The Merchant of Venice (10 page)

ALL
   Ding, dong, bell.

BASSANIO
   So may the outward shows be least
themselves
⁷⁵
,
     The world is
still
⁷⁶
deceived with ornament.
     In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt,
     But, being seasoned with a
gracious
⁷⁸
voice,
     Obscures the show of evil? In religion,
     What damnèd error, but some
sober brow
⁸⁰
     Will bless it and
approve
⁸¹
it with a text,
     Hiding the
grossness
⁸²
with fair ornament?
     There is no vice so
simple
⁸³
but assumes
     Some mark of virtue on
his
⁸⁴
outward parts;
     How many cowards, whose hearts are all as false
     As stairs of sand, wear yet upon their chins
     
The beards of Hercules and frowning
Mars
⁸⁷
,
     Who, inward
searched
⁸⁸
, have livers white as milk.
     And these assume but valour’s
excrement
⁸⁹
     To render them
redoubted
⁹⁰
. Look on beauty,
     And you shall see ’tis purchased by the weight,
     Which therein works a miracle in nature,
     Making them
lightest
⁹³
that wear most of it:
     So are those
crispèd
⁹⁴
snaky golden locks
     Which makes such
wanton
⁹⁵
gambols with the wind
     Upon supposèd
fairness
⁹⁶
, often known
     To be the
dowry of a second head,
     The skull that bred them in the sepulchre
⁹⁷
.
     Thus ornament is but the
guilèd
⁹⁹
shore
     To a most dangerous sea, the beauteous scarf
     Veiling an
Indian
¹⁰¹
beauty; in a word,
     The seeming truth which cunning times put on
     To entrap the wisest. Therefore, then, thou
gaudy
¹⁰³
gold,
     Hard food for
Midas
¹⁰⁴
, I will none of thee;
     Nor none of
thee
¹⁰⁵
, thou pale and common drudge
     ’Tween man and man. But thou, thou meagre lead,
     Which rather threaten’st than dost promise aught,
     Thy paleness moves me more than eloquence,
     And here choose I. Joy be the consequence!

PORTIA
   How all the other passions
fleet
¹¹⁰
to air,

Aside

     
As
¹¹¹
doubtful thoughts and rash-embraced despair
     And shudd’ring fear and green-eyed jealousy!
     O love, be moderate, allay thy ecstasy,
     In
measure
¹¹⁴
rain thy joy, scant this excess.
     
I feel too much thy blessing. Make it less,
     For fear I
surfeit
¹¹⁶
.

BASSANIO
   What find I here?

He opens the lead casket

     Fair Portia’s
counterfeit
¹¹⁸
! What demigod
     Hath come so near creation? Move these
eyes
¹¹⁹
?
     
Or whether
¹²⁰
, riding on the balls of mine,
     Seem they in motion? Here are
severed
¹²¹
lips,
     Parted with sugar breath, so sweet a
bar
¹²²
     Should
sunder
¹²³
such sweet friends. Here in her hairs
     The painter plays the spider, and hath woven
     A golden mesh t’entrap the hearts of men
     
Faster
¹²⁶
than gnats in cobwebs. But her eyes—
     How could he see to do them? Having made one,
     Methinks
it
¹²⁸
should have power to steal both his
     And leave itself
unfurnished
¹²⁹
. Yet look how far
     The
substance
¹³⁰
of my praise doth wrong this shadow
     In underprizing it, so far this shadow
     Doth limp behind the substance. Here’s the scroll,
     The
continent
¹³³
and summary of my fortune.
     ‘You that choose not by the view

Reads

     
Chance as fair
¹³⁵
and choose as true.
     Since this fortune falls to you,
     Be content and seek no new.
     If you be well pleased with this
     And hold your fortune for your bliss,
     Turn you where your lady is
     And claim her with a loving kiss.’
     A gentle scroll. Fair lady, by your leave,
     I come
by note
¹⁴³
to give and to receive.
     Like one of two contending in a
prize
¹⁴⁴
     That thinks he hath done well in people’s eyes,
     
Hearing applause and universal shout,
     Giddy in spirit, still gazing in a doubt
     Whether those peals of praise be
his
¹⁴⁸
or no,
     So, thrice-fair lady, stand I, even so,
     As doubtful whether what I see be true,
     Until
confirmed, signed, ratified
¹⁵¹
by you.

