Merchant of Venice Workbook Answers Act 2 Scene 5
Merchant of Venice Workbook Answers Act 2 Scene 5 Questions and Answers, Passage Based Questions.
Merchant of Venice Act 2 Scene 5 Workbook Questions and Answers
Question 1.
‘There is some ill a-brewing towards my rest,
For I did dream of money-bags to-night.’ (Lines : 19-20)
When does Shylock utter these lines ? What do they signify ?
Answer:
Shylock utters these lines while going out to supper with Bassanio and his friends. They foretell the sad incident of the elopement of his daughter. She is going to steal a lot of his money and jewels, of which he had a dream.
Merchant of Venice Workbook Answers Act 2 Scene 5 Passage Based Questions
PASSAGE 1.
Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow :
Shylock :
The patch is kind enough, but a huge feeder;
Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day
More than the wild-cat: drones hive not with me;
Therefore, I part with him, and part with him
To one that would have him help to waste
His borrow’d purse. Well, Jessica, go in;
Perhaps I will return immediately:
Do as I bid you; shut doors after you:
Fast bind, fast find;
A proverb never stale in thrifty mind.
(i) Who is Shylock addressing to ? Why is he delivering this speech ?
Answer: Shylock is addressing his daughter Jessica. He is delivering this speech only to while away time. He has been invited to dinner by Bassanio to which he has half a mind to attend.
(ii) Why is he satisfied that Launcelot is leaving his services ?
Answer: He is satisfied that Launcelot is leaving his services. He feels that Launcelot is a parasite and a huge feeder. Moreover, he thinks he should go to Bassanio whose stock of borrowed money needs to be exhausted.
(iii) What does he mean to say ‘Waste his borrowed purse’ ?
Answer: By ‘waste his borrowed purse’, he means that Launcelot will help waste the borrowed money of his new master Bassanio. He seems to take perverse delight in the thought.
(iv) Where is he going ? Who leaves her home soon after he has left ?
Answer: He is going to join a dinner party arranged by Bassanio and his Christian friends. Jessica, his daughter, leaves her home soon after he has left, to elope with her lover Lorenzo.
(v) Mention any four character traits of Shylock.
Answer: Shylock seems to be as fanatic as Antonio. He hates all ChristiAnswer: Then he is a very crafty person, which is clear from the way he is able to entrap Antonio. He is a heartless, stingy fellow. He is also a hard¬hearted moneylender.
PASSAGE 2.
Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow :
Shylock :
What, are there masques ? Hear you me, Jessica:
Look up my doors; and when you hear the drum
And the vile squealing of the wry-neck’d fife,
Clamber not you up to the casements then,
Nor thrust your head into the public street
To gaze on Christian fools with varnish’d faces,
But stop my house’s ears, I mean my casements :
Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter
My sober house. By Jacob’s staff, I swear,
I have no mind of feasting forth to-night:
But I will go. Go you before me, sirrah;
Say I will come.
Launcelot:
I will go before, sir. Mistress, look out at window, for all this, There will come a Christian boy, will be worth a Jewess’ eye.
(i) Where is Shylock going ? Why is he reluctant to go ?
Answer: Shylock has been invited to dinner by Bassanio and his other friends. He is reluctant to go because he knows that he has not been invited out of love but only to flatter him. Moreover, he has had a bad dream in which he had seen money-bags, a bad omen.
(ii) What information of Launcelot alarms Shylock ?
Answer: Launcelot informs Jessica that they (Christians) have planned a masque tonight. Shylock is alarmed at the news, as being a Jew, he does not like a noisy event like that of a masque and feels that the noise may pollute the atmosphere of his house.
(iii) What advice does Shylock give to his daughter Jessica ? Why ?
Answer: Shylock asks Jessica to close all the doors to prevent the noise of the drum and the fife from entering his house. As a Jew he is against such extravagant shows staged by Christians.
(iv) What does Launcelot ask Jessica to do ? Which Christian boy does he refer to ?
Answer: Launcelot asks Jessica, his mistress, to look out of her window tonight. He says that a Christian boy (Lorenzo) will come who will be worth seeing for her eyes.
(v) How is Launcelot’s news significant for Jessica ?
Answer: Jessica and her lover Lorenzo have decided to elope during the masquerade arranged by Lorenzo’s Christian friends. Launcelot’s news is, in a Way, a hint to Jessica to get ready for the elopement when his father Shylock will be away.