Study Questions

1. What message does Stephano deliver to Lorenzo and Jessica?

2. What opinion does Lorenzo hold of men who don’t like music?

3. What does Portia order her household not to do?

4. To whom does Nerissa claim to believe Gratiano gave his ring?

5. What does Portia threaten when Bassanio admits he gave the ring away?

6. What does Portia claim she will do if she encounters the doctor to whom Bassanio gave the ring?

7. How does Antonio attempt to placate Portia?

8. What does Portia offer Bassanio to seal the new promise?

9. What secret does Portia reveal to the company?

10. What good news does Portia tell Antonio?

Answers

1. Stephano announces that Portia “will before the break of day/ Be here at Belmont. She doth stray about/ By holy crosses where she kneels and prays/ For happy wedlock hours.”

2. Lorenzo claims that “The man that hath no music in himself,/ Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,/ Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils” and is thus not to be trusted.

3. Portia insists that no one reveal that she and Nerissa have been away from home.

4. Nerissa claims whoever has the ring “will ne’er wear hair on’s face…” In other words, she says she suspects him of giving it to a woman.

5. Portia swears that she “will ne’er come in [Bassanio’s] bed/ Until [she] see[s] the ring!”

6. Portia says to Bassanio, “Since [the Doctor] hath got the jewel that I loved,/ And that which you did swear to keep for me,/ I will become as liberal as you,/ I’ll not deny him anything I have,/ No, not my body nor my husband’s bed.”

7. Antonio promises Portia that “[his] soul upon the forfeit…
[Bassanio]/ Will never more break faith advisedly.”

8. Portia offers the same ring she initially gave Bassanio, claiming she recovered it by sleeping with the doctor.

9. Portia reveals that she and Nerissa were in fact the doctor and his clerk.

10. Portia gives Antonio a letter in which it is revealed that “three of [his] argosies [i.e., ships]/ Are richly come to harbor suddenly.”