William Shakespeare

“ That souls of animals infuse themselves ⁠132
Into the trunks of men: thy currish spirit
Govern'd a wolf, who, hang'd for human slaughter,
Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet,
And whilst thou lay'st in thy unhallow'd dam, ⁠136
Infus'd itself in thee; for thy desires
Are wolfish, bloody, starv'd, and ravenous.
Shy. Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond,
Thou but offend'st thy lungs to speak so loud: ⁠140
Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall
To cureless ruin. I stand here for law. ”

“ A Room in Portia's House]
Enter Portia, Nerissa, Lorenzo, Jessica, and a man of Portia's [Balthazar] .
Lor. Madam, although I speak it in your presence,
You have a noble and a true conceit
Of godlike amity; which appears most strongly
In bearing thus the absence of your lord. 4
But if you knew to whom you show this honour,
How true a gentleman you send relief,
How dear a lover of my lord your husband,
I know you would be prouder of the work 8
Than customary bounty can enforce you. ”

“ Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath. 16
Must give: For what? for lead? hazard for lead?
This casket threatens. Men that hazard all
Do it in hope of fair advantages:
A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross; 20
I'll then nor give nor hazard aught for lead.
What says the silver with her virgin hue?
Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.
As much as he deserves! Pause there, Morocco, 24
And weigh thy value with an even hand. ”

“ No, not for Venice.
Por.⁠Why, this bond is forfeit;
And lawfully by this the Jew may claim
A pound of flesh, to be by him cut off ⁠232
Nearest the merchant's heart. Be merciful:
Take thrice thy money; bid me tear the bond.
Shy. When it is paid according to the tenour.
It doth appear you are a worthy judge; ⁠236
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 judgment: by my soul I swear ⁠240
There is no power in the tongue of man
To alter me. I stay here on my bond. ”

“ Enter the Maskers, Gratiano and Salarino.
Gra. This is the penthouse under which Lorenzo
Desir'd us to make stand.
Salar.His hour is almost past.
Gra. And it is marvel he out-dwells his hour,
For lovers ever run before the clock. 4
Salar. O! ten times faster Venus' pigeons fly
To seal love's bonds new-made, than they are wont
To keep obliged faith unforfeited! ”

“ Good cheer, Antonio! What, man, courage yet!
The Jew shall have my flesh, blood, bones, and all, ⁠112
Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood.
Ant. I am a tainted wether of the flock,
Meetest for death: the weakest kind of fruit
Drops earliest to the ground ”

“ It is absurd to suppose that Shakespeare intended Shylock to be a hero, or to carry the sympathy of the audience; on the other hand, Shakespeare was not writing anti-Semitic propaganda, but a play for the theatre, in which the interest is immensely heightened by making every character a recognizable human being. ”

“ Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods;
Since nought so stockish, hard, and full of rage, 81
But music for the time doth change his nature.
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds, 84
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus:
Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music. 88
Enter Portia and Nerissa [at a distance] . ”

“ One half of me is yours, the other half yours, 16
Mine own, I would say; but if mine, then yours,
And so all yours. O! these naughty times
Put bars between the owners and their rights;
And so, though yours, not yours. Prove it so, 20
Let fortune go to hell for it, not I.
I speak too long; but 'tis to peise the time,
To eke it and to draw it out in length,
To stay you from election.
Bass.Let me choose; 24
For as I am, I live upon the rack.
Por. Upon the rack, Bassanio! then confess
What treason there is mingled with your love. ”

“ But whatever incidents Shakespeare may or may not have drawn from sources, the oftener one compares his play with these stories, the greater seems his genius. His characters are complex human beings; and the speech of Portia on mercy is only one of the evidences of the richness of the mind and character whence it came.
Shylock is a man as well as a Jew ”

“ Or is your gold and silver ewes and rams? ⁠96
Shy. I cannot tell; I make it breed as fast:
But note me, signior.
Ant.⁠Mark you this, Bassanio,
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul, producing holy witness, ⁠100
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart.
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!
Shy. Three thousand ducats; 'tis a good round sum.
Three months from twelve, then let me see the rate. ⁠105
Ant. Well, Shylock, shall we be beholding to you? ”

“ The Jew replied, I will do no such thing. The judge answered, it will be better for you. The Jew was positive to yield nothing. Upon this they go to the tribunal appointed for such judgments; and our judge says to the Jew, Do you cut a pound of this man's flesh where you choose. The Jew ordered him to be stripped naked; and takes in his hand a razor, which had been made on purpose. Giannetto seeing this, turning to the judge. This, says he, is not the favour I asked of you. Be quiet, says he, the pound of flesh is not yet cut off. ”

“ Lor. Descend, for you must be my torch-bearer. 40
Jes. What! must I hold a candle to my shames?
They in themselves, good sooth, are too-too light.
Why, 'tis an office of discovery, love,
And I should be obscur'd.
Lor.So are you, sweet, 44
Even in the lovely garnish of a boy.
But come at once;
For the close night doth play the runaway,
And we are stay'd for at Bassanio's feast. 48
Jes. I will make fast the doors, and gild myself
With some more ducats, and be with you straight.
[Exit above.] Gra. Now, by my hood, a Gentile, and no Jew.
Lor. Beshrew me, but I love her heartily ”

