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Authors: William Shakespeare

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THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
LIST OF PARTS

ANTONIO
, a merchant of Venice

BASSANIO
, his friend, suitor to Portia

LORENZO
, friend of Antonio and Bassanio, in love with Jessica

GRATIANO
, friend of Antonio and Bassanio

Friends of Antonio and Bassanio:

SALERIO

SOLANIO

LEONARDO
, servant to Bassanio

PORTIA
, an heiress

NERISSA
, her gentlewoman-in-waiting

BALTHASAR
, servant to Portia

STEPHANO
, servant to Portia

Prince of
ARAGON
, suitor to Portia

Prince of
MOROCCO
, suitor to Portia

SHYLOCK
, a Jew of Venice

JESSICA
, his daughter

TUBAL
, a Jew, Shylock’s friend

LANCELET GOBBO
, the clown, servant to Shylock and later Bassanio

OLD GOBBO
, Lancelet’s father

DUKE
of Venice

Magnificoes of Venice

A Jailer, Attendants and Servants

Act 1 [Scene 1]
running scene 1

Location: Venice

Enter Antonio, Salerio and Solanio

ANTONIO
   In
sooth
1
I know not why I am so sad.
     It wearies me, you say it wearies you;
     But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
     What
stuff
4
’tis made of, whereof it is born,
     I am
to learn
5
:
     And such a
want-wit
6
sadness makes of me
     That I have much
ado
7
to know myself.

SALERIO
   Your mind is
tossing on
8
the ocean,
     There where your
argosies
9
with portly sail
     Like
signiors
10
and rich burghers on the flood,
     Or as it were the
pageants
11
of the sea,
     Do
overpeer
12
the petty traffickers
     That
curtsy
13
to them, do them reverence,
     As they
fly
14
by them with their woven wings.

SOLANIO
   Believe me, sir, had I such
venture
15
forth,
     The
better part
16
of my affections would
     Be with my
hopes
17
abroad. I should be still
     Plucking the grass to know
where sits
18
the wind,
     Peering in maps for ports and piers and
roads
19
,
     And every object that might make me fear
     Misfortune to my ventures out of doubt
     Would make me sad.

SALERIO
   My wind cooling my broth
     Would blow me to an
ague
24
, when I thought
     What harm a wind too great might do at sea.
     
I
should
26
not see the sandy hour-glass run,
     But I should think of shallows and of
flats
27
,
     And see my wealthy
Andrew
28
docked in sand,
     
Vailing
29
her high top lower than her ribs
     To kiss her
burial
30
; should I go to church
     And see the holy edifice of stone,
     And not
bethink me straight
32
of dang’rous rocks,
     Which touching
but
33
my gentle vessel’s side,
     Would scatter all her spices on the
stream
34
,
     Enrobe the roaring
waters with my silks
35
,
     And in a word, but
even
36
now worth this,
     And now worth nothing? Shall I have the thought
     To think on this, and shall I lack the thought
     That such a thing
bechanced
39
would make me sad?
     But tell not me, I know, Antonio
     Is sad to think upon his merchandise.

ANTONIO
   Believe me, no. I thank my fortune for it,
     My ventures are not in one
bottom
43
trusted,
     Nor to one place; nor is my whole
estate
44
     
Upon
45
the fortune of this present year:
     Therefore my merchandise makes me not sad.

SALERIO
   Why, then you are in love.

ANTONIO
   
Fie
48
, fie!

SOLANIO
   Not in love neither: then let us say you are sad
     Because you are not merry; and ’twere as easy
     For you to laugh and leap, and say you are merry
     Because you are not sad. Now, by two-headed
Janus
52
,
     Nature hath
framed
53
strange fellows in her time:
     Some that will evermore
peep
54
through their eyes
     
And laugh like parrots at a
bagpiper
55
,
     And
other
56
of such vinegar aspect
     That they’ll not show their teeth in way of smile,
     
Though
58
Nestor swear the jest be laughable.

Enter Bassanio, Lorenzo and Gratiano

SOLANIO
   Here comes Bassanio, your most noble kinsman,
     Gratiano and Lorenzo. Fare ye well,
     We leave you now with better company.

SALERIO
   I would have stayed till I had made you merry,
     If worthier friends had not
prevented
63
me.

ANTONIO
   Your worth is very
dear
64
in my regard.
     I take it your own business calls on you,
     And you
embrace
66
th’occasion to depart.

SALERIO
   Good morrow, my good lords.

BASSANIO
   Good signiors both, when shall we
laugh
68
? Say, when?
     You grow exceeding
strange
69
. Must it be so?

SALERIO
   We’ll make our
leisures to attend on yours
70
.

Exeunt Salerio and Solanio

LORENZO
   My lord Bassanio, since you have found Antonio,
     We two will leave you, but at dinnertime
     I pray you
have in mind
73
where we must meet.

BASSANIO
   I will not fail you.

GRATIANO
   You look not well, Signior Antonio.
     You have too much
respect upon the world
76
:
     They lose
it
77
that do buy it with much care.
     Believe me, you are
marvellously
78
changed.

ANTONIO
   I
hold
79
the world but as the world, Gratiano,
     A stage where every man must play a part,
     And mine a sad one.

