Bassanio

Question 1

1. How does Bassanio reflect power & wealth during the play?

Answer 1

• “I have disabled mine estate” - A1S1
• This is while he is speaking to Antonio
• Is admitting how he squandered Antonio’s inheritance money
• Bassanio additionally belongs to nobility (upper-class man)
• Shows that Bassanio is “bad” with money

Question 2

“I have disabled mine estate” - A1S1 - Word-level analysis

Answer 2

• Technique: assonance in “have”, “disabled”, and “estate”
• Creates rhythm within text in order for the reader to interpret the sentence in the way the author intended by making clear which vowel sound should be stressed

Question 3

1. How does Bassanio reflect love & friendship during the play?

Answer 3

• “To you Antonio, I owe the most, in money and in love” - A1S1
• Shows the close relationship between Bassanio & Antonio -> explains people hypothesising that Bassanio closeness with Antonio; Antonio overlooking his bad relationship w/ money-> could be because Antonio is a homosexual
• 2 perspectives of love: Love homosexually or brotherly love & friendship

Question 4

“To you Antonio, I owe the most, in money and in love” - A1S1: Word-level analysis

Answer 4

• Superlative: “most” -> Bassanio admits not being to pay back loans, however now asks for another loan in order to make everything right once and for all -> tells Antonio that he’ll marry a rich woman (Portia) -> claims that he’ll not just pay back all the money but will also settle debts
• “most” -> owes Antonio a considerable amount
• “most” and “money” -> alliteration -> sets the tone for the “pound of flesh” -> constant owing of money
• “money” -> abstract noun -> refers to concept -> and shows how loyal Antonio is to his friend

Question 5

How does Bassanio reflect justice, prejudice and wealth in M of V?

Answer 5

• “I like not fair terms and a villain’s mind” - A1S3
• During the scene whereby Shylock does agree to the loan of 3000 ducats to Bassanio however he mentions that if the payment is not made back to him in good he will take a “pound of [Antonio’s] flesh” -> without any mention of interest/money back -> therefore Bassanio feels very reluctant to go through with the deal by stating:
• Reflects the fact that he isn’t entirely selfish & does take Antonio into consideration -> doesn’t like the terms of the bond
• Shylock seems to take Bassanio’s reaction as a joke however Bassanio does not trust his character

Question 6

“I like not fair terms and a villain’s mind” - A1S3 - Word-level analysis

Answer 6

• “fair” and “villain” -> juxtaposition -> helps to establish Shylock’s personalities in the context of each other -> highlights good & evil
• “fair” -> refers to ‘good’ terms (not asking for crazy amounts of money) -> in return for 3000 ducats Shylock doesn’t seem bothered about being payed back the money -> but still emphasises the pound of flesh
• therefore these ‘good’ terms are being juxtaposed by “villain’s” mind -> (technique) foreshadows that Shylock does show himself to be a villain when he later on does ask for a pound of Antonio’s flesh (meaning that he wants to kill him) -> gives reader an implication on what is to come -> highlights distressing events to come while plot is relatively calm

Question 7

2. How does Bassanio reflect power & wealth during the play?

Answer 7

“The outward shows be least themselves: the world is still deceived with ornament” - A1S3

• Occurs when Bassanio is at Portia’s home (choosing between 3 caskets) -> justifies not choosing gold based on its appearance -> ends up choosing the correct casket (lead)
• Almost proverb-like saying (technique: aphorism) -> short statement about widely accepted truth -> witty/amusing in nature -> builds trust w/ reader which increases engagement which persuades the reader of the writer’s argument -> people usually show themselves out to be glitzy/glamorous but beneath the surface is actually the opposite (“least themselves”)
• “world is still deceived” - people are often misguided by the appearance of surface-level things -> he himself doesn’t want to be misguided by that

Question 8

“The outward shows be least themselves: the world is still deceived with ornament” - A3S2 - Word-level analysis

Answer 8

• Assonance of “be”, “least” and “themselves”
• Creates rhythm within text in order for the reader to interpret the sentence in the way the author intended by making clear which vowel sound should be stressed
• “world is still deceived” -> hyperbole -> saying that everybody expect himself is deceived by outward appearances which leads him to pick the correct casket -> adds comedy to a mundane subject in order to be taken seriously

Question 9

How does Bassanio reflect prejudice & love during the play?

Answer 9

“There is no vice so simple but assumes
Some mark of virtue on his outward parts”(A3S2)
- Spoken in iambic pentameter -> Shakespeare only use this device w/ the upper class
- Implying that there is no mistake/downside of our characters that’s as bad as choosing & picking things based on their external appearance

Question 10

“There is no vice so simple but assumes
Some mark of virtue on his outward parts” - A3S2 - Word-level analysis

Answer 10

• Sibilance of “so simple” -> Draws attention to this phrase in particular, the negative atmosphere here is created to the emphasise the weakness in men
• Oxymoron of “vice” and “virtue” -> vice meaning immorality (bad qualities) whereas virtue is the opposite being highly moral qualities

Question 11

3. How does Bassanio reflect wealth & power during the play?

Answer 11

• “All the wealth I had ran in my veins” - A3S2
• Claims honesty and the fact that he’s always been a good gentleman to Portia
• However admits he is not rich because he squandered all his money
• Wealth is personified by running through his veins -> telling Portia that she should be aware that he doesn’t not own a lot of money -> his only redeeming quality is himself/ my body -> creates depth within the text by giving a voice to an otherwise silent topic -> allows reader to become more fully immersed in the text, maximising engagement

Question 12

How does Bassanio reflect justice & mercy during the play?

Answer 12

• “How unwillingly I left the ring” - A5S1
• Attempting the justify the decision to give away the ring that he had promised Portia -> repeats “ring” (epistrophe) -> panicking -> Not only draws the eye of the reader on the page, but the phrase has more emphasis when read
• Portia pretends to be angry w/ him
• Structural device: declarative sentence -> states a fact, feeling or mood -> showing his pleads w/ Portia and trying to emphasise how loyal he is, explaining that he had to give it away in order to pay back the lawyer (who is Portia in disguise = dramatic irony) who saved Antonio whilst Shylock was asking for a pound of his flesh -> long sentence is frustrating for the reader, which helps the writer further develop a tone in their writing