“ I know not what I shall think of that; 96
but I am Launcelot, the Jew's man, and I am
sure Margery your wife is my mother.
Gob. Her name is Margery, indeed: I'll be
sworn, if thou be Launcelot, thou art mine own 100
flesh and blood. Lord worshipped might he be!
what a beard hast thou got! thou hast got more
hair on thy chin than Dobbin my phill-horse has
on his tail. 104
Laun. It should seem then that Dobbin's tail
grows backward: I am sure he had more hair on
his tail than I have on my face, when I last saw
him. 108
Gob. Lord! how art thou changed. ”

“ Shakespeare may have forgotten that on a bright, moonlight night one cannot see many stars. Furness, however, suggests that the 'patines' are not stars, but bits of illuminated cloud.
V. i. 127, 128. We should hold day with the Antipodes, If you would walk in absence of the sun. With you to replace the sun in the night we should think that our day, as it is on the other side of the globe; i.e., you would turn night to day and outshine the sun. ”

“ Richard Mansfield, with his uncanny intelligence, gave a memorable presentation, in which the fiendish character of Shylock was predominant, and yet his humanity not lost. Contemporary with him was the great German actor, Ernst von Possart, who made Der Kaufmann von Venedig a favorite play with Continental audiences. He was one of the best of all Shylocks. At the present writing (1922) the only important English-speaking actors of the Jew are Edward Sothern, who, with Julia Marlowe as Portia, gives an admirable production ”

“ The words expressly are 'a pound of flesh:' ⁠308
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 ⁠312
Unto the state of Venice.
Gra. O upright judge! Mark, Jew: O learned judge!
Shy. Is that the law?
Por.⁠Thyself shalt see the act;
For, as thou urgest justice, be assur'd ⁠316
Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desir'st.
Gra. O learned judge! Mark, Jew: a learned judge! ”

“ There, where your argosies with portly sail,—
Like signiors and rich burghers on the flood,
Or, as it were, the pageants of the sea,—
Do overpeer the petty traffickers, ⁠12
That curtsy to them, do them reverence,
As they fly by them with their woven wings.
Salan. Believe me, sir, had I such venture forth,
The better part of my affections would ⁠16
Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still
Plucking the grass to know where sits the wind ”

“ Which rather threat'nest than dost promise aught,
Thy plainness moves me more than eloquence,
And here choose I: joy be the consequence!
Por. [Aside.] How all the other passions fleet to air,
As doubtful thoughts, and rash-embrac'd despair, 109
And shuddering fear, and green-ey'd jealousy.
O love! be moderate; allay thy ecstasy;
In measure rain thy Joy; scant this excess; 112
I feel too much thy blessing; make it less,
For fear I surfeit!
Bass.What find I here?
[Opening the leaden casket.]
Fair Portia's counterfeit! What demi-god
Hath come so near creation? Move these eyes? ”

“ Thou naughty gaoler, that thou art so fond
To come abroad with him at his request.
Ant. I pray thee, hear me speak.
Shy. I'll have my bond; I will not hear thee speak:
I'll have my bond, and therefore speak no more. 13
I'll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool,
To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield
To Christian intercessors. Follow not; 16
I'll have no speaking; I will have my bond.
Exit Jew.
Salar. It is the most impenetrable cur
That ever kept with men. ”

“ Thus the 'beauteous scarf Veiling an Indian beauty' means the fair veil concealing a black, that is loathsome, beauty. ”

“ His ring I do accept most thankfully;
And so, I pray you, tell him: furthermore,
I pray you, show my youth old Shylock's house.
Gra. That will I do.
Ner.⁠Sir, I would speak with you. ⁠12
[Aside to Portia.] I'll see if I can get my husband's ring,
Which I did make him swear to keep for ever.
Por. Thou mayst, I warrant. We shall have old swearing
That they did give the rings away to men; ⁠16
But we'll outface them, and outswear them too.
Away! make haste: thou know'st where I will tarry.
Ner. Come, good sir, will you show me to this house? ”

“ Besides, it should appear, that if he had
The present money to discharge the Jew,
He would not take it. Never did I know
A creature, that did bear the shape of man, 276
So keen and greedy to confound a man. ”

“ There has been much dispute over the meaning of these lines, all due to the punctuation of the early editions, which unanimously omit the semicolon after 'I lov'd' and insert a comma (or period) after 'intermission.' If the old punctuation is retained and understood to mark the logical relations of the parts of the sentence, the best explanation of line 200 would be to interpret 'intermission' as meaning comedy, like 'interlude.' You loved in the style of high drama, I match you with love less dignified perhaps, but real: I am to you as farce to drama. ”

“ Most
beautiful pagan, most sweet Jew! If a Christian
did not play the knave and get thee, I am much 12
deceived. But, adieu! these foolish drops do
somewhat drown my manly spirit: adieu! Exit.
Jes. Farewell, good Launcelot.
Alack, what heinous sin is it in me 16
To be asham'd to be my father's child!
But though I am a daughter to his blood,
I am not to his manners. O Lorenzo!
If thou keep promise, I shall end this strife, 20
Become a Christian, and thy loving wife. Exit.
Scene Four
[The Same. A Street]
Enter Gratiano, Lorenzo, Salarino, and Salanio. ”