Merchant of Venice
what is the message the prince of arragon got?
act II scene IX
act II scene IX
The scroll in the silver casket reads, "There be fools alive, I wis {know} / Silver o'er; and so was this." Portia reminds him that no man is permitted to judge his own cause. When he opens the silver casket, he finds within "the portrait of a blinking idiot" - a picture of a fool's head. He protests the contents; he chose according to what he felt that he deserved.