 Now, let's look at key quotations relating to the character of Bessonio in Merchant of Venice. Now, bear in mind that Bessonio is one of the main characters. He is actually the person that sets off the tragic sequence of events that happen. In other words, it's because he's not very good with money. He doesn't have any money. He wants to go to Belmont and ask for Porsche's hand in marriage that in that way he'll be able to not only take over her inheritance, but pay off all his debts. So he does ask his really good friend Antonio for a loan. Now, the main thing to remember about Bessonio's character is that while he's very loyal to his friend Antonio, he really really is very caring and even for example, when Antonio decides to let him get the loan from Shylock, he actually initially is very reluctant because he doesn't trust Shylock's intentions. We also do see that there is an element of selfishness in his characteristics. He is very much someone who we would call a hedonist, someone who's very pleasure-seeking and of course it's because of that probably he wasn't very good with his money, especially when he was much younger. Now, of course, he is very fortunate in the sense that he does end up winning Porsche's hand in marriage. Now, one of the main things to remember is of course when it comes to Bessonio being one of the main characters, you do have to remember key quotations. So as you can see behind me, essentially what I've done is I've prepared the main quotations to remember with Bessonio's character. He is of course given that this is supposed to be a comedy. He is fooled by Porsche towards the end of the play, whereby she accuses him of giving away his ring, which she gave to her to both his arm. But of course, we later learned that of course that's part of the comedic elements that William Shakespeare wants to inject. Now, what I'm going to go through right now is the key quotations to remember. And of course, I'm going to highlight for you what word level analysis should do for each quotation. Now, the first quote to bear in mind is when he tells Antonio and Antonio knows this really well, I have disabled minor state. Now, what this quotation means initially is that Bessonio is basically telling Antonio, look, Antonio, you know me really well, I've basically squandered all of my money. Do bear in mind that Bessonio, he does belong to the nobility, OK? What that means is that he is an upper class man. However, the inheritance that was left over to him by his family, he's basically squandered it. And that's what he's saying here. I have squandered disabled minor state. All the money that he was left over, he's basically squandered it. And of course, this quotation shows that Bessonio is really bad with money. Now, the word level analysis to do here is the assonance of A in have, disabled and estate. Now, the second quotation to bear in mind, and of course, this shows the kind of really close relationship that Bessonio and Antonio have. In fact, there's been some kind of critical readings that exist, whereby there have been people who hypothesize they maintain the idea that maybe Bessonio's closeness with Antonio and especially Antonio overlooking his bad way with money could be because Antonio himself is maybe a homosexual. Now, those elements are kind of touched on here. But of course, I would say that maybe that criticism I wouldn't necessarily agree with. However, this is kind of played on a little bit when Bessonio says, to you, Antonio, I owe the most in money and in love. OK, now, the main thing to remember, of course, is we could interpret this notion of love in two ways. Of course, on the one hand, there is as critical analysis has sometimes looked at Bessonio and Antonio's relationship from kind of that homosexual angle. However, I would maintain that he's maybe meaning love when he's talking about Antonio in terms of brotherly love and friendship. OK, now, of course, here, what this is illustrating is Antonio is really, really loyal to Bessonio, almost to a fault. Now, the word love analysis to bear in mind in terms of what this illustrates in terms of their very brotherly closeness, but also almost the loyalty that Antonio has to Bessonio is, firstly, the superlative adjective the most. In other words, Bessonio is basically saying, look, Antonio, you've given me all this money, you've given me all these loans. I've never been able to pay them back to you, and I'm now asking you for yet another loan, but I promise this time round, you know, I'm going to make everything right when I marry this really rich woman, I'm going to be able to know any pay you back or your money, but I'm also going to settle all my debts. OK, so of course, this is illustrated through the superlative the most. He owes Antonio quite a lot. Also, you want to focus on alliteration of most and money. So the alliteration of M. And finally, there's this interesting contrast between and, of course, is a show in the brotherly affection that both him and Antonio have. So there's this interesting use of nouns here that Shakespeare has, contrasting money and love. Of course, bear in mind what this is used to show is just how loyal Antonio is to his friend. Now, the third quotation to bear in mind with Bessonio's character is when Shylock does agree to give the 3,000 do-cats as a loan to Bessonio. However, he mentions that if the payment is not made back to him in good time, he will