The Merchant of Venice: Casket Analysis — Desire, Choice, and Value
By Karl M. Garcia
William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice uses the famous casket test to explore one of the play’s most enduring questions: How do human beings distinguish genuine value from attractive appearances? Portia’s deceased father has designed a test in which her suitors must choose among three caskets—gold, silver, and lead. Each contains a different inscription, and only one contains Portia’s portrait. The test appears to be a romantic device, but beneath its surface lies a moral and psychological examination of desire, judgment, self-knowledge, and value.
The three caskets represent competing ways of understanding what is worth wanting. Gold represents the attraction of wealth, glamour, and external reward. Silver occupies a middle position, appealing to ideas of merit and deservingness. Lead, although unattractive and apparently worthless, represents sacrifice, courage, and the willingness to pursue something valuable without the promise of immediate material reward. The caskets therefore transform romantic choice into a broader test of character.
The Gold Casket: The Seduction of Appearance
The gold casket represents the power of outward attractiveness. Gold is universally associated with wealth, prestige, luxury, and status. It is therefore an obvious object of desire. Its brilliance encourages the chooser to assume that something beautiful and valuable on the outside must contain something equally valuable within.
This is precisely the danger Shakespeare exposes. The gold casket appeals to the human tendency to equate appearance with worth. A person who chooses it may be motivated not by genuine understanding but by the promise of reward. In the context of marriage, this raises uncomfortable questions about whether a suitor desires Portia herself or what possessing her would represent.
The gold casket consequently becomes a symbol of misdirected desire. Its attractiveness is real, but its apparent value does not guarantee genuine worth. Shakespeare repeatedly returns to this distinction throughout the play: things that look valuable may be morally empty, while things that appear insignificant may contain extraordinary value.
The gold casket therefore warns against confusing price with worth. Wealth can attract attention, but it cannot automatically provide love, loyalty, wisdom, or character.
The Silver Casket: The Problem of Deserving
The silver casket offers a more complicated alternative. Unlike gold, silver does not represent absolute extravagance, yet it remains precious and desirable. Its inscription challenges the chooser to consider whether he deserves what he seeks.
This makes the silver casket particularly interesting because it introduces the concept of self-assessment. The suitor must ask not simply, “What do I want?” but “What do I deserve?” That distinction is fundamental to the play’s moral structure.
The silver choice can therefore be understood as an appeal to moderation and merit. It appears more reasonable than the pursuit of pure luxury, but it still contains a trap: a person who believes himself deserving may possess an inflated view of his own importance.
Shakespeare thus complicates the idea of moral judgment. Self-confidence is not necessarily wisdom. A person may sincerely believe that he deserves something while completely misunderstanding his own character.
The silver casket consequently occupies a middle ground between greed and genuine self-knowledge. It asks the suitor to measure his desires against his understanding of himself, but the test ultimately requires something deeper than confidence in one’s own merit.
The Lead Casket: Value Beneath the Surface
The lead casket presents the greatest contrast to the other two. It is plain, heavy, and apparently unattractive. It carries none of the glamour associated with gold and none of the prestige associated with silver.
Its inscription famously warns the chooser to risk everything rather than be guided by appearances. Choosing lead therefore requires a willingness to reject conventional ideas of value.
Lead symbolizes sacrifice, humility, courage, and inward judgment. The successful suitor must recognize that something of great value may be concealed within something that looks worthless. The choice requires faith: the suitor cannot know with certainty what he will receive until he accepts the risk.
This is what makes the lead casket the most powerful symbol in the test. It reverses ordinary assumptions about value. Gold looks valuable but contains nothing of Portia. Lead looks worthless but contains the desired portrait.
The lesson is not simply that plain things are always better than beautiful things. Rather, Shakespeare challenges the assumption that appearance is reliable evidence of value. Genuine judgment requires the ability to look beyond immediate attraction.
Desire as a Test of Character
The casket test is therefore fundamentally a test of desire. Each casket offers a different psychological temptation. The chooser must reveal what he values before he can obtain what he wants.
This makes the test relevant beyond romance. Human beings constantly make choices between things that offer immediate gratification and things whose value is less obvious. Wealth, status, beauty, convenience, recognition, and power can all exert enormous influence. Yet these things may not correspond to what ultimately produces a meaningful life.
