Emily Sandon
English 365
4/14/2014
Dr. Netzley
The Merchant of Venice: Gambling with an Insurance Policy
Within The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare suggests that gambling with risky ventures in life may not be such a bad thing if there is an “insurance policy” backing it up, that through controlled gambling destiny can be manipulated. In Act 3, Shakespeare uses the casket scene to suggest a successful substitute to risking all by having Portia instruct Bassanio as to which casket to choose, not only nearly guaranteeing that he is successful, but that she has control over her own destiny. Portia achieves this by instructing Bassanio to “tarry”, “pause a day or two”, “forbear awhile” delay (3.2.1-24), and insisting that a song be sung as Bassanio is choosing the casket (3.2.43). The song plays an important role in the play, as it is used by Portia to purposefully inform Bassanio, which is apparent through a few different facts. First, Portia desires Bassanio to choose the correct casket and therefore desires that he wed her instead of another man, and admits to a desire to inform him of the correct casket (3.2.10-14). Secondly, she insists that a particular song be sung doing his choosing, and by choosing a song that is full of thematic allusions and phonetic elements, she is attempting to manipulate Bassanio’s decision.
The central theme of the song itself is a clue for Bassanio. ). The ominous lyrics “Tell me where is fancy bred” (3.2.63), forewarns Bassanio to choose wisely through the use of words such as “fancy”. In Elizabethan time, fancy was used to describe whimsical and superficial love or infatuation, which is similar to “love at first sight”. Furthermore, the song warns; “[fancy] is engendered in the eyes/with gazing ...
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... however, provide an insurance policy, insuring that she could manipulate the odds in her favor, which in the end proved to be successful. The fact that she was successful in manipulating her father’s risky venture and gamble of her happiness implicates that the play is advocating gambling from a different stance. Through the casket scence, Shakespeare proposes a more cautious form of gambling, one that doesn’t rely on inadvertent and careless betting, but is carefully insured. Shakespeare uses Portia’s well planned and successfully manipulated venture in contrast to Antonio’s careless mercantile ventures which all “miscarry” (3.2.314). Thus, as portray in this scene, Shakespeare is suggesting that when an “insurance policy” is intact in a gamble, being informed and backed up by someone of wealth or nobility, only then can gambling be a successful merchant venture.
In the hilarious 2009 blockbuster hit The Hangover, “the three best friends that anyone could have” need to find a way to get the money they owe Mr. Chow in order to have the groom to be, Doug, returned to them. Phil, Stu, and Alan devise an intricate scheme that uses card counting while playing Blackjack to win a lot of money. The scheme uses many distractions such as Stu, and his stripper wife, acting as a distraction as well as Phil making lots of noise and obscene gestures to the cameras of the casino in order to bring attention to him and allowing Alan to do the card counting and win the money they owe Mr. Chow. When the casino managers begin to become suspicious of the possible card counting that is going on, Stu’s recently married stripper wife falls to the floor causing the security to focus on her giving Alan and Phil time to escape unseen with all the recently won cash. This scene, although entertaining, does not accurately portray what goes on when someone is card counting in these big time casinos, such as the one seen in this movie, Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Card counting is much more subtle and not such a big scheme as it is portrayed in this very funny movie.
Shakespeare writes with purpose in this play, he is showing that our ideals are not always what they seem. That in the end the truth wins. As in the case of his main characters in the play they needed to think about their ideals and see what the truth would be before they moved forward with their plans. These characters needed guidance and should have allowed life to happen instead of forcing situations; maybe then they would have survived.
A timeless topic--fate and free will--still captivates society today. Fortune cookies, physics, and horoscopes all contribute to the obsession people have with this controversial debate over who manipulates life; fate or free will. No one is sure who really pulls the strings, but everyone has an opinion on the matter. Many famous plays center on this topic, and one such play that features characters’ views on fate and free will is Romeo and Juliet. This legendary play, written by William Shakespeare, has been beloved by people for centuries, as they contemplate who is the guiding force in life? The play discusses just this, while depicting the lives of Romeo and Juliet: two desperate teenagers each trapped in their own worlds, seeking love and freedom. The two “star-crossed lovers” are from feuding households, and each has their own distinct problems. Romeo jumps from girl to girl, never finding anyone to reciprocate his feelings until he meets Juliet. She is hidden from the world, and with every decision being made for her, she wants to control her own life, which she does with marrying Romeo. Although fate and free will are both undeniably found in the lives of Juliet and Romeo, it is ultimately fate and the way it manipulates the events, time, and the characters that brings about the untimely death of the two iconic teen lovers.
Risk is the exposure to danger. Taking risks are necessary because risk reveals experience to an individual. Hazard has both malevolent and benevolent outcomes, which can affect the overall atmosphere in a play. The content of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice includes many scenarios of risk-taking among the relationships between characters. The Merchant of Venice consists of four different plots: the bond plot, casket plot, love plot, and ring plot; in which characters are exposed to danger. Risk serves a major responsibility as it divulges many elements of dramatic significance throughout the play. Shakespeare manifests hazard through rival arguments, lovers’ commitments, and father and child agreements.
William Shakespeare attained literary immortality through his exposition of the many qualities of human nature in his works. One such work, The Merchant of Venice, revolves around the very human trait of deception. Fakes and frauds have been persistent throughout history, even to this day. Evidence of deception is all around us, whether it is in the products we purchase or the sales clerks' false smile as one debates the purchase of the illusory merchandise. We are engulfed by phonies, pretenders, and cheaters. Although most often associated with a heart of malice, imposture varies in its motives as much as it's practitioners, demonstrated in The Merchant of Venice by the obdurate characters of Shylock and Portia.
