Read The Merchant of Venice Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
The Merchant of Venice (9 page)
NERISSA
Quick, quick, I pray thee draw the curtain
straight
1
.
The Servitor opens the curtains
The Prince of
Aragon
2
hath ta’en his oath,
And comes to his
election
3
presently.
Enter
[
the Prince of
]
Aragon, his train and Portia. Flourish of cornets
PORTIA
Behold, there stand the caskets, noble prince.
If you choose that wherein I am contained,
Straight shall our nuptial rites be solemnized.
But if thou fail, without more speech, my lord,
You must be gone from hence immediately.
ARAGON
I am
enjoined
9
by oath to observe three things:
First, never to
unfold
10
to anyone
Which casket ’twas I chose; next, if I fail
Of
12
the right casket, never in my life
To woo a maid in way of marriage. Lastly,
If I do fail in fortune of my choice,
Immediately to leave you and be gone.
PORTIA
To these injunctions everyone doth swear
That comes to hazard for my worthless self.
ARAGON
And so have I
addressed me
18
. Fortune now
To my heart’s hope! Gold, silver, and base lead.
‘Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.’
You shall look fairer, ere I give or hazard.
What says the golden chest? Ha? Let me see:
‘Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.’
What many men desire—that ‘many’ may be meant
By
25
the fool multitude that choose by show,
Not learning more than the
fond
26
eye doth teach,
Which
pries
27
not to th’interior, but like the martlet
Builds
in
28
the weather on the outward wall,
Even in the
force
29
and road of casualty.
I will not choose what many men desire,
Because I will not
jump
31
with common spirits
And rank me with the barb’rous multitudes.
Why, then to thee, thou silver treasure-house.
Tell me once more what title thou dost bear:
‘Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.’
And well said too, for who shall go about
To
cozen
37
fortune and be honourable
Without the stamp of merit? Let none presume
To wear an undeservèd dignity.
O, that
estates, degrees
40
and offices
Were not derived corruptly, and that
clear
41
honour
Were
purchased
42
by the merit of the wearer!
How many then should
cover that stand bare
43
!
How many be commanded that command!
How much low peasantry would then be
gleaned
45
From the true
seed
46
of honour! And how much honour
Picked from the chaff and ruin of the times
To be
new-varnished
48
! Well, but to my choice:
‘Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.’
I will
assume desert
50
; give me a key for this,
And instantly unlock my fortunes here.
He opens the silver casket
PORTIA
Too long a pause for that which you find
there.
Aside?
ARAGON
What’s here? The portrait of a blinking idiot
Presenting me a
schedule
54
! I will read it.
How much unlike art thou to Portia.
How much unlike my hopes and my deservings.
‘Who chooseth me shall have as much as he deserves.’
Did I deserve no more than a fool’s head?
Is that my prize? Are my deserts no better?
PORTIA
To offend and judge are distinct offices
And of opposèd natures
60
.
ARAGON
What is here?
‘The fire seven times tried
this
63
:
Reads
Seven times tried that
judgement
64
is
That did never choose
amiss
65
.
Some there be that
shadows
66
kiss,
Such have but a shadow’s bliss.
There be fools alive,
iwis
68
,
Silvered o’er
69
, and so was this.
Take what wife you will to bed,
I
71
will ever be your head.
So begone: you are
sped
72
.’
Still more fool I shall appear
By the time
74
I linger here.
With one fool’s head I came to woo,
But I go away with two.
Sweet, adieu. I’ll keep my oath,
Patiently to bear my
wroth
78
.
[
Exeunt Aragon and train
]
PORTIA
Thus hath the candle singed the moth.
O, these
deliberate
80
fools! When they do choose,
They have the wisdom by their wit to lose.
NERISSA
The ancient saying is no heresy:
Hanging and
wiving
83
goes by destiny.
PORTIA
Come, draw the curtain, Nerissa.
Nerissa closes the curtains
Enter Messenger
MESSENGER
Where is my lady?
PORTIA
Here, what would
my lord
86
?
MESSENGER
Madam, there is alighted at your gate
A young Venetian, one that comes before
To signify th’approaching of his lord,
From whom he bringeth
sensible regreets
90
:
To wit
91
, besides commends and courteous breath,
Gifts of rich value;
yet
92
I have not seen
So likely an ambassador of love.
A day in April never came so sweet
To show how
costly
95
summer was at hand,
As this
fore-spurrer
96
comes before his lord.
PORTIA
No more, I pray thee. I am half afeard
Thou wilt say anon he is some kin to thee,
Thou spend’st such
high-day
99
wit in praising him.
Come, come, Nerissa, for I long to see
Quick Cupid’s
post
101
that comes so mannerly.