The caskets ask a deceptively simple question: What are we really choosing when we choose something?
A person may believe he is choosing love while actually choosing status. Another may believe he is choosing success while actually choosing security. Someone else may pursue wealth because he believes wealth will provide happiness. The casket test exposes the difference between the object of desire and the motivation behind that desire.
Perception and Reality
The caskets also embody one of the central tensions of The Merchant of Venice: the difference between what things appear to be and what they actually are.
The play repeatedly questions whether appearances can be trusted. Wealth can disguise insecurity. Beauty can conceal weakness. Legal justice can conceal cruelty. Religious or social identity can influence how characters are perceived. Even the language of love can contain calculations involving money, inheritance, and social position.
The caskets place this problem at the center of the romantic plot. The right choice depends upon recognizing that visible value and actual value are not necessarily the same.
The test therefore functions almost like a philosophical experiment. Shakespeare presents three different forms of apparent value and asks which one deserves trust. The answer is not determined by appearance but by the character of the person making the choice.
Choice and Consequence
The caskets also emphasize that choices have consequences. The suitors cannot simply admire all three possibilities. They must commit themselves to one.
This transforms the test into a meditation on decision-making. Human beings often want certainty before making important choices, but meaningful choices frequently involve risk. The successful suitor must accept the possibility of losing everything.
The lead casket therefore represents not only humility but the courage to choose without guaranteed reward. Its significance lies in the willingness to sacrifice superficial advantages in pursuit of something more important.
This principle extends beyond the romantic plot. The play repeatedly demonstrates that choices made according to immediate advantage can produce unexpected consequences. Shakespeare’s world is one in which judgment is difficult because appearances, incentives, and moral responsibilities do not always align.
Marriage, Wealth, and Social Value
The casket test also reflects the social realities of Shakespeare’s period. Marriage among wealthy families was not merely a private romantic relationship. It could involve property, inheritance, status, family alliances, and economic security.
Portia herself is wealthy, desirable, and socially valuable. Her marriage therefore has an economic dimension even when the characters speak in the language of love.
The casket test can consequently be read as a commentary on the social economy of marriage. Portia’s suitors are not simply choosing a woman; they are competing for a relationship that carries enormous social and material consequences.
Against this background, the lead casket becomes especially significant. It represents a rejection of purely material calculation. The person who succeeds must demonstrate that he is capable of valuing something that cannot be measured simply in monetary terms.
The Father’s Design: Virtue Through Constraint
The casket test is also an expression of Portia’s father’s attempt to control her future after his death. His system determines that she cannot simply choose her husband according to personal preference. Instead, potential husbands must submit to a predetermined test.
This creates an important tension in the play. The test is designed to ensure that Portia ends up with someone whose character is compatible with her, yet it simultaneously limits her freedom.
The caskets therefore symbolize both moral judgment and social control. They are intended to protect Portia from an unsuitable marriage, but they also demonstrate the patriarchal structure governing her choices.
Shakespeare thus creates a complicated situation: the test appears wise because it attempts to distinguish genuine character from superficial desire, but it is also restrictive because Portia’s own agency is subordinated to her father’s instructions.
The Caskets as a Moral Architecture
Taken together, the three caskets form a hierarchy of value.
Gold represents what dazzles us.
Silver represents what we believe we deserve.
Lead represents what we are willing to risk ourselves for despite its lack of outward glamour.
The movement from gold to silver to lead can therefore be understood as a movement from appearance toward substance.
The test asks the suitor to abandon conventional measures of value. Gold has the highest monetary value, silver less, and lead very little. Yet the moral value of the objects is precisely the reverse of their economic value.
Shakespeare deliberately creates this paradox. The object with the lowest market value contains the greatest personal value. The object with the greatest visible wealth contains nothing.
The caskets therefore expose the limitations of purely economic thinking. Something can be expensive without being meaningful, and something can be inexpensive without being worthless.
A Broader Human Lesson
The casket test remains compelling because its underlying problem is not limited to Shakespeare’s world. Modern societies continue to reward visible success: wealth, possessions, beauty, titles, influence, popularity, and social status. These things can become substitutes for deeper measures of worth.
The lesson of the caskets is not that material wealth is inherently evil. Rather, Shakespeare asks whether we allow material appearance to determine our judgment.
