The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works

by William Shakespeare

  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 Lorenzo and Jessica

  Now, Balthasar,

  As I have ever found thee honest-true,

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

  And use thou all th’endeavour of a man

  In speed to Padua. See thou render this

  Into my cousin’s hands, Doctor Bellario,

  And look what notes and garments he doth give

  thee,

  Bring them, I pray thee, with imagined speed

  Unto the traject, to the common ferry

  Which trades 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 habit

  That they shall think we are accomplishèd

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

  When we are both accoutered like young men

  I’ll prove the prettier fellow of the two,

  And wear my dagger with the braver grace,

  And speak between the change of man and boy

  With a reed voice, and turn two mincing steps

  Into a manly stride, and speak of frays

  Like a fine bragging youth, and tell quaint lies

  How honourable ladies sought my love,

  Which I denying, they fell sick and died.

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

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

  And twenty of these puny lies I’ll tell,

  That men shall swear I have discontinued school

  Above a twelvemonth. I have within my mind

  A thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks

  Which I will practise.

  NERISSA Why, shall we turn to men?

  PORTIA Fie, what a question’s that

  If thou wert near a lewd interpreter!

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

  When I am in my coach, which stays for us

  At the park gate; and therefore haste away,

  For we must measure twenty miles today. Exeunt

  3.5 Enter Lancelot the clown, and Jessica

  LANCELOT Yes, truly; for look you, the sins of the father are to be laid upon the children, therefore I promise you I fear you. I was always plain with you, and so now I speak my agitation of the matter, therefore be o’ 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 bastard hope, neither.

  JESSICA And what hope is that, I pray thee?

  LANCELOT Marry, you may partly hope that your father got 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.

  LANCELOT Truly then, I fear you are damned both by father and mother. Thus, when I shun Scylla your father, I fall into Charybdis your mother. Well, you are gone both ways.

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

  LANCELOT Truly, the more to blame he! We were Christians enough before, e’en as many as could well live one by another. This making of Christians will raise the price of hogs. If we grow all to be pork-eaters we shall not shortly have a rasher on the coals for money.

  Enter Lorenzo

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

  LORENZO I shall grow jealous of you shortly, Lancelot, if you thus get my wife into corners.

  JESSICA Nay, you need not fear us, Lorenzo. Lancelot and I are out. He tells me flatly there’s 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 (to Lancelot) I shall answer that better to the commonwealth than you can the getting up of the Negro’s belly. The Moor is with child by you, Lancelot. LANCELOT It is much 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 for.

  LORENZO How every fool can play upon the word! I think the best grace of wit will shortly turn into silence, and discourse grow commendable in none only but parrots. Go in, sirrah, bid them prepare for dinner.

  LANCELOT That is done, sir. They have all stomachs.

  LORENZO Goodly Lord, what a wit-snapper are you Then bid them prepare dinner.

  LANCELOT That is done too, sir; only ’cover’ is the word.

  LORENZO Will you cover then, sir?

  LANCELOT Not so, sir, neither. I know my duty.

  LORENZO Yet more quarrelling with occasion! 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 fellows; bid them cover the table, serve in the meat, and we will come in to dinner.

  LANCELOT For the table, sir, it shall be served in. For the meat, sir, it shall be covered. For your coming in to dinner, sir, why, let it be as humours and conceits shall govern. Exit

  LORENZO

  O dear discretion, how his words are suited!

  The fool hath planted in his memory

  An army of good words, and I do know

  A many fools that stand in better place,

  Garnished like him, that for a tricksy word

  Defy the matter. How cheer’st thou, Jessica?

  And now, good sweet, say thy opinion:

  How dost thou like the Lord Bassanio’s wife?

  JESSICA

  Past all expressing. 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 reason he should never come to heaven.

  Why, if two gods should play some heavenly match

  And on the wager lay two earthly women,

  And Portia one, there must be something else

  Pawned with the other; for the poor rude world

  Hath not her fellow.

  LORENZO Even such a husband

  Hast thou of 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 stomach.

  LORENZO

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

  Then, howsome‘er thou speak’st, ’mong other things

  I shall digest it.

  JESSICA Well, I’ll set you forth. Exeunt

  4.1 Enter the Duke, the magnificoes, Antonio, Bassanio, Graziano, and Salerio

  DUKE

  What, is Antonio here?

