Is he to blame for what follows?
ACT II
PORTIA'S CASKETS
Why is Jessica's story intertwined with Portia's? What dramatic purposes does it serve? Are Jessica and Launce alike justified in leaving Shylock? Why? (See Introduction to the Play in First Folio Edition for suggestion). Is the Jew's lament for his daughter although piteous, inadequate.
Is the choice of the gold and the silver by the Moor and Spaniard significant of their natures?
What reason is there to find in the symbolism and the persuasion to choice each suitor employs that Portia's father has used the wisdom of a seer in prescribing the choice from the three caskets?
QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION
Do you like Jessica? Why? In what ways are Portia and Jessica alike in the generousness of love though opposite in circumstances?
Is Jessica's elopement to blame for her father's joy in the wreckage of Anthonio's ships and his final exaction of the bond? Was it introduced in the Plot for this purpose?