{"id":26256,"date":"2024-02-23T06:53:28","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T01:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aplustopper.com\/?p=26256"},"modified":"2024-02-23T15:40:48","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T10:10:48","slug":"merchant-of-venice-act-1-scene-3-short-summary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aplustopper.com\/merchant-of-venice-act-1-scene-3-short-summary\/","title":{"rendered":"Merchant of Venice Act 1, Scene 3 Short Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary of Merchant of Venice Act 1, Scene 3 ICSE Class 10, 9 English<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

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Summary Act 1 Scene 3<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bassanio seeks out Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, for a loan of three thousand ducats on the strength of Antonio\u2019s credit. Shylock is hesitant about lending Bassanio the money. He knows for a fact that Antonio is a rich man, but he also knows that all of Antonio\u2019s money is invested in his merchant fleet. At the present time, Antonio\u2019s ships are bound for distant places, and therefore vulnerable to many perils at sea. Yet he says finally. \u201cI think I may take his bond.\u201d He refuses Bassanio\u2019s invitation to dinner, however; he will do business with Christians, but it is against his principles to eat with them.<\/p>\n

When Antonio suddenly appears, Shylock (in an aside) expresses contempt for him, saying that he hates Antonio because he is a Christian, but more important,he hates Antonio because Antonio lends money to people without charging interest; moreover, Antonio publicly condemns Shylock for charging excessive interest in his money lending business. Finally, though, Shylock agrees to lend Bassanio the three thousand ducats. Antonio then says that he \u2014 as a rule \u2014 never lends nor borrows money by taking or giving interest. Yet because of his friend Bassanio\u2019s pressing need, Antonio is willing to break this rule. The term of the loan will be for three months, and Antonio will give his bond as security.<\/p>\n

While Bassanio and Antonio are waiting to learn the rate of interest which Shylock will charge for the loan, Shylock digresses. He tells them about the biblical story of how Jacob increased his herd of sheep. He calculates the interest which he will charge and announces: \u201cThree months from twelve; then, let me see; the rate.\u201d Shylock then accuses Antonio of having repeatedly spit upon him and called him a dog. And now Antonio and Bassanio come asking him for money. Yet they pride themselves that<\/p>\n

Antonio is a virtuous man because he lends money to friends, with no interest involved. Is this loan, Shylock inquires, a loan to be arranged among \u201cfriends\u201d? On the contrary; this is not to be regarded as a loan between friends, Antonio asserts. In fact, Antonio says. Shylock may regard it as a loan to an enemy if he wishes. Then, surprisingly. Shylock says that he wants Antonio\u2019s friendship, and to prove it, he will advance the loan without charging a penny of interest. But in order to make this transaction \u201ca merry sport,\u201d Shylock wants a penally clause providing that if Antonio fails to repay the loan within the specified time, Shylock will have the right to cut a \u201cpound of flesh\u201d from any part of Antonio\u2019s body. Bassanio objects to his friend\u2019s placing himself in such danger for his sake, but Antonio assures him that long before the loan is due that some of his ships will return from abroad and that he will be able to repay the loan three times over. Shylock insists, at this point, that the penalty is merely a jest. He could gain nothing by exacting the forfeit of a pound of human flesh, which is not even as valuable as mutton or beef. The contract is agreed to, and despite Bassanio\u2019s misgivings, Antonio consents to Shylock\u2019s terms.<\/p>\n

Analysis Act I Scene 3<\/strong><\/p>\n

This scene has two important functions. First, it completes the exposition of the two major plot lines of the play; Antonio agrees to Shylock’s bond \u2014 three thousand ducats for a pound of flesh; and second, and more important dramatically, this scene introduces Shylock himself. In this scene, Shakespeare makes it clear at once why Shylock is the most powerful dramatic figure in the play and why so many great actors have regarded this part as one of the most rewarding roles in all Shakespearean dramas.<\/p>\n

Shylock enters first; Bassanio is following him, trying to get an answer to his request for a loan. Shylock’s repetitions (\u201cWell . . . three months . . . well\u201d) evade a direct answer to Bassanio\u2019s pleas, driving Bassanio to his desperately impatient triple questioning in lines 7 and 8; the effect here is similar to an impatient, pleading child badgering an adult. Throughout the whole scene, both Bassanio and Antonio often seem naive in contrast to Shylock. Shylock has something they want \u2014 money \u2014 and both Antonio and Bassanio think that they should get the loan of the money, but neither one of them really understands Shylock\u2019s nature.<\/p>\n

