Engraved on all three of the caskets are the riddles or conundrums Portia's suitors have to solve in order to win her hand in marriage. Because they are riddles, their language is figurative, not literal: the suitors have to figure out the underlying meaning of the words.
When the Prince of Morocco asks to see again "this saying graved in gold" (meaning the engraving on the gold chest, which reads "Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire"), Shakespeare uses both imagery and alliteration. We can visualize the saying engraved in gold on the casket, which is imagery. The repetition of the "g" at the beginning of "graved" and "gold" is alliterative, as is the repetition of the same "g" sound when the prince reads the words "all that glitters is not gold."
The prince uses hyperbole, or exaggeration, when he declares that all the world desires Portia and when he refers to her as a "saint." This shows that he is not the right match for her, as he idealizes her and puts her on a pedestal.
This scene is relatively short, featuring only Portia, the Prince of Morocco, and their trains, with the majority of the dialogue afforded to the Prince. However, there is significant use of figurative language, revolving around the literal symbols of the caskets the Prince must choose between for Portia's love. The caskets themselves are engraved with statements which personify them, such as "Who chooseth me."
"A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross," the Prince says; he is not speaking of a literally golden mind but of one figuratively pure enough to be above "dross." Later, he says, "never so rich a gem was set in worse than gold," referring to Portia as a gem too beautiful to have been set in silver or lead.
Portia, however, questions the Prince's judgment: "All that glitters is not gold." She is saying both that beautiful things are not always pure, as gold is, and that pure things do not always appear as gold.
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