Nohrnberg on Riddles and Shakespeare and Storytelling:

[talking about the casket scene in Merchant of Venice]

".... the caskets and the enquirers are similarly shaped, so that the guy whose credit is the worst is also the one who picks the least valuable metal-- if he'd known what the others had picked, or where he came in the story sequence (of the lady's experience with the suitors), he'd actually have had no choice but to pick the one remaining casket. She is said to have tipped him off, she now knows what's in the caskets -- she's running out of suitors, maybe! Lear asks Cordelia what she can say to get a fairer portion than her two sisters, and according to Prof. N. this is (a) riddle (one posed, as it were, by the three weird sisters), and (b) a riddle that Cordelia actually answers successfully, that is, because the answer is, Nothing, in relation to her place in the story sequence -- because two thirds of the portions are gone, and she is stuck with the last third, which cannnot be increased when the other two thirds are already gone.

i knew part one. or at least my idea was that it was an unfair riddle, because the words matter less than the metal; that is, if you know you're trapped in a fairy tale pattern, you've got to go for the lead, whatever the words say. but none of these suitors is like byatt's eldest princess, so self-aware, and well-read for a young person *grin*, so they do not know. sort of like byatt's child seeking the herb of rest, and really wanting to pick the 2nd fairy but knowing it's his duty to pick the third. also reading something about "chains" in greek and roman folktales last night, which has to do with all this. although i hadn't thought at all about cordelia. nohrnberg is smart! and now my stomach is growling and i will run to the dining hall for a long breakfast.

damn. where are my glasses. how is it possible that i lose them whenever i take them off? sigh. i don't suppose i need to see what i'm eating. hm. i go.