemen on the sea, like a parade of important people.
- Language devices:
- Similes (“like signiors”, “as it were”)
- Imagery – creates a grand picture of Antonio’s ships.
- Theme: Wealth, risk, trade, power – Antonio is respected and powerful, but all his money is tied up in trade.
“Do overpeer the petty traffickers
That curtsy to them, do them reverence,
As they fly by them with their woven wings.”
- Meaning: Your ships are so majestic they tower over the small traders’ boats, which seem to bow down to them as they pass by quickly with their sails (like wings).
- Language device:
- Personification – ships “curtsy” and “do reverence.”
- Metaphor – sails are “woven wings.”
- Theme: Social status, pride in commerce, but also fragility – ships, no matter how grand, are at the mercy of the sea.
🔹 SOLANIO:
“Believe me, sir, had I such venture forth,”
- Meaning: If I had ships at sea like you do…
- Theme: Risk and investment.
“The better part of my affections would
Be with my hopes abroad.”
- Meaning: Most of my thoughts and feelings would be with those ships.
- Theme: Emotional investment in financial ventures.
“I should be still
Plucking the grass to know where sits the wind,”
- Meaning: I would constantly be checking the wind, like pulling grass and throwing it to see its direction (a sailor’s method).
- Language device: Imagery, idiom, realistic detail about how people used to check the wind.
- Theme: Worry, obsessive behavior when one’s future depends on chance.
“Piring in maps for ports and piers and roads;”
- Meaning: I’d always be staring at maps, looking at the ports and sea routes.
- Language device: Alliteration (“ports, piers, and roads”).
- Theme: Dependence on navigation and nature in trade.
“And every object that might make me fear—”
- Meaning: I’d be afraid of every little thing that could signal danger for my ships.
- Theme: Paranoia, tension tied to wealth and uncertainty.
SALARINO:
“Misfortune to my ventures, out of doubt / Would make me sad.”
- Meaning: If something bad happened to my trading ships, I’d definitely be sad.
- Theme: Risk and wealth anxiety. Salarino assumes money is the root of Antonio’s sadness.
- Tone: Rational and empathetic.
“My wind cooling my broth / Would blow me to an ague when I thought / What harm a wind too great might do at sea.”
- Meaning: Even a small wind that cools my soup would remind me of dangerous winds at sea and give me chills (ague = fever).
- Device: Hyperbole – exaggerates how nervous he’d be about the sea.
- Theme: Anxiety, obsession with risk, especially with wealth invested in sea ventures.
- Style: Comic but revealing.
“I should not see the sandy hourglass run / But I should think of shallows and of flats,”
- Meaning: Watching the sand in an hourglass would make me think of shallow waters where ships can get stuck.
- Device: Symbolism – hourglass = time passing, but here it also symbolizes danger and death.
- Theme: Fear of time, nature’s unpredictability.
“And see my wealthy Andrew docked in sand, / Vailing her high top lower than her ribs / To kiss her burial.”
- Meaning: I’d imagine my grand ship (named “Andrew”) wrecked in sand, lowering its sail like bowing down to its grave.
- Device:
- Personification – ship “bows” and “kisses” the sand like a funeral.
- Imagery – visualizes the ship’s demise as noble but tragic.
- Theme: Loss, destruction of wealth, helplessness.
“Should I go to church / And see the holy edifice of stone / And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks,”
- Meaning: Even seeing a church made of stone would make me think of rocks in the ocean that could destroy a ship.
- Device: Juxtaposition – church (safety, peace) vs. rocks (danger).
- Theme: Paranoia, spiritual vs material concerns.
“Which, touching but my gentle vessel’s side, / Would scatter all her spices on the stream,”
- Meaning: One rock hitting my ship would destroy it and spill all the valuable spices into the sea.
- Imagery: Creates a picture of wealth being lost in an instant.
- Theme: Fragility of success, the ocean as a dangerous force.
“Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks,”
- Meaning: My silks would float on the sea, making it look like it’s dressed up.
- Device: Metaphor – waves “wearing” silks.
- Theme: Wealth, nature’s indifference to human effort.
“And, in a word, but even now worth this / And now worth nothing?”
