Read The Merchant of Venice Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
The Merchant of Venice (12 page)
LORENZO
How every fool can play upon the word! I think the
best
grace
38
of wit will shortly turn into silence, and discourse
grow commendable in none only but parrots. Go in, sirrah,
bid
them
40
prepare for dinner.
LANCELET
That is done, sir, they have all
stomachs
41
.
LORENZO
Goodly lord, what a
wit-snapper
42
are you? Then bid
them prepare dinner.
LANCELET
That is done too, sir, only
‘cover’
44
is the word.
LORENZO
Will you cover then, sir?
LANCELET
Not so, sir, neither. I know
my duty
46
.
LORENZO
Yet more
quarrelling with occasion
47
! Wilt thou show
the whole wealth of thy wit in an instant? I pray thee,
understand a plain man in his plain meaning: go to thy
fellows
50
; bid them cover the table, serve in the meat, and we
will come in to dinner.
LANCELET
For
52
the table, sir, it shall be served in: for the meat,
sir, it shall be
covered
53
: for your coming in to dinner, sir, why,
let it be as
humours and conceits
54
shall govern.
Exit Clown
[
Lancelet
]
LORENZO
O dear
discretion
55
, how his words are suited!
The fool hath planted in his memory
An army of good words, and I do know
A many
58
fools that stand in better place,
Garnished
59
like him, that for a tricksy word
Defy the matter
60
. How cheerest thou, Jessica?
And now, good sweet, say thy opinion,
How dost thou like the lord Bassanio’s wife?
JESSICA
Past all expressing
63
. It is very meet
The lord Bassanio live an upright life,
For, having such a blessing in his lady,
He finds the joys of heaven here on earth.
And if on earth he do not merit it,
In reason
68
he should never come to heaven.
Why, if two gods should play some heav’nly match
And on the wager
lay
70
two earthly women,
And Portia one, there must be something else
Pawned
72
with the other, for the poor rude world
Hath not her
fellow
73
.
LORENZO
Even
74
such a husband
Hast thou
of
75
me as she is for a wife.
JESSICA
Nay, but ask my opinion too of that.
LORENZO
I will anon. First, let us go to dinner.
JESSICA
Nay, let me praise you while I have a
stomach
78
.
LORENZO
No, pray thee let it serve for table-talk,
Then, howsome’er thou speak’st, ’mong other things
I shall
digest
81
it.
JESSICA
Well, I’ll
set you forth
82
.
Exeunt
running scene 18
Location: Venice
Enter the Duke, the Magnificoes, Antonio, Bassanio and Gratiano
[
with Salerio and others
]
DUKE
What, is Antonio here?
ANTONIO
Ready, so please your grace.
DUKE
I am sorry for thee. Thou art come to
answer
3
A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch
Uncapable of pity, void and empty
From
6
any dram of mercy.
ANTONIO
I have heard
Your grace hath ta’en great pains to
qualify
8
His rigorous course, but since he
stands obdurate
9
And that no lawful means can carry me
Out of his
envy’s
11
reach, I do oppose
My patience to his fury, and am armed
To suffer with a quietness of spirit
The very
tyranny
14
and rage of his.
DUKE
Go one, and call the Jew into the court.
SALERIO
He is ready at the door. He comes, my lord.
Enter Shylock
DUKE
Make room, and let him stand before
our
17
face.
Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too,
That thou
but lead’st this fashion
19
of thy malice
To the
last hour of act
20
, and then ’tis thought
Thou’lt show thy mercy and
remorse
21
more strange
Than is thy
strange
22
apparent cruelty;
And where thou now exact’st the penalty,
Which is a pound of this poor merchant’s flesh,
Thou wilt not only
loose
25
the forfeiture,
But, touched with humane gentleness and love,
Forgive a
moiety
27
of the principal,
Glancing an eye of pity on his losses,
That have of late so huddled on his back,
Enow to press a
royal merchant
30
down
And pluck commiseration of his state
From
brassy bosoms
32
and rough hearts of flints,
From stubborn
Turks and Tartars
33
, never trained
To offices of tender courtesy.