PORTIA
   You see me, Lord Bassanio, where I stand,
     Such as I am; though for myself alone
     I would not be ambitious in my wish,
     To wish myself much better, yet for you
     I would be trebled twenty times myself,
     A thousand times more fair, ten thousand times more rich,
     That only to stand high in your
account
¹⁵⁸
,
     I might in virtues, beauties,
livings
¹⁵⁹
, friends,
     Exceed
account
¹⁶⁰
. But the full sum of me
     Is sum of nothing, which to
term in gross
¹⁶¹
     Is an unlessoned girl, unschooled,
unpractisèd
¹⁶²
,
     Happy in this, she is not yet so old
     But she may learn. Happier than this,
     She is not bred so dull but she can learn;
     Happiest of all is that her gentle spirit
     Commits itself to yours to be directed,
     As from her lord, her governor, her king.
     Myself, and what is mine, to you and yours
     Is now
converted
¹⁷⁰
. But now I was the lord
     Of this fair mansion, master of my servants,
     Queen o’er myself, and even now, but now,
     This house, these servants and this same myself
     Are yours, my lord. I give them with this ring,
     Which when you part from, lose or give away,
     Let it
presage
¹⁷⁶
the ruin of your love
     And be my
vantage
¹⁷⁷
to exclaim on you.

Puts a ring on his finger

BASSANIO
   Madam, you have bereft me of all words,
     Only my
blood
¹⁷⁹
speaks to you in my veins,
     And there is such
confusion
¹⁸⁰
in my powers,
     As after some oration fairly spoke
     By a belovèd prince, there doth appear
     Among the buzzing pleasèd multitude,
     Where every
something
¹⁸⁴
being blent together,
     Turns to a
wild
¹⁸⁵
of nothing, save of joy
     
Expressed
¹⁸⁶
and not expressed. But when this ring
     Parts from this finger, then parts life from hence.
     O, then
be bold
¹⁸⁸
to say Bassanio’s dead!

NERISSA
   My lord and lady, it is now our time,
     
That
¹⁹⁰
have stood by and seen our wishes prosper,
     To cry, good joy: good joy, my lord and lady!

GRATIANO
   My lord Bassanio and my gentle lady,
     I wish you all the joy that you can wish,
     For I am sure you can
wish none
¹⁹⁴
from me.
     And when your honours mean to solemnize
     The bargain of your
faith
¹⁹⁶
, I do beseech you,
     
Even
¹⁹⁷
at that time I may be married too.

BASSANIO
   With all my heart,
so
¹⁹⁸
thou canst get a wife.

GRATIANO
   I thank your lordship, you have got me one.
     My eyes, my lord, can look as swift as yours:
     You saw the mistress, I beheld the
maid
²⁰¹
.
     You loved, I loved, for
intermission
²⁰²
     No more pertains to me, my lord, than you;
     Your fortune
stood
²⁰⁴
upon the caskets there,
     And so did mine too, as the matter
falls
²⁰⁵
,
     For wooing here until I sweat again,
     And swearing till my very
roof
²⁰⁷
was dry
     With oaths of love, at
last
²⁰⁸
, if promise last,
     
I got a promise of this fair one here
     To have her love, provided that your fortune
     Achieved her mistress.

PORTIA
   Is this true, Nerissa?

NERISSA
   Madam, it is
so
²¹³
, so you stand pleased withal.

BASSANIO
   And do you, Gratiano, mean good faith?

GRATIANO
   Yes,
faith
²¹⁵
, my lord.

BASSANIO
   Our feast shall be much honoured in your
       marriage.

GRATIANO
   We’ll
play with them the first boy
²¹⁷
for a thousand
       ducats.

