Key Quote
“"All that glisters is not gold"”
Prince of Morocco (reading scroll) · Act 2, Scene 7
Focus: “glisters”
The scroll inside the gold casket delivers the play's central moral lesson — outward beauty and wealth are deceptive, and true value lies beneath the surface.
Technique 1 — APHORISM / PROVERBIAL WISDOM
This line functions as an aphorism (a concise, memorable statement of truth) — so effective that it has entered common English usage as a proverb. The negative inversion ('is NOT gold') overturns the assumption that appearance equals reality. Shakespeare condenses an entire philosophy of value into seven words, demonstrating the power of brevity (concise expression) to convey complex ideas.
The verb 'glisters' (an archaic form of 'glistens') is carefully chosen: it describes a surface shine, the play of light on an exterior. Gold glisters, but so do fake substitutes. Shakespeare distinguishes between the superficial (existing only on the surface) appearance of value and its deeper reality — a distinction the casket test is designed to reveal.
Key Words
RAD — REGRESS
Morocco regresses through his choice: his attraction to the gold casket reveals his superficiality — he values appearance over substance, confusing surface beauty with genuine worth. His failure in the casket test demonstrates that wealth and visual splendour produce moral regression, not growth. The glittering surface has led him away from truth rather than toward it.
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Technique 2 — SYNECDOCHE — GOLD FOR MATERIALISM
Gold functions as synecdoche (a part representing the whole): it stands not just for the metal but for all material wealth, status, and worldly ambition. By making 'gold' the false choice, Shakespeare argues that materialism itself is a form of deception — the pursuit of wealth blinds people to deeper values like love, loyalty, and trust.
The casket test operates through paradox: the lead casket — the least visually appealing — contains Portia's portrait and the correct answer. Shakespeare inverts aesthetic hierarchy (the ranking of things by beauty): ugliness conceals truth, beauty conceals deception. This paradox extends to the play's treatment of characters: the outwardly respectable Venetians are inwardly cruel, while the outwardly scorned Shylock has genuine grievances.
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Context (AO3)
MERCANTILE VENICE
Venice's wealth came from international trade — the exchange of goods from East and West. The city's splendour was built on commerce, making it both magnificent and morally ambiguous: its beauty was the product of profit and exploitation. The casket test reflects anxieties about a society where everything is for sale.
ALCHEMY & FALSE GOLD
The Elizabethan era saw widespread interest in alchemy — the attempt to transform base metals into gold. The scroll's warning echoes anxieties about counterfeit gold and fraudulent value, reflecting broader concerns about deception in commercial society.
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WOW — COMMODITY FETISHISM (Marx)
Marx's concept of commodity fetishism describes how capitalist societies attribute quasi-magical properties to objects — treating things as inherently valuable rather than recognising that their 'value' is a social construction. The gold casket embodies commodity fetishism: Morocco treats gold as if it possesses intrinsic worth that must correspond to Portia's value. He fetishises the material, mistaking the commodity's glister for genuine worth. Bassanio, who chooses correctly, sees through the fetish — recognising that lead's lack of visual appeal is irrelevant to its actual content. Shakespeare dramatises Marx's insight 250 years early: a society obsessed with the appearance of wealth loses the ability to perceive real value.
Key Words