Antonio in The Merchant of Venice

I still can’t decide whether or not I liked Antonio. He seemed to be an honest and successful businessman the The Merchant of Venice, but on the other hand I think he’s rather unwise. Antonio was an Italian merchant—or a businessman would be more suitable. He had a number of ships to carry his commodities. Apart from it, he was famous for lending money without interest. I don’t know why he’s doing that, for charity? Did he do it only to help friends? In that case, he might have had a lot of friends, because who didn’t want to be his friend for such generosity? But as a businessman, I think that was unwise. I prefer a man who could separate his business and personal side.

Anyway, Antonio has agreed to help his best friend Bassanio. In order to propose to a wealthy girl he loved, Bassanio needed a large amount of money, this lead him to do business with Shylock, a wicked Jewish money lender. When Shylock hesitated to lend the money, Antonio came and guaranteed the credit with his commodities that were expected to arrive within sometimes. Unfortunately a catastrophe caused Antonio to lost all his ships; he was about to fail settling the debt, and Shylock—who had been hated Antonio since long—saw an opportunity to crush his enemy in front of the court.

[source] 

I started to dislike Antonio when he helplessly submitted himself in front of the court, as if he would accepted anything Shylock would ask from him because he could not pay the debt. At this, I just wanted to yell at him, ‘Oh come on Antonio…you’re a businessman, right? Think of something, can’t you just borrow money from your business partners? Of all the money you lend them, can’t you ask some of them to pay some amount in advance? Can’t you borrow from your customers? Businessman should have been creative in things like this. What a businessman were you, that one loss had made you surrendered your life to a villain like Shylock?’

Really, Antonio shouldn’t be called a successful businessman in the first place! He kept accepted Shylock’s request in front of the judge. But look what happened when Portia came to the rescue and reversed the situation; Antonio forced Shylock to become a Christian. I did not understand him (Antonio), he seemed to be a generous person (lending money to friends needed help) without interest, as if he was a good Christian; but on the other hand he forced Shylock to change his religion.

I could not sum up at the end, what Antonio’s personalities were; was he a good businessman or merely a stupid man? One thing is clear, he is dear to his friends…

Turn Of The Century Salon - January

This year Katherine from November’s Autumn is hosting an interesting classics literary event called Turn of The Century Salon. The idea is to have “a special club but one where everyone feels comfortable and happy and welcome to share their ideas, wanderings, and discoveries through Literature be you an expert or reading your first work that's been graced by that title: Classic.” Referring to the title, our discussion for the Salon would be focused on the classics written between the late 1880s through the early 1930s.

The salon will take place through the year of 2013, and for our first “meeting”, of course, we will first introduce ourselves to each other….

What draws you to read the Classics?

Hmm…this is always a delicate question, I think it’s because I have a passion to read great pieces from great authors that people from centuries had read and appreciated them. I want to be part of them, but also, I’m interested in learning much about human life, history and existence.

What era have you mainly read? Georgian? Victorian? Which authors?

I think I have been reading more Victorian than others so far, with Charles Dickens dominating the list (he happens to be one of my favorite authors too).

What Classics have you read from the 1880s-1930s? What did you think of them?

Germinal – Emile Zola

The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

To Have And Have Not – Ernest Hemingway

Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad

Name some books you're looking forward to read for the salon.

Both La Bete Humaine and The Masterpiece from Zola; I have been very eager to read more from Zola, that I can’t make up my mind which one should I read first… ;)

Which authors do you hope to learn more about?

Ernest Hemingway, I have only read two of him in Indonesian-translation, so now I’m excited to read the original English version. I have 2 books of him for this year: The Old man and The Sea and A Farewell To Arms.

Which literary characters are you most akin to?

Until now, I think, Isabel Archer—the heroine of The Portrait of A Lady. She is a woman of freedom who likes to do things her own way, she doesn’t like to be told by others what to do.

Which authors do you love?

Emile Zola, I’m a big fan of him :)

Is your preference prose? poetry? both?

Prose; I’ve never been successful with poetry.

The Portrait of A Lady – Chapter 1-15

This is my summary post of The Portrait of A Lady, as part of the tasks inquired for my The Well-Educated Mind Self Project. There are still 40 more chapters of it, which I will post in the next three summary posts.

Chapter 1

Introducing old Mr. Touchett, an American wealthy banker with an unhappy marriage to Lydia Touchett—an independent old woman; they had a son—Ralph Touchett—a sickly, unattractive in appearance but clever young man, who had a friend—Lord Warburton—a charming but arrogant young man. The Touchetts lived in a beautiful Tudor old house near London, and the father and son were now waiting for the mother to come home with her unknown niece from America.