- Meaning: One moment it’s worth a fortune, the next – it’s all gone.
- Theme: Instability, risk of financial ruin.
“Shall I have the thought / To think on this, and shall I lack the thought / That such a thing bechanced would make me sad?”
- Meaning: If I can imagine all these dangers, wouldn’t I naturally be sad about them?
- Analysis: Salarino uses logic to prove that it’s normal to feel sad when your money and future are at risk.
- Theme: Fear of loss, emotional logic.
“But tell not me: I know Antonio / Is sad to think upon his merchandise.”
- Meaning: Don’t argue with me—I’m sure Antonio is sad because he’s thinking about his trading ships.
- Tone: Confident but mistaken.
- Theme: Misunderstanding, assumptions.
🔹ANTONIO:
“Believe me, no. I thank my fortune for it,”
- Meaning: No, that’s not the reason. I’m grateful for how things are going.
- Tone: Calm, honest.
- Theme: Stoicism – he doesn’t let money control his feelings.
“My ventures are not in one bottom trusted, / Nor to one place; nor is my whole estate / Upon the fortune of this present year:”
- Meaning: My investments aren’t all on one ship, or in one place, or dependent on this year alone.
- Device: Tricolon (three clauses for emphasis).
- Theme: Diversification, financial wisdom – he’s spread out his risk.
- Tone: Rational, reassuring.
“Therefore my merchandise makes me not sad.”
- Meaning: So no, my trade isn’t what’s making me sad.
- Theme: Rejects materialism as the root of his sadness.
- Subtext: Hints that the real reason lies deeper—perhaps emotional or personal.
🔹SOLANIO:
“Why then you are in love.”
- Meaning: Then you must be in love.
- Tone: Teasing, playful.
- Theme: Love as an explanation for unexplained emotion.
- Shift: From money to personal relationships.
🔹ANTONIO:
“Fie, fie!”
- Meaning: Nonsense!
- Tone: Dismissive, embarrassed.
- Analysis: Suggests that Antonio is either truly not in love—or is hiding something.
🔹SOLANIO:
“Not in love neither? Then let us say you are sad / Because you are not merry;”
- Meaning: Not in love either? Then maybe you’re just sad because you’re not happy!
- Device: Paradox – circular logic.
- Tone: Witty, sarcastic.
“And ’twere as easy / For you to laugh and leap, and say you are merry / Because you are not sad.”
- Meaning: It would be just as easy to say you’re happy because you’re not sad.
- Theme: The confusion of emotion, the difficulty of pinning down reasons.
- Tone: Teasing but also philosophical.
“Now, by two-headed Janus,”
- Meaning: I swear by Janus, the Roman god with two faces (who looks both forward and backward).
- Device: Classical allusion – Janus symbolizes duality and uncertainty.
- Theme: Complexity of human emotion, the duality of mood and behavior.
**“Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time:”**
- Meaning: Nature has created all kinds of people.
- Device: Personification – Nature is treated as a creator or artist.
- Theme: Human diversity – people behave very differently.
“Some that will evermore peep through their eyes / And laugh like parrots at a bagpiper,”
- Meaning: Some people are always wide-eyed and laugh foolishly at anything, like parrots cackling at bagpipes.
- Tone: Mocking, humorous.
- Device: Simile – people are compared to parrots, highlighting silly behavior.
“And other of such vinegar aspect / That they’ll not show their teeth in way of smile / Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable.”
- Meaning: Others have such sour expressions (like vinegar) that they won’t smile even if the wise old Nestor says a joke is funny.
- Device:
- Metaphor – “vinegar aspect” means a sour or grumpy face.
- Allusion – Nestor is a character from Greek mythology known for his wisdom.
- Theme: Emotional restraint vs openness, personalities ranging from cheerful to serious.
🔸**[Enter Bassanio, Lorenzo, and Gratiano]**
“Here comes Bassanio, your most noble kinsman, / Gratiano, and Lorenzo. Fare you well. / We leave you now with better company.”
- Meaning: Look, here come your noble friend Bassanio and his companions. We’ll leave you with them.
- Tone: Respectful and warm.
