Cassi’s Blog

Throughout this play a reoccurring theme is that the reality isn’t always what it may appear to be. Portia’s 3 casket creation was a play on reality for her three suitors. Morocco was the first contestant to take a bite out of Portia’s false reality. He chose the golden casket relating the beauty of the gold with Portia’s gorgeous complexion. To his knowledge he thought he had won but after he opened his casket he was struck with reality, “all that glitters is not gold” (p.14). So he left and was to never be with another woman ever again. The next manly, bold figure to walk through Portia’s gates was Arragon. He chose the silver casket by concluding that if he chose the silver he would be receiving as much as he deserved. He opens his casket and is surprised by a, “blinking idiot presenting (him) a schedule,” (Arragon p.16). His reality began to sink in as he exited the scene with his train. Her last suitor was triumphant Bassanio who was only after her money. He decided to veer away from the bright and shinny temptation of the gold and silver and chose the leaden casket. “Thou meagre lead, which rather threatenest than dost promise aught, thy paleness moves me more than eloquence, and here choose I; joy be the consequence,” (Bassanio p.19). Luckily to Bassanio his reality was truthful and he became Portia’s suitor.

Later in the play Antonio’s ships are said to have shipwrecked at sea. This cold, harsh reality saddened many of Antonio’s friends because they assumed that Antonio was upon one of his ships. But this was soon proved false because later they are confronted with the truth of Antonio being alive! Furthermore the rumor of Antonio’s ships being cast away at sea was also untrue and the ship and the crew were perfectly fine.

An act of cruel unreality was presented by Portia in act 5, scene one. Antonio is put on the line and is going to have to put forth his one pound of flesh for Shylock like he promised. But Portia cheated Shylock out of his bond by making up a law of Venice saying that no Christian blood can be spilled and if Shylock were to cut off a pound of flesh it was to be no more or less then an exact pound. So Portia created a lie that Shylock thought was a reality. The twisting of words and changing views of someones reality is a constant theme in this play.