how he squanders his entire inheritance and desperately needs financial help to pursue his marriage . Having highlighted ways Shakespeare appropriated Il Pecarone , the focus next will be on how Osofisan deploys these pastiches : the casket scene , the usurer ’ s loan , and the court case .
The Casket Lottery as a Hybridity
Osofisan adapts the ‘ casket scene ’ from The Merchant and uses Tosan to replace Portia . There are three caskets , one containing her picture and a necklace – any man who picks this becomes her husband . Osofisan uses another scene to give an insight into what eventually leads Basiru ( Bassanio ) and Fowosanu ( Antonio ) to approach Bassey ( Shylock ) for a loan . Basiru does not need money to find a woman as Bassanio does ; instead , he needs money to pay a ransom for his kidnapped friend , Tariboh . Twenty million naira is demanded as ransom by the abductors . However , Basiru is a prodigal like Bassanio in The Merchant , as suggested by Tosan : ‘ Yes , he ’ s just a drifter , isn ’ t it ? Wasted all his father ’ s inheritance in a very short while , I hear ! 15 Basiru takes Boma , Tariboh ’ s wife , to Fowosanu , his wealthy elder brother , to get a loan . Fowosanu does not have money presently because he is accused of siphoning off the government ’ s funds for a contract , and the government has frozen his assets . Therefore , out of desperation and compassion , he suggests going to moneylenders in the market to get the money needed to save the life of Tariboh . This is why they meet Bassey , Osofisan ’ s Shylock .
With the storyline of The Merchant and Nigerian politico-socioeconomic conditions , Osofisan creates a melting pot . This is the ‘ multiple temporal layers : ‘ past as present ,’ ‘ past as past ,’ and ‘ past as future ’ in theatrical engagement . 16 It creates a temporal and spatial liminality that evokes a sense of presencing of both dramatists ; hence , Shylock lives again in 21st-century Nigeria . Then Antonio manifests in Fowosanu , a foil character to Bassey , who is implicated in a government contract , a crime he claims he
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