If that will not suffice,
I will be bound to pay it ten times o’er
On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart.
If this will not suffice, it must appear217
That malice bears down truth218. And I beseech you
Wrest once219 the law to your authority.
To do a great right, do a little wrong,
And curb this cruel devil of his will.
PORTIA It must not be; there is no power in Venice
Can alter a decree establishèd.
’Twill be recorded for224 a precedent,
And many an error by the same example
Will rush into the state. It cannot be.
SHYLOCK A Daniel227 come to judgement! Yea, a Daniel!
O wise young judge, how do I honour thee!
PORTIA I pray you let me look upon the bond.
SHYLOCK Here ’tis, most reverend doctor, here it is.
Gives Portia the bond
PORTIA Shylock, there’s thrice thy money offered thee.
SHYLOCK An oath, an oath, I have an oath in heaven.
Shall I lay perjury upon my soul?
No, not for Venice.
PORTIA Why, this bond is forfeit,
And lawfully by this the Jew may claim
A pound of flesh, to be by him cut off
Nearest the merchant’s heart. Be merciful.
Take thrice thy money, bid me tear the bond.
SHYLOCK When it is paid according to the tenure240.
It doth appear you are a worthy judge,
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 judgement. By my soul I swear,
There is no power in the tongue of man
To alter me. I stay here on my bond.
ANTONIO Most heartily I do beseech the court
To give the judgement.
PORTIA Why then, thus it is:
You must prepare your bosom for his knife.
SHYLOCK O noble judge! O excellent young man!
PORTIA For the intent and purpose of the law
Hath full relation to254 the penalty,
Which here appeareth due upon the bond.
SHYLOCK ’Tis very true. O wise and upright judge!
How much more elder art thou than thy looks!
PORTIA Therefore lay bare your bosom.
SHYLOCK Ay, his breast,
So says the bond, doth it not, noble judge?
‘Nearest his heart’, those are the very words.
PORTIA It is so. Are there balance262 here to weigh
The flesh?
SHYLOCK I have them ready.
PORTIA Have by265 some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge,
To stop266 his wounds, lest he should bleed to death.
SHYLOCK Is it so nominated in the bond?
PORTIA It is not so expressed, but what of that?
’Twere good you do so much for charity.
SHYLOCK I cannot find it, ’tis not in the bond.
Looking at the bond
PORTIA Come, merchant, have you anything to say?
ANTONIO But little. I am armed272 and well prepared.
Give me your hand, Bassanio. Fare you well.
Grieve not that I am fall’n to this for you,
For herein Fortune shows herself more kind
Than is her custom. It is still276 her use
To let the wretched man outlive his wealth,
To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow
An age of poverty, from which ling’ring penance
Of such misery doth she cut me off.
Commend me to your honourable wife.
Tell her the process282 of Antonio’s end.
Say how I loved you; speak me fair in death283.
And when the tale is told, bid her be judge
Whether Bassanio had not once a love285.
Repent not you that you shall lose your friend,
And he repents not that he pays your debt.
For if the Jew do cut but deep enough,
I’ll pay it instantly with all my heart289.
BASSANIO Antonio, I am married to a wife
Which291 is as dear to me as life itself,
But life itself, my wife, and all the world,
Are not with me esteemed above thy life.
I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all
Here to this devil, to deliver295 you.
PORTIA Your wife would give you little thanks for that,
If she were by to hear you make the offer.
GRATIANO I have a wife, whom, I protest, I love.
I would she were in heaven, so she could
Entreat some power to change this currish Jew.
NERISSA ’Tis well you offer it behind her back,
The wish would make else302 an unquiet house.
SHYLOCK These be the Christian husbands. I have a daughter.
Would304 any of the stock of Barabbas
Aside?
Had been her husband rather than a Christian!
We trifle306 time. I pray thee pursue sentence.
PORTIA A pound of that same merchant’s flesh is thine.
The court awards it, and the law doth give it.
SHYLOCK Most rightful judge!
PORTIA And you must cut this flesh from off his breast.
The law allows it, and the court awards it.
SHYLOCK Most learnèd judge! A sentence! Come, prepare!
PORTIA Tarry a little, there is something else.
This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood,
The words expressly are ‘a pound of flesh’.
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 confiscate319
Unto the state of Venice.
GRATIANO O upright judge! Mark321, Jew. O learnèd judge!
SHYLOCK Is that the law?
PORTIA Thyself shalt see the act,
For as thou urgest justice, be assured
Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desirest.
