The Merchant of Venice
Act I, Scene (i)
As the play opens, we find Antonio conversing with Solanio and Solarino. Antonio is found deeply lost in a state of melancholy. He is unable to find the reasons for his anxiety. Solanio and Solarino try to guess the causes of Antonio’s gloomy state of mind. Antonio also admits that he is unable to find genuine reasons for his sadness.
He utters: “In sooth, I know not why I am so sad;…”
Antonio has invested a large sum of money in his business and his ships are in the ocean, where his ships are at high risk because no one knows when the seawater becomes troubled with high tides.
Solanio tells Antonio that he might be troubled due to his ships that are in the ocean. He also consoles Antonio by saying that they are quite safe and sound.
Solanio also enters into the conversation dragging the same thought ahead. In this way, their conversation centers around Antonio’s sadness and his ships in peril.
But we find Antonio rejecting all of their speculations about the reasons for his sadness. He says that his ships are not the reason for his gloomy state of mind. His financial situation is rather sound if he does not get any profit in the current year.
“Believe me, no; I thank my fortune for it,/
My ventures are not in one bottom trusted,/
Nor to one place; nor is my whole estate/
Upon the fortune of this present year:(45)/
Therefore my merchandise makes me not sad.”
At this, Solanio says that Antonio must have fallen in love if he is not worried about his shipment. Antonio outrightly dismisses the idea of love too.
In the meantime, Antonio’s other companions: Bassanio, Lorenzo, and Gratiano also enter the scene. After expressing some words of courtesies, Solanio and Solarino leave the place.
Gratiano also watches Antonio’s face and says that he is looking somewhat different.
“You don’t look well, Mr. Antonio;
You’re thinking too much about the world;…”
At this, Antonio admits that he is a man of melancholic nature. Let’s read what he says:
“I only think of the world as the world, Gratiano;
A stage, where every man must play a part,
And my part is a sad one…”
As Antonio finishes his lines, we have very beautiful lines uttered by Gratiano:
“Let me play the fool;
Let old wrinkles come with happiness and laughter;
And let my liver get hot with wine rather
Then my heart turns cold with depressing groans.
There are a sort of men, whose visages
Do cream and mantle like a standing pond;
And do a wilful stillness entertain,
With a purpose to be dress'd in an opinion(95)
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit;..’”
After some time, Lorenzo and Gratiano also leave. Now Antonio and Bassanio are left behind.
Bassanio also utters a few beautiful lines about Gratiano, when the latter has left the place.
“…his reasons are as two grains(120)
of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff; you shall seek all day ere you find them, and when you have them they are not worth the search.”
Now, Antonio asks Bassanio to tell him about the lady he promised to tell him something.
But before telling anything about the lady, Bassanio proceeds to make some background to take another loan from Antonio. He acquaints the reader with his extravagant nature. He also hints at the fact that he has already taken a loan from Antonio.
“I don’t come to you now to ask that you
Forgive my debts, because my chief concern
Is to make good on these great debts
Which my behavior, sometimes reckless
And wasteful, has left me broke. To you, Antonio,…”
I owe the most, in money and in friendship,
And, from your friendship, I have a guarantee
To get rid of all my plots and intentions as to
How to get clear all the debts I owe.
Antonio encourages Bassanio to say what he wants, but the latter does not come to the point and adds more words.
“When I was in school, when I had lost one arrow,
I shot another one of identical length
In an identical way, with more thoughtful care,
To find the one I lost, and by risking both, I often
Found both. I’m telling you about this childhood event,
Because I say next is as pure and innocent.
I owe you a lot, and, like a willful youth,
I have lost what I owe you, but if you will please
Lend me money in an identical way
That you lent me the first money, I don’t doubt,
As I’ll be more careful, to find both sums,
Or I’ll bring your second loan back again
And just owe you thankfully for the first….”
No comments:
Post a Comment