- Theme: Friendship, social circles.
- Subtext: They’re passing the emotional baton to friends who might cheer Antonio up.
SALARINO: “I would have stayed till I had made you merry, / If worthier friends had not prevented me.”
- Meaning: I would’ve stayed to cheer you up, but your closer friends are here now.
- Tone: Gracious, self-deprecating.
- Device: Irony – calls others “worthier,” though he just gave a deep speech.
- Theme: Politeness, social etiquette.
ANTONIO: “Your worth is very dear in my regard. / I take it your own business calls on you, / And you embrace th’ occasion to depart.”
- Meaning: I truly value you. I assume you’re leaving because of your own duties, and you’re just using this as a polite excuse.
- Tone: Slightly passive-aggressive, but still respectful.
- Theme: Emotional detachment, formality in friendship.
- Subtext: Antonio may feel a bit abandoned or misunderstood.
SALARINO: “Good morrow, my good lords.”
- Meaning: Goodbye, gentlemen. (Morning greeting used here for farewell.)
- Tone: Courteous exit.
BASSANIO: “Good signiors both, when shall we laugh? Say, when? / You grow exceeding strange. Must it be so?”
- Meaning: Hey friends, when are we all hanging out again? You’ve been acting distant lately—why?
- Tone: Friendly, a bit teasing.
- Theme: Changing social dynamics, maintaining friendships.
SALARINO: “We’ll make our leisures to attend on yours.”
- Meaning: We’ll find time whenever you’re free.
- Tone: Polite, possibly dismissive.
- Theme: Busy lives, strained bonds.
🔹[Salarino and Solanio Exit]
LORENZO: “My Lord Bassanio, since you have found Antonio, / We two will leave you.”
- Meaning: Since you’re with Antonio now, Gratiano and I will head out.
- Tone: Respectful and considerate.
“But at dinner time / I pray you have in mind where we must meet.”
- Meaning: Don’t forget our dinner plans.
- Theme: Social obligations, loyalty.
BASSANIO: “I will not fail you.”
- Meaning: I’ll definitely be there.
🔹GRATIANO:
“You look not well, Signior Antonio. / You have too much respect upon the world.”
- Meaning: You don’t look well. You worry too much about worldly things.
- Device: Foreshadowing – hints at deeper causes of Antonio’s sadness.
- Theme:
- Philosophy of detachment – suggesting Antonio should care less about external matters.
- Mental health – early signs of Antonio’s possible melancholy or depression.
“They lose it that do buy it with much care.”
- Meaning: People who worry too much about life often end up losing the joy of it.
- Theme: Overthinking spoils happiness.
- Tone: Observational, critical.
🔸ANTONIO:
“I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano, / A stage where every man must play a part, / And mine a sad one.”
- Meaning: I see life like a stage where everyone plays a role—mine is the role of the sad man.
- Device: Metaphor – life compared to a theatrical performance.
- Theme: Melancholy, philosophy of life, identity.
- Fun fact: This echoes Shakespeare’s famous “All the world’s a stage” speech in As You Like It.
🔸GRATIANO:
“Let me play the fool. / With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come,”
- Meaning: I’d rather be a cheerful fool and grow old with laughter.
- Device: Juxtaposition – contrasts Antonio’s sadness with his own joyful outlook.
- Theme: Carpe diem (seize the day), value of joy.
“Let my liver rather heat with wine / Than my heart cool with mortifying groans.”
- Meaning: I’d rather enjoy life (even if it’s unhealthy) than be emotionally cold and miserable.
- Symbol: Liver = passion and heat (common in Elizabethan times).
- Theme: Joy over sorrow, bodily pleasure vs emotional restraint.
“Why should a man whose blood is warm within / Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster?”
- Meaning: Why should a young, lively man sit still like a statue of his dead grandfather?
- Device: Simile – comparing a living person to a carved figure in stone.
- Theme: Vitality vs stillness, youth vs age.
“Sleep when he wakes? And creep into the jaundice / By being peevish?”
- Meaning: Why live like a sick, moody person when you could be living with energy and fun?
- Symbolism: Jaundice = bitterness and yellowed, sickly appearance.
