Act 2

Two settings, two ways of pursuing marriage

Act 2 develops two connected stories. At Belmont, the Princes of Morocco and Arragon attempt the casket test devised by Portia’s dead father. In Venice, Shylock’s daughter Jessica prepares to escape with the Christian Lorenzo, taking money and jewels from her father.

Both stories involve love, wealth and parental authority, but the daughters respond differently. Portia obeys her father’s instructions even after his death; Jessica secretly rejects her living father’s control. Meanwhile, Bassanio prepares to leave Venice to pursue Portia. His journey connects the two settings and keeps Antonio’s dangerous bond in the background.

Morocco: dignity, appearance and prejudice

In Act 2 Scene 1, Morocco begins by asking Portia, “Mislike me not for my complexion,” meaning that she should not dislike him because of his skin colour. His opening makes racial prejudice an immediate concern. He defends his appearance, describing his colour as the sun’s clothing, and proposes comparing his blood with that of a pale northern man. Beneath differences in appearance, both possess the same human substance.

Morocco is also proud of his courage and status. His extravagant claims about confronting bears and lions present him as a heroic suitor. Yet physical bravery cannot guarantee success in the casket test: he fears that chance may allow a less worthy man to win.

Portia responds courteously and explains that her father’s test prevents her from choosing freely. She tells Morocco that, without this restriction, he “stood as fair / As any comer I have look'd on yet” for her affection. “Fair” can mean having an equal chance, but it also carries associations of beauty and light colouring. Her compliment appears reassuring, although placing him alongside her other suitors does not necessarily express a strong preference for him. Her later response to his failure makes this courtesy more questionable.

Before attempting the test, a suitor must accept serious consequences if he fails. Act 2 Scene 9 sets out the three promises fully: he must never disclose his choice, never again court a maiden for marriage, and leave immediately after failure. Marriage at Belmont is therefore presented as a risky undertaking, not simply a romantic reward.

Launcelot leaves Shylock’s service

Act 2 Scene 2 moves to a Venetian street. Launcelot Gobbo debates whether to leave Shylock, his employer. He says, “The fiend is at mine elbow”, imagining a devil urging him to run away while his conscience urges him to stay.

This comic soliloquy dramatises an argument inside his mind. Launcelot twists the moral distinction: because he describes Shylock as a devil, he decides that following the fiend is the better option. The comedy depends on confused reasoning, but its language also draws on antisemitic associations between Jewish identity and evil. These are Launcelot’s judgements, not neutral descriptions of Shylock.

Launcelot claims that he is starving in Shylock’s service and admires the fine uniforms Bassanio gives his servants. Later, Shylock accuses him of overeating and laziness. Their conflicting accounts encourage the audience to notice each speaker’s self-interest.

Launcelot then tricks his nearly blind father, Old Gobbo, by pretending that his son is dead before revealing himself. Their muddled conversation and misuse of words provide comic relief. Launcelot’s speech is in prose, whose loose, repetitive movement suits his verbal confusion, in contrast with the more controlled blank verse of much of the courtship plot. With his father’s assistance, he asks to serve Bassanio, who accepts him and explains that Shylock has already recommended him.

Gratiano also asks to accompany Bassanio to Belmont. Bassanio agrees but warns him to restrain his loud behaviour, showing how carefully Bassanio wants to manage his appearance as a suitor.

Jessica plans to reject her father’s household

In Act 2 Scene 3, Jessica gives Launcelot a secret letter for Lorenzo. His move between households makes him a useful messenger. She regrets losing the person who relieved her boredom:

“Our house is hell, and thou, a merry devil, / Didst rob it of some taste of tediousness.”

The metaphor of “hell” presents home as oppressive from Jessica’s perspective. The contradictory phrase “merry devil” makes Launcelot a source of pleasure within it, continuing the religious imagery of his previous scene.

After Launcelot leaves, Jessica’s soliloquy reveals that her decision involves guilt as well as excitement. She calls being ashamed of her father a serious sin, but distinguishes family relationship from behaviour:

“But though I am a daughter to his blood, / I am not to his manners.”

“Blood” means their biological connection; “manners” means his conduct and habits. The enjambment carries her thought across the line break: the first line establishes the relationship before the next rejects identification with him. She intends to become a Christian and Lorenzo’s wife. Marriage will therefore change her religious allegiance as well as her household.

In Act 2 Scene 4, Lorenzo receives her letter and explains that she has organised her escape, gathered gold and jewels, and prepared a boy’s costume. Jessica is an active planner, rather than merely someone whom Lorenzo rescues. The planned masque provides a setting in which disguise will seem ordinary.

Shylock’s precautions create dramatic irony

In Act 2 Scene 5, Shylock reluctantly accepts an invitation to Bassanio’s supper. He distrusts the Christians’ friendliness but decides to benefit from their hospitality:

“I'll go in hate, to feed upon / The prodigal Christian.”

