The Merchant of Venice

by William Shakespeare

  GRATIANO No, we shall ne’er win at that sport219, and stake down.

  But who comes here? Lorenzo and his infidel220?

  What, and my old Venetian friend Salerio?

  Enter Lorenzo, Jessica and Salerio

  BASSANIO Lorenzo and Salerio, welcome hither,

  If that the youth223 of my new interest here

  Have power to bid you welcome. By your leave,

  I bid my very225 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 him235 to you.

  Gives Bassanio a letter

  BASSANIO Ere I ope236 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 estate240.

  [Bassanio] opens the letter

  GRATIANO Nerissa, cheer241 yond stranger, bid her welcome.

  Your hand, Salerio. What’s the news from Venice?

  How doth that royal243 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 shrewd247 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 constitution250

  Of any constant251 man. What, worse and worse?

  With leave252, 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,

  Rating262 myself at nothing, you shall see

  How much I was a braggart. When I told you

  My state264 was nothing, I should then have told you

  That I was worse than nothing, for indeed,

  I have engaged266 myself to a dear friend,

  Engaged my friend to his mere267 enemy,

  To feed my means. Here is a letter, lady,

  The paper as269 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 hit272?

  From Tripolis, from Mexico and England,

  From Lisbon, Barbary274 and India?

  And not one vessel scape the dreadful275 touch

  Of merchant-marring276 rocks?

  SALERIO Not one, my lord.

  Besides, it should appear278, that if he had

  The present279 money to discharge the Jew,

  He280 would not take it. Never did I know

  A creature that did bear the shape of man

  So keen and greedy to confound282 a man.

  He plies the duke at morning and at night,

  And doth impeach284 the freedom of the state,

  If they deny him justice. Twenty merchants,

  The duke himself and the magnificoes286

  Of greatest port287 have all persuaded with him,

  But none can drive him from the envious288 plea

  Of forfeiture289, of justice and his bond.

  JESSICA When I was with him I have heard him swear

  To Tubal and to Chus291, his countrymen,

  That he would rather have Antonio’s flesh

  Than twenty times the value of the sum

  That he did owe him: and I know, my lord,

  If law, authority and power deny not,

  It will go hard with296 poor Antonio.

  PORTIA Is it your dear friend that is thus in trouble?

  BASSANIO The dearest friend to me, the kindest man,

  The best-conditioned299 and unwearied spirit

  In doing courtesies300, and one in whom

  The ancient Roman honour more appears

  Than any that draws breath in Italy.

  PORTIA What sum owes he the Jew?

  BASSANIO For me three thousand ducats.

  PORTIA What, no more?

  Pay him six thousand and deface306 the bond.

  Double six thousand and then treble that,

  Before a friend of this description

  Shall lose a hair through Bassanio’s fault.

  First go with me to church and call me wife,

  And then away to Venice to your friend,

  For never shall you lie by Portia’s side

  With an unquiet soul. You shall have gold

  To pay the petty debt twenty times over.

  When it is paid, bring your true friend along.

  My maid Nerissa and myself meantime

  Will live as maids and widows. Come, away!

  For you shall hence318 upon your wedding day.

  Bid your friends welcome, show a merry cheer319,

  Since you are dear320 bought, I will love you dear.

  But let me hear the letter of your friend.

  BASSANIO ‘Sweet Bassanio, my ships have all miscarried,

  Reads

  my creditors grow cruel, my estate323 is very low, my bond to

  the Jew is forfeit, and since in paying it, it is impossible I

  should live, all debts are cleared between you and I, if I might

  see you at my death. Notwithstanding326, use your pleasure, if

  your love do not persuade you to come, let not my letter.’

  PORTIA O love! Dispatch328 all business, and be gone!

  BASSANIO Since I have your good leave to go away,

  I will make haste; but till I come again,

  No bed shall e’er be guilty of my stay,

  No rest be interposer ’twixt us twain332.

  Exeunt

  [Act 3 Scene 3]

  running scene 15

  Location: Venice

  Enter [Shylock] the Jew and Solanio and Antonio and the Jailer

  SHYLOCK Jailer, look1 to him, tell not me of mercy.

  This is the fool that lends out money gratis2.

  Jailer, look to him.

  ANTONIO Hear me yet, good Shylock.

  SHYLOCK I’ll have my bond. Speak not against my bond,

  I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond.

  Thou calledst me dog before thou hadst a cause,

  But since I am a dog, beware my fangs.