Chapter 2

The niece was Isabel Archer—a beautiful, self-esteemed, independent young woman. Both Ralph Touchett and Lord Warburton seemed to be attracted to her on the day she arrived.

Chapter 3

Isabel had grown up and got her intellectual education from books in her grandmother’s big house. After her father’s death, Mrs. Touchett visited her, and both aunt and niece came to respect each other because they had similar bluntness and independent minds.

Chapter 4

People had always thought Isabel as natural and too clever as a woman. A young man called Caspar Goodwood—her suitor—came to propose a more fruitful relationship, but Isabel—who was then eager to have a new beginning—disappointed him.

Chapter 5

Ralph greatly admired his father. He had had a promising life before his health betrayed him and forced him to stay in Gardencourt (The Touchetts house). When Ralph thought his life won’t last long, he became interested in Isabel and observing her unique characters.

Chapter 6

Isabel was always thirst of knowledge, but lacked of the real knowledge of humans sufferings, as she had always been fortunate since she was a child. Isabel has then grown up as a self-centered woman.

Chapter 7

Ralph liked Isabel’s company because she enlightened his burdened days; he feared of losing his father, whose health had been down lately. Ralph observed his feelings towards Isabel, and decided that it’s not love. Meanwhile Lord Warburton paid a visit to Gardencourt for three days and made Isabel liked him very much.

Chapter 8

Isabel visited Lockleigh—Lord Warburton residence—and have discussion over their countries and politics with the Lord. In Ralph’s and his father’s opinion, Warburton was inconsistent; he wanted to have a reformation, yet didn’t want to lose his land. As Mr. Touchett had once warned Warburton not to fall in love with his niece, he warned Isabel the same thing too.

Chapter 9

Isabel got acquainted with Lord Warburton’s siblings; both his sisters were typical English women with their shyness and passive manners. Warburton would like to get to a higher stage in his relationship with Isabel, but Isabel insisted that her aunt will take her to visit other countries abroad.

Chapter 10

Isabel’s female American journalist friend came to visit Gardencourt. Henrietta Stackpole thought Ralph was rough and indifferent; while Ralph had misinterpreted Henrietta of proposing him a marriage—which he declined and made Henrietta angry.

Chapter 11

Miss Stackpole despised Mrs. Touchett as much as the hostess disliked her guest; but on top of it, they disliked each other’s country. Caspar Goodwood came to England to change Isabel’s mind, who then rejected him.

Chapter 12

At the same time Lord Warburton was proposing Isabel to marry him. Isabel admitted that she liked him very much, but still, she wasn’t ready for matrimonial life; although she had not quite sure yet what she wanted exactly.

Chapter 13

With Caspar Goodwood—a cotton businessman—Isabel felt he was too dominant for her, and she did not love him anyway. Isabel wrote a refusing letter to Lord Warburton, while Henrietta—who was concerned about Isabel’s personality change—asked Ralph to invite Goodwood to Gardencourt, which Goodwood rejected. Henrietta, Isabel and Ralph then planned an excursion to London.

Chapter 14

When Lord Warburton asked Isabel why she rejected him, she answered that she did not want to end like ordinary English women without chance to see more from life; she haven’t been ready yet to give up her freedom.

Chapter 15

In London the two cousins fell in serious conversation from which they came to a realization of what Isabel had been wanting for her future, which made her rejected the idea of marriage. As Ralph said to Isabel: “The world interests you and you want to throw yourself into it.”

~~~~

The Classics Club January Meme & Progress Report

This January prompt of Classics Club meme could as well serve as my first check-in of this year for Classics Club progress. The question is:

What is the best book you’ve read so far for The Classics Club — and why? (Or, if you prefer, what is your least favorite read so far for the club, and why?)

That’s very easy :) because I have just posted my Top 5 Most Favorite (Classics) Books of 2012 for my Book Kaleidoscope yearly meme. As Classics Club was started in 2012, the best book of 2012 serves automatically as the best book I’ve read so far for the club, and that is….

Germinal by Emile Zola

Need I to say (again) that I love Zola? And he had crafted his story very beautifully in Germinal. I can say that it was a perfect reading for me, with every emotion that you can get from a book. You can read my review of Germinal, as well as a quote (ending quote) that I loved so much! I have also picked Etienne Lantier, the hero from this book as my most favorite Book Boy Friend of 2012.

As for my least favorite read so far for the club, I must say…

Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell

I know, many people might disagree my choice, but I really struggled to read it that I have to skip quite many pages at the end. It’s just too tedious for me (no, not the length of the story, but the story itself). You can read my thoughts in Gone With the Wind’s review.

