Lorenzo: The Man Who Gets the Girl and the Gold
First appears: Act 1, Scene 1
Lorenzo is one of Bassanio's friends, part of the same Venice circle as Gratiano, Salarino, and Solanio. He plans the elopement with Jessica, arrives to collect her when she throws a casket of ducats from Shylock's window, and brings her to Belmont. The play presents this as romantic. A more sceptical reading notes that he arrives at a rich man's house with someone else's money.
His Act 5 speech on music and the harmony of the spheres is the play's most purely beautiful passage. 'The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.' The speech turns from moonlight to philosophy in a few lines, and it is genuinely lovely.
He and Jessica are the play's test case for whether love across religious and cultural lines can work. The play gives them Belmont and leaves the question open.
Key Scenes
Famous Quotes
“The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils.”
Lorenzo — Act 5, Scene 1
“How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! Here will we sit and let the sounds of music creep in our ears.”
Lorenzo — Act 5, Scene 1
Themes
Other Characters in The Merchant of Venice
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