CONTEXT QUESTIONS

Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follo

1. I could teach you

How to choose right, but then I am forsworn
So will I never be: so may you miss m e -
Bul if you do, you'll make me wish a sin,
That I had been forsworn. Beshrew your eyes,

i
They have o'erlook'd me and divided me
Why does the speaker not teach Bassanio how to choose? How long
himb
wOuld

how

teach him
have liked to detain Bassanio, perhaps, to
ps, t0
the speaker e
o f Portia

o chooxe? Why would she do so? Is there any differe

 eatment towards Bassanio than from the other suitors? Why?
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"You'll make me wish a sin." What sin is referred to here? On

what condition wil this sin be committed? Is the sin committed in the
play?

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Bassanio before this extract?

1) Does Portia show any sign of her love for
own words how Portia
states her
When does she do so? State in your
likeness for Bassanio.
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What is her opinion about

iv) The
e
spe
speaker talks here about 'teaching.
earning' later in this scene

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163
 have o'erlook'd m e "
eyes/They
"Beshrew your
(VExplain

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divided Portia" sionie
"Bassanio's eyes
What does the
phrase speaking so long?
(vi) later for
xcuse does Portia give

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Portia a lover. What other aspects

of as
(vii) State briefly your impression of the play?
out in the course

of her character do you figure **°*******"

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Away, then! I am lock'd in one of them:

2.
If you do love me, you will find me out.
Nerissa and the rest, stand all aloof.
Let music sound while he doth make his choice;
Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end,
Fading in music: that the comparison
May stand more proper, my eye shall be the strea
And watery death-bed for him.

164
 State how
w the speaker is locked in one of them"? How would Bassanioo
find her?

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What are the reasons for Bassanio to make hurry in his choice of the
caskets? Why do you think that Nerissa and the rest are asked to stand
aloof?

* * * * * * * * * * *

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ii) Why does the speaker order music to be played while Bassanio makes
the choice of the caskets? To what does Portia compare the music, should
Bassanio choose correctly?
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iv d t does the speaker mean by "my eye shall be the stream

and watery dead-bed for him"?

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165
 *****.
What is "a swan-like end"? What Elizabethan belief abas
(v) out swans
expressed in the extract?

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3. Now he goes,
With no less presence, but with much more love,
Than young Alcides, when he did redeem
The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy
To the sea-monster: I stand for sacrifice;
The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives,
With bleared visages come forth to view
The issue of th' exploit. Go, Hercules!
Live thou, I live: with much, much more dismay
I view the fight than thou that mak'st the fray.
is retert
(i) Contextualize the extract. Who is Alcides? What action of his
to in the extract?

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ii) Why Bassanio can be compared to young Alcides

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166-
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nes Portia say, "I stand for
WhydoessPor
the choiceof caskets? What sacrifice" as
sacrifice is she Bassanio is about
abo to make
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referring to?
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Who are
are Dardanian wives? ***********e****eo**.*ee*** e***********
)Who
air)
Why are they called
visages bleared? Who in the context are so? Why are
their
compared to "Dardanian wives7

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v)G v e tribute.
the meaning of the virgin
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Where is he asked
ho is referred to as Hercules in the extract? Why?
him to go?
gO? What does Portia tell him after asking
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167
 . ******* .

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which is sung as Bassanio io
(vii) What is the theme of the song
choose? Do you think that
the song helps Bassanio to choose about to
Give reasons for your answer. correctly?

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themselves:
So may the outward shows be least
The world is still deceiv'd with ornament.
In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt

But, being season'd with a gracious voice,

Obscures the show of evil?
shows
Who is the speaker? What does he mean by "So may the outward
i)
be least themselves"?
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with
(11) Explain how the caskets prove that "The world is still deceiva this
ornament"? What theme of the play is talked about throug

sentence?
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168
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meaning of :
)Give the
so tainted and corrupt.
(a) what plea
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b) being season'd with a gracious voice.

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state the comments made by Bassanio about cowards?

) Briefly
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locks
So those crisped snaky golden
are
with the wind,
Which make such wanton gambols
often known
Upon supposed fairness,
To be the dowry of a second head,
the sepulchre
The skull that bred them in
shore
Thus ornament is but the guiled
beauteous scarf
To a most dangerous sea, the
Veiling an Indian beauty;
What are "those
i) contextualize the passage.
ldentify the speaker and described as 'crisp and snaky?
golden locks"? Why are they
sped snaky are referred to
of the play golden locks
Where else in the earlier part
and in what context?
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169
 (ii) Explain the following second head
of a
To be the dowry
the sepulchre.
bred them in
The skull that
these lines? To what Elizahot
What is the irony
contained in than practig
these lines refer
?
do

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said about the ornament in the ex

extract.
ovwn words what is
(ii1) State in your
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How does
during Shakespearean times?
of "beauty'
(iv) What was the concept after opening the lead
immediately
Bassanio describe
Portia's beauty
casket? **°*******'******

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silver

the golo
What does Bassanio give for rejecting
reasons
(v)
caskets? What makes him choose
the lead casket? **************"

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170
 hich
Whio theme is
highlhghted in the
think so? choice of the caskets? Why do you

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,

Yet look, how far

The substance of my praise doth
wrong this shadow
In underprizing it, so far this
shadow
Doth limp behind the substance. Here's the
scroll,
The continent and of
summary fortune. my
i Contextualize the passage. What is referred to
as "the substance of my
praise", and "shadow"? In what way does the former wrong the latter?
* * * * * * ° ' * ° ° ° * * * * *

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n) What is meant by "the continent and summary of my fortune"?