  The duke shall grant me justice. I do wonder,

  Thou naughty10 jailer, that thou art so fond

  To come abroad11 with him at his request.

  ANTONIO I pray thee hear me speak.

  SHYLOCK I’ll have my bond. I will not hear thee speak.

  I’ll have my bond and therefore speak no more.

  I’ll not be made a soft and dull-eyed15 fool,

  To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield

  To Christian intercessors. Follow not,

  I’ll have no speaking. I will have my bond.

  Exit Jew

  SOLANIO It is the most impenetrable cur

  That ever kept20 with men.

  ANTONIO Let him alone.

  I’ll follow him no more with bootless22 prayers.

  He seeks my life, his reason well I know;

  I
oft delivered from his forfeitures

  Many that have at times made moan25 to me:

  Therefore he hates me.

  SOLANIO I am sure the duke

  Will never grant28 this forfeiture to hold.

  ANTONIO The duke cannot deny the course of law,

  For the commodity30 that strangers have

  With us in Venice, if it be denied,

  Will much impeach the justice of the state,

  Since that33 the trade and profit of the city

  Consisteth of all nations. Therefore go.

  These griefs and losses have so bated me35,

  That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh

  Tomorrow to my bloody creditor.

  Well, jailer, on. Pray God, Bassanio come

  To see me pay his debt, and then I care not.

  Exeunt

  [Act 3 Scene 4]

  running scene 16

  Location: Belmont

  Enter Portia, Nerissa, Lorenzo, Jessica and [Balthasar,] a man of Portia’s

  LORENZO Madam, although I speak it in your presence,

  You have a noble and a true conceit2

  Of godlike amity3, which appears most strongly

  In bearing thus the absence of your lord.

  But if you knew to whom5 you show this honour,

  How true a gentleman you send relief6,

  How dear a lover7 of my lord your husband,

  I know you would be prouder of the work

  Than customary bounty can enforce you9.

  PORTIA I never did repent for doing good,

  Nor shall not now, for in companions

  That do converse and waste12 the time together,

  Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love,

  There must be needs14 a like proportion

  Of lineaments15, of manners and of spirit;

  Which makes me think that this Antonio,

  Being the bosom lover17 of my lord,

  Must needs be like my lord. If it be so,

  How little is the cost I have bestowed

  In purchasing the semblance20 of my soul

  From out the state of hellish cruelty!

  This comes too near the praising of myself:

  Therefore no more of it. Hear other things.

  Lorenzo, I commit into your hands

  The husbandry25 and manage of my house

  Until my lord’s return; for mine own part,

  I have toward heaven breathed a secret vow

  To live in prayer and contemplation,

  Only attended by Nerissa here,

  Until her husband and my lord’s return.

  There is a monastery two miles off,

  And there we will abide. I do desire you

  Not to deny33 this imposition,

  The which my love and some necessity

  Now lays upon you.

  LORENZO Madam, with all my heart,

  I shall obey you in all fair commands.

  PORTIA My people38 do already know my mind,

  And will acknowledge you and Jessica

  In place of Lord Bassanio and myself.

  So fare you well till we shall meet again.

  LORENZO Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you.

  JESSICA I wish your ladyship all heart’s content.

  PORTIA I thank you for your wish, and am well pleased

  To wish it back on you: fare you well Jessica.

  Exeunt [Jessica and Lorenzo]

  Now, Balthasar,

  As I have ever found thee honest-true47,

  So let me find thee still. Take this same letter,

  Gives a letter

  And use thou all the endeavour of a man

  In speed to Padua. See thou render50 this

  Into my cousin’s hand, Doctor Bellario,

  And look what52 notes and garments he doth give thee,

  Bring them, I pray thee with imagined53 speed

  Unto the traject54, to the common ferry

  Which trades55 to Venice; waste no time in words,

  But get thee gone. I shall be there before thee.

  BALTHASAR Madam, I go with all convenient speed.

  [Exit]

  PORTIA Come on, Nerissa, I have work in hand

  That you yet know not of; we’ll see our husbands

  Before they think of us.

  NERISSA Shall they see us?

  PORTIA They shall, Nerissa, but in such a habit62,

  That they shall think we are accomplishèd63

  With that we lack64. I’ll hold thee any wager,

  When we are both accoutred65 like young men,

  I’ll prove the prettier fellow of the two,

  And wear my dagger with the braver67 grace,

  And speak between the change of man and boy

  With a reed voice68, and turn two mincing69 steps

  Into a manly stride, and speak of frays70

  Like a fine bragging youth, and tell quaint71 lies,

  How honourable ladies sought my love,

  Which I denying, they fell sick and died.

