Shakespeare's Use Of Trickery And Disguise In His Plays
...to effect similar outcomes in his
works. Many of his plays utilize trickery and disguise to accomplish similar
endings.
Trickery plays a major role in The Merchant of Venice and drives most of
the action, while mistaken identity, specifically Portia's disguise as the
"learned attorney's" representative, plays a major role in the resolution of
the play. The first instance of trickery in the play is Bassanio's plan to
present himself as a financially sound suitor, when in truth, he is not.
Bassanio believes that he would stand a very good chance of being the
successful suitor if he had the proper money backing him. Bassanio then goes
to his friend Antonio to try to secure a loan to provide for his wooing.
O my Antonio, had I but the means/To hold a rival
place with one of them [other suitors]/I have a
mind presages me such thrift/That I should
questionless be fortunate!" (Shakespeare,
Merchant 1.1 173-176)
However, Antonio has, "neither the money, nor commodity/to raise a present
sum" but urges Bassanio to go through Venice to try to secure a loan using
Antonio's bond as credit (Shakespeare, Merchant 1.1 178-179).
One of the resident money-lenders of Venice is an individual called
Shylock, a person of Jewish descent. The practice of usury was traditionally
banned by the Christian church. This allowed many Jews, because their belief
system contained no objection to profitable money-lending, to become the de
facto loan officers. Bassanio approaches Shylock to ask for a loan, and
Shylock seems as if he is going to agree, however, he first asks to speak with
Antonio. It is revealed in an aside that Shylock harbors a secret hatred of
Antonio because of his religion and Shylock's belief that Antonio's practices
drive down the interest rates that Shylock can charge in Venice. Here we see
the second instance of trickery...
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