invested a great sum of money in his business. Moreover, merchant ships often encountered disasters on the open ocean. If one or more of his ships were to fail to return, Antonio could be financially ruined. Salerio uses ametaphor, comparing Antonio’s mind to one of his ships sailing over a stormy ocean, to describe a possible cause for Antonio’s sadness:
Your mind is tossing on the ocean.(8)
Salerio then adds asimile, comparing Antonio’s ships to rich lords or aristocrats – “signors or rich burghers” (10). By comparison, all of the other ships on the ocean are like commoners (“petty traffickers”) or common folk. Just as commoners would bow down before aristocrats as they would walk by, so too do the small ships make way for the large and luxurious merchant ships owned by Antonio. Salerio’s lines also serve the purpose of letting the audience know just how valuable and important the ships are to Antonio. Antonio is like an aristocrat among the merchants. He is quite successful, but a loss of one of his ships would mean a double ruin – the loss of the valuable cargo as well as the loss of a costlyship.
Solanio, Antonio’s other companion, agrees with Salerio and adds that if he were Antonio, he …