Merchant of Venice: Act 1 - Scene 1 (Workbook Answers of Extracts 1 to 4)
Merchant of Venice
Act 1
Scene 1
(Workbook Answers 1 to 4)
Extract 1
Answer1: Antonio and his friends are in a street in Venice. Antonio says that although he is sad, he doesn't know the reason for his sadness or the nature of his sadness.
Answer 2:
(a). how it originated
(b). a dull sadness
(c). That I have much difficulty in recognising myself.
Answer 3: Salarino says that Antonio is sad because he is worried about his ships that are sailing in the sea with valuable cargo.
Answer 4: Salarino compares Antonio’s ships to wealthy people who look down upon people who aren’t as rich as them. He says that Antonio’s ships are huge and when they sail in the sea, they look down upon the smaller ships and boats. According to Salarino, those smaller ships show respect to Antonio’s ships.
Answer 5: Shakespeare presents Antonio as a melancholic man to portray that he is a man who is bored with life and doesn’t care about the consequences of his actions. It also creates a tragic and mysterious atmosphere suitable for the play. There might be various reasons for Antonio’s melancholy. Such as:
• He may be melancholic by nature.
• He fears losing Bassanio to Portia.
• He is lonely because he has no wife and children.
• He has a foreboding of some approaching disaster.
Extract 2
Answer 1: If Salanio had business ventures abroad, he would always be worried about them. He would be plucking grass and throw them in the air to know the direction of the wind. He would be looking at the map again and again, searching for ports, piers and roads that are nearest to his ships.
Answer 2: Everything that Salanio sees or does will make him scared of the dangers to his ships. Two examples that remind Salarino of the dangers to his ships are:
• When he cools his soup by blowing on it, he is reminded of the strong storms in the sea.
• The sandy hour-glass reminds him of the sandbanks that can wreck his ships.
Answer 3: Plucking the blades of grass and throwing them in the air to know the direction of the wind.
Answer 4: In spite of the dangers to his ships, Antonio is not worried about financial security because he has many ships that are sailing towards different parts of the world. His business does not depend only on one ship or one location. Moreover, his wealth will not suffer by making a loss on any business transaction this year.
Answer 5: The opening scene describes the possible dangers that the sea could pose to ships such as strong winds, dangerous shallow waters, sand banks and dangerous rocks. Antonio is very confident about his business venture as he says that his business does not depend on one ship or one location or one business transaction of a particular year.
Extract 3
Answer 1: The scene takes place in a street in Venice. Antonio, Salario and Salarino are present in this scene. Salarino is in a very talkative mood. He questions Antonio again and again about his melancholy and suggests many reasons for his melancholy.
Answer 2: Salarino would be reminded of the strong winds in the sea when cooling the broth.
Answer 3: And see my big cargo ship grounded in sand.
Answer 4: Sandy hour-glass is an apparatus used to know the time. It would remind Salarino of the dangers from hidden sandbanks at. The ships can sink if they strike the sandbanks.
Answer 5: When Salarino would go to church, he would notice that the building is made up of stone. The scene would make him imagine huge rocks at sea. If the ship collides with the huge rocks then it would be wrecked and sink in the sea.
Extract 4
Answer 1: Salarino has just said that Antonio was in love. Antonio reacts with disgust and completely denies that he is in love.
Answer 2: Salarino says that Antonio is sad because he is not happy. He then tells that there are two types of people in the world. Some people are always happy and will laugh at the smallest of things while some are always serious and will not laugh at any jokes.
Answer 3: Janus is a Roman god having two faces looking in the opposite directions. One face is always frowning and the other always smiling. He is referred to in the extract to show that there are two types of people - some are always serious and the others are always happy.
Nestor was the King of Pylos. He was one of the greatest generals in the Trojan war. He was a person who always had a serious expression on his face. If he laughed at a joke, it meant that the joke was very good. He is referred to in the extract to show the serious people.
Answer 4: There are two types of people in the world. The first type of people are those who always have a serious expression on their face. These people don’t laugh at any cost. The second type of people are those who are always happy and smiling. These people will laugh at the smallest of things, even if the others don’t laugh.
Answer 5: At the end of Salarino’s speech, Bassanio arrives there along with Gratiano and Lorenzo. Salarino and Salanio leave the scene at that time because Bassanio, Gratiano and Lorenzo have come to give Antonio some company and Bassanio is the closest friend of Antonio.