GRATIANO O learnèd judge! Mark, Jew: a learnèd judge!
SHYLOCK I take this offer, then. Pay the bond thrice
And let the Christian go.
BASSANIO Here is the money.
PORTIA Soft!330
The Jew shall have all331 justice. Soft, no haste.
He shall have nothing but the penalty.
GRATIANO O Jew! An upright judge, a learnèd judge!
PORTIA Therefore prepare thee to cut off the flesh.
Shed thou no blood, nor cut thou less nor more
But just a pound of flesh. If thou tak’st more
Or less than a just337 pound, be it so much
As makes it light or heavy in the substance338,
Or the division of the twentieth part
Of one poor scruple340, nay, if the scale do turn
But in the estimation of a hair341,
Thou diest and all thy goods are confiscate.
GRATIANO A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew!
Now, infidel, I have thee on the hip344.
PORTIA Why doth the Jew pause? Take thy forfeiture.
SHYLOCK Give me my principal346, and let me go.
BASSANIO I have it ready for thee, here it is.
PORTIA He hath refused it in the open court.
He shall have merely349 justice and his bond.
GRATIANO A Daniel, still say I, a second Daniel!
I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word.
SHYLOCK Shall I not have barely352 my principal?
PORTIA Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture,
To be taken so at thy peril, Jew.
SHYLOCK Why, then the devil give him good355 of it!
I’ll stay356 no longer question.
Starts to go
PORTIA Tarry, Jew.
The law hath yet another hold on you.
It is enacted in the laws of Venice,
If it be proved against an alien360
That by direct or indirect attempts
He seek the life of any citizen,
The party gainst the which he doth contrive363
Shall seize364 one half his goods, the other half
Comes to the privy coffer365 of the state,
And the offender’s life lies in366 the mercy
Of the duke only, gainst all other voice367.
In which predicament, I say, thou stand’st,
For it appears, by manifest proceeding369,
That indirectly, and directly too,
Thou hast contrived against the very life
Of the defendant, and thou hast incurred
The danger373 formerly by me rehearsed.
Down374 therefore, and beg mercy of the duke.
GRATIANO Beg that thou mayst have leave to hang thyself,
And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state,
Thou hast not left the value of a cord377:
Therefore thou must be hanged at the state’s charge378.
DUKE That thou shalt see the difference of our spirit,
I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it.
For381 half thy wealth, it is Antonio’s,
The other half comes to the general state,
Which humbleness383 may drive unto a fine.
PORTIA Ay, for the state, not for Antonio384.
SHYLOCK Nay, take my life and all. Pardon not that.
You take my house when you do take the prop
That doth sustain my house. You take my life
When you do take the means whereby I live.
PORTIA What mercy can you render him, Antonio?
GRATIANO A halter390 gratis. Nothing else, for God’s sake.
ANTONIO So391 please my lord the duke and all the court
To quit392 the fine for one half of his goods,
I am content, so393 he will let me have
The other half in use394, to render it,
Upon his death, unto the gentleman
That lately stole his daughter.
Two things provided more: that for this favour
He presently398 become a Christian.
The other, that he do record a gift
Here in the court of all he dies possessed400
Unto his son401 Lorenzo and his daughter.
DUKE He shall do this, or else I do recant
The pardon that I late403 pronouncèd here.
PORTIA Art thou contented, Jew? What dost thou say?
SHYLOCK I am content.
PORTIA Clerk, draw a deed of gift.
SHYLOCK I pray you give me leave to go from hence,
I am not well. Send the deed after me,
And I will sign it.
DUKE Get thee gone, but do it.
GRATIANO In christening thou shalt have two godfathers.
Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had ten more412,
To bring thee to the gallows, not to the font413.
Exit [Shylock]
DUKE Sir, I entreat you home with me to dinner.
To Portia
PORTIA I humbly do desire your grace of415 pardon.
I must away this night toward Padua,
And it is meet417 I presently set forth.
DUKE I am sorry that your leisure serves you not418.
Antonio, gratify419 this gentleman,
For in my mind you are much bound to him.
Exit Duke and his train
BASSANIO Most worthy gentleman, I and my friend
Have by your wisdom been this day acquitted
Of grievous penalties, in lieu whereof423,
Three thousand ducats due unto the Jew
We freely cope425 your courteous pains withal.
Offers money
ANTONIO And stand indebted, over and above,
In love and service to you evermore.
PORTIA He is well paid that is well satisfied,
And I, delivering you, am satisfied
And therein do account430 myself well paid.
