Portia and Bassanio in William Shakespeares The Merchant...

Portia and Bassanio in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice â€Å"The Merchant of Venice† is a Shakespearean play based on the themes of friendship, racial prejudice, deceptive appearances and love, of which the most romantic is the love between Portia and Bassanio. In contrast, the other two couples - Lorenzo and Jessica, Gratiano and Nerissa – exhibit playful or down-to-earth love. Portia is as faultless as one could imagine. She is blessed with beauty, heavenly qualities surpassing all other women on Earth and moreover â€Å"richly left†. Portia’s image is consistent as a goddess, an angel. However, she is by no means the â€Å"unlessoned girl, unschooled, unpractised† which she claims to be, but†¦show more content†¦Although Bassanio is not wealthy, it does not diminish his social aspiration. To marry Portia, Bassanio must first challenge the casket test and choose one out of three caskets correctly. Portia’s love for Bassanio is obvious and she makes little attempt at neutrality. She intelligently commands that music be played whilst Bassanio makes his choice. Fortunately, Bassanio is smart enough to interpret the message of the song -- not to look on the surface, but what lie beneath, and chooses the correct casket containing Portia’s picture. His choice is not based on ego or self-delusion but a combination of intuition and practical wisdom. His reaction to his success is not arrogant and domineering but modest and respectful. This proves that he is a deeper, more thoughtful and sensitive character rather than a shallow, mercenary socialite which we are led to believe at the beginning of the play. Portia’s wit is again shown in the trial scene, where she cleverly got Shylock to reject in open court both the idea of mercy and the idea of money as alternatives to the pound of flesh. Shylock is trapped when Portia quietly points out that the bond â€Å"doth give thee here no jot of blood† and if he spills one †drop of Christian blood† in the process of cutting a pond of flesh from Antonio, his â€Å"lands and goods† willShow MoreRelated Responsibilities in William Shakespeares Merchant of Venice1212 Words   |  5 PagesResponsibilities in William Shakespeares Merchant of Venice The small and seemingly insignificant details in a story often hold together an entire theme of the work. This phenomenon is recognizable in the plays of William Shakespeare, as a speech or incident with a minor character can point the audience to a much larger truth about the work as a whole. 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