The Merchant of Venice presents a world in conflict in which the characters need to navigate between opposing and conflicting values. They need to attend to their romantic interests as well as their financial and legal obligations, to balance justice and mercy, to juggle their friends and their lovers. Each of the three trials in the play (the trial of the caskets, the trial of the contract of the pound of flesh and the trial of the rings) is an attempt to resolve these dilemmas. Each trial confronts a seemingly irresoluble conflict -- only to miraculously solve the problem. In the world of comedy, we can have our cake and eat it, too.
Choose ONE of the trials. What are the values at stake? How is the conflict resolved? What is this trial telling us the nature of these values? Are they really conflicting? Is there a strategy to resolve the problem? Or is it only in the never, never land of the play that we can ever hope to square the circle?
In the Trial of the Caskets, the values of love and loyalty are at stake. Portia maintains her casket system out of a sense of loyalty to her father. However, she secretly hopes that each suitor will guess either correctly or incorrectly, depending on the suitor. Portia makes the internal decision that loyalty to her father is more important than love with another man.
ReplyDeleteWhen Bassanio comes to attempt the Trial of the Caskets, Portia wants him to win. She loves him, and Bassanio loves her, but the two of them know that Portia’s loyalty to her father prevents them from skipping the caskets. As it turns out, Bassanio is smart (and lucky?) enough to succeed, and he guesses the correct casket, using reasoning such as, “The world is still deceived with ornament” (iii.ii.74). This circumstance, where the one suitor who Portia loves just happens to be the one suitor to guess the correct casket, can only possibly exist in a story.
Ultimately, in The Merchant of Venice, the notion of loyalty prevails over the notion of love. This is only possible because the story has fairytale-esque elements. For instance, if Bassanio had failed to pick the right casket, maybe Portia would have broken her loyalty to her father. She is a picky girl; if the one she loved was walking away, would she forsake her father’s wishes and go after him? It’s a possibility. The conflict is only resolved because of the rare circumstances that Shakespeare sets up in the story. In reality, in a situation like this, love may prevail over loyalty.
The trial of the three caskets is the first of the three great Trials in Merchant of Venice. The trial requires a suitor to choose between three caskets one of gold, one of silver, and one of lead. In this trial a suitor must risk their chance to marry anyone against the prize of Portia and her kingdom. While outwardly this is a rather insubstantial trial, a game of chance, when you look deeper however it seems there is a greater trial, a trial of the spirit. Portia is bound by her dead father’s will to marry the man who chooses correctly, this is not all bad as her servant points out to her saying, “holy men at their death have good inspirations”(1.2.27). This is certainly true in this case as Portia’s father in knowing that he would soon die, attempted to make sure the man who married his daughter would be able to look into her soul and not just at her body and fortune. Such a choice causes the character Morocco to choose wrong. Ironically only seconds after warning Portia not to judge him by his skin he chooses the golden casket assuming that the great prize must be in the most ornate and expensive casket. Finally and much to Portia’s joy Bassanio chooses correctly the lead casket. Shakespeare is clearly trying to tell the audience something about what he believes the character of the human soul to be. That it can reflect more than what we see on the outside.
ReplyDeleteIn the trial of the rings the key values here mercy and justice . Shylock has the majority of the power in this situation. He has to either choose to let Antonio off the hook and accept the debt he owes him or take the pound of flesh. In this case letting Antonio off the hook would be the humane and merciful thing to do and taking a pound of flesh from Antonio is the just thing to do. Shylock’s argument with Antonio over the right thing to do in this situation was evidence of the hypocrisy of the non-Jews in the play. Antonio was expecting that Shylock would give into the merciful side of himself rather than the vengeful side even after Antonio had been so cruel to Shylock. The difference in thinking that the two different groups have is what makes this trial interesting. Shylock expresses this as he states, “What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong?” (4.1.90). This quotation shows that, for Shylock, the choice is simple, he isn’t being inhumane, he is following the law. The trial does not end up in his favor because of the power that Portia takes. The trial is not a win-win for everyone because Shylock does not end up with what he really wanted. The reader knows this from earlier as Shylock tells the Duke,
ReplyDelete“ You’ll ask me why I rather choose to have
A weight of carrion flesh than to receive
Three thousand ducats. I’ll not answer that,
but to say it is my humor” (4.1.41-44)
The win-win only applies to the venetians.