GRATIANO
   Let me play the fool:
     With mirth and laughter let
old
83
wrinkles come,
     And let my
liver
84
rather heat with wine
     Than my
heart cool with mortifying groans
85
.
     Why should a man whose blood is warm within,
     Sit like his
grandsire
87
cut in alabaster?
     Sleep when he wakes and
creep into the jaundices
88
     By being
peevish
89
? I tell thee what, Antonio—
     I love thee, and it is my love that speaks—
     There are a sort of men whose
visages
91
     Do
cream and mantle
92
like a standing pond,
     And do a
wilful
93
stillness entertain,
     With purpose to be
dressed in an opinion
94
     Of wisdom, gravity, profound
conceit
95
,
     
As who should say
96
, ‘I am, sir, an oracle,
     And when I
ope
97
my lips, let no dog bark!’
     O my Antonio, I do know of these
     That therefore only are reputed wise
     For saying nothing; when I am very sure
     If they should speak, would almost
damn those ears
     Which, hearing them, would call their brothers fools
101
.
     I’ll tell thee more of this another time.
     But fish not with this
melancholy bait
104
     For this
fool
105
gudgeon, this opinion.
     Come, good Lorenzo. Fare ye well awhile,
     I’ll end my
exhortation
107
after dinner.

LORENZO
   Well, we will leave you then till dinnertime.

To Antonio and Bassanio

     I must be one of these same
dumb
109
wise men,
     For Gratiano never lets me speak.

GRATIANO
   Well, keep me company but two years more,
     Thou shalt not know the sound of thine own tongue.

ANTONIO
   Fare you well, I’ll
grow
113
a talker for this gear.

GRATIANO
   Thanks, i’faith, for silence is only commendable
     In a
neat’s tongue dried
115
and a maid not vendible.

Exit
[
Gratiano with Lorenzo
]

ANTONIO
   
Is that anything now?
116

BASSANIO
   Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more
     than any man in all Venice. His
reasons
118
are two grains of
     wheat hid in two bushels of chaff: you shall seek all day
ere
119
     you find them, and when you have them, they are not worth
     the search.

ANTONIO
   Well, tell me now, what lady is the
same
122
     To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage
     That you today promised to tell me of?

BASSANIO
   ’Tis not unknown to you, Antonio,
     How much I have
disabled
126
mine estate
     By
something
127
showing a more swelling port
     Than my
faint
128
means would grant continuance.
     Nor do I now
make moan
129
to be abridged
     From such a
noble rate
130
, but my chief care
     Is to
come fairly off from
131
the great debts
     Wherein my
time
132
something too prodigal
     Hath left me
gaged
133
. To you, Antonio,
     I owe the most in money and in love,
     And from your love I have a
warranty
135
     
To
unburden
136
all my plots and purposes
     How to get clear of all the debts I owe.

ANTONIO
   I pray you good Bassanio, let me know it,
     And if it stand as you yourself still do,
     
Within the eye of honour
140
, be assured
     My purse, my person, my extremest means,
     Lie all unlocked to your
occasions
142
.

BASSANIO
   In my schooldays, when I had lost one
shaft
143
,
     I shot
his fellow of the selfsame flight
144
     The selfsame way with more
advisèd
145
watch
     To find the other
forth
146
, and by adventuring both
     I oft found both. I
urge
147
this childhood proof
     Because what follows is pure
innocence
148
.
     I owe you much and, like a wilful youth,
     That which I owe is lost. But if you please
     To shoot another arrow that
self
151
way
     Which you did shoot the first, I do not doubt,
     As I will watch the aim,
or
153
to find both,
     Or bring your latter
hazard
154
back again,
     And thankfully
rest
155
debtor for the first.

ANTONIO
   You know me well, and herein
spend but
156
time
     To
wind about my love with circumstance
157
,
     And
out of
158
doubt you do me now more wrong
     In
making question of my uttermost
159
     Than if you had
made waste
160
of all I have.
     Then do
but
161
say to me what I should do
     That in your knowledge may by me be done,
     And I am
pressed
163
unto it: therefore speak.

BASSANIO
   In Belmont is a lady
richly left
164
,
     And she is fair and, fairer than that word,
     Of wondrous virtues.
Sometimes
166
from her eyes
     I did receive fair speechless messages.
     Her name is Portia,
nothing undervalued
     To
168
Cato
169
’s daughter, Brutus’ Portia.
     Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth,
     For the four winds blow in from every coast
     Renownèd suitors, and her sunny locks
     Hang on her temples like a
golden fleece
173
,
     Which makes her
seat
174
of Belmont Colchos’ strand,
     And many Jasons come in quest of her.
     O my Antonio, had I but the means
     To hold a rival place with one of them,
     I have a mind
presages
178
me such thrift,
     That I should
questionless
179
be fortunate.

ANTONIO
   Thou know’st that all my fortunes are at sea,
     Neither have I money, nor
commodity
181
     To raise a
present
182
sum: therefore go forth.
     
Try
183
what my credit can in Venice do,
     That shall be
racked
184
, even to the uttermost,
     To
furnish thee
185
to Belmont, to fair Portia.
     Go
presently
186
inquire, and so will I,
     Where money is, and I no question make
     To have it
of my trust
188
or for my sake.

Exeunt

[Act 1 Scene 2]
running scene 2

Location: Belmont

Enter Portia with her
waiting woman
, Nerissa

PORTIA
   By my
troth
1
, Nerissa, my little body is aweary of this
     great world.

BOOK: The Merchant of Venice
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