🔸Gratiano Criticizes Fake Wisdom:
“There are a sort of men whose visages / Do cream and mantle like a standing pond…”
- Meaning: Some people’s faces look calm and still like a scummy pond—they pretend to be deep and wise by being silent.
- Device:
- Simile – comparing their calm look to still pond water.
- Alliteration – “cream and mantle.”
- Theme: Appearance vs reality, pretentiousness.
“As who should say ‘I am Sir Oracle, / And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark.’”
- Meaning: They act like their words are divine and everyone else should shut up.
- Tone: Satirical, mocking.
- Device: Irony – mocks those who are thought wise only because they keep quiet.
- Theme: Wisdom vs false wisdom.
“If they should speak, would almost damn those ears / Which, hearing them, would call their brothers fools.”
- Meaning: If these silent types actually spoke, they’d sound so foolish they’d insult everyone else’s intelligence.
- Tone: Bold, comic.
- Theme: True vs false intelligence.
BASSANIO:
“Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice…”
- Meaning: Gratiano talks a lot but says very little.
- Device:
- Hyperbole – “infinite deal of nothing.”
- Metaphor: Comparing Gratiano’s reasoning to grains of wheat hidden in chaff—valuable truth is buried in too much fluff.
- Theme: Empty speech vs meaningful talk, perception of wisdom.
“His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff…”
- Meaning: Even if there is some wisdom in what he says, it’s not worth the effort of finding it.
🔹ANTONIO transitions to serious business:
“Well, tell me now what lady is the same / To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage…”
- Meaning: Back to business—tell me about the lady you said you loved and were secretly planning to visit.
- Tone: Curious, supportive.
🔸BASSANIO’s Confession:
“’Tis not unknown to you, Antonio, / How much I have disabled mine estate…”
- Meaning: You already know I’ve ruined my financial situation.
“By something showing a more swelling port / Than my faint means would grant continuance.”
- Meaning: I’ve been living above my means, trying to seem wealthier than I am.
- Theme: Appearance vs reality, nobility and wealth, financial recklessness.
- Device:
- Metaphor: “swelling port” = fancy lifestyle or status.
- Tone: Humble, guilty.
“But my chief care / Is to come fairly off from the great debts…”
- Meaning: What I care about most now is repaying my debts honorably.
“To you, Antonio, / I owe the most in money and in love…”
- Meaning: You’ve helped me the most, financially and emotionally.
- Tone: Grateful, affectionate.
- Theme: Loyalty, male friendship, honor.
“And from your love I have a warranty / To unburden all my plots and purposes…”
- Meaning: Because of your friendship, I feel safe telling you my plans to fix everything.
ANTONIO: “I pray you, good Bassanio, let me know it.”
- Meaning: Please, just tell me already.
❖ ANTONIO
“And if it stand, as you yourself still do, / Within the eye of honor…”
Explanation: Antonio says, “If things are still the way they used to be—if you, like before, still hold honor in high regard…”
Analysis: This suggests that honor and trust are the foundation of their friendship.
Theme: Friendship and Loyalty
Language Device: Metaphor – “eye of honor” symbolizes a standard of honor or moral vision.
“…be assured / My purse, my person, my extremest means / Lie all unlocked to your occasions.”
Explanation: Antonio reassures Bassanio that his money, body, and everything he owns is available for Bassanio to use.
Analysis: Antonio’s love and loyalty for Bassanio are deep and possibly romantic. He places his friend’s needs above his own safety.
Theme: Sacrifice, Devotion
Language Device: Alliteration in “purse, person” emphasizes total commitment.
“Unlocked” suggests open trust, no barriers between them.
❖ BASSANIO
“In my school days, when I had lost one shaft, / I shot his fellow of the selfsame flight / The selfsame way with more advisèd watch / To find the other forth;”
Explanation: Bassanio shares a childhood memory. If he lost an arrow, he’d shoot another one the same way, carefully watching this time, hoping it would help him find both arrows.
Analysis: This metaphor sets up his reasoning—he hopes that by taking another financial risk (like shooting a second arrow), he can recover from the first loss.
