Footnotes+a3s2

1- **pray you tarry**: This phrase means please delay yourself. Portia says this to Bassanio before he opens the casket. She says this, because she is scared that he will choose the wrong casket and have to leave. This shows some indirect characterization about Portia. It shows that she really likes Bassiano and does not want him to leave. Will Portia and Bassanio end up together? NM

2- **Before you hazard**: This phrase means "before you risk it." Portia tells this to Bassiano before he risks his personal life by opening a casket. This may also be a subtle hint about which casket to open, because by saying "hazard" Portia is referring to a certain casket's inscription. This illegal hint shows how much Portia longs to have Bassanio as her husband. NM

3- **I lose your company-** Anyone who choses the wrong box can never consider marriage with anyone ever again. Therefore, because Portia likes Bassanio she says that he shouldn't go through with this and that if he really wants to she wants him to delay a little before deciding which box he will choose... gold, silver, or lead. JS

3-**Forbear**: this word means "wait," Portia knows that she wants Bassanio to stay with her for a while before he chooses a casket. SG

5- **I would not**: This phrase means "I don't want to." Portia says this while explaining to Bassanio why he should wait to choose a casket. She says that she does not want to lose him. This is another sign that Portia loves Bassanio and foreshadowes the next event in the scene. NM

6- **Hate counsels not in such a quality:** Hate would not allow a quality like that On this line, Portia is saying that she feels a drawing to Bassiano, but she says it is not love, and it's also not hate, because hate would not allow for an attraction between two people. CS

8- **maiden hath no tongue but thought**: Portia is talking about her shyness as a woman when she says this to Bassanio. This statement is explaining why she cannot tell Bassiano all her thoughts. She says this to explain how much she wants to plead with him to wait a bit to pick a casket, but she cannot. This is due to the fact that women are not allowed to always express what they thought or felt in Shakespearean times. NM

9- **detain**: This word means "delay." Portia says this word to Bassiano while trying to explain that she wants him to stay. This shows that Portia wants to be Bassanio's wife and spend time with him. Will she get her wish? NM

10- **venture for me:** Portia says this to Bassanio. This phrase means "before you risk yourself on my sake." Portia says this to Bassanio while she is delaying him in choosing a casket. By doing this, Portia is allowed to spend more time with him. This is yet another action on Portia's behalf that shows how much she wants Bassanio. By "venturing," Bassanio eternally puts his personal life on the line. NM

11- **I am forsworn**: This phrase means "I would break my vow." Portia says this to Bassanio when she wants to give him a hint about which casket her picture is in. However, she is explaining to him that she cannot, because if she did, her promise to her father would be broken. NM

12- **miss**: This word means "to lose." Portia says this word while talking to Bassanio about what will happen if she loses him. She will miss him a lot if she loses him now, she says. NM

14- **Beshrew your eyes!-** This means curse your eyes. Portia says this to hint to Bassanio that appearance is not important. This is significant to the story because if Portia hadn't made this hint then Bassanio might not have picked the right casket. JS

18-**One half of me is yours and the other half yours-Mine own I would say but if mine then yours- so all yours.-** Bassanio says this after he and Portia get married. He is saying that since they are married, everything that is his is also her's. This is significant to the book because if everything that is Bassanio's is also Portia's then everything that is Portia's is also Bassanio's. This is important to know because when Portia gives Bassanio her ring she says to protect it as if it was his family's heirloom. JS

22- **but 'tis to peize the time-** Portia is saying that she is talking a lot but it is only because she wants to prolong Bassanio choosing a casket and probably the wrong one. This is important because it shows how much Portia cares for Bassanio and it gives her enough time to give Bassanio a couple of hints as to which casket to choose. JS

25-**I live upon the rack:** An expression, where he is referencing an instrument of torture (the rack) and stating that he is running out of time. CS

36- **'Confess' and 'love':** Basssiano is making a pun out of Portia's statement, "Confess and live". He is saying that his confession is that he knows that Portia is trying to help her, but he is ready to choose his casket. CS

40-**I am lock'd in one of them:** Portia is telling Bassanio how to know what will greet him if he chooses the right casket. "I am lock'd in one of them" means that Portia's picture will be in the casket. SG

44-**He makes a swan-like end:** Portia says "swan-like end" because the music will create (simile) a soft or "swan-like" exit for Bassanio. The music will soften the ending and not make it as hard for both of them. SG