We all expect a
gentle
35
answer, Jew.
SHYLOCK
I have
possessed
36
your grace of what I purpose,
And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn
To have the
due
38
and forfeit of my bond.
If you deny it, let the
danger
39
light
Upon your
charter
40
and your city’s freedom.
You’ll ask me why I rather choose to have
A weight of
carrion
42
flesh than to receive
Three thousand ducats: I’ll not answer that,
But say it is my
humour
44
; is it answered?
What if my house be troubled with a rat
And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats
To have it
baned
47
? What, are you answered yet?
Some men there are
love
48
not a gaping pig,
Some that are mad if they behold a cat,
And others when the bagpipe sings
i’th’nose
50
Cannot contain their urine, for
affection
51
,
Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood
Of what it likes or loathes. Now, for your answer:
As there is no firm reason to be rendered,
Why
he
55
cannot abide a gaping pig,
Why he
56
, a harmless necessary cat,
Why he, a woollen bagpipe, but of force
Must yield to such inevitable shame
As to offend, himself being offended.
So can I give no reason, nor I will not,
More than a
lodged
61
hate and a certain loathing
I bear Antonio, that I
follow
62
thus
A
losing
63
suit against him. Are you answered?
BASSANIO
This is no answer, thou unfeeling man,
To excuse the
current
65
of thy cruelty.
SHYLOCK
I am not bound to please thee with my answer.
BASSANIO
Do all men kill the things they do not love?
SHYLOCK
Hates any man the thing he would not kill?
BASSANIO
Every offence is not a hate at first.
SHYLOCK
What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee
twice?
ANTONIO
I pray you
think
71
you question with the Jew:
You may as well go stand upon the beach
And bid the
main flood
73
bate his usual height,
Or even as well
use question
74
with the wolf
Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb.
You may as well forbid the mountain pines
To
wag
77
their high tops and to make no noise
When they are
fretted
78
with the gusts of heaven.
You may as well do anything most
hard
79
As seek to soften that—
than
80
which what harder?—
His Jewish heart: therefore, I do beseech you
Make no more offers, use no further means,
But with all brief and plain
conveniency
83
Let me have judgement and the Jew his will.
BASSANIO
For thy three thousand ducats here is six.
SHYLOCK
If every ducat in six thousand ducats
Were in six parts and every part a ducat,
I would not
draw
88
them. I would have my bond!
DUKE
How shalt thou hope for mercy,
rend’ring
89
none?
SHYLOCK
What judgement shall I dread, doing
no wrong
90
?
You have among you many a purchased slave,
Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules,
You use in abject and in slavish
parts
93
,
Because you bought them. Shall I say to you,
Let them be free, marry them to your heirs?
Why sweat they under burdens? Let their beds
Be made as soft as yours and let their palates
Be seasoned with such
viands
98
? You will answer
‘The slaves are ours.’ So do I answer you:
The pound of flesh which I demand of him
Is dearly bought, ’tis mine and I will have it.
If you deny me, fie upon your law!
There is no force in the decrees of Venice.
I
stand for
104
judgement. Answer: shall I have it?
DUKE
Upon my power I may dismiss this court,
Unless Bellario, a learnèd doctor,
Whom I have sent for to determine this,
Come here today.
SALERIO
My lord, here
stays without
109
A messenger with letters from the doctor,
New come from Padua.
DUKE
Bring us the letters. Call the messenger.
BASSANIO
Good cheer, Antonio! What, man, courage yet!
The Jew shall have my flesh, blood, bones and all,
Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood.
ANTONIO
I am a
tainted
116
wether of the flock,
Meetest
117
for death. The weakest kind of fruit
Drops earliest to the ground, and so let me;
You cannot better be employed, Bassanio,
Than to live still and write mine epitaph.
