Why does the Prince of Arragon choose the silver casket in The Merchant of Venice?

Unlike the Prince of Morocco, who preceded him in the play, the Prince of Arragon has no introductory scene in which the audience has an opportunity to learn about his character and personality. Arragon simply appears at Portia's house in Belmont, takes the oath required of every suitor who chooses among the three caskets, and proceeds directly to making his choice among the three caskets of lead, silver, and gold.

One of the functions that the Prince of Arragon serves in the play is to provide the audience with the actual conditions of the oath, which have not been fully stated previously in the play.

ARRAGON. I am enjoin'd by oath to observe three things:
First, never to unfold to any one,
Which casket 'twas I chose; next, if I fail
Of the right casket, never in my life
To woo a maid in way of marriage; Lastly,
If I do fail in fortune of my choice,
Immediately to leave you, and be gone.
(act 2, scene 9, lines 9–15)

Arragon seems to have no reservations about making the oath, and he's ready to make his choice. Through the process of his choice, the choice he makes, and his reaction to his reward, Arragon is shown as a coldly practical, unsentimental, unromantic, and supremely self-confident man.

Arragon immediately rejects the lead casket, which has the inscription "Who chooseth me, must give and hazard all he hath." Arragon has no intention of giving or risking all he has for a lead casket or simply to gain a wife.

As a side note, at no time in the scene does Arragon mention that he has any interest in Portia as a person, that he loves her, or that he's in any way attracted to her. The only time he addresses Portia personally is when he says, "Sweet, adieu" on his way out of the scene. For Arragon, this casket business and the possible acquisition of Portia for his wife seems like nothing more than a business transaction.

Arragon just as readily rejects the gold casket and its inscription, "Who chooseth me, shall gain what many men desire," because he doesn't wish to be thought of as one of "many men" of the "foolish multitude" nor rank himself with common men, the "barbarous multitudes."

The inscription on the silver casket, "Who chooseth me, shall get as much as he deserves," appeals to Arragon's arrogance, which is to say that it appeals to his inflated sense of his own self-importance and self-worth. Arragon convinces himself that he absolutely deserves Portia, and he chooses the silver casket.

Arragon is rewarded with what he deserves, which is a portrait, not of Portia but of a "blinking idiot" and a poem that calls him a fool who came to the choice of caskets with the head of a fool but that goes away with two foolish heads—his own and the portrait of the "blinking idiot."

Arragon makes no mention of losing Portia as his wife, nor does he seem particularly upset about that. Arragon simply can't believe that he chose the wrong casket. "Did I deserve no more than a fool's head?" he says. "Is that my prize? are my deserts no better?"

Arragon promptly leaves the scene with barely a nod to Portia, shaking his head in disbelief as he goes out the door. Portia dismisses him as a moth singed by a candle and has nothing more to say about him as she turns her attention to Bassanio, Portia's own choice for a husband, who has just appeared outside her door, intent on taking his own turn to choose among the caskets.

In The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, the prince of Aragon chooses the silver casket. It is the one which is labeled 'Choose me and get what you deseerve.' Due to his huge ego and over-inflated opinions of himself, he probably thinks that he will get great things becuase of this - all the ordinary superficial things that most humans want such as money, power, luxury and the attentions that come with that. The phrase is very philosophical and clever when you look at it closely. It does Not say that it will deliver all these things, only that if you deserve good things (which may in any event turn out to be spiritual virtues anyway) you will get them. Think about what a character might get if their weak self-serving character deserves little.

In The Merchant of Venice, which casket did the Prince of Morocco choose and why?

When the Prince of Morocco first appears in Williams Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice as a suitor to Portia, a beautiful and wealthy heiress, the Prince seems to want to impress her with his education and his appeal to women, even though Portia reminds him that it makes no difference:

Besides, the lottery of my destiny
Bars me the right of voluntary choosing (2.1.15-16).

In other words, the choice of a husband is not hers to make but is dependent on the choice that her suitor makes among the three caskets. Nevertheless, the Prince continues to plead his case by telling Portia how fearsome and fearless he is in battle.

This scene also affords Shakespeare an opportunity to tell the audience, through Portia, about one of the conditions that Portia's father imposed on her suitors. The requirement is that before a suitor can choose a casket, he must swear that if he chooses the wrong casket, he is "Never to speak to lady afterward / In way of marriage" (2.1.43-44). This seems rather a harsh condition, never to ask another woman to marry him, but it ensures that whoever wishes to marry Portia is, by virtue of sacrificing his future happiness, worthy of the opportunity to make a choice among the caskets and possibly be rewarded with Portia as his wife.