~~~~~

My Classics Club Progress Report for 2012:

**Books read = 28**

- Novel = 23 (in chronological order)

L’Assommoir - Emile Zola - READ 2/4/12

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald - READ 16/4/12

The Man in the Iron Mask - Alexandre Dumas - READ 7/5/12

Nobody's Boy - Hector Marlot - READ 15/5/12

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - READ 22/5/12

The Color Purple - Alice Walker - READ 31/5/12

Sketches by Boz - Charles Dickens - READ 18/6/12

Black Beauty - Anna Sewell - READ 25/6/12

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde - READ 29/6/12

The Old Curiosity Shop - Charles Dickens - READ 16/7/12

Twenty Years After - Alexandre Dumas - READ 31/7/12

The Palace of Dreams - Ismail Kadare - READ 10/8/12

Mahabharata (Mythology) - Anonymous - READ 20/8/12

Germinal - Emile Zola - READ 31/8/12

Lord of the Flies - William Golding - READ 03/9/12

Courrier du Sud (Southern Mail) - Antoinne de Saint-Exupery - READ 11/9/12

Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe - READ 19/9/12

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson - READ 19/10/12

Beloved - Toni Morrison - READ 31/10/12

The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne - READ 6/11/12

Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell - READ 8/11/12

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - READ 7/12/12

Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad - READ 21/12/12

- Play = 5 (in chronological order)

A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare - READ 23/4/12

The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde - READ 30/7/12

Julius Caesar – William Shakespeare - READ 13/11/12

Antony and Cleopatra – William Shakespeare - READ 3/12/12

The Merchant of Venice – William Shakespeare - READ 17/12/12

**Books unfinished = 1**

Notes From Underground – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

From the beginning of first chapter I instantly knew that this one would be difficult. I have tried to read slowly and patiently, but the farther I went, the farther I got lost. The logic is very good, Dostoyevsky played a lot with his words, and I was struggling to catch up with what the narrator was up to. I don’t mean to give up yet; I have made a lot of notes during that first reading, that I think one day I could go back to it and try for the second time. Hopefully I can do better next time…

**Events hosted = 1**

Sep – Oct: Gone With The Wind Read Along (with bzee)

- Signed up participants = 36

- Final review post entries = 12

(I don’t know what happened with the other 24, perhaps they just could not make it, or they cancelled the reading at all, but anyway….I think the event was quite successful—although my reading is not :)—we  have warm discussions about it also in twitter, and many of us could not have read the at all without this readalong). As this was my first experience ever in hosting events, it has been some kind of a milestone for me.

**Projects created = 1**

The Well-Educated Mind Self Project (begin on October)

- Books finished in 2012 = 2

**Reading Challenges/Events participated = 7

- Reading challenges = 3

Back to the Classics Challenge 2012 = completed – 9 books

A Classics Challenge 2012 = completed – 11 books | 12 prompts

Victorian Challenge 2012 = completed – 10 books

- Reading events = 4

May: The Color Purple Readalong (hosted by Bettina)

Jun-Jul: A Victorian Celebration (hosted by Allie) – 7 books | 3 short stories | 6 Victorian-themed posts

Dec: December Readathon (hosted by o) – Great Expectations – 278 pages in 2 days

Dec: Dickens in December (hosted by Caroline & Delia) – 1 book | 1 movie adaptation

And now I’m so excited with 2013, there are a lot of new things and challenges, and I can’t imagine where I would end up when this year ends…

The Classics Club Readathon – 5 Jan 2013 - Wrap Up

The Classics Club has created a fun event to open this year: a 24-hours Readathon! On last Saturday, 56 classics clubbers (if they all could make it) from different parts of the world have read together their classics as if we were gathering in a big room, bringing our books, sitting on a big table and delving into our own choices of classics while from time to time taking a break for some snacks and little chit-chats about our progresses. It had been impossible, let’s say, ten years ago, but now with the blog and social media, it’s not impossible anymore :) Last weekend is the proof, it was our first readathon ever, and it was fun!!