Gambling... Who does not like to gamble? People play lotteries, bet on sport games or try their luck on slot machines with a thought to win some amount of money. In fact, this excitement for gambling can be seen even from early ages; for example, ancient Egyptians used to play dice in 2000 BC or the first casinos opened their doors to customers during the Greeco-Roman period ( Whittaker and Cushman 1 ). Nowadays casino industry is a large business in the United States that brings high revenues and offers various entertainment that attracts people from different areas. So just recently residents and visitors of Worcester, Wicomico and surrounding counties got a great opportunity to try themselves in a new Ocean Downs casino that came into operation couple months ago. Ocean Downs casino is an excellent benefit to the community that helps to improve the economic and social status of the county and also serves as a great entertainment for the adult population.
Othello has a beneficial quality to him; a quality that he uses time and time again. He uses his foreign and exotic nature to his advantage. Othello’s mystique and masculinity captivates his young Venetian wife Desdemona and sets him apart from her other uninteresting Venetian suitors, and Othello’s stories about the dangerous and exciting outside world and warfare provide marvelous entertainment and wonderment for her. After Brabantio, the father of Desdemona and a powerful senator, learns about the marriage of his daughter and Othello, he is outraged and accuses him of “looting” his daughter. For he sees her as property and doesn’t account for her free will and desire to marry the middle aged Othello, different in race and class. In the courtroom Othello gives a speech, “What conjuration and what mighty magic, for such proceeding I am charged withal, I won his daughter”. (Act i Scene iii) Othello denies the use of witchcraft or ma...
The adrenaline-rushing feeling of gambling offers people the idea that opportunity lies within their hands. Unfortunately, there are far too many consequences to gambling to even begin to count. To win you must play, and to win big you must play big. As more gamblers can recall their losses rather than their winnings, gamblers are often dealt with poor hands and must play the risky game to stay alive. Even though gambling has so many faults, some still fall under its corruptions because of gambling’s deceiving fallacies.
The suitor picking the casket containing the picture will be the suitor who will marry Portia. ‘I may neither choose who I would, nor refuse who I dislike, so is the will of living daughter curbed by the will of a dead father’ this shows that Portia would rather have a say as to who she gets to choose rather than being told who she has to marry. She overcomes that after two suitors who she wishes not to marry choose the wrong casket letting her know which casket contains her picture, so that when Bassanio becomes a suitor and she falls for him she is able to hint to him which casket to choose: Tell me where Fancy is bred. Or in the heart, or in the head? How begot, how nourishèd?’
The nature of the contract between Portia and her father is as follows, Portia’s father state’s that all suitors must first select on of three caskets in order to marry her. The caskets are made of gold, silver, and base lead, all containing different messages. Only one of the three caske...
... rises to the occasion and refutes the lies of her husband – at the price of her life. Her martyr-like example inspires Othello to sacrifice his life next to the corpse of Desdemona; for he “Like the base Judean, threw a pearl away / Richer than all his tribe [. . .] .” He dies a noble death, just as he has lived a noble life. Michael Cassio’s evaluation of his end is our evaluation: “This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon; / For he was great of heart.”
Throughout the Merchant of Venice, while Portia is being courted. the reader can see that she does not like any of the suitors, except Bassanio. She finds a flaw in all the suitors and readers, as well, can see. the flaws in each as they present themselves to her. Her true love however, is for Bassanio
Bassanio was so grateful towards Balthazar that he was able to place Balthazar of above importance to Portia his wife. Portia then compares Bassanio giving up her beloved ring to if she were to give her body to the doctor as a parallel. Prior to the men being made aware of Portia and Nerissa’s disguises, they explain their reasoning’s as a necessity. Once Bassanio and Gratiano know the truth, they apologize with fear as they now know the power these two women posses. Gratiano ends the play by stating “I’ll fear no other thing so sore as keeping safe Nerissa’s ring” (V, I, 324-325). Gender roles are now reversed as the play concludes which shows that gender itself is a social construct and is not
William Shakespeare shows how two tradesmen can have completely different lives when others view them differently in the play The Merchant of Venice. In the play, Bassanio, Antonio’s friend, needs money to pursue his love. They seek a loan from Shylock, a Jewish moneylender in Antonio’s name. The contract is for three times the value of the bond in three months or else Shylock cuts off a pound of flesh from Antonio. While all this is happening, there are love plots going on. One of which is for Shylock’s daughter to elope with Lorenzo, a Christian. Later on, Antonio’s source of money, his ship, is reported sunken in the English Channel, dooming him to the loss of one pound of his flesh. There is a trial on the bond, and when it seems sure that Antonio will die, Portia, disguised as a doctor of laws legally gets Antonio out of the situation and Shylock recieves harsh penalties. Antonio and Shylock, two similar businessmen of Venice, are viewed differently and are treated oppositely to heighten the drama of the play and mold a more interesting plot.
Bassanio’s contemplation is underlined by a song that utilizes rhyme and meter in order to subconsciously provide Bassanio with the correct material for the casket: lead. The first two lines of the song immediately contextualize the concept of love and introduce two words that rhyme with the word lead. The following lines elaborate upon that theme by reassuring the listener that love will confirm itself yet fall prey to the inevitability of a love that dies; that afterthought can be heard echoing through a round of choruses. Bassanio essentially becomes a victim of determinism, both in his character and in terms of his role in the plot.