The gold casket represents the temptation to choose what looks impressive. The silver casket represents the temptation to choose what we believe we have earned. The lead casket represents the willingness to choose according to a deeper standard of value.
The question remains relevant whenever individuals, institutions, and societies must distinguish between what is attractive and what is truly valuable.
Conclusion
The casket episode in The Merchant of Venice is far more than a mechanism for determining Portia’s husband. It is a compact philosophical drama about desire, perception, judgment, and choice.
Gold represents the seductive power of appearance and material reward. Silver represents merit, self-evaluation, and the danger of overestimating what one deserves. Lead represents humility, sacrifice, risk, and the recognition that genuine value may be hidden beneath an unattractive surface.
Ultimately, Shakespeare turns a romantic contest into a test of moral perception. The suitors are not merely being asked which casket they prefer. They are being asked what kind of person they are.
The enduring power of the caskets lies in their paradox: the most valuable object is hidden in the least impressive container. Shakespeare’s larger warning is that human beings can easily mistake glitter for goodness, price for worth, and desire for love. True judgment requires looking beyond appearances—and sometimes having the courage to choose what the world tells us is worth the least.
Wonderful, enjoyable read. Shakespeare’s spiritual being is hereby admitted to The Society of Honor.
Gold, silver, lead.
I was most struck by Portia’s father seeking to control her life after his death. What morality is this that he seeks to restrain her from choices and consequences, as if he were more enlightened than her? The male ego is huge because the brain is small. Filipinos largely get it and insert women all over the place because their brain is sharper, their stamina is unbelievable, and they aren’t as frequently found drunk as a Shakespearian skunk.
In the modern era, of course, we’d have carbon fiber caskets, light, respecting pall bearers, and strong though prone to cracking under repeated stress, irrelevant at six feet under. I’d choose that myself. Grayish black is suitable for funerals, bury me in a tux to match, just a hint of gold in the moral portfolio.
It seems to me the Philippines has a bigger brain and higher moral calling than China, which is driven insane and arrogant with greed.
https://mb.com.ph/2026/10/01/philippines-hits-back-at-china-at-un-defends-2016-south-china-sea-arbitral-award
One is inclined to wonder why the broadbrush term “foreigners” is used in reporting on this major scam bust. If they are predominantly Chinese, say so. Geeze Louise.
https://mb.com.ph/2026/10/02/ph-army-200-foreigners-collared-in-inter-agency-raid-at-suspected-scam-hub-in-zamboanga-sibugay?shem=dsdf,sharefoc,agadiscoversdl,,sh/x/discover/m1/4
A little story: My “home base” during my trip last year was in Siay, Zamboanga Sibugay. My churchmates and I who were deploying the solar irrigation project were invited by the mayor to dinner at their brand new compound, which I initially declined but decided to go out of concern to my churchmates. At dinner I remarked that the last time I was in Sibugay the area was not built up at all, but now there is a new market, the sentro commercial area had expanded, the v-hire lines had more routes despite Sibugay not really having any meaningful economic investment that would allow that. An aide of the mayor, one of his relatives, smiled. The Acosta family, the local dynasty, is hardcore DDS and Sara Duterte had visited the mayor personally on her “tour” to gather support during the leadup to her impeachment. One can draw their own conclusions on where these DDS local dynasties “find money” for all these expansions and improvements, despite the LGU depending mostly on the NTA, and where the local dynasty conveniently owns the local market, sentro, and other local businesses…
On broadbrushing the terms, e.g. “foreigner,” this is likely due to an abundance of caution during the investigation. Sensitivities with calling out the Chinese. A lot of the foreigners may actually not be Chinese, are victims brought into the country illicitly, and are likely to have been held in slavery-like conditions. These scam centers are run by Chinese mafia organizations like Triads. Nothing in Communist China is happenstance; major criminal organizations there are part of the CCP United Front, even if they “misbehave” sometimes.
During the Duterte term, Duterte allowed the POGOs to operate from Philippine soil. Ostensibly POGOs were online gambling companies and some were, but POGOs were also a useful front for criminal activity such as online scamming. Such operations also popped up in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos. Last year Thailand and Cambodia had a mini-war over border territory, but the rationale given was Thailand being upset its citizens were being targeted by scam hubs operating in Cambodia along the border.
