ABSTRACT
Comfortably ensconced in Belmont's moonlit garden, Lorenzo famously expresses grave suspicions of those individuals. Two major issues repeatedly arise in Renaissance discussions of music: the relationship between intellectual and sensible 'harmony', and the relationship between words and music. The Merchant of Venice struggles with conflicting contemporary views of music as a sensual surface of pretty noises and as a system of harmonious proportions, possessing a special affinity, or even identity, with the soul. If celestial harmony is to be presented on stage, it cannot be presented by any means save by earthly music. While Gosson sees no connection between audible music and abstract harmony, Browne finds the intellectual in the sensible. Shylock's account of a response to bagpipe music in terms of involuntary reaction to physiological stimulus would seem to provide a clear contrast with Lorenzo's elevated spiritualism. Bassanio wins Portia by rejecting the gold and silver caskets in favor of unprepossessing lead. Here, Portia stages music.
