Appearance vs. Inner Value in The Merchant of Venice
In the Merchant of Venice, elegant outward appearances are used to mask a thing's true worthlessness, and these beautiful facades are often mislead people.
The {Merchant of Venice }is the story of a young woman named Portia, her many suitors, and the strange method of their suit. Portia?s late father designed a challenge to test her suitors? true principles. The test states that Portia is only allowed to marry the man who picks the correct chest: gold, silver, or lead. The correct chest contains a picture of Portia. Shakespeare uses this challenge to discuss how people often wear beautiful items to cover their own ugly interior and to fool other people into believing they are the beautiful person they appear to be. In {The Merchant of Venice}, elegant outward appearances are used to mask a thing's true worthlessness, and these beautiful facades often mislead people.
The gold chest in {The Merchant of Venice }demonstrates how many people greatly value appearances, and are often fooled by putting a great deal of faith in external appearances. The gold chest is the most obvious display of how misleading an object?s externals can be. The gold chest is inscribed with the promise, ?Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire?(92.7.4). What many men desire, Shakespeare feels, is outward appearance, and that is all the Prince of Morocco receives, appearance. While praising the gold casket, the prince shows the extent of his dependence on the superficial. He states, ??They have in England/ a coin that bears the figure of an angel/ stamped in gold??(2.7.55-57). Actually, coins have no value, except the false value that humans bestow upon them for their exterior beauty. The scroll inside of the gold chest also discusses how much people depend upon appearance. The scrolls states that, ?many a man his life hath sold/ but my outside to behold/ Gilded tombs to worms enfold?(2.7.67-69). In lines 67 and 68 the scroll is stating that many people will throw their lives away, just to have money or gold. Live 69 literally means that worms surround both wood caskets and gold caskets. Metaphorically, however, this line express how gold doesn?t prevent a person from committing sins or dying, and thus people shouldn?t spend their whole lives in the pursuit of wealth. In {The Merchant of Venice}, gold?s stunning appearance is used to cover over people?s true insignificance.
Silver is used to signify importance, and the silver chest shows how this metal is used to improve on objects? faulty appearances. The silver chest bears the inscription of ?Who chooseth me will get as much as he deserves?(2.9.36). The Prince of Aragon is deceived by the gaudy appearance of silver, and his feeling that he ?deserves? Portia. Since this Prince also relies mainly upon appearance, he receives nothing, his rightful due. The scroll inside of the silver chest reads, in part, ?There be fools alive iwis,/ silvered over and so was this?(2.9.68-69). This scroll, in its cryptic English, is stating that there are certainly (iwis) old fools who people assume are wise because of their age, and their silver hair. Since silver is also used to signify importance, such as in medals or money, many people use silver to make themselves seem more important. Bassanio, however, notes in his speech that silver is ??pale and common drudge ?tween man and man??(3.2.103-104). He realizes that silver, instead of being a beautiful object of great worth, is really just a dull item used for money and for trade. Bassanio also realizes that since many people use wealth to cloud over their insecurities, silver is used to shroud over faults. The silver chest exhibits how silver is used to gloss over minor faults, in the hope that people?s attention will by captivated by its beauty, and prevent them from examining the person?s true character
The final chest, lead, is the only chest unmarred by false ornament, showing on the surface its real character. The lead is inscribed, not with a promise, as with the previous two chests, but with a warning. The inscription reads, ?Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath?(2.9.21). This chest presents the danger of losing Portia and the right to marry, or gaining the privilege of marrying Portia. The other two chests also hold this danger, but their threat is less obvious because of their flashy appearances. The two Princes spurn this chest because of its obvious danger. Bassanio, however, truly the wisest of the three, realizes that:
?the outward shows may be least themselves;
. . .[for] there is no vice so simple but assumes
Some mark of virtue upon his outward parts
?Look upon beauty and you shall see it is purchased by the weight,
Where therein works a miracle in nature
Making them lightest that wear most of it. (3.2.73-91)
In the first three lines, Bassanio illustrates how appearances are rarely an indicator of internal worth because people wear items of beauty to cover over their own flaws. In the final 3 lines, Bassanio speculates that the most cowardly or wicked people are the ones who assume the most ornaments. He feels that people pay for beauty by its weight, but when many ornaments are worn, it displays that the person underneath is the ?lightest? in true worth. Lead, however, is never used to beautify items, and thus shows it?s inner value on the outside. Lead is the only chest that shows its true values upon the surface, and many people dislike or fear lead because it doesn?t cover over faults and presents its dangers truthfully.
In this play, ornaments are used to deceive people into feeling that an object or another person is more than they appear to be. The entire chest challenge is set up by Portia?s late father to ensure that her husband is not fooled by outward appearances, and will always see the true value in things. Shakespeare demonstrates through the three chests, and the three suitors, how most people are fooled by ornament, though some, like Bassanio, see the true value in things. Even now, people have not learned to look beyond the externals. Most people feel that the person with the largest house, most expensive car or other high priced possession, is the best or the happiest person around. Very often, this is not true because their life is centered on making money. People need to learn to look at an item?s true value, instead of the object?s appearance.