  ANTONIO Ready, so please your grace.

  DUKE

  I am sorry for thee. Thou art come to answer

  A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch

  Uncapable of pity, void and empty

  From any dram of mercy.

  ANTONIO I have heard

  Your grace hath ta’en great pains to qualify

  His rigorous course, but since he stands obdurate,

  And that no lawful means can carry me

  Out of his envy’s reach, I do oppose

&n
bsp; My patience to his fury, and am armed

  To suffer with a quietness of spirit

  The very tyranny and rage of his.

  DUKE

  Go one, and call the Jew into the court.

  SALERIO

  He is ready at the door. He comes, my lord.

  Enter Shylock

  DUKE

  Make room, and let him stand before our face.

  Shylock, the world thinks—and I think so too—

  That thou but lead‘st this fashion of thy malice

  To the last hour of act, and then ’tis thought

  Thou’lt show thy mercy and remorse more strange

  Than is thy strange apparent cruelty,

  And where thou now exacts the penalty—

  Which is a pound of this poor merchant’s flesh—

  Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture,

  But, touched with human gentleness and love,

  Forgive a moiety of the principal,

  Glancing an eye of pity on his losses,

  That have of late so huddled on his back

  Enough to press a royal merchant down

  And pluck commiseration of his state

  From brassy bosoms and rough hearts of flint,

  From stubborn Turks and Tartars never trained

  To offices of tender courtesy.

  We all expect a gentle answer, Jew.

  SHYLOCK

  I have possessed your grace of what I purpose,

  And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn

  To have the due and forfeit of my bond.

  If you deny it, let the danger light

  Upon your charter and your city’s freedom.

  You’ll ask me why I rather choose to have

  A weight of carrion flesh than to receive

  Three thousand ducats. I’ll not answer that,

  But say it is my humour. Is it answered?

  What if my house be troubled with a rat,

  And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats

  To have it baned? What, are you answered yet?

  Some men there are love not a gaping pig,

  Some that are mad if they behold a cat,

  And others when the bagpipe sings i’th’ nose

  Cannot contain their urine; for affection,

  Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood

  Of what it likes or loathes. Now for your answer:

  As there is no firm reason to be rendered

  Why he cannot abide a gaping pig,

  Why he a harmless necessary cat,

  Why he a woollen bagpipe, but of force

  Must yield to such inevitable shame

  As to offend himself being offended,

  So can I give no reason, nor I will not,

  More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing

  I bear Antonio, that I follow thus

  A losing suit against him. Are you answered?

  BASSANIO

  This is no answer, thou unfeeling man,

  To excuse the current of thy cruelty.

  SHYLOCK

  I am not bound to please thee with my answers.

  BASSANIO

  Do all men kill the things they do not love?

  SHYLOCK

  Hates any man the thing he would not kill?

  BASSANIO

  Every offence is not a hate at first.

  SHYLOCK

  What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice?

  ANTONIO

  I pray you think you question with the Jew.

  You may as well go stand upon the beach

  And bid the main flood bate his usual height;

  You may as well use question with the wolf

  Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb;

  You may as well forbid the mountain pines

  To wag their high tops and to make no noise

  When they are fretten with the gusts of heaven,

  You may as well do anything most hard

  As seek to soften that—than which what’s harder?—

  His Jewish heart. Therefore, I do beseech you,

  Make no more offers, use no farther means,

  But with all brief and plain conveniency

  Let me have judgement and the Jew his will.

  BASSANIO (to Shylock)

  For thy three thousand ducats here is six.

  SHYLOCK

  If every ducat in six thousand ducats

  Were in six parts, and every part a ducat,

  I would not draw them. I would have my bond.

  DUKE

  How shalt thou hope for mercy, rend’ring none?

  SHYLOCK

  What judgement shall I dread, doing no wrong?

  You have among you many a purchased slave

  Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules,

  You use in abject and in slavish parts

  Because you bought them. Shall I say to you

  ‘Let them be free, marry them to your heirs.

  Why sweat they under burdens? Let their beds

  Be made as soft as yours, and let their palates

  Be seasoned with such viands.’ You will answer

  ‘The slaves are ours.’ So do I answer you.