NERISSA
Bassanio, Lord Love, if thy will it be!
Exeunt
running scene 13
Location: Venice
Enter Solanio and Salerio
SOLANIO
Now, what news on the Rialto?
SALERIO
Why, yet
it lives there unchecked
2
that Antonio hath
a ship of rich
lading
3
wrecked on the narrow seas; the
Goodwins
4
, I think they call the place, a very dangerous flat
and fatal, where the carcasses of many a
tall
5
ship lie buried,
as they say, if my
gossip
6
’s report be an honest woman of her
word.
SOLANIO
I would she were as lying a gossip in that as ever
knapped
9
ginger or made her neighbours believe she wept for
the death of a third husband. But it is true, without any
slips
of prolixity
10
or
crossing
11
the plain highway of talk, that the
good Antonio, the honest Antonio—O that I had a title good
enough to keep his name company!—
SALERIO
Come, the full stop
14
.
SOLANIO
Ha, what sayest thou? Why, the end is, he hath lost
a ship.
SALERIO
I would it might
prove
17
the end of his losses.
SOLANIO
Let me say ‘amen’
betimes
18
, lest the devil cross my
prayer, for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew. How now,
Shylock! What news among the merchants?
Enter Shylock
SHYLOCK
You knew, none so well, none so well as you, of my
daughter’s flight.
SALERIO
That’s certain. I, for my part, knew the tailor that
made the
wings
24
she flew withal.
SOLANIO
And Shylock, for his own part, knew the bird was
fledged
26
, and then it is the complexion of them all to leave the
dam
27
.
SHYLOCK
She is damned for it.
SOLANIO
That’s certain, if the
devil
29
may be her judge.
SHYLOCK
My own
flesh and blood
30
to rebel!
SOLANIO
Out upon it
31
, old carrion! Rebels it at these years?
SHYLOCK
I say, my daughter is my flesh and blood.
SALERIO
There is more difference between thy flesh and hers
than between
jet and ivory
34
, more between your bloods than
there is between red wine and Rhenish. But tell us, do you
hear whether Antonio have had any loss at sea or no?
SHYLOCK
There I have another bad
match
37
: a bankrupt, a
prodigal, who dare scarce show his head on the Rialto, a
beggar that was used to come so smug upon the
mart
39
. Let
him
look to
40
his bond. He was wont to call me usurer. Let him
look to his bond. He was wont to lend money
for a Christian
courtesy
41
. Let him look to his bond.
SALERIO
Why, I am sure if he forfeit, thou wilt not take his
flesh. What’s that good for?
SHYLOCK
To bait fish withal. If it will feed nothing else, it will
feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and
hindered me
46
half a million, laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains,
scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains,
cooled
48
my
friends,
heated
49
mine enemies, and what’s the reason? I am a
Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs,
dimensions
51
, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same
food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same
diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by
the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick
us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you
poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not
revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you
in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian,
what is his humility
58
?
Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should
his
sufferance
59
be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The
villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall
go hard but
61
I will
better the instruction
62
.
Enter a man from Antonio
SERVANT
Gentlemen, my master Antonio is at his house and
desires to speak with you both.
SALERIO
We have been
up and down
65
to seek him.
Enter Tubal
SOLANIO
Here comes another
of the tribe
66
. A third cannot be
matched
67
, unless the devil himself turn Jew.
Exeunt Gentlemen
[
Solanio, Salerio and Servant
]
SHYLOCK
How now, Tubal, what news from
Genoa
68
? Hast thou
found my daughter?
TUBAL
I often came where I did hear of her, but cannot
find her.
SHYLOCK
Why, there, there, there, there! A diamond gone,
cost me two thousand ducats in
Frankfurt
73
! The curse never
fell upon our nation till now, I never felt it till now. Two
thousand ducats in that, and other precious, precious jewels.
I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in
her ear! Would she were
hearsed
77
at my foot, and the ducats
in her coffin! No news of them? Why, so—and I know not
how much is spent in the search. Why, thou loss upon loss!
The thief gone with so much, and so much to find the thief,
and no
satisfaction
81
, no revenge, nor no ill luck stirring but
what
lights
82
o’my shoulders, no sighs but o’my breathing, no
tears but o’my shedding.
TUBAL
Yes, other men have ill luck too. Antonio, as I heard
in Genoa—
SHYLOCK
What, what, what? Ill luck, ill luck?
TUBAL
—hath an argosy
cast away
87
, coming from Tripolis.
SHYLOCK
I thank God, I thank God. Is it true, is it true?
TUBAL
I spoke with some of the sailors that escaped the
wreck.
SHYLOCK
I thank thee, good Tubal, good news, good news!
Ha, ha, heard in Genoa?
