Merchant of Venice
Act 1 Scene I
1. Where does the scene take place? Who all are present?
2. What does Antonio say about his sadness?
3. How can you say that A is a wise merchant?
4. What reasons are given for A's melancholy by his friends?
5. Who is Janus? Why is he referred to in the scene?
6. Who all enter the scene later?
7. How does Gratiano explain men who seek others attention?
8. Give examples from the scene that shows Bassanio as a spendthrift fellow?
9. Why does B need a second loan from A?
10. How can you say that Portia's worth was known to the wide world?
11. Explain: golden Fleece
12. How does A promise to help B?
Please anyone answer these questions.
Answers
1 ) scene takes place on a street in venice ..
2) initially antonio , salanio , salarino were present but later they left while gratiano , lorenzo and bassanio enterred . Finally we will see that only bassanio and antonio will b there
3) the reason for saying so is him saying that his ships are scatterred at diff places & that his household is not dependent only on 1 ship .
4) there were three possible reasons given by his friends - he was worried about his argosies , he was possibly in love , he was not merry.
5) Janus is the 2 headed monster of greek mythology refferred to by salarino to say that nature had made 2 kinds of creatures one who laughed at anything , one who would frown at everything, even if nester laughed at a joke they would simply frown
6) later in the scene enters gratiano , lorenzo , bassanio
7) according to gratiano these men are reputed wise till the time they kepp shut ..they present then as oracle and if other people talk when they r speaking they refer to those as dogs . these men wear masks hiding their true self ..gaining cheap popularity .
8) in him saying that he has already taken loans from antonio and did not repay it and still was asking for another share ..this proves him as a spendthrift
9) bassanio needs it in order to travel to belmont to participate in casket choosing in order to marry portia
10) portia used to recieve suitors from all over the world
11) here golden fleece is refferred to portia's beautiful hair .
Golden fleece —— jason along wirh his wife medea and agronautts went on a venture to get the golden fleece of a ran which was fastened to an tree and was gaurded by a dragon ..
12) antonio says that he neither has commodities nor enough cash and asks bassanio to collect money from venetians in the surety of antonio