The Merchant of Venice (13 page)

SHYLOCK
   
My deeds upon my head!
²¹⁰
I crave the law,
     The penalty and forfeit of my bond.

PORTIA
   Is he not able to
discharge
²¹²
the money?

BASSANIO
   Yes, here I
tender
²¹³
it for him in the court,
     Yea, twice the sum. If that will not suffice,
     I will be bound to pay it ten times o’er
     On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart.
     If this will not suffice, it
must appear
²¹⁷
     That malice
bears down truth
²¹⁸
. And I beseech you
     
Wrest once
²¹⁹
the law to your authority.
     To do a great right, do a little wrong,
     And curb this cruel devil of his will.

PORTIA
   It must not be; there is no power in Venice
     Can alter a decree establishèd.
     ’Twill be recorded
for
²²⁴
a precedent,
     And many an error by the same example
     Will rush into the state. It cannot be.

SHYLOCK
   A
Daniel
²²⁷
come to judgement! Yea, a Daniel!
     O wise young judge, how do I honour thee!

PORTIA
   I pray you let me look upon the bond.

SHYLOCK
   Here ’tis, most reverend doctor, here it is.

Gives Portia the bond

PORTIA
   Shylock, there’s thrice thy money offered thee.

SHYLOCK
   An oath, an oath, I have an oath in heaven.
     Shall I lay perjury upon my soul?
     No, not for Venice.

PORTIA
   Why, this bond is forfeit,
     And lawfully by this the Jew may claim
     
A pound of flesh, to be by him cut off
     Nearest the merchant’s heart. Be merciful.
     Take thrice thy money, bid me tear the bond.

SHYLOCK
   When it is paid according to the
tenure
²⁴⁰
.
     It doth appear you are a worthy judge,
     You know the law, your exposition
     Hath been most sound. I charge you by the law,
     Whereof you are a well-deserving pillar,
     Proceed to judgement. By my soul I swear,
     There is no power in the tongue of man
     To alter me. I stay here on my bond.

ANTONIO
   Most heartily I do beseech the court
     To give the judgement.

PORTIA
   Why then, thus it is:
     You must prepare your bosom for his knife.

SHYLOCK
   O noble judge! O excellent young man!

PORTIA
   For the intent and purpose of the law
     
Hath full relation to
²⁵⁴
the penalty,
     Which here appeareth due upon the bond.

SHYLOCK
   ’Tis very true. O wise and upright judge!
     How much more elder art thou than thy looks!

PORTIA
   Therefore lay bare your bosom.

SHYLOCK
   Ay, his breast,
     So says the bond, doth it not, noble judge?
     ‘Nearest his heart’, those are the very words.

PORTIA
   It is so. Are there
balance
²⁶²
here to weigh
     The flesh?

SHYLOCK
   I have them ready.

PORTIA
   Have
by
²⁶⁵
some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge,
     To
stop
²⁶⁶
his wounds, lest he should bleed to death.

SHYLOCK
   Is it so nominated in the bond?

PORTIA
   It is not so expressed, but what of that?
     ’Twere good you do so much for charity.

SHYLOCK
   I cannot find it, ’tis not in the bond.

Looking at the bond

PORTIA
   Come, merchant, have you anything to say?

ANTONIO
   But little. I am
armed
²⁷²
and well prepared.
     Give me your hand, Bassanio. Fare you well.
     Grieve not that I am fall’n to this for you,
     For herein Fortune shows herself more kind
     Than is her custom. It is
still
²⁷⁶
her use
     To let the wretched man outlive his wealth,
     To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow
     An age of poverty, from which ling’ring penance
     Of such misery doth she cut me off.
     Commend me to your honourable wife.
     Tell her the
process
²⁸²
of Antonio’s end.
     Say how I loved you; speak
me fair in death
²⁸³
.
     And when the tale is told, bid her be judge
     Whether Bassanio had not once a
love
²⁸⁵
.
     Repent not you that you shall lose your friend,
     And he repents not that he pays your debt.
     For if the Jew do cut but deep enough,
     I’ll pay it instantly
with all my heart
²⁸⁹
.

BASSANIO
   Antonio, I am married to a wife
     
Which
²⁹¹
is as dear to me as life itself,
     But life itself, my wife, and all the world,
     Are not with me esteemed above thy life.
     I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all
     Here to this devil, to
deliver
²⁹⁵
you.

PORTIA
   Your wife would give you little thanks for that,
     If she were by to hear you make the offer.

GRATIANO
   I have a wife, whom, I protest, I love.
     I would she were in heaven, so she could
     Entreat some power to change this currish Jew.

NERISSA
   ’Tis well you offer it behind her back,
     The wish would make
else
³⁰²
an unquiet house.

SHYLOCK
   These be the Christian husbands. I have a daughter.
     
Would
³⁰⁴
any of the stock of Barabbas

Aside?

     Had been her husband rather than a Christian!
     We
trifle
³⁰⁶
time. I pray thee pursue sentence.

PORTIA
   A pound of that same merchant’s flesh is thine.
     The court awards it, and the law doth give it.

SHYLOCK
   Most rightful judge!

PORTIA
   And you must cut this flesh from off his breast.
     The law allows it, and the court awards it.

SHYLOCK
   Most learnèd judge! A sentence! Come, prepare!

PORTIA
   Tarry a little, there is something else.
     This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood,
     The words expressly are ‘a pound of flesh’.
     Then take thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh,
     But in the cutting it, if thou dost shed
     One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods
     Are by the laws of Venice
confiscate
³¹⁹
     Unto the state of Venice.

GRATIANO
   O upright judge!
Mark
³²¹
, Jew. O learnèd judge!

