Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors
used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
The Three Caskets
The contest for Portia’s hand, in which suitors from various
countries choose among a gold, a silver, and a lead casket, resembles
the cultural and legal system of Venice in some respects. Like the
Venice of the play, the casket contest presents the same opportunities
and the same rules to men of various nations, ethnicities, and religions. Also
like Venice, the hidden bias of the casket test is fundamentally Christian.
To win Portia, Bassanio must ignore the gold casket, which bears
the inscription, “Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire”
(II.vii.5), and the silver casket, which
says, “Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves” (II.vii.7).
The correct casket is lead and warns that the person who chooses
it must give and risk everything he has. The contest combines a
number of Christian teachings, such as the idea that desire is an
unreliable guide and should be resisted, and the idea that human
beings do not deserve God’s grace but receive it in spite of themselves.
Christianity teaches that appearances are often deceiving, and that
people should not trust the evidence provided by the senses—hence
the humble appearance of the lead casket. Faith and charity are
the central values of Christianity, and these values are evoked
by the lead casket’s injunction to give all and risk all, as one
does in making a leap of faith. Portia’s father has presented marriage
as one in which the proper suitor risks and gives everything for
the spouse, in the hope of a divine recompense he can never truly
deserve. The contest certainly suits Bassanio, who knows he does
not deserve his good fortune but is willing to risk everything on
a gamble.
The Pound of Flesh
The pound of flesh that Shylock seeks lends itself to
multiple interpretations: it emerges most as a metaphor for two
of the play’s closest relationships, but also calls attention to
Shylock’s inflexible adherence to the law. The fact that Bassanio’s
debt is to be paid with Antonio’s flesh is significant, showing
how their friendship is so binding it has made them almost one.
Shylock’s determination is strengthened by Jessica’s departure,
as if he were seeking recompense for the loss of his own flesh and
blood by collecting it from his enemy. Lastly, the pound of flesh
is a constant reminder of the rigidity of Shylock’s world, where
numerical calculations are used to evaluate even the most serious
of situations. Shylock never explicitly demands that Antonio die,
but asks instead, in his numerical mind, for a pound in exchange
for his three thousand ducats. Where the other characters measure
their emotions with long metaphors and words, Shylock measures everything
in far more prosaic and numerical quantities.
Leah’s Ring
The ring given to Shylock in his bachelor days by a woman
named Leah, who is most likely Shylock’s wife and Jessica’s mother,
gets only a brief mention in the play, but is still an object of
great importance. When told that Jessica has stolen it and traded
it for a monkey, Shylock very poignantly laments its loss: “I would
not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys” (III.i.101–102).
The lost ring allows us to see Shylock in an uncharacteristically
vulnerable position and to view him as a human being capable of
feeling something more than anger. Although Shylock and Tubal discuss
the ring for no more than five lines, the ring stands as an important
symbol of Shylock’s humanity, his ability to love, and his ability
to grieve.