51-**Dulcet sounds:** Dulcet means sweet or pleasurable. The "dulcet sounds" here is the music as it plays in the background. Portia says that if Bassanio chooses the casket correctly, the dulcet sounds will lead him to marry Portia. SG

57-**Aloof:** This word means uninterested or uncaring. SG

55- **Than young Alcides when he did redeem:** Portia is making an allusion to the Greek legend of Heracles and the Roman legend of Hercules, and is saying that Bassanio will be the Hercales that will save her from the sacrafice that her father put her up to. CS

84-**As stairs of sand:** stairs of sand are false because they will not support anyones weight, though they are stairs. Bassanio compares those with false hearts to false stairs of sand.metaphor SG

89- **And you shall see 'tis purchas'd by the weight-** This means that beauty is judged by the amount not by the person who has it. THis is important because Portia is saying that taht is how she fell in love with Bassanio and that that is the reason she is helping him with choosing the right casket. JS

96-**sepulchre:** sepulchre is a tomb or burying place. SG

113- **For fear I surfeit**: Bassanio says this to Portia in hope of saying "I am scared that I will choose the wrong casket." The fact that Bassanio says this deep feeling to Portia means that he really wants Portia as a wife. This shows the reader that the feeling of love is mutual between Portia and Bassanio. This is also said right before he chooses the casket, which creates uncertainity about whether or not he will get Portia as a wife in the audience. Will Bassanio choose the correct casket and earn Portia as his wife (suspense)? NM

120- **Sunder:** A word which means to break apart or in two. Bassanio says this when he finds "sever'd lips" in Portia's casket, and he decides that the breath is so powerful that it could divide such sweet friends (her lips) CS

131- **You that choose not by the view-** This means that because you didn't choose by apperance you get to marry my daughter. This is important to the book because earlier one of the Princes had chosen by apperance and had lost the right to marry a woman. JS

153- **Trebled:** This word means to increase threefold. Portia uses this word to heighten the degree to which she would change for Bassanio, and this is also a great example of hyperbole .CS

154- **A thousand times more fair, ten thousand times more rich**: This statement is made by Portia. She says that she wishes she could be a thousand times prettier and ten thousand times richer for Bassanio. She says this to Bassanio, and it shows how eager she is to please Bassanio and how much she loves him. NM

173- **Let it presage the ruin of your love-** Portia is telling Bassanio that he better protect the ring because it is a sybol of his love to Portia and if he looses it then she has a right to yell at him as much as she likes. JS

175- **bereft me of all words**: Bassanio says this to Portia about how sweet her monologue about her love for him was. The monologue took (personification) all of his words away from him.It was so sweet, that he does not have anything sweet enough to say back to her. If Portia is able to steal the words right out of Bassiano's mouth, he must love her quite a bit. NM

209-**Madam, it is, so you stand pleas'd withal** - This phrase basically means if you are okay with it. Nerissa says this when Portia asks her if it was true that Nerissa was in love with Gratiano. Nerissa said yes and made sure it was okay with Portia. AG

210- **And do you, Gratiano, mean good faith:** Bassanio says this after Gratiano and Nerissa admit there love to Portia and Bassanio. Bassanio says this to make sure Gratiano's intentions are good. He wants to make sure that Gratiano will take good care of Nerissa. AG

213- **We'll play with them the first boy for a thousand ducats:** This phrase means that whomever has the first boy will win a thousand ducats. This shows indirect characterization about Bassanio and Gratiano. It shows that they like to gamble. AG

234- **Estate:** Estate means condition. Salerio says that Antonio's letter will tell Bassanio what Antonio's condition is. We later find out he is not in a good condition. He has lost his ships and Shylock is going to cut a pound of flesh from him. AG

244- **Constitution**:This word means complexion. Portia says this when she notices Bassanio's face becoming pale after he finds out that Antonio's life is on the line.This is important because Bassanio ends up leaving to help Antonio. AG

245- **Constant:** This word means normal. After Portia mentions Bassanio's face turning pale she says that it is normal for him to become pale when his friend's life is at stake. AG

263- **And every word in it a gaping wound:** This is a metaphor that is said when Bassanio receives a letter from Antonio. It means that every bad thing that is read is just one more thing that could kill Antonio. AG

264-**life-blood:** if someone takes the life-blood of someone else, it means they draw the blood from that person that kills them. SG

324- **Nor rest be interpos****er 'twixt us twain:** Nor the others come between us so that we would be drawn away from each other In this phase, Bassanio is saying that he doesn't want anyone else taking the challenge of picking the caskets until he does, so that they would not be pulled apart from each other by other people. CS