SHYLOCK
   Is that the law?

PORTIA
   Thyself shalt see the act,
     For as thou urgest justice, be assured
     Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desirest.

GRATIANO
   O learnèd judge! Mark, Jew: a learnèd judge!

SHYLOCK
   I take this offer, then. Pay the bond thrice
     And let the Christian go.

BASSANIO
   Here is the money.

PORTIA
   
Soft!
³³⁰
     The Jew shall have
all
³³¹
justice. Soft, no haste.
     He shall have nothing but the penalty.

GRATIANO
   O Jew! An upright judge, a learnèd judge!

PORTIA
   Therefore prepare thee to cut off the flesh.
     Shed thou no blood, nor cut thou less nor more
     
But just a pound of flesh. If thou tak’st more
     Or less than a
just
³³⁷
pound, be it so much
     As makes it light or heavy in the
substance
³³⁸
,
     Or the division of the twentieth part
     Of one poor
scruple
³⁴⁰
, nay, if the scale do turn
     But in the
estimation of a hair
³⁴¹
,
     Thou diest and all thy goods are confiscate.

GRATIANO
   A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew!
     Now, infidel, I have thee
on the hip
³⁴⁴
.

PORTIA
   Why doth the Jew pause? Take thy forfeiture.

SHYLOCK
   Give me my
principal
³⁴⁶
, and let me go.

BASSANIO
   I have it ready for thee, here it is.

PORTIA
   He hath refused it in the open court.
     He shall have
merely
³⁴⁹
justice and his bond.

GRATIANO
   A Daniel, still say I, a second Daniel!
     I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word.

SHYLOCK
   Shall I not have
barely
³⁵²
my principal?

PORTIA
   Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture,
     To be taken so at thy peril, Jew.

SHYLOCK
   Why, then the devil give him
good
³⁵⁵
of it!
     I’ll
stay
³⁵⁶
no longer question.

Starts to go

PORTIA
   Tarry, Jew.
     The law hath yet another hold on you.
     It is enacted in the laws of Venice,
     If it be proved against an
alien
³⁶⁰
     That by direct or indirect attempts
     He seek the life of any citizen,
     The party gainst the which he doth
contrive
³⁶³
     Shall
seize
³⁶⁴
one half his goods, the other half
     Comes to the
privy coffer
³⁶⁵
of the state,
     And the offender’s life lies
in
³⁶⁶
the mercy
     
Of the duke only,
gainst all other voice
³⁶⁷
.
     In which predicament, I say, thou stand’st,
     For it appears, by manifest
proceeding
³⁶⁹
,
     That indirectly, and directly too,
     Thou hast contrived against the very life
     Of the defendant, and thou hast incurred
     The
danger
³⁷³
formerly by me rehearsed.
     
Down
³⁷⁴
therefore, and beg mercy of the duke.

GRATIANO
   Beg that thou mayst have leave to hang thyself,
     And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state,
     Thou hast not left the value of a
cord
³⁷⁷
:
     Therefore thou must be hanged at the state’s
charge
³⁷⁸
.

DUKE
   That thou shalt see the difference of our spirit,
     I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it.
     
For
³⁸¹
half thy wealth, it is Antonio’s,
     The other half comes to the general state,
     Which
humbleness
³⁸³
may drive unto a fine.

PORTIA
   Ay,
for the state, not for Antonio
³⁸⁴
.

SHYLOCK
   Nay, take my life and all. Pardon not that.
     You take my house when you do take the prop
     That doth sustain my house. You take my life
     When you do take the means whereby I live.

PORTIA
   What mercy can you render him, Antonio?

GRATIANO
   A
halter
³⁹⁰
gratis. Nothing else, for God’s sake.

ANTONIO
   
So
³⁹¹
please my lord the duke and all the court
     To
quit
³⁹²
the fine for one half of his goods,
     I am content,
so
³⁹³
he will let me have
     The other half in
use
³⁹⁴
, to render it,
     Upon his death, unto the gentleman
     That lately stole his daughter.
     Two things provided more: that for this favour
     
He
presently
³⁹⁸
become a Christian.
     The other, that he do record a gift
     Here in the court of all he dies
possessed
⁴⁰⁰
     Unto his
son
⁴⁰¹
Lorenzo and his daughter.

DUKE
   He shall do this, or else I do recant
     The pardon that I
late
⁴⁰³
pronouncèd here.

PORTIA
   Art thou contented, Jew? What dost thou say?

SHYLOCK
   I am content.

PORTIA
   Clerk, draw a deed of gift.

SHYLOCK
   I pray you give me leave to go from hence,
     I am not well. Send the deed after me,
     And I will sign it.

DUKE
   Get thee gone, but do it.

GRATIANO
   In christening thou shalt have two godfathers.
     Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had
ten more
⁴¹²
,
     To bring thee to the gallows, not to the
font
⁴¹³
.

Exit
[
Shylock
]

DUKE
   Sir, I entreat you home with me to dinner.

To Portia

PORTIA
   I humbly do desire your grace
of
⁴¹⁵
pardon.
     I must away this night toward Padua,
     And it is
meet
⁴¹⁷
I presently set forth.

DUKE
   I am sorry that
your leisure serves you not
⁴¹⁸
.
     Antonio,
gratify
⁴¹⁹
this gentleman,
     For in my mind you are much bound to him.

Exit Duke and his train

BASSANIO
   Most worthy gentleman, I and my friend
     Have by your wisdom been this day acquitted
     Of grievous penalties,
in lieu whereof
⁴²³
,
     Three thousand ducats due unto the Jew
     We freely
cope
⁴²⁵
your courteous pains withal.