NERISSA
   What, and
stake down
²¹⁸
?

GRATIANO
   No, we shall ne’er win at that
sport
²¹⁹
, and stake down.
     But who comes here? Lorenzo and his
infidel
²²⁰
?
     What, and my old Venetian friend Salerio?

Enter Lorenzo, Jessica and Salerio

BASSANIO
   Lorenzo and Salerio, welcome hither,
     If that the
youth
²²³
of my new interest here
     Have power to bid you welcome. By your leave,
     I bid my
very
²²⁵
friends and countrymen,
     Sweet Portia, welcome.

PORTIA
   So do I, my lord. They are entirely welcome.

LORENZO
   I thank your honour. For my part, my lord,
     My purpose was not to have seen you here,
     But meeting with Salerio by the way,
     He did entreat me, past all saying nay,
     To come with him along.

SALERIO
   I did, my lord,
     And I have reason for it. Signior Antonio
     
Commends him
²³⁵
to you.

Gives Bassanio a letter

BASSANIO
   Ere I
ope
²³⁶
his letter,
     I pray you tell me how my good friend doth.

SALERIO
   Not sick, my lord, unless it be in mind,
     
Nor well, unless in mind: his letter there
     Will show you his
estate
²⁴⁰
.

[
Bassanio
]
opens the letter

GRATIANO
   Nerissa,
cheer
²⁴¹
yond stranger, bid her welcome.
     Your hand, Salerio. What’s the news from Venice?
     How doth that
royal
²⁴³
merchant, good Antonio?
     I know he will be glad of our success,
     We are the Jasons, we have won the fleece.

SALERIO
   I would you had won the fleece that he hath lost.

PORTIA
   There are some
shrewd
²⁴⁷
contents in yond same
         paper,
     That steals the colour from Bassanio’s cheek.
     Some dear friend dead, else nothing in the world
     Could turn so much the
constitution
²⁵⁰
     Of any
constant
²⁵¹
man. What, worse and worse?
     With
leave
²⁵²
, Bassanio: I am half yourself,
     And I must freely have the half of anything
     That this same paper brings you.

BASSANIO
   O sweet Portia,
     Here are a few of the unpleasant’st words
     That ever blotted paper! Gentle lady,
     When I did first impart my love to you,
     I freely told you all the wealth I had
     Ran in my veins. I was a gentleman,
     And then I told you true. And yet, dear lady,
     
Rating
²⁶²
myself at nothing, you shall see
     How much I was a braggart. When I told you
     My
state
²⁶⁴
was nothing, I should then have told you
     That I was worse than nothing, for indeed,
     I have
engaged
²⁶⁶
myself to a dear friend,
     Engaged my friend to his
mere
²⁶⁷
enemy,
     To feed my means. Here is a letter, lady,
     The paper
as
²⁶⁹
the body of my friend,
     
And every word in it a gaping wound,
     Issuing life-blood. But is it true, Salerio?
     Hath all his ventures failed? What, not one
hit
²⁷²
?
     From Tripolis, from Mexico and England,
     From Lisbon,
Barbary
²⁷⁴
and India?
     And not one vessel scape the
dreadful
²⁷⁵
touch
     Of
merchant-marring
²⁷⁶
rocks?

SALERIO
   Not one, my lord.
     Besides, it
should appear
²⁷⁸
, that if he had
     The
present
²⁷⁹
money to discharge the Jew,
     
He
²⁸⁰
would not take it. Never did I know
     A creature that did bear the shape of man
     So keen and greedy to
confound
²⁸²
a man.
     He plies the duke at morning and at night,
     And doth
impeach
²⁸⁴
the freedom of the state,
     If they deny him justice. Twenty merchants,
     The duke himself and the
magnificoes
²⁸⁶
     Of greatest
port
²⁸⁷
have all persuaded with him,
     But none can drive him from the
envious
²⁸⁸
plea
     Of
forfeiture
²⁸⁹
, of justice and his bond.