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ReplyDeleteThe trial of the pound of flesh shows the conflict between justice and mercy. Shylock is set on having justice, being the stereotypical jew, even though he is begged to be merciful. In the end, Shylock is punished for trying to exact his pound of flesh from Antonio. This gives the impression that it is better to follow your moral judgement rather than always carry out the law to the letter.
ReplyDeleteThis can be seen in Portia’s speech to Shylock, explaining why it is better the be merciful than strive for justice. She says:
...But mercy is is above this sceptered sway.
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings;
It is an attribute to God Himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy season justice. (4.1.199-203)
According to her mercy is one of the greatest acts one can do. By showing mercy you are emulating God and combining mercy with justice being as close to God as you can get. Portia then goes on to say, “Though justice be they plea, consider this: That in the course of justice none of us Should see salvation.” (4.1.204-06). She is pointing out that if God were to follow Shylock’s standards, and seek justice instead of mercy, no one would be able to go to heaven because no one is perfect. Instead God is merciful and forgives.
The point that mercy is better than justice is driven home when Antonio forgives Shylock. In the end of the court scene the tables are turned and Antonio has the power to ruin Shylock. He instead lets Shylock off the hook, not taking half his wealth. Shylock being the villain in this scene is on the side of justice while Antonio, the good guy, shows mercy. According to Shakespeare, it is better to show mercy and seek justice.
The trial of the pound of flesh is really a conflict between justice and mercy. Following the forfeiture of Antonio’s bond, Shylock seeks his revenge through the guise of justice. Antonio is at fault and the bond must be paid, but Antonio’s friends offer twice as much as the bond was initially worth. Everyone pleads for Shylock’s mercy, but he made an oath to get his revenge. Mercy is seemingly the best outcome in this scenario, but Shylock wants judgment despite it not being in his best interest. Bassanio pleads to overlook the law in this case, but Venice can’t refuse Shylock his forfeiture because,
ReplyDeleteThere is no power in Venice
Can alter a decree established;
‘Twill be recorded for a precident
And many an err by the same example
Will rush into the state (4.1.226-30).
Seeing as mercy cannot be used to stop the court proceedings and justice prevents them from ignoring Shylock’s bond, Portia is required to utilize the full extent of the law. Portia, disguised as the Doctor Balthazar, reveals that spilling any Christian blood will result in him losing his property and life, ultimately resolves this conflict. Shylock then learns that for threatening the life of Antonio, “The party ‘gainst the which he doth contrive / Shall seize one half his goods; the other half / Comes to the privy coffer of the state” (4.1.367-369). Portia is able to use her knowledge of Venetian law to save Antonio’s life, while giving Shylock his judgment. She lets justice win over mercy, preventing Shylock from collecting even the money he lends Bassonio. Many times over the course of the trial, Portia urged Shylock to take the money, but only following his refusal to be merciful did she too stop being sympathetic. The trial only ends when justice wins over mercy.
In The Merchant of Venice, the trial of the caskets is a trial in which Portia’s values of her father’s wishes and her own wishes of love are contrasted. Portia’s father’s will said that suitors will choose between 3 caskets, and one will have a picture of Portia, and the one who chooses the right casket will marry Portia. Portia on the other hand, when looking at her potential husbands realizes that she doesn’t like any of them. She then remembers Bassanio, and realizes that she just wants to marry him. When Bassanio comes to Belmont to choose a casket Portia says,
ReplyDelete“…I could teach you
How to choose right, but then I am forsworn.
…O, these naught times
Puts bars between the owners and their rights!” 3.2.10-1, 18-9
Portia explains that she wishes that she could teach Bassanio how to teach correctly, but her father’s wishes bar her from doing so. Here, and throughout the whole time, she solely listens to her father’s wishes, but in the end, when Bassanio ends up picking the right casket, Portia gets the best of both worlds. During that time period, you would expect for Portia to listen to her father’s wishes, but the fact that she also gets to marry Bassanio is possible but highly improbable. It is most likely that Shakespeare created this scenario just for the plots case. In this case, because it is a comedy, this trial concludes with a fairy tale ending with everyone winning.