The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 17.0055 Monday, 20 February 2006
[1] From: John W. Kennedy <
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Date: Thursday, 16 Feb 2006 12:48:31 -0500
Subj: Re: SHK 17.0041 A Wedding Ring Question
[2] From: David Basch <
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Date: Thursday, 16 Feb 2006 13:10:59 -0500
Subj: Re: SHK 17.0041 A Wedding Ring Question
[3] From: Peter Bridgman <
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Date: Thursday, 16 Feb 2006 21:10:50 -0000
Subj: Re: SHK 17.0041 A Wedding Ring Question
[4] From: John Briggs <
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Date: Sunday, 19 Feb 2006 00:14:03 -0000
Subj: Re: SHK 17.0041 A Wedding Ring Question
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: John W. Kennedy <
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Date: Thursday, 16 Feb 2006 12:48:31 -0500
Subject: 17.0041 A Wedding Ring Question
Comment: Re: SHK 17.0041 A Wedding Ring Question
Jack Heller <
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>Upon reviewing the wedding service in the 1559 Book of Common
>Prayer, I find the groom bestowing upon the bride a ring with the
>pledge "with my body I thee worship." But nowhere do I find in
>the service that the groom himself receives a ring. So, in relation
>to The Merchant of Venice, where does the idea arise that
>newly-married men have rings that signify their wedded states?
>The vulgarity of Gratiano's concluding lines seems intensified if
>"Nerissa's ring" is only her genitals and not a ring-jewel that
>signifies legal marriage bonds.
There is no need to posit a male wedding ring; we see Portia give
Bassanio her ring in III, ii.
and even now, but now,
This house, these servants and this same myself
Are yours, my lord: I give them with this ring;
Which when you part from, lose, or give away,
Let it presage the ruin of your love
And be my vantage to exclaim on you.
Of Nerissa's ring, we know only, from IV, 2, that she will
see if I can get my husband's ring,
Which I did make him swear to keep for ever.
but old William of Ockham tells us we must not assume that this ring is
any different.
At any rate, the action of the play makes it plain that the rings are
unambiguously material items of jewelry, pertinaciously persisting in
their phenomenal ontology, all independent of any possible bawdy on
Gratiano's part.
[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: David Basch <
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Date: Thursday, 16 Feb 2006 13:10:59 -0500
Subject: 17.0041 A Wedding Ring Question
Comment: Re: SHK 17.0041 A Wedding Ring Question
Since grooms receiving rings are not part of a usual English wedding at
Shakespeare's time, Jack Heller seems disturbed that in the story of the
Merchant of Venice the women give rings to their husbands and demand
they wear it. This is not part of the wedding ceremony in the play as it
is mentioned that the couples will be going elsewhere to take their
marriage vows. Why can't this be accepted as part of the story as a not
unusual demand made by these women?
Also, Shakespeare is full of puns, so why not a pun on Nerissa's ring in
this comedy type play, which would have amused the audience, coming
after the comedy of the scene where the men sweat at their infidelity to
their vows to keep the rings forever?
My view is that Shakespeare, in the latter pun, was by this hilarity
misdirecting his audience from contemplating the fact of the seriousness
of the vow breaking that sheds light on the character of Bassanio and
Gratiano, which has reverberations that extend into the play when it is
contemplated that Portia cited how alike she is to her husband, Bassanio.
Here is Portia stating this:
PORTIA
I never did repent for doing good,
Nor shall not now: for in companions
That do converse and waste the time together,
Whose souls do bear an equal yoke Of love,
There must be needs a like proportion
Of lineaments, of manners and of spirit;
Which makes me think that this Antonio,
Being the bosom lover of my lord,
Must needs be like my lord. If it be so,
How little is the cost I have bestow'd
In purchasing the semblance of my soul
From out the state of hellish misery!
This comes too near the praising of myself;
Here she shows her identity with Bassanio - a significant fact! Hence we
must ask, is she too a vow breaker? What vow did she break? Is
Shakespeare subtly telling by this that she broke her father's vow? If
so, how did she do it?
David Basch
[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Peter Bridgman <
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Date: Thursday, 16 Feb 2006 21:10:50 -0000
Subject: 17.0041 A Wedding Ring Question
Comment: Re: SHK 17.0041 A Wedding Ring Question
Why does Jack Heller assume Nerissa gave Gratiano the ring during their
wedding ceremony? When Portia gives Bassanio his ring, they are in a
room in Portia's house, with no priest present ...
"This house, these servants and this same myself
Are yours, my lord: I give them with this ring"
Peter Bridgman
[4]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: John Briggs <
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Date: Sunday, 19 Feb 2006 00:14:03 -0000
Subject: 17.0041 A Wedding Ring Question
Comment: Re: SHK 17.0041 A Wedding Ring Question
Jack Heller wrote:
>Upon reviewing the wedding service in the 1559 Book of Common Prayer,
>I find the groom bestowing upon the bride a ring with the pledge
>"with my body I thee worship." But nowhere do I find in the service
>that the groom himself receives a ring. So, in relation to The
>Merchant of Venice, where does the idea arise that newly-married men
>have rings that signify their wedded states?
Don't get too excited - Shakespeare was no doubt aware that in many
European countries it was the custom for bride and bridegroom to present
each other mutually with rings as a pledge of fidelity (the origin of
the modern custom, mostly unknown in England until the late twentieth
century.) Before the "Shakespeare was a Catholic" crowd jump in, I
would point out that the Rituale Romanum only specifies a ring for the
bride, as did the various medieval services. The wedding service in the
Book of Common Prayer closely follows that of the Use of Sarum - as did
the practices of the English Catholics.
John Briggs
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