take a pound of Antonio's flesh. He doesn't ask for interest. He doesn't ask for, you know, crazy amounts of money back. And Bessonio feels really, really reluctant to go through with this. And he states, I like not fair terms and a villain's mind. Now, the main thing to bear in mind here is actually what this is showing is Bessonio does isn't entirely selfish. He is also thinking about Antonio. He's thinking, hang on, I don't really like this term. And Charlotte trusts Bessonio. Offers a joke, Bessonio really does not trust his character. Now, the word level analysis you want to do here is the juxtaposition between the terms fair, which is good terms, because basically in return for 3,000 do-cats, Charlotte was just saying, don't worry about paying me back the money if you overstep the time period. But I do want a pound of your flesh. OK, that is technically a good term because he's not asking for crazy amounts of money. However, Bessonio is contrasting this, this idea of good terms with villain's mind. So, of course, this foreshadows the notion that Charlotte does show himself to be a villain when later on he does ask for a pound of Antonio's flesh, which is essentially kill him. OK, now the next quotation to bear in mind with Bessonio's character is when he is at Portia's home, he is now choosing between the three caskets and he justifies not choosing gold on the basis of its appearance. He chooses, he ends up choosing the correct casket, which is the lead casket, and he states that outward shows beliefs themselves, the world is still deceived with ornament. Now, this is actually a very good, almost proverb that he's uttering when he's kind of choosing and choosing not to pick the golden casket based on its outward appearance. What he's basically saying here is usually people and things show themselves out to maybe look really glitzy, glamorous, but actually beneath the surface, it's actually the opposite. They are least themselves, OK, so people who maybe outwardly show themselves to be really good, really kind, maybe beneath that, they're the complete opposite. They are the least good and the least kind, but also separately. He's saying the world is still deceived with ornament. He's saying that actually majority of people still tend to be deceived, misguided by the appearance of surface things, and he himself doesn't want to be misguided by that. Now, the word level analysis you want to do here is firstly the assonance of E in B, least and themselves, but also when he states the world is still deceived with ornament. This is hyperbole. This is over exaggeration. He's basically saying everybody except him as Bessonio is deceived by outward appearances. And of course, that's what leads him to correct, to pick the correct casket. The other key quotation to bear in mind is when he states, there is no vice so simple, but assumes some mark of virtue on his outward parts. Now, these two lines, he speaks in what we call Iambic pentameter. Now, if you're not entirely sure what Iambic pentameter means, please make sure you check out the video where I go over the easiest way to spot Iambic pentameter. But bear in mind here, essentially what he's saying is there's no mistake. There's no kind of downside of our characters that's as bad as choosing and picking things based on their external appearance. OK, now, of course here, in addition to mentioning that these two phrases are spoken in Iambic pentameter, but Bessonio bear in mind that Shakespeare essentially always makes his upper class character speak in Iambic pentameter. The other word level analysis you want to do here is firstly, siblings of so simple and also the oxymoron vice and virtue bear in mind. Vice is immorality, a bad thing, bad qualities. And of course, virtue is the opposite, really good, highly moral qualities. OK, the other quotation for Bessonio's character is when he states and he obviously tells Porsche, he tells Porsche, I've always been really honest with you, you know, even if I'm a gentleman and part of the nobility, I'm actually not rich because I've basically squandered all my money. And he says all the wealth I had run in my veins. And of course here, wealth is personified as running just basically going through his veins. And essentially he's basically telling Porsche, you've always known that I don't have that much money. In fact, I don't only have any any money, the only value that I have is basically just me as Bessonio, my body. OK, the final quotation for Bessonio's character is when he is trying to defend his decision to give away the ring that he had promised Porsche, which she'd given over to him. He promised he'd never give it away. And he says and he really emphatically kind of tries to defend himself and Porsche is pretending that she's really angry at him. He says, how unwillingly I left the ring. And of course, this is a declarative sentence bear in mind. A declarative sentence is a sentence that states a fact, feeling or mood. Now, of course, here what he's showing is basically he's pleading with Porsche and he's saying, Porsche, listen, I am totally loyal to you. I just had to give this ring away because I gave it to a lawyer who saved my friend Antonio's life when Charlotte was asking for a pound of his flesh. OK, so really that's it when it comes to the key quotations to remember for Bessonio's character, especially if you're revising his character, either for your course or exams.