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i) Stat
ate in your own words the message written on the scroll.

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171
 Bassanio
had chosen the ad caske
when felcasken
Portia react How did she feel
(iv)
(V)Earlier,
how did
was
dominant
then?
about the
hers
Which passion of

passion?

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Bassanio find in the casket

what other object did
Besides the scrol, ******

(v)
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did he
earlier? Why
Portia's lips and eyes
Bassanio praise
What did web?
(vi)
her hair to a spider's ****"'"
compare

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two
te
one of
Bassanio feel "Like
does
After kissing Portia, why
(vii) *****o*****
contending in a prize"?
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172
 .. but the full
sum of me
Ts sum ofsomething, which, to term in
Is anunlesson'd girl, unschool'd grosn,
unpractis'd;
Happy in this, she is not yet so old
But she may learn;

who speaks these lines to whom?

Where? What does Portin
she negative aspects of her
personality? Give
say nbout
is still happy in her present condition.
reasons to ntinte why Portin

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) Explain: "unlesson'd girl, unschoo>'d unpractis'd'.

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What were Portia's wishes earlier, in order to be worthy of Bassanio?

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iw) with Bassanio? What advice does

1ow does Portia seal her agreement
the token shee gives him? What is
give to Bassanio concerning
token?
assanio's promise regarding the

173
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his teelings, when replvina ..

expresses
State briefly how Bassanio
(v)
love.
Portia's pledge of
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* * ° ° ° * * * ° * * * * * *

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8. I thank your lordship, you have got me one.

My eyes, my lord, can look as swift as yours:

You saw the mistress, I beheld the maid;
You lov'd, I lov'd: for intermission
No more pertains to me, my lord, than you.
Your fortune stood upon the caskets there,
And so did mine too, as the matter falls;
i n t h e extract?
i) Who is the speaker? Who is the lordship' referred to in the e
Why does Gratiano thank him?
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174
 the meaning of:
Give
look as swift as yours

(b) for intermission

No more pertains to mee

the m a t t e r falls.
as
(c)

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she
what condition did
Gratiano meet his future wife? On
il How did
him?
promise to marry

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too "stood upon

the caskets.
how Gratiano's fortune
av) Explain briefly

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conversation ? Why o n e of
interesting
the during the grounds does
Bassanio
who enters scene
infidel? On what
is called a n
hose who entered welcome the guests?
Claim the right to

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When I told you

have told you
9. should then
state was nothing, I
My for, indeed,
worse
than nothing;
That I was
dear friend,
myself to a
have engag d enemy,
friend to his
mere

Engag'd my letter, lady;

means.
Here is a
To feed nmy friend,
as the body of my
The paper
word in it a gaping wound,
And every
Issuing life-blood.
that he was worse
does the speaker say
i) Who is the speaker?
Why in his estimation a
with the speaker
agree
than nothing? Do you
himself?
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* * * * * * *

referred to in the extract?

How did Portia come
(ii.Who brought the letter contents" in it?
some "shrewd
to know that there are
* * * "

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What
claim the right to know what was in the letter:claim?
(ii) Why did Portia
admission does Bassanio make in reply to Portia mentioning her cla
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176
 ***** * * ' ' ' * *

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Why, according to
Bassanio, every word of the letter
was "a gaping
lain why Bassanio finds the news
1nd"? Expla on the letter almost
unbelievable.

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The dearest friend to me, the kindest man,

The best-condition'd and unwearied spirit
In doing courtesies, and one in whom
The ancient Roman honour more appears
Than any that draws breath in Italy.
What is the trouble
Who is the speaker? Who is "the dearest friend"?
when he says that
the friend is facing? To what does the speaker refer
honour" ?
his dearest friend has in him "The ancient Roman

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and unwearied spirit in doing

nat is meant by, "The best-condition'd
Courtesies"?

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177
iii) What did Portia when she heard that Antonio owed an
say y thre
thousand ducats to the Jew? State in your own words
why shene thre e
that Bassanio and herself should get
married immediately, 5estes suggested

about his misfortune? What has he

(iv) What has Antonio said in his letter
requested his friend to do?
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* * * " * * * * "

* * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * '

heroines." Briefly state how tar

(v) Shakespeare has no heroes; but only
in this scene, is true as far as Portia is concerned.
this saying,
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