In reply to Bassanio\u2019s demand for a direct answer, Shylock still avoids answering straightforwardly. Shylock knows what he is doing, and he uses the time to elaborate on his meaning of \u201cgood\u201d when applied to Antonio. Only after sufficient \u201chaggling\u201d does he finally reveal his intentions: \u201cI think I may take his bond.\u201d At Antonio\u2019s entrance, Shylock is given a lengthy aside in which he addresses himself directly to the audience. Shakespeare often uses the devices of asides and soliloquies to allow his heroes and, in this case, his \u201cVillain,\u201d a chance to immediately make clear his intentions and motivations to the audience \u2014 as Shylock does here.<\/p>\n

Shylock\u2019s declaration of his hatred for Antonio immediately intensifies the drama of the scene; the audience now waits to see in what way he will be able to catch Antonio \u201cupon the hip\u201d and \u201cfeed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.\u201d Then Shylock is called back from the front of the stage by Bassanio, and he pretends to notice Antonio for the first time. Their greeting has ironic overtones for the audience, which has just heard Shylock\u2019s opinion of Antonio. There then follows a debate between Antonio and Shylock on the subject of usury, or the taking of interest on a loan \u2014 permissible for Shylock but not for Antonio, according to Antonio\u2019s moral code.<\/p>\n

In making Shylock avoid committing himself immediately to lending Antonio the money, Shakespeare is building a dramatic crisis. For example, Antonio\u2019s mounting-impatience leads to increased arrogance; he compares the moneylender to the \u201capple rotten at the heart.\u201d Still, however, Shylock does not respond; he pretends to muse on the details of the loan, producing from Antonio the curt and insolent remark, \u201cWell, Shylock, shall we be beholding to you?\u201d Only then does Shylock begin to answer directly, and he does so with calculated calm, \u201cSignior Antonio,\u201d he says, \u201cmany a time and oft \/ In the Rialto you have rated me,” His words are controlled but carry a cold menace that silences Antonio at once. At the phrase \u201cYou call me misbeliever, cutthroat dog,” Shylock reveals to us that Antonio did \u201cvoid your rheum upon my beard \/ And foot me as you spurn stranger cur \/ Over your threshold!” This is a vivid dramatic change, climaxing in his taunting lines: \u201cHath a dog money? Is it possible \/ A cur can lend three thousand ducats?”<\/p>\n

In Shylock\u2019s earlier aside (\u201cI\u2019ll hate him [Antonio] for he is a Christian\u201d), the audience was inclined to pigeonhole Shylock as the \u201cvillain” of this drama; anyone who hates a man simply because he is a Christian must logically be a villain. Yet now, in this speech, there is much more depth and complexity; we are given a most revealing glimpse of a man who has been a victim, whose imposition of suffering on others is directly related to his own suffering. Shakespeare is manipulating us emotionally; we have to reconsider Shylock\u2019s character.<\/p>\n

After Shylock regains control of himself and skillfully leads Antonio toward the sealing of the bond, he says that he \u201cwould like to be friends\u201d with Antonio. This gives him the excuse to make light of the bond, but a bond sealed \u201cin merry sport\u201d \u2014 a bond where a pound of flesh can \u201cbe cut off and taken \/ In what part of your body pleaseth me.\u201d Here, Shakespeare has the difficult problem of making us believe that Antonio is actually innocent enough to accept such a condition; after all, Antonio is probably fifty years old and a wealthy merchant; he is no schoolboy, and this \u201cmerry sport\u201d of a bond is absurd. Clearly, to us, Shylock\u2019s interest is not only in money in this case, but Antonio does not realize this, nor does he realize or fully understand the depth of Shylock\u2019s hatred of him. He is therefore unable to be persuaded that this bond is dangerous. To him, the bond is merely a \u201cmerry bond.\u201d And thus Shylock is able to rhetorically ask Bassanio: \u201cPray you tell me this: \/ If he should break his day, what should I gain \/ By the exaction of the forfeiture?\u201d<\/p>\n

Shakespeare has set up a situation in which a man has put his life in the hands of a moral enemy and the outcome depends on fortune \u2014 that is, whether or not Antonio\u2019s merchant ships survive pirates and the high seas. Antonio and Shylock are diametrical opposites. Shylock is cunning, cautious, and crafty; he belongs to a race which has been persecuted since its beginnings. As a Christian, Antonio is easy going, trusting, slightly melancholy, romantic, and naive. Shylock trusts only in the tangible \u2014 that is, in the bond. Antonio trusts in the intangible \u2014 that is, in luck. Here, Shylock seems almost paranoid and vengeful, but on the other hand, Antonio seems ignorantly over-confident \u2014 rather stupid because he is so lacking in common sense.<\/p>\n

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