  The pound of flesh which I demand of him

  Is dearly bought. ’Tis mine, and I will have it.

  If you deny me, fie upon your law:

  There is no force in the decrees of Venice.

  I stand for judgement. Answer: shall I have it?

  DUKE

  Upon my power I may dismiss this court

  Unless Bellario, a learned doctor

  Whom I have sent for to determine this,

  Come here today.

  SALERIO My lord, here stays without

  A messenger with letters from the doctor,

  New come from Padua.

  DUKE

  Bring us the letters. Call the messenger. ⌈Exit Salerio⌉

  BASSANIO

  Good cheer, Antonio. What, man, courage yet!

  The Jew shall have my flesh, blood, bones, and all

  Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood.

  ANTONIO

  I am a tainted wether of the flock,

  Meetest for death. The weakest kind of fruit

  Drops earliest to the ground; and so let me.

  You cannot better be employed, Bassanio,

  Than to live still and write mine epitaph.

  Enter ⌈Salerio, with⌉ Nerissa apparelled as a judge’s clerk

  DUKE

  Came you from Padua, from Bellario?

  NERISSA

  From both, my lord. Bellario greets your grace.

  She gives a letter to the Duke.

  Shylock whets his knife on his shoe

  BASSANIO (to Shylock)

  Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?

  SHYLOCK

  To cut the forfeit from that bankrupt there.

  GRAZIANO

  Not on thy sole but on thy soul, harsh Jew,

  Thou mak’st thy knife keen. But no metal can,

  No, not the hangman’s axe, bear half the keenness

  Of thy sharp envy. Can no prayers pierce thee?

  SHYLOCK

  No, none that thou hast wit enough to make.

  GRAZIANO

  O, be thou damned, inexorable dog,

  And for thy life let justice be accused!

  Thou almost mak‘st me waver in my faith

  To hold opinion with Pythagoras

  That souls of animals infuse themselves

  Into the trunks of men. Thy currish spirit

  Governed a wolf who, hanged for human slaughter,

  Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet,

  And, whilst thou lay’st in thy unhallowed dam,

  Infused itself in thee; for thy desires

  Are wolvish, bloody, starved, and ravenous.

  SHYLOCK

  Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond

  Thou but o
ffend’st thy lungs to speak so loud.

  Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall

  To cureless ruin. I stand here for law.

  DUKE

  This letter from Bellario doth commend

  A young and learned doctor to our court.

  Where is he?

  NERISSA He attendeth here hard by

  To know your answer, whether you’ll admit him.

  DUKE

  With all my heart. Some three or four of you

  Go give him courteous conduct to this place.

  Exeunt three or four

  Meantime the court shall hear Bellario’s letter.

  (Reads) ‘Your grace shall understand that at the receipt

  of your letter I am very sick, but in the instant that

  your messenger came, in loving visitation was with me

  a young doctor of Rome; his name is Balthasar. I

  acquainted him with the cause in controversy between

  the Jew and Antonio, the merchant. We turned o’er

  many books together. He is furnished with my opinion

  which, bettered with his own learning—the greatness

  whereof I cannot enough commend—comes with him

  at my importunity to fill up your grace’s request in my

  stead. I beseech you let his lack of years be no

  impediment to let him lack a reverend estimation, for

  I never knew so young a body with so old a head. I

  leave him to your gracious acceptance, whose trial

  shall better publish his commendation.’

  Enter ⌈three or four with⌉ Portia as Balthasar

  You hear the learn’d Bellario, what he writes;

  And here, I take it, is the doctor come.

  (To Portia) Give me your hand. Come you from old

  Bellario?

  PORTIA

  I did, my lord.

  DUKE You are welcome. Take your place.

  Are you acquainted with the difference

  That holds this present question in the court?

  PORTIA

  I am informed throughly of the cause.

  Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew?

  DUKE

  Antonio and old Shylock, both stand forth.

  Antonio and Shylock stand forth

  PORTIA

  Is your name Shylock?

  SHYLOCK Shylock is my name.

  PORTIA

  Of a strange nature is the suit you follow,

  Yet in such rule that the Venetian law

  Cannot impugn you as you do proceed.

  (To Antonio) You stand within his danger, do you not?

  ANTONIO

  Ay, so he says.