and worries weigh them down and make them physically older than they actually are. Thus, Nerissa states that people who live in the middle – with enough to meets their needs but who do not have too much – live longer and happierlives.
Portia agrees with her servant but also notes that it is far easier to give advice than to follow it. There is a disparity – a huge difference – between words and actions. If taking actions were as easy as saying the words, then the cottages or homes of poor men would be lordly palaces and small and lowly chapels would become grand cathedrals (lines 12-13). A person cannot make a wish or desire come true merelybysaying the words. And, Portia adds, a person (such as a minister or “divine,” as indicated in line 13) finds that giving advice is far easier than actually following it. Life, unfortunately, is often complicated; and people often find it difficult to do what they know isright.
Through Portia, Shakespeare then proceeds to make a statement about life that reappears (in different forms) in a great many of his plays:
The brain may devise laws for the blood,but a hot temper leaps o'er a cold decree.
(15-17)
Shakespeare is referring to a universal conflict that exists in all people: theconflict of Reason vs. Emotion. During the Renaissance the Church of England taught thatreasonwas a gift from God that allowed all people to control theiremotionsand