Language Device: Extended Metaphor – The arrow represents money; the act of re-shooting symbolizes borrowing again.
Theme: Risk and Fortune, Youthful Folly
“and by adventuring both / I oft found both.”
Explanation: By risking two arrows, he sometimes found both.
Analysis: He uses this to justify asking Antonio for more money. He suggests that risking more can lead to gain.
Language Device: Paradox of Risk – losing more can lead to finding both.
Theme: Adventure and Fortune
“I urge this childhood proof / Because what follows is pure innocence.”
Explanation: He says he’s using this childish example because what he’s going to ask is honest and sincere.
Analysis: Bassanio is softening his request, trying not to seem manipulative.
Theme: Innocence and Trust
“I owe you much, and, like a willful youth, / That which I owe is lost.”
Explanation: He admits he owes Antonio a lot, and like a careless young man, he lost that money.
Analysis: He shows regret, but also presents himself as someone who is learning.
Language Device: Simile – “like a willful youth”
Theme: Debt, Growth, Guilt and Redemption
“But if you please / To shoot another arrow that self way / Which you did shoot the first…”
Explanation: He asks Antonio to lend him money again, just like before.
Analysis: This ties back to the arrow metaphor: the new loan might help recover both debts.
Theme: Trust, Second Chances
“I do not doubt, / As I will watch the aim, or to find both / Or bring your latter hazard back again,”
Explanation: He promises to be careful this time and hopes to repay both loans—or at least the second one.
Analysis: Bassanio is trying to sound more mature, more responsible.
Language Device: Symbolism – “aim” symbolizes careful planning or direction in life.
Theme: Responsibility
“And thankfully rest debtor for the first.”
Explanation: If he can only repay one loan, he’ll remain grateful and in debt for the first.
Analysis: Bassanio’s tone is respectful. He’s trying to reassure Antonio.
Theme: Gratitude, Loyalty
❖ ANTONIO
“You know me well, and herein spend but time / To wind about my love with circumstance;”
Explanation: Antonio says, “You know me well. You’re wasting time dressing up your request with stories—I already love you.”
Analysis: Antonio prefers directness. He sees Bassanio’s long story as unnecessary.
Language Device: Personification – “wind about my love” gives love a physical presence.
Theme: Devotion, Honesty
“And out of doubt you do me now more wrong / In making question of my uttermost…”
Explanation: Antonio says Bassanio is wrong to doubt his willingness to help.
Analysis: He seems almost hurt that Bassanio feels the need to “convince” him.
Theme: Unquestioning Friendship
“Than if you had made waste of all I have.”
Explanation: Antonio says it would hurt less if Bassanio had wasted all his money than for him to doubt Antonio’s loyalty.
Analysis: His love and commitment are absolute.
Theme: Selfless Devotion, Emotional Loyalty
“Then do but say to me what I should do / That in your knowledge may by me be done, / And I am prest unto it. Therefore speak.”
Explanation: Antonio says, “Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”
Analysis: He’s ready to act without hesitation.
Language Device: Repetition (“do…done…do”) shows urgency and readiness.
Theme: Action, Loyalty, Service
❖ BASSANIO
“In Belmont is a lady richly left…”
Explanation: He begins talking about Portia, a rich heiress who lives in Belmont.
Analysis: Her wealth is the first trait he mentions, suggesting material motives.
Theme: Wealth and Marriage
“And she is fair, and, fairer than that word, / Of wondrous virtues.”
Explanation: She’s beautiful, even more than the word “fair” can describe, and very virtuous.
Analysis: Bassanio idealizes her, mixing physical attraction and moral admiration.
Language Device: Repetition and Wordplay – “fair” = beauty + justice
Theme: Ideal Woman, Romantic Love
“Sometimes from her eyes / I did receive fair speechless messages.”
Explanation: Her eyes seemed to send him messages—like she might like him too.
Analysis: Bassanio interprets her glances as signs of love.
Language Device: Oxymoron/Metaphor – “speechless messages” = silent flirting
Theme: Love, Desire, Hope
“Her name is Portia, nothing undervalued / To Cato’s daughter, Brutus’ Portia.”
