In the Merchant of Venice, Portia's father asked the suitors who wanted Portia's hand in marriage to choose a casket from three caskets: gold, silver, and lead, and the one who chooses correctly will marry Portia. However, I believe that the three caskets have a deeper layer of symbolism.
I think that the casket test represents Belmont, where the casket test is held. Belmont is a cosmopolitan society, more accepting of foreigners, and the casket test is based solely on the wisdom of the suitors, with a little luck thrown in, and not on their nationality, race, language, religion, et cetera.
Also, the casket test seem to be representative of Bassanio, a Christian and a risk-taker. The gold and silver caskets are inscribed with "Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire" and “Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves" respectively. Those inscriptions are also Christian values, such as that desire is something undesirable and that humans does not deserve the blessings from God. In Shakespeare's times, the idea of not judging something by its appearance is also common, hence the humble lead casket. The lead casket is inscribed with "Who chooseth me must give and hazard all." In my opinion, this carry the meaning that the suitor must be willing to risk all that he has for love, and hope for Portia even though he may not deserve her. Bassanio is the perfect example of that, as in his heart, he knows that he does not deserves Portia, but he's still willing to risk all he has (admittedly, not much) on one hand of cards.
Lastly, the three caskets also seem to represent the three main types of people present in the play - greedy, materialistic people, such as Shylock; cautious, confident people, such as Portia; and risk-takers and gamblers, such as Bassanio.
Agreed! This is indeed true, and I share the same opinion with you that the casket test represents Belmont, where the casket test is held. An enriching post, Wen Hao! It really gives a better point of view of the casket test! Thanks for sharing! All the best! :)
ReplyDeleteGood that you have been doing some background research pertaining to the Merchant of Venice. It is rather interesting to see this point of view as I've never heard of it before. However, by saying that the gold and the silver casket represent the Christian, are you certain that Prince of Morocco and Prince of Aragon are Christians? And by excluding Bassanio from this two caskets, are you saying that he is not a Christian. Nevertheless, I feel that this is an excellent post and I particularly like your last sentence of how the three casket represent the three different characters as well.
ReplyDeleteI feel that it is good that you have done your background research, and it has enlightened me about some points in Merchant of Venice that I didn't know before. However, I would like to point out that you made an assumption. How would you know if the Princes of Morocco and Arragon are Christians? Despite that, I feel that it is an interesting idea that you have about how the caskets represent the three different characters. Awesome :)
ReplyDeleteGood work doing your research! I was wondering about the symbolism of the three caskets but now, thanks to your post and a little extensive research online, I understand everything. I think that Shakespeare was incredible for being able to hide such concepts in something like the 3 caskets. I would never have thought that they symbolised anything more than just a test to make the other suitors apart from Bassanio fail.
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