& A ; Bassanio & # 8217 ; s Indifference To Wealth Essay, Research Paper

& # 8220 ; How small is the cost I have bestowed in buying the gloss of my psyche, & # 8221 ; ( 3.5.19-20 ) is where the bosom of this drama is in my eyes. Portia making what she can for her one true love, Bassanio. Money is of no importance to her particularly when it comes to the felicity or sadness of Bassanio.

There are many topographic points in the Merchant of Venice that show Portia and Bassanio & # 8217 ; s indifference, and what seems to be apathy toward wealth. Many are concealed and many are every bit clear as twenty-four hours to the reader. I found that reading into The Merchant of Venice was a merriment and interesting experience. The manner Shakespeare wrote his dramas makes people truly think about what they are reading ; it reminded me of a labyrinth.

Portia, an good Princess to wealths, a Princess that doesn & # 8217 ; t need to believe or worry about money. It is something she has an impossible sum of, yet it doesn & # 8217 ; t alteration who she is or what her values are. Her male parent seemed to transfuse in her that money International Relations and Security Network & # 8217 ; t everything to everybody ; how you care about people and values are what matter the most in life. When we foremost see Bassanio, he is stating Antonio of a secret trip he plans to take to win the bosom of Portia ; yet he has no agencies to acquire at that place due to his extravagant life which has left him in debt to others. At first money seems to be of some importance to Bassanio, but towards the center of the drama his ideas seem to alter.

Although Portia & # 8217 ; s male parent does non hold a alleged character in The Merchant of Venice ; his presence is decidedly felt through Portia & # 8217 ; s character, every bit good as the coils on the coffins. In making this, Portia & # 8217 ; s male parent in a manner still had a manus assisting to take the right hubby for his girl. When each of the princes come to court Portia and travel into the coffin room, they look for what would be the most originative reply in picking out the coffin.

The gold coffin coil reads & # 8220 ; Who chooseth me shall derive what many work forces desire. & # 8221 ; ( 2.7.4-5 ) . When the reader foremost sees this, he thinks the gold coffin would do the most sense. Portia & # 8217 ; s male parent would hold put her image in at that place, because it is gilded and full of wealths as is Portia.

Reading into this the reader might believe that Portia & # 8217 ; s father would non set her image in this one, because love is richer than gold. The prince that would pick this one is non interested in love merely Portia & # 8217 ; s wealth.

The 2nd coffin made of Ag provinces & # 8220 ; Who chooseth me shall acquire every bit much as he deserves. & # 8221 ; ( 2.7.7 ) I have yet to believe why any Prince with half a encephalon would pick this coffin over gold or lead. To pick this, deep interior, they did non desire to get married Portia. Apparently, the gold wasn & # 8217 ; t challenging plenty for them yet the lead was excessively hapless.

The lead coffin would be the most appealing to the Prince who truly wants to win Portia & # 8217 ; s bosom and non her wealths. This coil reads & # 8220 ; Who chooseth me must give and guess all he hath. & # 8221 ; ( 2.7.9 ) When Bassanio and Portia discourse his picks she asks him to believe about his picks carefully because it will find their hereafter forever.

Bassanio although deeply in debt to usurers, can see past the gold and Ag of the first two coffins, and jeopardies his opportunity with the lead coffin. The coil inside this coffin proves this point ; & # 8221 ; You that chose non by the position, Chance as just, and take as true: Since this luck falls to you, Be content, and seek no new. If you be good pleas & # 8217 ; vitamin D with this, And keep your luck for your cloud nine, Turn you where your lady is, and claim her with a loving kiss. & # 8221 ; ( 3.2.130-138 )

From the beginning of the drama, Portia seems for those times more or less of a free spirit

. She has been in Belmont all of her life and knows small about Venice and its occupants life styles. Portia’s male parent seemed to hold instilled values and love in Portia from a really immature age. She was taught to love and to be sort and that money could non purchase love and felicity.

Earlier in the drama Bassanio borrows 3,000 ducats from Shylock on Antonio & # 8217 ; s word that it will be paid back in full. Shylock is a stereotyped Jew who is a usurer that insists on bear downing involvement on monies loaned out. He needed this money to travel to Portia in Belmont. If Antonio does non pay back the ducats to Shylock in due clip ; Shylock will be able to cut off a lb of Antonio & # 8217 ; s flesh anyplace on his organic structure. In 3.2 of the drama, Bassanio receives a missive written by Antonio sing the money that is owed to Shylock. Portia being concerned about Bassanio asks what the missive is approximately. Bassanio explains, & # 8220 ; When I told you my province was nil, I should so hold told you that I was worse than nil ; for so I have engag & # 8217 ; d my friend to his mere enemy, to feed my means. & # 8221 ; ( 3.2.258-263 )

Bassanio so tells Portia of the whole trade and the conversation goes on:

Por: What sum owes he, the Jew?

Bariums: For me, three 1000 ducats.

Por: What, no more? Pay him six-thousand, and disfigure the bond ; dual six-thousand and soprano that, before a friend of this description shall lose a hair through Bassanio & # 8217 ; s fault. & # 8221 ; ( 3.2.297-302 )

Portia realizes that who Bassanio may hold been in the yesteryear and how he dealt with his money is nil like he is now. This is why she doesn & # 8217 ; t care how much he needs to name of Shylock.

The fact that Portia is willing to pay three times the sum owed to Shylock to save Bassanio & # 8217 ; s friend proves how unimportant money is to her.

In this following part of Merchant of Venice, Portia tells everyone around her of the humbleness of money and the value of true love and friendly relationship and how that is the most of import thing and how Bassanio & # 8217 ; s felicity and the life of his friend Antonio are so of import:

Por: I ne’er did repent for making good, nor shall I now: for in comrades that do converse and blow the clip together, whose psyches do bear an egall yoke of love, there must be demands like a proportion of qualities, of manners, and of spirit ; which makes me believe that this Antonio. Bing the bosom lover of my Godhead, must inevitably be like my Godhead. If it be so, how small is the cost I have bestowed in buying the gloss of my psyche, from out the province of beastly inhuman treatment. ( 3.5.8-21 )

Portia truly pours her bosom and psyche out in these words. How strong she is and how willing she is to do the 1s that matter happy, no affair what the cost.

Shakespeare truly had the universe & # 8217 ; s most perfect adult female in head when he developed the character Portia. As many have said she is decidedly one of his strongest female characters. She is the ideal girl, following her male parent & # 8217 ; s wants, the ideal friend, princess, and married woman. Portia was the smart, strong and loving adult female that anyone would be honored to cognize.

Throughout the drama, we see many sides of Portia, but all remain the same when it comes to wealths and values. She proves it many times over. I believe she even taught Bassanio the importance of love and friendly relationship over money.

The lesson of William Shakespeare & # 8217 ; s Merchant of Venice, is non how you earn your money, nor how you spend it, but, how you maintain your money, friends, loved 1s, and most of all values all at the same clip. Choose from the bosom and go on down the way of love and wisdom.

Bibliography

THe Merchant of Venice Riverside Shakespeare Book