  I could not do withal74. Then I’ll repent,

  And wish for all that, that I had not killed them;

  And twenty of these puny76 lies I’ll tell,

  That men shall swear I have discontinued school

  Above78 a twelvemonth. I have within my mind

  A thousand raw79 tricks of these bragging Jacks,

  Which I will practise.

  NERISSA Why, shall we turn to81 men?

  PORTIA Fie, what a question’s that,

  If thou wert near a lewd interpreter!

  But come, I’ll tell thee all my whole device84

  When I am in my coach, which stays for us

  At the park gate; and therefore haste away,

  For we must measure87 twenty miles today.

  Exeunt

  [Act 3 Scene 5]

  running scene 17

  Enter [Lancelet the] Clown and Jessica

  LANCELET Yes, truly, for look you, the sins of the father are to

  be laid upon the children: therefore, I promise2 you, I fear you.

  I was always plain3 with you, and so now I speak my agitation

  of the matter: therefore be of good cheer, for truly I think you

  are damned. There is but one hope in it that can do you any

  good, and that is but a kind of bastard6 hope neither.

  JESSICA And what hope is that, I pray thee?

  LANCELET Marry, you may partly hope that your father got8

  you not, that you are not the Jew’s daughter.

  JESSICA That were a kind of bastard hope indeed. So the sins

  of my mother should be visited upon me.

  LANCELET Truly then I fear you are damned both by father and

  mother: thus when I shun Scylla, your father, I fall into

  Charybdis13, your mother; well, you are gone14 both ways.

  JESSICA I shall be saved by my husband15. He hath made me a

  Christian.

  LANCELET Truly, the more to blame he. We were Christians

  enow17 before, e’en as many as could well live one by18 another.

  This making of Christians will raise the price of hogs19. If we

  grow all to be pork-eaters, we shall not shortly have a rasher

  on the coals for money21.

  Enter Lorenzo

  JESSICA I’ll tell my husband, Lancelet, what you say. Here he

  comes.

  LORENZO I shall grow jealous of you shortly, Lancelet, if you

  thus get my wife into corners25.

  JESSICA Nay, you need not fear us, Lorenzo. Lancelet and I

  are27 out. He tells me flatly there is no mercy for me in heaven

  because I am a Jew’s daughter. And he says, you are no good

  member of the commonwealth, for in converting Jews to

  Christians, you raise the price of pork.

  LORENZO I shall answer that better to the commonwealth


  than you can the getting up of the negro’s belly32. The Moor is

  with child by you, Lancelet.

  LANCELET It is much34 that the Moor should be more than

  reason, but if she be less than an honest woman, she is

  indeed more than I took her for35.

  LORENZO How every fool can play upon the word! I think the

  best grace38 of wit will shortly turn into silence, and discourse

  grow commendable in none only but parrots. Go in, sirrah,

  bid them40 prepare for dinner.

  LANCELET That is done, sir, they have all stomachs41.

  LORENZO Goodly lord, what a wit-snapper42 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 duty46.

  LORENZO Yet more quarrelling with occasion47! 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

  fellows50; bid them cover the table, serve in the meat, and we

  will come in to dinner.

  LANCELET For52 the table, sir, it shall be served in: for the meat,

  sir, it shall be covered53: for your coming in to dinner, sir, why,

  let it be as humours and conceits54 shall govern.

  Exit Clown [Lancelet]

  LORENZO O dear discretion55, how his words are suited!

  The fool hath planted in his memory

  An army of good words, and I do know

  A many58 fools that stand in better place,

  Garnished59 like him, that for a tricksy word

  Defy the matter60. How cheerest thou, Jessica?

  And now, good sweet, say thy opinion,

  How dost thou like the lord Bassanio’s wife?

  JESSICA Past all expressing63. 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 reason68 he should never come to heaven.

  Why, if two gods should play some heav’nly match

  And on the wager lay70 two earthly women,

  And Portia one, there must be something else

  Pawned72 with the other, for the poor rude world

  Hath not her fellow73.

  LORENZO Even74 such a husband

  Hast thou of75 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 stomach78.

  LORENZO No, pray thee let it serve for table-talk,