My Crazy Thoughts.

In the book, Merchants of Venice, Shakespeare portrays that reality is not always as it appears to be. It seems to be an important part of the book’s message. Love can distort a person’s perception of a person or thing into something other than what it is in reality. There are three instances where that happens: the three different caskets, Jessica dressing up as a boy, and Portia dresses up to be a man to see if Bassanio’s love is strong.

There were three caskets: gold, silver, and unpolished lead. Every time a guy wanted to marry Portia they had to pick one of them and if they guessed the right one they would win her hand in marriage. The gold represented what every man wants and desire, the silver represents what a man desires and the lead represents that a man must be willing to give up and risk everything.  In the end the unpolished, dull lead casket is the right one (75). This casket was the right one because if any man was to pick the other two it would show he wasn’t genuine with his choice or that he doesn’t completely have his whole heart into it. Sometimes the ugliest looking one is the best one. In this case, it was. Appearances aren’t everything. It’s like the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”.  If a person does they will never see the truth in anything. In order to really be in love a person must look past the flaws of a person and uncover what’s underneath.

Another situation where reality isn’t always what it seems is when Jessica dresses up as a boy. She disguises herself so no one would know she was running away with a Christian. In order to get what she wants she has to appears to be something she is not. Jessica says, “I am glad ‘tis night, you do not look at me, for I am much ashamed of my exchange” (71). In reality a person can be ugly or doing something shameful, but love stops them from seeing it or caring about it. Jessica wanted to run away, so in order to not get caught she had to be deceiving to the eye.  She was in love and love is blinding.

A similar occurrence is when Portia and Nerissa dress up as men. Bassanio, who didn’t know his wife was present because she was dressed as a boy said, “But life itself, my wife and all the world…I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all (161). Without knowing that his wife was there he turned his love to his friend. 

Well my assumption was wrong. She didn’t marry Antonio. I did have a hunch, however, that she was going to offer her money to help get Antonio out of Shylock’s hold. Bassanio is a good friend to Antonio. He goes to help him out. He tries and offer double of what he originally said he would give to him. Anything that would help get his friend out of trouble. His friendship is true to him, because he was willing to give his ring that his wife gave him away because Antonio asked him to. I would be loyal to my friend that I have known my whole life than my wife, or in my case, husband, whom I had just met. This book has a lot of twists to it. I like it because that’s what keeps people interested. Shakespeare is an interesting writer if you look past his writing style. One of the key themes that appearances can be deceiving is portrayed again. Another example other than the three caskets is when Portia and Nerrisa dress up as boys. The people thought they were important men whose opinion mattered. They listened to what they had to say because their appearance weren’t as they seemed. 

Well honestly, at first, I didn’t like this book. Shakespeare is a hard person to understand. Reading Merchant of Venice I had no idea what it was talking about. The Elizabethan way of speaking was throwing me off. However, I found that if I read out loud, like it was a play, I actually began to understand it more. It is an interesting story line. I think that Antonio is going to end up marrying Portia instead of Bassanio because why else would the book be called Merchant of Venice. Antonio is the merchant in Venice. There are some scenes that I enjoy in the book. I like the part when Lancelot and his father are talking to each other. They are both entertaining people. Also I like when Shylock and Antonio talk about lending money. They are both so mean to each other. Shakespeare, even way back then, knew how to keep people entertained in his plays. He adds great dynamics to his writing. My favorite character is probably is Jessica. She, in a way, is like me. She is running away from her strict, overruling parent. I sort of did that too. I wasn’t able to do anything when I lived with my mom because she had so many rules. I moved out to live with my dad. I think she is a great character addition to the book/play.