IX. TEST QUESTIONS

It has been the aim, in the present edition, to offer material for a thorough study of The Merchant of Venice. The arrangement of such material has, however, been governed by the consideration that in many schools it would be found desirable to take up the play for reading " only, as that term is understood by the Committee on College Requirements. For reading" the teacher will do well to drop all the latter part of the Introduction, and to use but a sparing selection from each set of notes. For “study," all the appliances may be fully used. The test questions here presented conform to these two types of work.

I.- FOR READING

Requirement: "The candidate will be required to present evidence of a general knowledge of the subject matter, and to answer simple questions on the lives of the authors. The form of examination will usually be the writing of a paragraph or two on each of several topics, to be chosen by the candidate from a considerable number."

TOPICS FOR COMPOSITION
A. 1. The Friendship of A onio and Bassanio.

2. The Character of Portia.
3. The Story of Lorenzo and Jessica.
4. An Explanation of Shylock's Point of View.

5. A Brief Account of the Trial Scene.
B. 1. The Relations between Antonio and Shylock.

2. The Contrast between Morocco and Arragon.
3. The Story of Bassanio and Portia.
4. The Decision of Doctor Balthasar.

5. The Jest of the Rings.
C. 1. The Contrast between Gratiano and Antonio.

2. The Character and Fortunes of Launcelot Gobbo.
3. The Intention of Portia’s Father, the Test of the Caskets.
4. The Growth of Shylock's Purpose in regard to the Bond.
5. Description of the Final Scene at Belmont.

II. - FOR STUDY

a

A. 1. Comment on the sadness of Antonio; on the nature of his

feeling for Bassanio. 2. Prove that Bassanio was not moved solely by a desire for

Portia's wealth. 3. State the causes for Shylock's hatred of Antonio. Which

do you consider most potent in influencing his action ? 4. What contemporaneous events may have led Shakespeare to

produce a play in which one of the central figures is a Jew? 5. In what ways may the following lines be scanned and read ?

Not in love neither? Then let us say you are sad
Because you are not merry: and 'twere as easy
For you to laugh and leap and say you are merry
Because you are not sad. Now, by two-headed Janus,

Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time.”
6. Who speaks the following lines ?

“What, must I hold a candle to my shames ?

They in themselves, good sooth, are too too light."
Explain them, and show what trick of Elizabethan speech

they illustrate.

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B. 1. State the two opposite theories of the original purpose of

Shylock in proposing the bond, and the arguments in

favor of each. 2. What place does Gobbo fill in the play? Explain the

development of this conventional figure. 3. What may have been Shakespeare's intention in contrasting

Morocco and Arragon? 4. From what source did Shakespeare probably derive the

combination of the bond and casket stories? From what
source does he appear to have taken the details of the

bond story?
5. How would you scan and read the following lines ?

“What many men desire! that many' may be meant

By the fool multitude, that choose by show,
Not learning more than the fond eye doth teach,
Which pries not to the interior, but, like the martlet,
Builds the weather on the outward wall."

6. Point out the Elizabethan idiom in the first two lines. How

would the same idea be expressed to-day? Explain fool multitude, marilet.

C. l. What are Portia's distinguishing characteristics ? Give

instances in which these appear, using, as far as possible,

the language of the play. 2. Sketch, in the same way, the character of Jessica. In what

point are Jessica and Portia most strongly contrasted ? 3. What differentiates Lorenzo, throughout the play, from the

other minor characters? What are the most marked

traits of Gratiano? 4. What other iinportant play of the Elizabethan time, still

in existence, introduces a Jew as one of its principal characters? What appears to be Shakespeare's attitude toward the persons whom he sets before us in the present play? What is the place of The Merchant of Venice in

his development as a dramatist?
5. Explain italicized words in the following passage :

“Thus ornament is but the guiled shore
To a most dangerous sea; the beauteous scarf
Veiling an Indian beauty ; in a word,
The seeming truth which cunning times put on
To entrap the wisest. Therefore, thou gaudy gold,

Hard food for Midas, I will none of thee." 6. Scan the first and fifth lines of the passage just given. Comment on the change of measure in the lines beginning,

“ All that glisters is not gold.”