Merchant of Venice. - Repositories

NOTES 191
DURATION OF ACTION
We need not feel especially troubled if, when we begin to
plot out such a matter-of-fact affair as a time-table, this play
reveals some inconsistencies. Shakespeare uses many devices
to make us feel the lapse of the three months that the bond
was to run. At the same time, for the sake of sustaining the
interest in the action, he pushes the*plot forward as rapidly
as possible.
The action of this play is presented in eight days, and the
following table (Daniel's Time-Analysis of the Plots of Shake-
^eare^s Plays) is as satisfactory as any : —
Day 1. Act I. Interval—say a week.
Day 2. Act II., L-vii. Interval — one day.
Day 3. Act IL, viii.-ix. Interval—bringing the time to
within a fortnight of the maturity of the bond.
Day 4. Act IIL, i. Interval — rather more than a fortnight.
Day 5. Act IIL, ii.-iv.
Day 6. Act III., v.; Act IV.
Days 7 and 8. Act V.
In reading the play the student is advised to work out from
time to time the reasons for this computation.
THE METRE OF THE PLAY
In reading Shakespeare we must not forget that we are usually
reading poetry, and that poetry is music. Music, as well
as wordsj is a medium for the expression of thought, a medium