Marcos Jr. banned POGOs officially in 2024, and Philipppine news reports at the time documented that many of the POGO workers were found to be held in slavery-like conditions. Many moved their operations to the Golden Triangle area (Thailand-Cambodia-Myanmar border). The Chinese mafias which run these scam hubs with modern day slavery were “allowed” by the PRC to operate overseas as long as they didn’t target Mainland Chinese. Then they got greedy and expanded to targeting Mainlanders, so the PRC added pressure to the existing US pressure for Cambodia to crack down. After the Cambodia crackdowns that were part of the Thai-Cambodian truce, the scam hubs scattered. So it’s not surprising that some popped back up in the Philippines in area that strongly support Duterte.
NYT, here there is a picture of a scam center raid in Myanmar. One may see how the mobile phone “farms” are quite similar to the Zamboanga Sibugay raid:
https://archive.is/20260210163908/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/12/17/world/asia/myanmar-cyber-scam.html
BBC, additionally to scamming, the scam centers also run social media bot farms to influence targeted countries in the West and Western-aligned allies:
https://archive.is/20240611041347/https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/3266034/inside-click-farm-photographers-expose-how-they-work-and-thrive-plain-sight
Thanks for that framing on scam hubs. Scoundrels operate them, human vermin.
So it turned out that most of the foreigners nabbed in the dual Zamboanga Sibugay scam hub busts were (Mainland) Chinese criminals.
https://globalnation.inquirer.net/340486/244-foreigners-nabbed-in-largest-pogo-bust-in-zamboanga-sibugay-bi/
MLQ3 shared this AFP overhead drone video of one of the massive scam hub tent compounds:
https://x.com/bncdotph/status/2106317753116446722
We all know that nothing goes on in the Philippines without the LGU knowing about it, especially if it concerns money. The mayors of Siay and Alicia have some explaining to do.
In Siay the scam hub apparently was hosted right beside Casa de Coco, a resort owned by the mayor and his wife. The resort itself served as the scam hub’s dormitory. I know this place. Must be new since when I passed by last year there was no tent compound.
The sign posted on the door translates as:
https://www.facebook.com/61573675813520/posts/pfbid03DQTMzHhJ97CPjTQbkJGSvFo1QGNmkTV9iJ9TWDZ3VrKyuTRuUDthff7BMzggAAcl/
ahem, that is exactly what happened, isnt it ironic! the warning, thieves caught flat out and there were more than 200 of them right inside the dormitory.
the warning’s grammar is worse than mine.
Soon Xi will be replaced. I hope not all Chinese are like robots programmed to do all his plans. This is where ther should be no continuity.
On Iran Joey once told me here when I wish for the takeover of the prince, that it was the wring wish or something, I am sure the eish for China is correct.
I wouldn’t say all (Mainland) Chinese are like robots programmed to follow the dictates of the CCP (which is currently under an abnormal, Mao-like, centralization in Xi) unless they are wumaos and little pinks (a very small fraction of the population). Rather, the PRC social contract is essentially “we make sure you keep getting richer; you look away from state malfeasance.” For decades that worked out — nowadays following the real estate bubble collapse, not so much. There is increasing social unrest and unease in China that is leaking out through the Great Firewall. Xi also won’t go willingly. My position is as bad as Xi is, the longer Xi stays in power the better since Xi runs an incompetent gangster regime that depends on smoke and mirrors — on the other hand CCP officials who were removed or disappeared by Xi’s faction are far more competent, which is why they were sidelined in the first place. China would be much more dangerous under competent leadership.
On Iran, growing up in Greater Los Angeles we have one of the largest Iranian diasporas here. Persian friends are mostly Pahlavists (Iranian monarchists who support the son of the former shah). They face the same trauma-derived disconnects from reality that many other refugee-dominated diasporas have: a view of their former home country stuck in the year of trauma (1979 for Iranians), a refusal to consider that countrymen who remain and want democracy may have different goals than them, and a remarkable top-down viewpoint that dismisses any others’ viewpoints. I do hope Iran achieves democracy and expels the evil mullah regime, but it needs to be something the Iranian people create from within (the last attempt was the early 2026 mass protests). The diaspora needs to support the aspirations of their fellow countrymen, not impose external demands. I feel the same about the Cuban, Venezuelan, Vietnamese, and Filipino diasporas.
