Wednesday, January 23, 2008

The Merchant...

Hey there, it's Abby. I think it's about time that I start to contribute to the blog...

While reading The Merchant of Venice, I notice how well the banter between characters flows. One of my favorite examples of this is in Act II, Scene 2. This is where we first meet Lancelot and Gobbo. Because Gobbo is sand-blind, he does not recognize his own son. However, Lancelot totally does not help the matter by basically messing with Gobbo. Towards the end of this exchange is one my favorite quotes of this play. Lancelot finally tells Gobbo who he is and Gobbo does not believe him.
To this Lancelot replies, "I know not what I shall think of that, but I am Lancelot, the Jew's man, and I am sure Margery your wife is my mother."
Gobbo states, "Her name is Margery indeed! I'll be sworn, if thou be Lancelot thou art mine own flesh and blood. Lord worshiped might he be, what a beard hast thou got. Thou has got more hair on thy chin than Dobbin my fill horse has on his tail."

The text in color is the quote that I remember most after reading this scene. Thus, being my favorite quote. I have a favorite quote for every play that I read. There is always that one line that catches either my breath or my eye. In Midsummers Night's Dream, the most memorable line that caught my eye was spoken by Lysander. It is, "the course of true love never did run smooth." Every person who has been in love, knows how true that line is.

1 comment:

Kristopher said...

Even in Shakespeare's time, father and son would always be messing with one another. And there is no denial that Shakespeare knew how to play with themes of love with word play.

- Kristopher