Because of the time difference—I am 12 hours ahead of the standard timezone, I started reading earlier on Saturday than the others (read about it here), but then I decided to stretch the readathon into Sunday evening—o (Delaisse) has been so kind to accompany me :)

And this is my wrap up for the readathon:

Day 1 - Saturday

Start: 06:45 am (p. 121)

End  : 09:45 pm (p. 210)

Total page = 90

Day 2 – Sunday

Start: 08:45 am (p. 211)

End  : 10:15 pm (p. 307)

Total page = 97

Total pages read during readathon = 187

What book(s) did you read during the event?

The Portrait of A Lady by Henry James

What book(s) did you finish?

I haven’t finished it. Actually I did not set any goal to finish anything when I joined the readathon; my goal was to read as much as possible without any distraction. For one reason, The Portrait of A Lady is a slow-reading book; besides that, I must stop after every chapter to write down notes—and often to think about the conflicts too—since I read this book for my The Well-Educated Mind Self-Project. That made my reading progress very slow. But at the end, I’m very satisfied of my achievement; normally I would have read 187 pages in perhaps 5-6 days…

What did you like about our event?

The togetherness :) I feel like I’m a part of a big family (with the same interest! :D)

Do you have suggestions for future Readathons through The Classics Club?

It would be more fun if we stretch the readathon to 48 hours, so we could read the whole weekend!

Would you participate in future Readathons?

Definitely!

Thanks for The Classics Club for ever hosting this!

What Are You After, Ralph? – The Portrait of A Lady

Reading one third of The Portrait of A Lady (p. 168 at the moment), I can’t but wondering about one of the main male characters: Ralph. Ralph Touchett is the only son of an American wealthy banker who had lived in England for a long time. Ralph suffered from pulmonary disease that prevented him from actively working, and just stayed home to take care of his father. His dull life was interrupted by the coming of his cousin: Isabel Archer—an independent girl from America who had interests to see other countries.

"Elizabeth Winthrop Chanler"
Smithsonian American Art Museum
(become the cover of
Penguin Classics edition
of The Portrait of A Lady)

Henry James didn’t put it clearly enough whether Ralph was in love with Isabel—I might come to a conclusion at the end—but the more intriguing questions in me right now are: **spoiler alert** You mightn’t want to keep reading if you haven’t read the book!

Why did Ralph make such generous act—giving Isabel half of his inheritance?

It could be because…

1. He loved her so much but he’s afraid Isabel won’t be happy if she became his wife, thus he just wanted to make sure she would be happy with what she want to do in her life.

2. He’d like to see what Isabel would do with her life, thus it’s some kind of human experiment to amuse Ralph’s boring life after his father died. In this case, Ralph was really taking advantage of Isabel, which meant that he didn’t really love her.

3. He wanted to keep her away from marrying other men—Isabel would not think about marriage as long as she’s wealthy enough. But if he knew that Isabel would outlive him, it’s not to marry her that he might have done that. Maybe he’s selfish enough to think that if he couldn’t marry Isabel, no other men could? Hmm….

Anyway…it's only my suggestions, there’s only one way to know the answer…keep reading to the end! :) That’s what I’m going to do now, I’m reading this book for The Classics Club Readathon today. I’ve been having a good time, and hopefully I can make it to 2/3 of it by the end of today. Will come back tomorrow or on Monday for the wrap up!

The (First Ever) Classics Club Readathon

I was very excited when The Classics Club announced our first ever 24-hour readathon that will be held on Saturday, January 5^th, 2013; what a great way to start a new promising year in our classics reading! It’s excited to think that there will be 46 of us (if everyone can make it) delving into classics books at the same time. Well….at least, I wish I can do so…

The readathon will start at 8:00 am EST, however as I live in Indonesia (that is GMT +7 or 12 hours ahead of people in America), the starting time would be for me at 8:00 pm my time. It would be quite late and impossible for me to read along the night. So, I’ll compromise it by starting on Saturday morning my time (as early as possible—hope my mom won’t need my help in the kitchen :P) and end it as late as possible on Saturday evening (I’m going to the church very early on Sunday morning, and won’t have time to continue the readathon the next day anyway). This way I can still manage to read with most of others for at least 1-2 hours before I must go to bed… :)

I’m just hoping that the next readathon could be stretched into 2 days (the whole weekend), so that I can feel I’m really reading with all the other participants at the same time. But, anyway, it’s still exciting, and the fact that we are reading together with friends from all over the world is really something, isn’t it?

So, here I am, very eager to read Henry James’ The Portrait of A Lady. Actually I have started it since January 1^st, and right now—when I’m posting this—I am already on page 100s. Let’s see how many pages I’ll be able to digest the whole day tomorrow! Yayyyy for readathon!!