Enter Nerissa
[
dressed like a law clerk
]
DUKE
Came you from Padua, from Bellario?
NERISSA
From both. My lord Bellario greets your
grace.
She gives the Duke a letter while
Shylock whets his knife on his shoe
BASSANIO
Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?
SHYLOCK
To cut the forfeiture from that bankrupt
there.
GRATIANO
Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew,
Thou mak’st thy knife
keen
126
. But no metal can,
No, not the
hangman’s
127
axe, bear half the keenness
Of thy sharp envy. Can no prayers pierce thee?
SHYLOCK
No, none that thou hast wit enough to make.
GRATIANO
O, be thou damned,
inexecrable
130
dog!
And for
thy life
131
let justice be accused.
Thou almost mak’st me waver in my faith
To hold opinion with
Pythagoras
133
,
That souls of animals infuse themselves
Into the trunks of men. Thy
currish
135
spirit
Governed a wolf who, hanged for human slaughter,
Even from the gallows did his
fell
137
soul fleet,
And, whilst thou lay’st in thy
unhallowed
138
dam,
Infused itself in thee, for thy desires
Are wolvish, bloody, starved and ravenous.
SHYLOCK
Till thou canst
rail
141
the seal from off my bond,
Thou
but offend’st
142
thy lungs to speak so loud:
Repair
143
thy wit, good youth, or it will fall
To endless ruin. I stand here for law.
DUKE
This letter from Bellario doth commend
A young and learnèd doctor in our court;
Where is he?
NERISSA
He attendeth here
hard
148
by,
To know your answer, whether you’ll admit him.
DUKE
With all my heart. Some three or four of you
Go give him courteous conduct to this place.
[
Exeunt some
]
Meantime the court shall hear Bellario’s letter.
‘Your grace shall understand that at the receipt of
Reads
your letter I am very sick, but in the instant that your
messenger came,
in loving visitation
155
was with me a young
doctor of Rome. His name is Balthasar. I acquainted him
with the cause in controversy between the Jew and Antonio
the merchant. We turned o’er many books together. He
is
furnished
159
with my opinion, which—bettered with his
own learning, the greatness whereof I cannot enough
commend—comes with him, at my
importunity
161
, to fill up
your grace’s request in my stead. I beseech you, let his lack of
years be no impediment to let him lack a
reverend
163
estimation, for I never knew so young a body with so old a
head. I leave him to your gracious acceptance,
whose trial
165
shall better
publish
166
his commendation.’
Enter Portia for Balthasar
Dressed like a lawyer
You hear the learnèd Bellario, what he writes,
And here, I take it, is the doctor come.
Give me your hand. Came you from old Bellario?
PORTIA
I did, my lord.
DUKE
You are welcome. Take your place.
Are you acquainted with the
difference
172
That holds this
present question
173
in the court?
PORTIA
I am informèd
throughly
174
of the cause.
Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew?
DUKE
Antonio and old Shylock, both stand forth.
PORTIA
Is your name Shylock?
SHYLOCK
Shylock is my name.
PORTIA
Of a strange nature is the suit you follow,
Yet in such
rule
180
that the Venetian law
Cannot
impugn
181
you as you do proceed.—
You stand within his
danger
182
, do you not?
ANTONIO
Ay, so he says.
PORTIA
Do you
confess
184
the bond?
ANTONIO
I do.
PORTIA
Then must the Jew be merciful.
SHYLOCK
On what compulsion must I? Tell me that.
PORTIA
The quality of mercy is not
strained
188
,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It
is twice blest
190
:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
’Tis mightiest in the mightiest, it becomes
The thronèd monarch better than his crown.
His sceptre
shows
194
the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the
dread
196
and fear of kings.
But mercy is above this
sceptred sway
197
,
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show
likest
200
God’s
When mercy
seasons
201
justice: therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That in the course of
justice
203
, none of us
Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer doth teach us all to
render
205
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea,
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence ’gainst the merchant there.