The scene ends with the Prince agreeing to swear to that condition and asking to be led to the caskets, but Portia tells him to return after dinner to make his choice.

It's not until six scenes later that the Prince is able to make his choice of one of the three caskets. This is when the audience learns about riddles inscribed on each of the caskets of gold, silver, and lead; the suitor will know if he's chosen the right casket because it will contain a picture of Portia.

The Prince immediately rejects the lead casket, which is inscribed, "Who chooseth me, must give and hazard all he hath" (2.7.9, 16). He has no intention of giving everything he has and risking his future for lead.

The Prince is intrigued by the inscription on the silver casket, "Who chooseth me, shall get as much as he deserves" (2.7.7, 23). He believes that he well and truly deserves Portia:

I do in birth deserve her, and in fortunes,
In graces, and in qualities of breeding.
But more than these, in love I do deserve.

The Prince also gives consideration to the gold casket, which is inscribed, "Who chooseth me, shall gain what many men desire" (2.7.5, 37). The Prince has no doubt that "all the world desires her" (2.7.38), since suitors come to Portia from all over the world and risk their futures and their fortunes simply for a chance to win her as their wife.

Rather than fully consider the implications of the inscriptions on each of the caskets, the Prince instead considers only the metal composition of the caskets. The lead casket is "too gross" (2.7.50), he says, to contain Portia's image. The Prince reasons that silver is "ten times undervalued to tried gold" (2.7.53), and that only a gold casket can contain the portrait of "an angel" (2.7.58) like Portia.

The Prince chooses the gold casket, opens it, and finds that it contains not Portia's picture but a rotting human skull and a scroll that reminds the Prince that "All that glisters is not gold" (2.7.66) and that "Gilded tombs do worms enfold" (2.7.70).

What was in the golden casket in The Merchant of Venice and who chose it?

In Act II, Scene 7, an African prince named Morocco has come to woo Portia.  She shows him the three caskets (gold, silver, lead) and tells him he has to pick the right one in order to marry her.

He picks the golden casket, because it says that what is inside is what all men desire.  But instead of Portia's picture, the casket contains a skull with a scroll stuck through an eye socket.

The scroll tells him he has made a mistake.  Part of what it says is the famous line "All that glitters is not gold."

Why did the Prince of Morocco reject the silver casket in The Merchant of Venice?

The audience learns in act 2, scene 1 of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice that the Prince of Morocco is a vain, self-important man. He's enamored of his dark skin—the color of "the burnish's sun"—which he proclaims is irresistible to women and feared by valiant men. He boasts about his bravery, his courage in the face of imaginary mother bears and lions, and his many victories on the battlefield. All in all, he considers himself superior to other men.

In act 2, scene 7, the prince is faced with the choice of three small caskets. If he chooses the casket with Portia's portrait inside, he wins Portia's hand in marriage.

MOROCCO. The first, of gold, who this inscription bears:
Who chooseth me, shall gain what many men desire.
The second, silver, which this promise carries:
Who chooseth me, shall get as much as he deserves.
This third, dull lead, with warning all as blunt:
Who chooseth me, must give and hazard all he hath. (2.7.4–9)

The Prince almost immediately rejects the lead casket. The lead of the casket is below his "golden mind" (foreshadowing his ultimate choice), and he's not prepared to "hazard all he hath," even for Portia.

The prince turns to the silver casket. He first considers the possibility that he might not be deserving of Portia, but given his high opinion of himself, he quickly dismisses that thought and lists the reasons why he deserves Portia.

MOROCCO. As much as I deserve!—Why, that's the lady:
I do in birth deserve her, and in fortunes,
In graces, and in qualities of breeding;
But more than these, in love I do deserve. (2.7.31–34)

At that moment, the Prince almost chooses the silver casket, but he decides to take one more look at the gold casket before he makes his choice.

The prince is struck by the phrase in the inscription "what many men desire."

MOROCCO. Why, that's the lady: all the world desires her:
From the four corners of the earth they come,
To kiss this shrine, this mortal, breathing, saint. (2.7.38–40)

The Prince gets caught up in his own poetic descriptions of Portia's desirability, but he eventually comes to his decision.

"'Twere damnation," he says, to think that Portia's portrait would be contained in lead, and he rejects the lead casket.

The prince likewise rejects the silver casket as being unworthy to hold Portia's portrait.

MOROCCO. Or shall I think in silver she's immur'd,
Being ten times undervalued to tried gold?
O sinful thought! Never so rich a gem
Was set in worse than gold. (2.7.52-55)

The prince chooses the gold casket. Portia gives him the key, and he opens the casket to reveal not Portia's portrait, but a human skull and a note that begins, "All that glisters is not gold..."