My mind was never yet more mercenary.
I pray you know432 me when we meet again.
I wish you well, and so I take my leave.
Starts to leave
BASSANIO Dear sir, of force I must attempt434 you further.
Take some remembrance of us as a tribute,
Not as fee. Grant me two things, I pray you:
Not to deny me, and to pardon me437.
PORTIA You press438 me far, and therefore I will yield.
Give me your gloves, I’ll wear them for your sake.
To Antonio
And, for your love440, I’ll take this ring from you.
To Bassanio
Do not draw back your hand, I’ll take no more,
And you in442 love shall not deny me this.
BASSANIO This ring, good sir, alas, it is a trifle!
I will not shame myself to give you this.
PORTIA I will have nothing else but only this,
And now methinks I have a mind to446 it.
BASSANIO There’s more depends on this than on the value.
The dearest448 ring in Venice will I give you,
And find it out by proclamation.
Only for this, I pray you pardon me.
PORTIA I see, sir, you are liberal451 in offers.
You taught me first to beg, and now methinks
You teach me how a beggar should be answered.
BASSANIO Good sir, this ring was given me by my wife,
And when she put it on, she made me vow
That I should neither sell nor give nor lose it.
PORTIA That ’scuse serves many men to save their gifts.
An if your wife be not a madwoman,
And know how well I have deserved this ring,
She would not hold out enemy forever
For giving it to me. Well, peace be with you!
Exeunt [Portia and Nerissa]
ANTONIO My lord Bassanio, let him have the ring.
Let his deservings and my love withal
Be valued against your wife’s commandment.
BASSANIO Go, Gratiano, run and overtake him.
Give him the ring, and bring him, if thou canst,
Unto Antonio’s house. Away, make haste!
Exit Gratiano
Come, you and I will thither presently,
And in the morning early will we both
Fly470 toward Belmont. Come, Antonio.
Exeunt
[Act 4 Scene 2]
running scene 19
Enter Portia and Nerissa
Still disguised
PORTIA Inquire the Jew’s house out1, give him this deed,
And let him sign it. We’ll away tonight
Gives her a deed
And be3 a day before our husbands home.
This deed will be well welcome to Lorenzo.
Enter Gratiano
GRATIANO Fair sir, you are well o’erta’en5.
My lord Bassanio upon more advice6
Hath sent you here this ring, and doth entreat
Your company at dinner.
Gives her the ring
PORTIA That cannot be;
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.
GRATIANO That will I do.
NERISSA Sir, I would speak with you.
I’ll see if I can get my husband’s ring,
Aside to Portia
Which I did make him swear to keep for ever.
PORTIA Thou mayst, I warrant. We shall have
old17 swearing
Aside to Nerissa
That they did give the rings away to men;
But we’ll outface19 them, and outswear them too.—
Away, make haste! Thou know’st where I will tarry.
Aloud
NERISSA Come, good sir, will you show me to this house?
Exeunt
Act 5 [Scene 1]
running scene 20
Location: Belmont
Enter Lorenzo and Jessica
LORENZO The moon shines bright. In such a night as this,
When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees
And they did make no noise, in such a night
Troilus4 methinks mounted the Trojan walls
And sighed his soul toward the Grecian tents
Where Cressid lay that night.
JESSICA In such a night
Did Thisbe8 fearfully o’ertrip the dew,
And saw the lion’s shadow ere himself9,
And ran dismayed away.
LORENZO In such a night
Stood Dido12 with a willow in her hand
Upon the wild13 sea banks and waft her love
To come again to Carthage.
JESSICA In such a night
Medea16 gathered the enchanted herbs
That did renew17 old Aeson.
LORENZO In such a night
Did Jessica steal19 from the wealthy Jew
And with an unthrift20 love did run from Venice
As far as Belmont.
JESSICA In such a night
Did young Lorenzo swear he loved her well,
Stealing her soul with many vows of faith,
And ne’er a true one.
LORENZO In such a night
Did pretty Jessica, like a little shrew27,
Slander her love28, and he forgave it her.
JESSICA I would out-night you29, did nobody come.
But hark, I hear the footing30 of a man.
Enter [Stephano, a] Messenger
LORENZO Who comes so fast in silence of the night?
STEPHANO A friend.
LORENZO A friend? What friend? Your name, I pray you, friend?
STEPHANO Stephano is my name, and I bring word
My mistress will before the break of day
Be here at Belmont.
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