“Prodigal” means wastefully extravagant. Shylock’s description links his religious hostility to his disapproval of Bassanio’s spending. “Feed upon” makes the meal sound almost like an act of aggression.

He tells Jessica, “Lock up my doors; and when you hear the drum”, before ordering her not to look out at the masked revellers. His repeated commands suggest a controlling household. They also express his wish to protect a sober, private home from festivities he considers foolish and threatening.

The scene uses dramatic irony: the audience already knows that Jessica plans to escape. Shylock gives her his keys and tries to secure the very house she will leave. Launcelot secretly encourages her to look out for Lorenzo, directly contradicting her father’s instruction. Shylock’s dream of money-bags and uneasy sense of approaching trouble foreshadow his loss, while Jessica conceals the truth from him.

The elopement: romantic freedom and theft

In Act 2 Scene 6, Lorenzo arrives outside Shylock’s house. Jessica appears above him in boy’s clothes and passes down her valuables:

“Here, catch this casket; it is worth the pains.”

The casket makes wealth physically visible on stage. Its presence connects this Venetian escape with the marriage test at Belmont: both courtship stories involve valuable boxes, although Jessica’s contains stolen property rather than a test of judgement.

Jessica is embarrassed by her disguise and explains:

“But love is blind and lovers cannot see / The pretty follies that themselves commit;”

The familiar idea that love is “blind” excuses behaviour that might otherwise appear foolish. “Pretty” makes the follies sound attractive or harmless. Yet the audience can also recognise a more troubling blindness: romantic excitement may prevent the lovers from acknowledging the injury done to Shylock.

Lorenzo wants Jessica to act as his torchbearer, but she fears that the light will expose the appearance she wants to hide. This creates playful tension between concealment and visibility. She then fetches more ducats before leaving with him.

The escape can be read as a young woman’s liberation from a restrictive home. Equally, her deception, theft and abandonment of her father complicate its romantic appeal. Lorenzo’s praise of her faithfulness is particularly striking when the audience has just watched her betray her father’s trust.

Antonio then announces that a favourable wind means Bassanio will sail immediately, so the masque will not take place. The lovers nevertheless escape; their disguise has served its purpose.

Morocco chooses gold: outward value proves misleading

Act 2 Scene 7 returns to Belmont, where Morocco examines the inscriptions. He reads the gold casket’s promise, “Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire;” silver promises the chooser what he deserves; lead requires him to give and risk everything he possesses.

Morocco chooses gold because Portia is widely desired and, he reasons, someone so precious must be represented by the most valuable metal. He rejects lead because its plain appearance seems unworthy of her. His mistake is to equate outward richness with inward worth.

Inside the gold casket he finds a skull and a scroll, not Portia’s portrait. Reading the scroll aloud, Morocco delivers its warning: “All that glitters is not gold;”. Something that shines may appear valuable without possessing true worth. The skull exposes the emptiness behind the attractive exterior, while the scroll’s image of worms inside gilded tombs connects expensive surfaces with hidden decay.

The scroll’s short, rhyming lines contrast with Morocco’s elaborate blank-verse reasoning: the simple moral lesson overturns his grand argument. Its repeated rhyme makes the judgement sound memorable and final.

After he leaves, Portia says, “Let all of his complexion choose me so.” This echoes his opening appeal about complexion and reveals the prejudice beneath her earlier politeness. She wishes other men of his skin colour to fail too. Her response prevents a straightforward picture of Belmont as a place of perfect judgement or virtue: the casket test exposes Morocco’s reliance on appearances, but Portia also judges people by appearance.

The three-casket story appears in Gesta Romanorum, a collection of tales probably compiled near the end of the thirteenth century. Its moral-tale pattern helps explain why the attractive containers conceal disappointing contents: the test teaches the danger of judging by appearances. For a part (b) argument about appearance and reality, this context can explain how Shakespeare uses an inherited moral test within his courtship plot.

Shylock’s grief reaches the audience through mockery

Act 2 Scene 8 returns to Venice. Salarino and Solanio discuss Shylock’s unsuccessful attempt to find Jessica and Lorenzo. Shylock and the Duke arrive too late to search Bassanio’s departing ship; the lovers have been seen together in a gondola.

Solanio imitates Shylock’s cries:

“My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter! / Fled with a Christian! O my Christian ducats!”

The repetition, exclamations and movement between daughter and money make his distress sound frantic. The strange phrase “Christian ducats” confuses religious and financial loss, encouraging a comic impression of someone obsessed with possessions.

However, Shylock is not on stage to speak these words himself. Solanio has already insulted him as the “dog Jew”, so the report is openly hostile. One reading accepts the imitation as evidence that Shylock confuses love with ownership. Another notices how the Christians turn a father’s real loss into public entertainment. Salarino’s report that boys follow and mock Shylock strengthens this second reading.