“China would be much more dangerous under competent leadership.” That woke me up. I can see the truth of that, unless competence is meant to include compassion. Competence without compassion would indeed be scary. Just like AI.
The Cultural Revolution destroyed empathy in the PRC outside of immediate family. In China it is not uncommon for people who are injured in public to just be left lying there while people step over their bodies. I witnessed it myself when I worked in China.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xu_Shoulan_v._Peng_Yu
This happened in 2007 and only got worse the longer Xi has been in power since 2012.
The Cultural Revolution also destroyed traditional Chinese culture. Today traditional Chinese culture and values can be found across the strait in Taiwan.
On Xi, he may really attack Taiwan by the end of this decade. Of course he will fail. We are probably already in WWII, starting with the alignment of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea in the mid-2010s, and just like the previous two world wars the opening phases happened years before the major powers were drawn in.
lest, north korea’s kim jung un, the only fat man in north korea, will be replaced by his daughter: succession is secured, only that kim jung un’s sister has that gleam in her eyes, that maybe, she will grab power on kim jung un’s death and do away with his daughter.
at the moment, the president of south korea has words vs the president of ukraine, zelensky who told the world that north korean soldiers captured in the war in ukraine were sent to south korea. now that south korea is trying to get better diplomatic access to north korea, this may come as a problem between the two koreas, for kim jun un is most likely to ask for those soldiers be sent back to him where they were mostly like be punished.
It’s an offense to the NK President to get captured I suppose. Better to get killed.
So XI IS the necessary evil and the devil we know.
The early 2026 mass protests made me think that is why Trump thought the war and regime change would be short. He must buy a new calculator.
Yeah with China and Xi it’s my belief that Xi is a terrible enemy, but with Xi gone there could be far worse enemies. There seems to be increased social unrest in China nowadays so it may be better to let Xi continue to destroy China from within so it has a chance to emerge a better neighbor, hopefully with democracy, rather than to have more competent leaders take Xi’s place then we might really be in big trouble.
On Trump and Iran, there was a chance to support the Iranian protests but Trump came too late because he doesn’t care about democracy in Iran. Btw I dislike the US being blamed for everything — the Europeans who love to criticize didn’t lift a finger for the Iranian democracy movement either because they also don’t care, and just a few years ago Biden had to drag them kicking and screaming away from Russian oil and gas. Trump recently commented that he was disappointed that the Iran War didn’t bring the “war bump” in the polls to ensure his win in the midterms — Trump’s approval is now lower than Bush Jr.’s during the Iraq quagmire and Carter’s during the Oil Shock “Malaise.” For reference Trump’s MAGA base has been consistent for 10 years at about 33% of Americans and his approval according to AP is currently at 26%; MAGAs are bleeding away and are done with Trump.
A PR blurb, I suppose, but I personally like the interest Japan has at expanding its presence in the Philippines.
https://mb.com.ph/2026/10/03/toshiba-eyes-3000-more-jobs-as-it-expands-hdd-operations-in-the-philippines
I am a frequent critic of justice in the Philippines. Corrupt courts and police. No forensic skills. Shoddy jails. Slowwwwwww case resolution.
But AMLC seems to be driving important cases, moreso than the Ombudsman. Here’s a humdinger. I suppose names will eventually get named. I’ll not guess.
https://bilyonaryo.com/hide-pa-more-amlc-freezes-86-bank-accounts-25-crypto-wallets-tied-to-lawmaker-in-flood-control-probe/
Me too, btw I rode a Grab once and the driver cares more about the flood control mess than the impeachment….I ended up being sorry for asking. DDS cousins taught me how and when to stick to listening.
It’s discouraging, for sure. Really simplistic emotional thinking.
Was the Grab driver criticizing the flood control scandal specifically against Marcos Jr.’s bloc, or more generally? I think that distinction matters since the flood control scam projects were participated in by members of both the Marcos Jr. and DDS blocs, and many in between. The difference for me is that Marcos Jr. was willing to let his own bloc members who partook in wrongdoing to hang out to dry vs the DDS bloc which insists their own are innocent.
