Appendix D.

HINTS FOR STUDY.

As an ideal toward which the student may strive, although one hardly to be obtained by the cursory reading which is usually given to books set for reading only in our college entrance examinations, I print here Professor Meiklejohn's plan of study for 'perfect possession' of the play, as given in his edition of the Merchant of Venice, p. 122: "To attain the standard of Perfect Possession' the student ought to have an intimate and ready knowledge of the following parts of the subject:

1. The Plot and Story of the Play.

(a) The general plot.

(b) The special incidents.

2. The Characters; ability to give a connected account of all that is done and most of what is said by each character in the play.

3. The Influence and Interplay of the characters upon each other.

(a) Relation of A to B and of B to A.

(b) Relation of A to C and D.

4. Complete Possession of the Language.

(a) Meanings of words.

(b) Use of old words, or of words in an old meaning.

(c) grammar.

(d) ability to quote lines to illustrate a grammatical

point.

5. Power to Reproduce or Quote.

(a) What was said by A or B on a particular occasion. (b) What was said by A in reply to B.

(c) What argument was used by C at a particular

juncture.

(d) To quote a line in instance of an idiom or a peculiar

meaning.

6. Power to Locate.

(a) To attribute a line or statement to a certain person on a certain occasion.

(b) To cap a line.

(c) To fill in the right word or epithet.

The following questions and topics for short compositions have been taken from papers recently set for entrance into some of the leading American universities.

QUESTIONS.

1. What elements of greatness do you discover in Shylock's character? (Give the reasons for your opinion.)

2. What character do you admire most in the Merchant of Venice? (Give the reasons for your opinion.)

3. Has Shylock or Antonio the greater claim upon your sympathy? (Give the reasons for your opinion.)

4. Under what circumstances is the 'Music of the Spheres' mentioned? What is said of it?

5. Give the substance of Bassanio's speech at the caskets. 6. What was Shylock's motive in demanding a pound of flesh when he might have had payment of his bond in money?

7. Tell the circumstances of Jessica's escape from the house of Shylock.

8. Quote ten consecutive lines from the play.

9. Give your opinion of the treatment received by Shylock throughout the play.

10. What relation do the minor love stories in the Merchant of Venice bear to the main plot?

II. How does the use of contrast in the characters and setting add to the interest of the play?

TOPICS.

1. The conditions upon which Portia's hand was to be obtained in marriage.

2. The sentence pronounced by Portia upon Shylock. 3. The trial scene.

4. The true character of Shylock.

5. Bassanio and the caskets.

6. Antonio's debt to Shylock.

7. The story of the rings.

8. The meeting between Launcelot Gobbo and his father. 9. The story of the play.

10. Jessica.

II. A criticism of any professional performance of the Merchant of Venice that you have seen.

12. Discuss Shylock's position as one of a persecuted race and as a money lender, and show its effect upon his character. 13. The fifth act of the Merchant of Venice.

Abode, II. vi. 21, delay.

Glossary.

advised, I. i. 142, careful; advisedly, V. 253, deliberately. affection, IV. i. 50, sympathy; affections, I. i. 16, feelings, emotions.

appropriation, I. ii. 46, addition.

argosies, I. i. 9, large trading vessels. The word is derived from Ragusa, a town on the Adriatic, famous in Shakespeare's time for its wide-spread commerce and large ships. The first form in which this word appears in English, ragusye, shows the derivation more clearly.

attended, V. 103, noticed, regarded with attention.

Balance, IV. i. 255, scales.

ban'd, IV. i. 46, poisoned.

bated, III. iv. 32, reduced, weakened.

beholding, I. iii. 106, indebted.

beshrew, II. vi. 52, curse, often used jestingly.

bonnet, I. ii. 81, hat.

Cerecloth, II. vii. 51, a cloth dipped in melted wax (Latin cera,

'wax') and used as a shroud.

civility, II. ii. 204, good-breeding, decorum.

close, II. vi. 47, dark, secret.

commends, II. ix. 90, compliments.

commodity, III. iii. 27, convenience.

complexion, III. i. 32, natural disposition.

compromised, III. iii. 79, agreed.

conceit, I. i. 92, intellect, understanding, III. iv. 2, conception,

idea.

condition, I. ii. 143., temper, character.

confound, III. ii. 278, destroy.

continent, III. ii. 131, inventory, abstract.

contrive, IV. i. 352, plot.

convenient, III. iv. 56, proper to the occasion.

conveniently, II. viii. 45, properly.

counterfeit, III. i 115, portrait.

cope, IV. i. 412, meet, match with an equivalent. costly, II. ix. 94, richly-adorned, gorgeous.

cozen, II. ix. 38, cheat.

cureless, IV. i. 142, incurable.

Disabling, II. vii. 30, disparagement.

doit, I. iii. 141, the smallest coin which received a current stamp

in the Middle Ages, worth about a quarter of a cent.

ducat, I. iii. 1, a Venetian coin either of gold or silver, the first worth about $2.25, the second about $1. The word is derived from Low Latin ducatus, a duchy, and means a coin struck by a duke.

Eaning, I. iii. 88, bearing, used only of sheep.

eanlings, I. iii. 8o, new-born lambs.

equal, I. iii. 150, exact.

estate, III. ii. 239, state, condition; estates, II. ix. 41, dignities. estimation, II. vii. 26, value, worth.

excrement, III. ii. 87, outgrowth, here used for 'beard.'

Faint, I. i. 125, small, narrow.

fall, I. iii. 89, let fall, give birth to.

feared, II. i. 9, frightened.

fearful, I. iii. 176, untrustworthy, giving cause for fear. fill-horse, II. ii. 100, shaft-horse.

fond, II. ix. 27,

foolish.

forfeitures, III. iii. 22, penalties due to any one.

fretten, IV. i. 77, shaken.