The conversation then warns that Antonio may suffer if he fails to repay his bond. A report of a wrecked Venetian ship raises anxiety, without yet confirming that it belongs to Antonio. The friends also describe Antonio’s tearful farewell to Bassanio. Their tenderness towards Antonio contrasts sharply with their mockery of Shylock’s distress.

Arragon chooses silver: pride defeats judgement

In Act 2 Scene 9, Arragon rejects gold because he refuses to share the desires of the common crowd. Unlike Morocco, he recognises that popular admiration may be superficial. Nevertheless, he rejects lead on the grounds that it should look more attractive before he risks anything.

He chooses silver because its promise of deserved reward appeals to his confidence in his own merit. Inside, he finds the portrait of a fool and asks, “Did I deserve no more than a fool's head?” The rhetorical question reveals wounded pride: he expects the test to confirm his superiority, not challenge it.

The two failures are related but distinct. Morocco confuses material splendour with worth; Arragon confuses self-esteem with genuine deserving. Their departures delay the successful courtship and build anticipation. A servant’s announcement of an approaching Venetian lord then ends the act with new hope; Nerissa wishes that it is Bassanio.

How the act’s structure shapes our response

Belmont opens the act, Venice occupies Scenes 2–6, and the final three scenes move Belmont–Venice–Belmont. This arrangement interweaves romantic opportunities with their human costs. Casket failures sit beside the consequences of Jessica’s escape, while expectations of Bassanio’s arrival develop alongside warnings about Antonio’s bond.

The act also repeatedly asks how appearances influence judgement. Launcelot’s comic language, Jessica’s disguise, the caskets’ surfaces and Solanio’s hostile imitation all make interpretation uncertain. What a character claims is not always the same as what the audience should conclude.

Worked paragraph for part (a): analysing the reported grief

Part (a) assesses language, form and structure in the printed extract for 20 marks, all AO2. This paragraph practises close analysis of Solanio’s report in Act 2 Scene 8, without adding historical context.

Shakespeare complicates the comic treatment of Shylock’s loss by presenting it through a prejudiced observer. Solanio imitates him crying “My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter!” The repeated exclamations make his grief sound uncontrolled, while the alternating references to family and money encourage the audience to see him as possessive. Yet Solanio’s insult “dog Jew” exposes the antisemitism shaping this report. Because Shylock is absent, his distress reaches the audience through an enemy’s performance. The scene may therefore invite laughter at apparent greed while also revealing the cruelty of the Christian characters.

Worked paragraph for part (b): prejudice and belonging

Part (b) assesses an argument about a theme elsewhere in the play: AO1 carries 15 marks and AO3 carries 5. This paragraph shows how Act 2 could contribute to a wider answer on prejudice when these moments are outside the printed extract.

Prejudice in the play limits outsiders’ acceptance even when they seek close relationships with the Christian characters. Morocco asks Portia not to reject him because of his complexion, yet after his failure she wishes all men of his colour to choose wrongly. Her response shows that polite treatment does not guarantee genuine acceptance. Shylock likewise remains an outsider: after Jessica leaves him for a Christian, Solanio turns his distress into a mocking imitation. The play was written in an England where Jews had been officially expelled in 1290 and anti-Jewish hostility persisted. This context helps explain the derogatory stereotypes used against Shylock, but the contrast between his painful loss and the Christians’ amusement also gives an audience reason to question their treatment of him.

Sequence to recall

• Scene 1, Belmont: Morocco defends his complexion and accepts the casket test’s risks.
• Scene 2, Venice: Launcelot enters Bassanio’s service; Gratiano will accompany Bassanio.
• Scenes 3–4: Jessica sends Lorenzo her escape plan through Launcelot.
• Scene 5: Shylock goes to supper, ordering Jessica to secure the house.
• Scene 6: Jessica escapes in boy’s clothes with money and jewels. Bassanio sails.
• Scene 7, Belmont: Morocco chooses gold; finds a skull and warning scroll.
• Scene 8, Venice: Solanio mocks Shylock’s grief; a shipwreck report raises fears for Antonio.
• Scene 9, Belmont: Arragon chooses silver; finds a fool’s portrait. An approaching Venetian lord is announced.

Essential contrasts

• Morocco: outward richness must contain inward worth → gold → failure.
• Arragon: assumes he deserves Portia → silver → failure.
• Portia and Jessica: obedience to a dead father versus rebellion against a living one.
• Jessica’s escape: romantic liberation versus deception, theft and family loss.
• Shylock’s distress: apparent possessiveness versus grief distorted by hostile reporting.

Quotation anchors

• Morocco, Act 2 Scene 1: “Mislike me not for my complexion,” → prejudice and dignity.
• Portia, Act 2 Scene 1: “stood as fair / As any comer” → apparently reassuring courtesy.