MERCHANT OF VENICE ACT2 SCENE 5

                                           ACT II  SCENE5  

                                   CONTEXT QUESTION     

  1. (i) Shylock accepts the invitation to dinner out of hatred and to eat the food of the extravagant Christian, Bassanio. In Act I, Scene 3 when Bassanio invites him for dinner he refuses to dine with Christians since they were pork-eaters. He asserted then that he would never eat, drink or pray with Christians although he is ready to do business with them.

(ii) Shylock is unhappy to accept the invitation this time too as he feels a premonition of some misfortune about to take place. The previous night he had a dream about money-bags which was considered as a bad omen. Bassanio is referred to as the prodigal Christian because he is a wasteful, who spends money extravagantly which he has borrowed from Shylock. Prodigal is a reference to the prodigal son described in the Bible who wasted his share of wealth by lavish and careless living.

 (iii) (a) I am not bid for love: I am not invited out of love. (b) I am right loath to go: I hate to accept the invitation to dinner.

 (iv) Jessica and Lorenzo taking advantage of Shylock's absence from home makes a plan to elope. Jessica uses the occasion to leave home with her father's money and jewellery. Lorenzo uses the occasion to arrange the masquerade in which Jessica will be the torch-bearer and thus easily elope with him.

(v) Shylock had a dream about money bags on the previous night. To dream about money and all kinds of coins was considered as a bad omen. This made Shylock think that there was some evil being plotted against him.

 2. (i) Shylock is the speaker of the above lines. He is giving this advice to his daughter, Jessica. When Launcelot tells him about the masquerade, he is alarmed for fear that such revelry may become unruly. He hates their frivolity. Hence, he asks Jessica to lock the doors of the house so that no sound of foolish displays may enter his serious house.

 (ii) The speaker is going for Bassanio's dinner party. He is going out for dinner out of hatred for the Christians and to eat the food of the extravagant, Bassanio. Jacob was the grandson of Abraham, the founder of the Jewish race. According to Bible, Jacob, the ancestor of Shylock had a staff that proved a blessing to him. In Genesis 32:12, Jacob boasts that he had crossed river Jordan only with a staff yet returned with companies of men.

(iii) (a) Do not climb up to see from the windows. (b) • shrill notes of the fife. 

(iv) Christian fools with varnished faces refer to the Christians taking part in the masquerade at Bassanio's dinner party. They were planning to make the speaker's daughter to elope with a Christian, Lorenzo with the speaker's money and jewellery. The speaker had warning of this in the form of a 'dream where he saw money bags and coins'. 

(v) The advice was given to Jessica by her father, Shylock. She did not follow the advice and used the occasion of masquerade to elope with Lorenzo.

 (vi) The speaker advices his daughter, Jessica to lock up the doors. He tells her not to go upto the windows when she hears the drums and the shrill notes of the fife. He tells her not to stretch her neck out to gaze over the public street to look at Christian fools with painted faces. He instructs her to close all the windows of his house so that no sound of the foolish display enters his sober house.

 3. (i) The word 'patch' in the extract means the clown or the fool or the jester. In olden days, the professional fools or jesters used to wear multicoloured patched costume. So the word patch is used in the extract for Launcelot. Shylock says tat he is sending Launcelot to Bassanio as he would assist Bassanio in his spendthrift habits and waste his borrowed money. 

(ii) Shylock wishes Bassanio to be ruined because he wants to take revenge upon Antonio and can do so if Bassanio and Antonio fail to repay the loan on a stipulated date.

 (iii) By the given words, Shylock means that lazy people cannot live with him. Shylock says that Launcelot is lazy and cannot be his servant, so he allows him to join Bassanio's service. 

(iv) 'Borrowed purse' refers to the three thousand ducats borrowed by Bassanio from. Shylock on the basis of the bond signed by Antonio. The money was borrowed to enable Bassanio to go to Belmont and win Portia in marriage after participating in the lottery of caskets. 

(v) Shylock asks Jessica to shut the doors to make his house safe from revellers taking part in the masquerade. He quotes an old proverb 'fast bind, fast find' which means that if you lock a thing up, you will find it safe. (Leave secure and you will find all secure.) 

(vi) In this scene, Shylock becomes an instrument of fate to further the action in the plot. On the one hand, his desire for revenge upon Antonio is revealed because he goes to the supper to help to consume Bassanio's borrowed money. He overlooks his religious principles which forbade him dining with Christians. He even ignores the premonitions of impending evil because of his revengeful nature. This provided Jessica an occasion to flee from home with money and jewellery and to elope with Lorenzo, a Christian. Thus, fate has used Shylock to further its plans.