TUBAL
Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I heard, one night
fourscore
94
ducats.
SHYLOCK
Thou stick’st a dagger in me. I shall never see my
gold again. Fourscore ducats
at a sitting
96
, fourscore ducats!
TUBAL
There came
divers
97
of Antonio’s creditors in my
company to Venice, that swear he cannot choose but
break
98
.
SHYLOCK
I am very glad of it. I’ll plague him, I’ll torture him.
I am glad of it.
TUBAL
One
of
101
them showed me a ring that he had of your
daughter for a monkey.
SHYLOCK
Out upon her!
103
Thou torturest me, Tubal. It was my
turquoise, I had it of
Leah
104
when I was a bachelor. I
would not
have given it for a
wilderness
105
of monkeys.
TUBAL
But Antonio is certainly
undone
106
.
SHYLOCK
Nay, that’s true, that’s very true. Go, Tubal,
fee
107
me
an
officer
108
, bespeak him a fortnight before. I will have the
heart of him, if he forfeit, for were he out of Venice I can
make
what
110
merchandise I will. Go, Tubal, and meet me at
our synagogue. Go, good Tubal, at our synagogue, Tubal.
Exeunt
[
separately
]
running scene 14
Location: Belmont
Enter Bassanio, Portia, Gratiano
, [
Nerissa
]
and all their trains
PORTIA
I pray you
tarry
1
. Pause a day or two
Before you hazard, for
in choosing
2
wrong
I lose your company: therefore
forbear
3
awhile.
There’s something tells me, but it is not love,
I would not lose you, and you know yourself,
Hate counsels not in such a
quality
6
;
But lest you should not understand me well—
And yet a maiden hath no tongue but thought
8
—
I would detain you here some month or two
Before you
venture
10
for me. I could teach you
How to choose right, but then I am
forsworn
11
.
So
12
will I never be. So may you miss me.
But if you do, you’ll make me wish a sin,
That I had been forsworn. Beshrew your eyes,
They have
o’erlooked
15
me and divided me.
One half of me is yours, the other half yours,
Mine own, I
would
17
say. But if mine, then yours,
And so all yours. O, these
naughty
18
times
Puts
bars
19
between the owners and their rights!
And so,
though yours, not yours
20
. Prove it so,
Let fortune go to hell for it, not I.
I speak too long, but ’tis to
peise
22
the time,
To
eke
23
it and to draw it out in length,
To
stay
24
you from election.
BASSANIO
Let me choose,
For as I am, I live upon the
rack
26
.
PORTIA
Upon the rack, Bassanio? Then confess
What treason there is mingled with your love.
BASSANIO
None but that ugly treason of
mistrust
29
,
Which makes me
fear
30
the enjoying of my love.
There may as well be amity and life
’Tween snow and fire,
as
32
treason and my love.
PORTIA
Ay, but I fear you speak upon the rack,
Where men
enforcèd
34
do speak anything.
BASSANIO
Promise me life, and I’ll confess the truth.
PORTIA
Well then,
confess and live
36
.
BASSANIO
‘Confess and love’
Had been the very sum of my confession.
O happy torment, when my torturer
Doth teach me answers for
deliverance
40
!
But
let me to
41
my fortune and the caskets.
PORTIA
Away, then! I am locked in one of them.
If you do love me, you will find me out.
Nerissa and the rest, stand all
aloof
44
.
Let music sound while he doth make his choice,
Then if he lose, he makes a
swan-like end
46
,
Fading in music. That the comparison
May stand more proper, my eye shall be the stream
And wat’ry death-bed for him. He may win,
And what is music then? Then music is
Even as the
flourish
51
when true subjects bow
To a new-crownèd monarch. Such it is,
As are those
dulcet
53
sounds in break of day,
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom’s ear,
And summon him to marriage. Now he goes,
With no less
presence
56
, but with much more love,
Than young
Alcides
57
, when he did redeem
The virgin tribute paid by
howling
58
Troy
To the sea-monster. I
stand for
59
sacrifice,
The rest aloof are the
Dardanian
60
wives,
With
blearèd visages
61
, come forth to view
The
issue
62
of th’exploit. Go, Hercules!
Live thou
63
, I live. With much, much more dismay
I view the fight than thou that mak’st the
fray
64
.
Here music
A song the whilst Bassanio comments on the caskets to himself
[SINGER]
Tell me where is
fancy
65
bred,
Or
66
in the heart, or in the head?
How
begot
67
, how nourishèd?
Reply, reply.
It is engendered in the eyes,
With gazing fed, and fancy dies
In
the cradle
71
where it lies.
Let us all ring fancy’s
knell
72
.
I’ll begin it—Ding, dong, bell.