Why doesn't Morocco choose the lead casket in The Merchant of Venice?

The Prince of Morocco has two objections to the lead casket when it comes time for him to make his choice in Act 2. The lead casket’s inscription says that anyone who chooses it “must give and hazard all he hath”, and Morocco immediately decides that the risk is not worth it: “Must give – for what? For lead? Hazard for lead?” Like many characters in the play, Morocco is used to sizing up investment risks, and this looks like a bad deal. He also doubts that a prize as valuable as Portia could be contained in a worthless metal box – he puts a lot of value on appearances (he even immediately makes apologies for his skin color on his first entrance, a telling moment in a play obsessed with race and pedigree) and believes that appearances offer reliable clues about worth. The casket puzzle is designed to weed out exactly that kind of appearance-based, investment-obsessed thinking, and it weeds out Morocco very quickly.

Why does Morocco choose the gold casket in The Merchant of Venice?

Morocco choose the gold casket because of how he interprets the inscription inside it. The inscription says:

Who chooseth me, shall gain what many men desire.

Morocco believes this means that in picking the gold casket, he will gain Portia, because he believes she is desirable to many men. It's hard to fault him for this interpretation, as it seems to pay a compliment to Portia. The prince of Morocco states:

All the world desires her

He also calls her a "mortal breathing saint."

However, the Prince does not know her well. He may be in love with the idea of being in love with her, but he has no real basis on which to make this claim. Further, if he wants her just because he thinks she is desirable to other men, he is using her as trophy, a way to triumph over his male peers. This is not the correct answer, and Morocco does not win her hand.

Portia, in general, objects to having no say in choosing her mate. She doesn't like the idea of having to defer to the caskets.

Which casket would you choose in The Merchant of Venice?

Definitely I agree with others. Of course, we have the benefit of hindsight, which means that we find it very hard to consider this decision objectively. To be honest, I would have prefered to have not chosen a casket and therefore not run the risk of having to promise to live a celibate life! However, I would find it difficult to come to the conclusion that lead would be the right one. As a father, wouldn't you want to prize your daughter through symbolising her as a precious metal?

Of course, Bassanio chooses the lead casket, which is the right choice, and I'd like to think I'd make that choice too. But then again, if I had to choose, I'd wonder if a father wouldn't want a son-in-law who makes wise financial decisions instead of one who was indifferent to pecuniary interests. Again, this wouldn't necessarily make me choose the gold or silver, but it would make me think, which, as others have said, is the genius of this plot device on Shakespeare's part.

Like some of the others, I like to think that I would choose the casket of lead.  Here would be my reasoning: the gold and silver seem better choices than the lead, but then, why have a contest if the choice seems relatively easy or straightforward? I would therefore assume that the lead casket is the truly worthy one and was offered as a way of testing my values and perceptions.

Since Portia's father has devised this method of selecting a husband for his daughter in absentia (he is deceased), as a suitor, one would wonder if the lead casket were but a disguise as the greedy suitor may believe the unsightly facade of the casket a mere ruse.  For, if the father is clever enough to devise this method for his daughter to become engaged, other tricks could also be utilized.

Therefore, the choice is more of a dilemma than one would first think.  As in playing the nutshell game, I might go for the obvious, the gold one, believing that the father figures the suitor would believe it is a decoy to get the man to choose the lead and prove himself humble.

I agree with the previous post.  I would like to think that I would pick the lead casket simply because it would mean that I was not caught up in material things.  But I would worry about that.  Just because I'm not caught up in material things doesn't mean others aren't.  So what if Portia's father was a shallow man?  If I really wanted Portia, that would worry me and I would wonder if I shouldn't pick gold instead.

Much of The Merchant of Venice is concerned with how grasping after superficial things such as money corrupts both the individual soul and the community. The theme of usury opposes Christian values (it being more likely that a camel will get through the eye of a needle than a rich man into heaven) against commercial ones. The three caskets serve as a test of whether a lover is interested merely in surface characteristics, such a beauty and wealth, or enduring values. Both gold and silver represent external riches; therefore, one should choose lead, signifying that Portia is valued for her character and intellect rather than beauty and wealth.

What reasons did the Prince of Morocco have for choosing the gold casket in The Merchant of Venice?

The Prince of Morocco is a very arrogant man. He thinks he is above the lead casket: "Hazard for lead?...A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross" (2.7.21-24). Nor will he choose the silver as it is inscribed with: Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves" (2.7.27-28). The Prince thinks he deserves much more!

He chooses the gold as he believes that gold and the Lady, Portia, are what we should possess and what he deserves but he is fooled by his own arrogance as All that glisters is not gold!