Question

Comparitive study of gold and silver casket in merchant of venice

Answer 1

The first casket is made of gold. Gold is a common archetype, used to show wealth,
power, and often greed. The inscription on the back reads:
“Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire."
The Prince of Morocco, who chooses this casket, assumes that this casket represents Portia
wealth, which many men would desire. It shows that his reason for courting Portia was her
money. He is greedy at heart, and does not really care about Portia. Portia’s father
anticipated this, and when the prince opened the casket, a portrait of death gazed at him.
Money is the prize that many men seek, which often leads to death, stated in the quotation:
“Many a man his life hath sold but my outside to behold; gilded tombs do worms infold”
This shows how greedy men often sacrifice their lives for wealth, to discover the wealth is not
their ultimate concern. The Prince of Morocco was greedy in choosing the gold coffin, and
this was his flaw that prevented him from marrying Portia.
The second casket was made of silver, and bore the inscription:
“Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves."
The Prince of Aragon chooses this casket, assuming that he rightly deserved his prize. He was
foolish to believe he could judge himself as worthy, and his prize was a picture of a fool. The
scroll inside stated:
“There be fools alive iwis, silvered ov’r, and so was this.”
There are always going to be fools with silver hair covering their head, as the silver casket
covered the picture of the fool. The Prince of Aragon was foolish in thinking that he deserved
Portia, and he “with one fools head, I came to woo / but I go away with two."