THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

ACT IV.

SCENE I.-Venice. A court of justice.

Enter the DUKE, the Magnificoes, ANTONIO, BASSANIO, GRATIANO, SALERIO, and others. 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

5'

1 Antonio, a merchant, and Bassanio his kinsman, were two gentlemen of Venice. Bassanio was paying court to Portia, a wealthy and accomplished heiress, and being poor, and wishing to appear before Portia in a manner becoming his rank, asked Antonio to lend him 3,000 ducats. Antonio was unable to do this, but he borrowed the money from Shylock, a rich Jew money-lender, thinking to repay the loan when certain of his ships, on their way home with merchandise, should arrive. Now Shylock (who had often been reviled by Antonio for his greed in money-lending and treated with the utmost contempt by him) hated Antonio, both because he lent money without interest and for his insults, and he thought he saw a way to revenge. Accordingly he offered to lend the money to Antonio upon the agreement (which he pretended was made in sport) that if the loan were not repaid by a certain date, Antonio should forfeit a pound of his flesh, to be cut from any part of his body that Shylock might choose. Antonio's ships were lost at sea, and he was unable to repay the loan. The Jew then claimed the penalty, and the case was brought before the Duke of Venice to be decided. Meanwhile Portia, who had married Bassanio, hearing of the great trouble that Antonio had got into for the sake of Bassanio, determined to go to Venice, disguised as a lawyer, to plead Antonio's cause. She obtained advice and disguises for herself and Nerissa, her waitingmaid (who took the part of her clerk) from Bellario, a kinsman and doctor of law, and went to Venice without telling her husband. This scene gives the trial before the Duke of Venice. Gratiano and Salerio are friends of Antonio and Bassanio.

And that no lawful means can carry me
Out of his envy's reach, I do oppose
My patience to his fury, and am arm'd
To suffer, with a quietness of spirit,
The very tyranny and rage of his.

ΙΟ

15

Duke. Go one, and call the Jew into court. Salerio. He is ready at the door: he comes, my

lord.

Enter SHYLOCK.

Duke. Make room, and let him stand before our

face.

20

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 exact'st the penalty,

Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh,

Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture,

25

But, touch'd 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,

Enow to press a royal merchant down

30

And pluck commiseration of his state

From brassy bosoms and rough hearts of flint,
From stubborn Turks and Tartars, never train'd
To offices of tender courtesy.

We all expect a gentle answer, Jew.

35

Shylock. I have possess'd 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 answer'd?

40

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 answer'd yet?
Some men there are love not a gaping pig ;
Some, that are mad if they behold a cat ;
Some, when they hear the bagpipe: for affection,
Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood

45

49

Of what it likes or loathes. Now, for your answer :
As there is no firm reason to be render'd,
Why he cannot abide a gaping pig;

Why he, a harmless necessary cat ;

55

Why he, a woollen bag-pipe; 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 60
I bear Antonio, that I follow thus

A losing suit against him. Are you answer'd?

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.

65

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,

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75

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 judgment and the Jew his will. Bassanio. For thy three thousand ducats here is six. 84

80

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, rendering 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,

90

Because you bought them: shall I say to you,
Let them be free, marry them to your heirs?
Why sweat they under burthens? let their beds 95
Be made as soft as yours and let their palates
Be season'd 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.

100

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 to-day.

Salerio.

My lord, here stays without

A messenger with letters from the doctor,
New come from Padua.

105

ΙΙΟ

Duke. Bring us the letters; call the messenger. 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, 115

Meetest for death: the weakest kind of fruit
Drops earliest to the ground; and so let me :
You cannot better be employ'd, Bassanio,
Than to live still and write mine epitaph.

Enter NERISSA, dressed like a lawyer's clerk.

Duke. Came you from Padua, from Bellario? 120 Nerissa. From both, my lord. Bellario greets [Presenting a letter.

your grace. Bassanio. Why dost thou whet thy knife so

earnestly?

Shylock. To cut the forfeiture from that bankrupt there.

Gratiano. Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh

Jew,

Thou makest thy knife keen; but no metal can, 125 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.

Gratiano. O, be thou damn'd, inexecrable dog! And for thy life let justice be accused.

130

Thou almost makest me waver in my faith

To hold opinion with Pythagoras,'

That souls of animals infuse themselves
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,
Infused itself in thee; for thy desires

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Are wolvish, bloody, starved and ravenous.

Shylock. Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond,

Thou but offend'st thy lungs to speak so loud:
Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall
To cureless ruin. I stand here for law.

140

Duke. This letter from Bellario doth commend

1 A Greek philosopher, who is said to have taught the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, or passage of the soul at death from one human being to another, or from a human being to an animal.