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Merchant of Venice Act 3 - Scene 2 (Workbook Answers: 10 & 11) Extract 10 1. Tubal and Chus are two Jewish men who are friends of Shylock. When Jessica was at home, she had heard Shylock saying to them that he will take out a pound of flesh from Antonio’s body. He will not let Antonio go even if they pay him twenty times over. 2. The Duke, law and influential citizens would use all their powers of persuasion to prevent Shylock from taking flesh from Antonio’s body. 3. If the forfeiture was denied to Shylock as per the terms of the bond, it would affect the business in Venice negatively. The people of other countries may not do business with the people of Venice because they would be afraid of getting cheated and not getting justice. 4. In terms of payment to Shylock in cash, Portia offers to pay him double the amount. Then she says to give him double of six thousand and afterwards she says to give him triple of six thousand. Later she says to pay him enough gold to pay the debt...

Merchant of Venice Act 3 - Scene 2 (Workbook answers: 7 to 9) Extract 7 1. After Bassanio chooses the correct casket, Portia transfers her mansion, her servants, herself and all her possessions to him. 2. Portia, for Bassanio's sake, wishes that she were 60 times better, 1000 times more beautiful and 10,000 times wealthier. These wishes express her desire to excel in everything for the sake of Bassanio. 3. As a token of her love to Bassanio, Portia gives him a ring. She warns him that if he parts with the ring, or loses it, or gives it away, that will be a sign that his love for her is dead. The ring becomes a part of the main plot of the play when Bassanio gives it away to Portia, who was disguised as a judge, towards the end of the play. 4. The given lines mean 'let that be a sign that your love for me is dead and it will give an opportunity for me to excuse you for that'. 5. After Portia's speech, Bassanio is overpowered with emotion and he tells Portia that her...

Merchant of Venice Act 3 - Scene 2 (Workbook Answers: 4 to 6) Extract 4 Answer 1: In the given extract the theme of appearance and reality is highlighted. Bassanio, commenting on the caskets, says that a pretty exterior may often hide a rotten interior. Most people fall for the outward appearance instead of the inward appearance. He is highlighting this theme by providing the examples of lawyers, religious beliefs and cases of cowards who assume outward signs of valour.   Answer 2: Bassanio says that every wrong has some appearance of virtue. He explains it through the example of a lawyer. A lawyer can hide his weakness by his appearance and smooth talk. This gives him the appearance of a wise man in front of people. Similarly, religious preachers can justify any wrongdoing by claiming it is not a sin in god's eyes.   Answer 3: 'Stairs of sand' refer to a stairway made of shifting sand. Such a stairway is unreliable and easily falls off. These stairs are compared to cowa...

Merchant of Venice Act 3 - Scene 2 (Workbook Answers: 1 to 3)   Extract 1 Answer 1: This scene takes place in a room in Portia's house at Belmont. The first line refers to the fact that if Portia expressed her thought, people will think bad things about her, so she can't speak of her desire. Portia says enough to convey to Bassanio that she loved him. She is doubtful whether Bassanio has understood what she has said and wanted to explain further. But then she is taken over by her maidenly modesty. Answer 2: At the end of her speech, Portia says that she spoke at length to stretch the time and delay Bassanio's act of choosing the caskets. This shows that she has feelings of love for Bassanio and does not want to lose him soon.   Answer 3: Portia cannot teach Bassanio to choose the correct casket as she has promised her father not to reveal the secret of the caskets to anyone. She would never break her promise. If Bassanio were to make an incorrect choice, Portia would ha...

Merchant of Venice Act 1 - Scene 3 (Workbook Answers)    Extract 1:   Answer 1: Antonio is bound to a bond according to which if he fails to repay the amount in due time, Shylock will be entitled to take an exact pound of flesh from any part of Antonio’s body that he may wish. It was very unwise of Antonio to misjudge Shylock’s intentions and sign such a fatal bond.  Answer 2: Can you help me and will you do me this favour?  Answer 3: When Shylock says the above words, he means that Antonio is a reliable man, whose surety is sufficient to give a loan.  Answer 4: Shylock enumerates the possible dangers to Antonio’s merchandise - ships could be broken as they are made of wood; the sailors being merely human beings, can be drowned; there are pirates in the sea; and there are all the dangers of the ocean such as storms and dangerous rocks.  Answer 5: Antonio can be considered as a prudent businessman as his wealth is distributed over the whole world....

Merchant of Venice Act 1  Scene 2 (Workbook Answers) Extract 1 Ans 1: Portia has just said that she doesn’t have the freedom to choose her own husband. The person she has to marry will be decided by the lottery of caskets created by her father. She can neither say yes to a person whom she likes, nor refuse a person whom she dislikes.   Ans 2:  Portia’s father had made 3 caskets - one made of gold, one made of silver and the last one made of lead. The suitors had to choose a casket from the three. If they chose the right casket, they would win Portia’s hand in marriage.   Ans 3:  Portia was anxious about the lottery of caskets, because she did not have any choice in the matter of her own marriage. Portia wanted to be a good daughter, so she decided to follow her father’s will. Nerissa was positive about the lottery. She believed that Portia’s father was a great wise man and only a worthy man would choose the correct casket.    Ans 4:  The given li...

Merchant of Venice Act 1 Scene 1 (Workbook Answers of Extracts 5 to 8) Extract 5 Answer 1: Gratiano says that young people are filled with a lot of energy. They should spend this energy by having fun. If they stay at one place and don’t spend their energy, they are the same as the marble statue of their grandfather. Gratiano warns Antonio that if he remains serious all the time and doesn’t enjoy life, he will be infected with jaundice.   Answer 2:   (a) Some people cover their faces with a serious expression that remains unchanged like the cream on the surface of milk and as the algae covering the surface of ponds.  (b) maintain complete silence not to disturb the expression on the face.   Answer 3: In the extract, Gratiano says that there are people who try to obtain a reputation for wisdom, by remaining silent. Such people think that they have the authority of the Oracle. They want that when they speak, the others should be quiet.   Answer 4: ‘I am sir O...

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 ...

Extract I. Q1. Where does this scene take place? Whom does 'she' refer to in the first line of the extract? What is said about her in the extract? Ans. The scene takes place in a street in Venice. In the first line 'she' refers to the rumour or report which is personified as an old woman. When Salarino talks about Antonio's ship, Salanio wishes that rumour may prove to be a big liar in this case as any old woman who ever gossiped with our neighbours over her gingerbread cakes and made her neighbours believe that she mourned sincerely for the death of her third husband. Q2. What was said earlier about the place where a ship of Antonio was wrecked? Where did the news about the ship-wreckage spread? Ans. Earlier, it was told that Antonio's ship was wrecked in the sea, at a spot known as Goodwin. The news about the ship's wreckage spread at the Rialto, the place where the merchants met for transactions. Q3. Give the meaning of: "without any slips of prolix...