Actually at the start of the impeachment there was an amount which the driver rhought was just small compared to a larger number he gave representing the flood control which could mean Sara is less corrupt or we must focus on the flood control where more was stolen. Whichever, both do not compute.
In the Western-aligned world we have the study of Political Science in our universities, which is the systematic, empirical study of governance, political systems, power dynamics, and political behavior.
The Russians, like the Soviets before, don’t have a study of Political Science but rather of Polittekhnologii (“Political Technology”), which is the study of political engineering, narrative shaping, election management to maintain the semblance of free and fair elections, the manufacturing of public opinion, and the manner by which domestic politics is converted into controlled state-managed theater.
One of the primary tools of Polittekhnologii is Maskirovka (literally “Masking,” “Disguise”), which is the strategy of deception, camouflage, denial, and deliberate disinformation in the deployment of Polittekhnologii. In the Information Age this includes “flooding the zone” with the Firehose of Falsehood that deliberately undermines public trust, paralyzes political decision making of the target, and exhausts fact checkers rather than trying to convince the public of the truth.
Someday there is going to be books written about how pervasive Russian disinformation was in the Western and Western-aligned liberal democracies that was able to fester by hijacking the very free society principles that allowed liberal democracy in the first place. The PRC and Iran (to a smaller extent North Korea) have gotten on the disinformation bandwagon as well, as I explained in my other comment on how mobile phone farms in scam centers often have a secondary function of social media narrative shaping via bots.
DLSU professor Nicole Curato and University of London professor Jason Cabañes wrote the book From Grassroots Activism to Disinformation: Social Media in Southeast Asia (2020) in which chapter 2 of the book entitled Curing “Patient Zero”: Reclaiming the Digital Public Sphere in the Philippines. In it Profs. Curato and Cabañes recall former Facebook policy director Katie Harbath’s 2018 testimony in which she designated the Philippines as “Patient Zero” in the age of organized digital disinformation warfare during the 2016 national election. The tactics which the Russians trialed on the Philippines later had a second trial in the UK during Brexit before being deployed on the United States. We can see the through line to what is now happening in Germany with the AfD winning state elections and in France with the alliance between the French far left and Islamists pushing the French to the arms of the French far right.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/from-grassroots-activism-to-disinformation/curing-patient-zero-reclaiming-the-digital-public-sphere-in-the-philippines/8441197737AA86A8C47A8806BB1F4132
We often have myopic views, isolated to our particular worldviews and do not connect to the wider picture. Foreign disinformation needs to find preexisting grievances to attach to. Like it or not, many grievances have truth to them. In order to strengthen our democratic systems we need to find points of commonality and reduce grievances. It’s easy to write off DDS are brainless morons, but I’m willing to bet that if economic grievances start to be addressed the power of the Dutertes and other dynasties of malfeasance will greatly weaken. American writer David Frum wrote an essay in The Atlantic in 2019 entitled If Liberals Won’t Enforce Borders, Fascists Will — it turned out to be quite prescient.
I did an analysis on this subject a while back:
The Philippine Petri Dish
https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/045e8323-9ac9-4b93-9213-d08167c5f2e1
The brainless stuff I would not do to me My aunties are sharp, I do not even buy the bobotante label.
Yes. They are still making rational decisions within the restricted information space they occupy. So the goal is to expand their information space in order for them to come to new conclusions that would result in their conversion. Here in America there is a great group I support called Leaving MAGA which is run by former hardcore MAGAs that are trying to help Americans who are trapped within MAGA to get out. There are also many affluent (White) Americans who are trapped in the inverse then get attracted into far left authoritarianism. It has been noted in the US by extremism scholars that once one expands their news sources (e.g. not just Fox News) to contain other viewpoints, even if one doesn’t agree with the other viewpoint, one becomes much more empathetic towards others. MAGA hijacks empathy and turns it inward only to an in-group. Likewise, DDS also hijacks empathy in the same manner to turn Filipino against Filipino.
Many thanks Joe. Mysogynism is timely now because of Congress person Zamora being hit on all corners for the way she smiles, the same congres person was on the other side when one male “honorable” “imagined” about an actress.
maybe that is the bane of old age, haha. the olds seems to lost their filter and say the 1st thing that comes to their mind. though, I would like it very much, if the olds realised that they have said the wrong thing, and apologised for their lack of tack and foresight.