Passage Commentary: The Merchant of Venice Essay

Individual Oral Commentary Merchant of Venice

Act Scene 1 Lines 8-45

This extract is from the play The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare and is placed in Act 1 Scene 1 of the play which can also be called the expository scene of the play. Right before the extract we as readers have been introduced to the confused character of Antonio, a rich Jewish merchant by the author who doesnt even know the source of his extreme sadness and depression. Through the extract from lines 8-45 the author has tried to expose the intricate character of Antonio and has tried to set a melancholic mood at the opening of his play . Then the characters of Solario and Solanio reveal a lot about Venice and Elizabethan era, which is the place and time the play was set in. Venice was known in the Elizabethan era as centre of trade and business serving as a financial hub for business transactions worldwide. The author other than exposing character also introduces the beginnings of the actions which will slowly unfold as the play progresses. Various themes such as financial gain and loss, money as a problem and the overwhelming presence of life have been depicted in this extract by Shakespeare. Shakespeare has used flamboyant, ornamental language which is filled with images and comparisons and all of them are woven together around the possibility of Antonios character losing his fortune. The language of the entire extract as a whole expresses opulence of money and wealth.

In the first line of the extract itself Shakespeare uses Nature Imagery in the form of Solarias dialogue when he says Your mind is tossing on the sea this line creates a vivid image of the mind as a ship tossing on the ocean. This first line itself exposes one of the major themes of the play which is money as a problem, thus satisfying the authorial aim. This is followed by the use of extensive commercial imagery through words such as argosies which means merchant ships, signors which means gentleman and burghers which refers to rich and important citizens of the town. In the next line as well Shakespeare uses extensive visual imagery by comparing Antonios ships to a huge parade floating on the sea. From such comparisons we can draw that Antonio was a very wealthy merchant and was involved in vast dealings, representing the aspect of importance of money in the society. Shakespeare goes on to say in line 12 that Antonios ships are so big that they look down upon the smaller boats and those smaller boats bow down as a mark of respect to his mighty ships. Once again the size of Antonios ships has been emphasized upon which reflects Antonios wealth and prosperity. Antonios ships have also been compared to birds which fly high and mighty above regular boats. Such a comparison exposes the presence of class divide in the society, which was actually the case where the Christians were the majestic ships that carried silk, spices etc and the Jews are the petty small boats that were forced to bow down. Shakespeares uses imagery to set the tone of the play. All these images immediately produce an atmosphere of sea, ships and well-to do merchants and it is within this setting that the play progresses. Solarios dialogue is followed by Solanios speech where Solanio puts himself in Antonios shoes. Such kind of a speech is knows as an emphatic speech.. Solanio goes on to tell Antonio that he understands his situation because if he had such ventures out at sea he would be sad too, so much so that most part of his mind would by occupied by the status of his huge ventures which are currently in constant danger at sea. In line 18 Solanio tells Antonio that if he was in his position he would be so worried that he would constantly be tossing blades of grass in the air to find out the direction of the wind and would be repeatedly peering over maps to find the best ports, piers and waterways And his concern could go up to such a level that any object that reminded him of the possibility of harm to his ships would bother him. Such kind of anxiousness displayed by the character of Solanio illustrates the importance of money in the society because even though his money is not at stake he can relate to Antonios condition closely and with a realistic attitude. In the Solanios speech also we come across some Nature imagery with the use of certain words such as wind and grass used by Shakespeare. Use of such vivid nature imagery helps the reader to relate to the situation more closely because elements of nature such as wind, sea and grass are known to all and present around everyone. In the next dialogue, the character of Solario continues the speech of his friend by telling Antonio simple incidents which could remind him of the mishappenings at the sea. First he says that when he blew on his soup to cool it, the ripples formed in the bowl would remind him of the ghastly winds that prevailed at sea which could destroy his ships. Such an example can be stated as a fanciful one, such which will not come true in reality, however Shakespeare uses such examples to bring about the presence of overwhelming presence of life in the characters. Second example he gives is that off the sand hourglass. Solario expresses his discontent at the sight of a sand hourglass as the sand inside would make him visualize his ships wrecked at sea in sand bars. In line 31 Shakespeare has included a historical reference where Solario refers to the wealthy Andrew which was a very famous Spanish ship captured by the English in 1596 Use of words such as sand, wind can be stated as the use of extensive nature imagery by the author. Shakespeare has repeatedly used images of the nature maybe to convey to the readers that the play and its characters are just as unstable and unpredictable as the nature. The third and the final reference is to the church where Solario says that he is afraid to go to the church because as soon as he sees the stones it is made of it reminds him f the possibility that his ship could by devastated by one of these rocks at sea because of which all his cargo of spices would be dumped into the sea and all of its silk shipment would be sent flying into the roaring waters. Line 38 states Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks. The use of words such as Enrobe help the readers to understand the size of the shipment which was definitely very large indicating the kind of money and assets the citizens of Venice possessed. In lines (35-36) the author has used words such as gentle, touching etc basically words which do not express disaster. Such words create an imagery of silence with menacing quality. Shakespeare has used contrast to emphasize on the hugeness of the crash. In line 39- 40 Solario also says that if it was for any one of these instances he could go bankrupt in a second. The playwright has used these examples to foreshadow events which eventually come true later in the play which means that Antonios ships do breakdown and he goes bankrupt. Therefore Solario finally concludes that Antonio is sad because of his cargo which is at risk at sea. But Antonio is quick to refute by telling Solario that his ventures are spread out and not concentrated in one ship. In line 41 Antonio says Believe me, no this depicts that Shakespeare has bestowed upon Antonio a sense of mockery therefore reflecting how rich and well to do he is. Antonio as portrayed by Shakespeare is the symbol of prosperity in Elizabethan times. In the last 2 lines of the extract Antonio makes a decisive statement by making it clear that it is actually not his ventures at sea which are bothering him.

In conclusion, I would like to say that this extract possesses vast use of imagery by Shakespeare manily Nature imagery and his language is extravagant, and from his language it is very easy for the reader to understand that the life of these characters in the play is ruled by trade and governed by the presence of money which eventually does lead to many problems. After this extract one of the major conversations of the play takes place between Antonio and Bassanio where Bassanio asks Antonio for some money to impress the love of his life, Portia.