Read the following extract and answer the questions that follc
Antonio :
In sooth, I know not why I am so sad
It wearies me; you say it wearies you;
But how I caught it, found it, or come by it,
What stuff'tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn
And such a want-wit sadness makes of me,
That I have much ado to know myself
Salarino
Your mind is tossing on the ocean;
There, where your argosies with portly sail,
Like signiors and rich burghers on the flood,
Or, as it were, the pageants of the sea,
Do overpeer the petty traffickers,
That curt'sy to them, do them reverence,
As they fly by them with their woven wings.
(i) Who is Antonio ? Where is he? What is his state of mind ?
(ii) What is it that makes him sad, according to him?
(iii) Who is Salarino ? What has he to say about Antonio's melancholy?
(iv) What does Antonio say about his ships? What contradiction do his words convey later?
(v) What is the dramatic significance of Antonio's melancholy?
Answers
Answer:
(i) Antonio is introduced to be a rich merchant having many sea ventures at the sea. His opening sentence reveals the dominant melancholy of his character. He along with his friends is standing in a street of Venice. His state of mind is melancholic.
(II) There is no particular reason for his melancholy. His friends assume that he worried about his ships whereas, Antonio himself confesses that is unaware about the reason of his sadness.
(III) Salarino is a friend of Antonio and is trying to find out the reason for the melancholy of his friend. Salarino states that Antonio is sad because he is worrying about his merchandise and his ships are away in the ocean.
(IV) Antonio is not worried about his ships and states that he is very confident about his financial status.
(v) Antonio s melancholy creates a sense of mystery in this play and more over it is a typical style of Shakespeare to strike the keynote in the very first scene of the play. So, Antonio's melancholy signifies that he has foreboding instinct of some approaching disaster.