Explanation: He says this Portia is as noble as the famous Portia from Roman history.
Analysis: He elevates her status by comparing her to a classical symbol of virtue.
Theme: Honor, Classical Ideal of Women
Language Device: Allusion – Reference to Roman history
“Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth, / For the four winds blow in from every coast…”
Explanation: Everyone knows how amazing she is. Suitors are coming from all over the world.
Analysis: He frames her as universally desired, increasing the urgency to act quickly.
Theme: Competition, Desire and Destiny
❖ BASSANIO
“Renownèd suitors, and her sunny locks / Hang on her temples like a golden fleece,”
Explanation: Many famous men are courting Portia, and her blonde hair is described as hanging like a golden fleece (a reference to Greek mythology).
Analysis: Bassanio elevates Portia to a mythic level of beauty and value, suggesting she is both desired and almost divine.
Language Device:
- Simile – “like a golden fleece”
- Allusion – to the Golden Fleece from Greek mythology (symbol of great value and heroic quest)
Theme: Romantic Idealization, Wealth, Quest for Love
“Which makes her seat of Belmont Colchos’ strond, / And many Jasons come in quest of her.”
Explanation: He says Belmont (Portia’s home) is like Colchos, the place where the Golden Fleece was kept, and many men (like Jason the hero) are seeking Portia.
Analysis: Bassanio views winning Portia not just as love but as a heroic adventure. He compares himself and others to mythic heroes.
Language Device:
- Extended Allusion – The entire image is a reference to the Argonauts’ journey in search of the Golden Fleece
Theme: Adventure, Competition, Love as Heroism
“O my Antonio, had I but the means / To hold a rival place with one of them,”
Explanation: He tells Antonio, “If only I had the money to compete with the other suitors…”
Analysis: Bassanio feels confident in his ability to win Portia’s heart but lacks financial resources.
Theme: Class and Opportunity, Fortune, Love and Status
“I have a mind presages me such thrift / That I should questionless be fortunate!”
Explanation: He says, “I have a strong feeling I would succeed.” (“presages” = predicts; “thrift” = success or gain)
Analysis: This line shows his faith in fate or inner confidence—he believes Portia is meant for him.
Language Device:
- Foreshadowing – hints at success or at least great consequences
- Personification – “mind presages” gives his thoughts a predictive quality
Theme: Fate and Fortune, Self-Belief
❖ ANTONIO
“Thou know’st that all my fortunes are at sea;”
Explanation: Antonio reminds him that all his wealth is tied up in merchant ships that are still sailing.
Analysis: This line reflects the uncertainty of trade and risk involved in Antonio’s lifestyle.
Language Device: Metaphor – “fortunes at sea” = uncertain wealth
Theme: Risk, Friendship, Instability of Wealth
“Neither have I money nor commodity / To raise a present sum.”
Explanation: He says he has no cash or goods right now to give Bassanio.
Analysis: Despite being wealthy, Antonio is temporarily liquid-cash poor, emphasizing the dangers of relying solely on credit and trade.
Theme: Commerce, Limits of Wealth
“Therefore go forth: / Try what my credit can in Venice do;”
Explanation: He tells Bassanio to go out and see how much he can borrow using Antonio’s name and reputation.
Analysis: Antonio is using his social capital to help Bassanio.
Theme: Friendship, Reputation, Sacrifice
“That shall be racked even to the uttermost / To furnish thee to Belmont to fair Portia.”
Explanation: Antonio says he’s willing to push his credit to the limit to help Bassanio go to Belmont.
Analysis: He is taking an enormous risk—possibly even beyond what is wise—all for Bassanio.
Language Device:
- Hyperbole – “racked to the uttermost” shows the extreme extent he’s willing to go
Theme: Loyalty, Sacrifice, Love (possibly romantic)
“Go presently inquire, and so will I, / Where money is, and I no question make / To have it of my trust, or for my sake.”
Explanation: Antonio tells Bassanio to look for lenders, and he’ll do the same. He’s confident he’ll get the money because of his reputation.
Analysis: This line shows Antonio’s social status, but also his desperation—he is offering his name as collateral.
Theme: Risk, Trust, Commerce
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