Thursday, June 4, 2015

Why does Bassanio select the lead casket in The Merchant of Venice?

The reason that Bassanio selects this casket over the gold
one and the silver one is because he thinks that you cannot judge a book by its cover,
essentially.


He thinks that, these days, people are too
concerned with appearances.  They think that what looks good really is good.  But
Bassanio is not fooled.  He thinks that it must be the lead one because no one would
really expect that.


He says that both the gold one and the
silver one look too valuable.  They are just
tricks.


Because he figures this out correctly, he gets to
be the one to marry Portia.

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