Merchant of Venice Act II Scene 5
Act II - Scene 5
Extract 1
Answer 1. Shylock accepts the invitation to dinner out of hatred and to eat the food of the extravagant Christian, Bassanio. Earlier in the play, 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.
Answer 2. Shylock is unhappy to accept the invitation this time too as he feels that some misfortune is 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 careless living.
Answer 3.
(a). I am not invited out of love.
(b). I hate to accept the invitation to dinner.
Answer 4. Jessica and Lorenzo take advantage of Shylock’s absence from home. 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.
Answer 1. 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 worried that the masquerade may become unruly. He hates their celebration. Hence, he asks Jessica to lock the doors of the house so that no sound of foolish displays may enter his serious house.
Answer 2. The speaker is going to Bassanio’s dinner party. He is going to dinner out of hatred and to eat food so that Bassanio’s expense increases.
Jacob was the grandson of Abraham, the founder of the Jewish race. According to the Bible, Jacob had a staff that proved a blessing to him. The staff is sacred for the jews. Hence Shylock swears by Jacob’s staff.
Answer 3.
a) Do not climb up to see from the windows.
Answer 4. ‘Christian fools with varnished faces’ refers to the Christians taking part in the masquerade at Bassanio’s dinner party. They were planning to make the speaker’s daughter elope with a Christian named Lorenzo. The speaker had a warning about this in the form of a ‘dream where he saw money bags and coins.’
Answer 5. The speaker advises his daughter, Jessica, to lock up the doors. He tells her not to go to the windows when she hears the drums and the fife. He forbids her to stretch her neck out to look at Christian fools with painted faces. He also instructs her to close all the windows of his house so that no sound of the foolish display enters his sober house.
No, she does not follow the advice given to her. Instead she uses the occasion to elope with Lorenzo.
Answer 1. The word ‘patch’ in the extract means clown. The word ‘patch’ is used for Launcelot. Shylock says that he is sending Launcelot to Bassanio as he is lazy and Bassanio will waste his money by paying wages to Launcelot.
Answer 2. Shylock wishes Bassanio to be ruined because he wants to take revenge upon Antonio and can do so if Antonio fails to repay the loan on the agreed date.
Answer 3. By the above 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.
Answer 4. ‘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’s hand in marriage.
Answer 5.