In another brief scene, Lancelot delivers Jessica’s message to Lorenzo. Lorenzo is getting all the details taken care of so that he and Jessica can run away. Lorenzo then asks two of his friends, “Willyouprepare for this masque tonight?” (22). Amasquewas a form of entertainment involving a simple plot, music, singing, and dancing. Such types of entertainment were frequently performed at a court or in the manor of a wealthy lord, and the performers usually wore elaborate costumes. Here, the word masque refers to any simple holiday festivity.Incelebration of a religious holiday, many people in Venice plan to wear costumes and take part in simple forms ofentertainment.
Of course, Lorenzo is not really worried about entertainment for a holiday. Rather, he is worried about Jessica. Shylock’s daughter plans to wear her own costume: she will be dressed in a page’s outfit (like a servant boy) in order to escape her father and leave Venice without anybody recognizingher. Jessica and Lorenzo, metaphorically speaking, thus will play the parts of runaway lovers in a very real drama, not in a masque.
Lorenzo also comments upon the differences between Jessica and her father; and he asserts that if Shylock ever gains entrance into heaven, the only reason for it will be the goodness of his daughter (33-34). There is no goodness at all in Shylock. But the worried Lorenzo is also a realist whoknows