Shakespeare Portal

Act 3, Scene 1

Venice. A street

  1. [Enter SALANIO and SALARINO.]
  2. Salanio
  3. 1142 Now, what news on the Rialto?
  4. Salarino
  5. 1143 Why, yet it lives there unchecked that Antonio hath a ship
  6. 1144 of rich lading wrack'd on the narrow seas; the Goodwins, I think
  7. 1145 they call the place, a very dangerous flat and fatal, where the
  8. 1146 carcasses of many a tall ship lie buried, as they say, if my
  9. 1147 gossip Report be an honest woman of her word.
  10. Salanio
  11. 1148 I would she were as lying a gossip in that as ever knapped
  12. 1149 ginger or made her neighbours believe she wept for the death of a
  13. 1150 third husband. But it is true,—without any slips of prolixity or
  14. 1151 crossing the plain highway of talk,—that the good Antonio, the
  15. 1152 honest Antonio,—O that I had a title good enough to keep his
  16. 1153 name
  17. 1154 company!—
  18. Salarino
  19. 1155 Come, the full stop.
  20. Salanio
  21. 1156 Ha! What sayest thou? Why, the end is, he hath lost a
  22. 1157 ship.
  23. Salarino
  24. 1158 I would it might prove the end of his losses.
  25. Salanio
  26. 1159 Let me say 'amen' betimes, lest the devil cross my prayer,
  27. 1160 for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew.
  28. [Enter SHYLOCK.]
  29. Salanio
  30. 1161 How now, Shylock! What news among the merchants?
  31. Shylock
  32. 1162 You knew, none so well, none so well as you, of my
  33. 1163 daughter's flight.
  34. Salarino
  35. 1164 That's certain; I, for my part, knew the tailor that made
  36. 1165 the wings she flew withal.
  37. Salanio
  38. 1166 And Shylock, for his own part, knew the bird was fledged;
  39. 1167 and then it is the complexion of them all to leave the dam.
  40. Shylock
  41. 1168 She is damned for it.
  42. Salarino
  43. 1169 That's certain, if the devil may be her judge.
  44. Shylock
  45. 1170 My own flesh and blood to rebel!
  46. Salanio
  47. 1171 Out upon it, old carrion! Rebels it at these years?
  48. Shylock
  49. 1172 I say my daughter is my flesh and my blood.
  50. Salarino
  51. 1173 There is more difference between thy flesh and hers than
  52. 1174 between jet and ivory; more between your bloods than there is
  53. 1175 between red wine and Rhenish. But tell us, do you hear whether
  54. 1176 Antonio have had any loss at sea or no?
  55. Shylock
  56. 1177 There I have another bad match: a bankrupt, a prodigal,
  57. 1178 who dare scarce show his head on the Rialto; a beggar, that used
  58. 1179 to come so smug upon the mart; let him look to his bond: he
  59. 1180 was wont to call me usurer; let him look to his bond: he was wont
  60. 1181 to lend money for a Christian courtesy; let him look to his bond.
  61. Salarino
  62. 1182 Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take his
  63. 1183 flesh: what's that good for?
  64. Shylock
  65. 1184 To bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing else, it will
  66. 1185 feed my revenge. He hath disgrac'd me and hind'red me half a
  67. 1186 million; laugh'd at my losses, mock'd at my gains, scorned my
  68. 1187 nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine
  69. 1188 enemies. And what's his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes?
  70. 1189 Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections,
  71. 1190 passions, fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons,
  72. 1191 subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed
  73. 1192 and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If
  74. 1193 you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh?
  75. 1194 If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we
  76. 1195 not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you
  77. 1196 in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility?
  78. 1197 Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance
  79. 1198 be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villaiy you teach me
  80. 1199 I will execute; and it shall go hard but I will better the
  81. 1200 instruction.
  82. [Enter a Servant.]
  83. Servant
  84. 1201 Gentlemen, my master Antonio is at his house, and desires to
  85. 1202 speak with you both.
  86. Salarino
  87. 1203 We have been up and down to seek him.
  88. [Enter TUBAL.]
  89. Salanio
  90. 1204 Here comes another of the tribe: a third cannot be
  91. 1205 match'd, unless the devil himself turn Jew.
  92. [Exeunt SALANIO, SALARINO, and Servant.]
  93. Shylock
  94. 1206 How now, Tubal! what news from Genoa? Hast thou found my
  95. 1207 daughter?
  96. Tubal
  97. 1208 I often came where I did hear of her, but cannot find her.
  98. Shylock
  99. 1209 Why there, there, there, there! A diamond gone, cost me
  100. 1210 two thousand ducats in Frankfort! The curse never fell upon our
  101. 1211 nation till now; I never felt it till now. Two thousand ducats in
  102. 1212 that, and other precious, precious jewels. I would my daughter
  103. 1213 were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear; would she were
  104. 1214 hearsed at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin! No news of
  105. 1215 them? Why, so: and I know not what's spent in the search. Why,
  106. 1216 thou—loss upon loss! The thief gone with so much, and so much to
  107. 1217 find the thief; and no satisfaction, no revenge; nor no ill luck
  108. 1218 stirring but what lights on my shoulders; no sighs but of my
  109. 1219 breathing; no tears but of my shedding.
  110. Tubal
  111. 1220 Yes, other men have ill luck too. Antonio, as I heard in
  112. 1221 Genoa,—
  113. Shylock
  114. 1222 What, what, what? Ill luck, ill luck?
  115. Tubal
  116. 1223 —hath an argosy cast away, coming from Tripolis.
  117. Shylock
  118. 1224 I thank God! I thank God! Is it true, is it true?
  119. Tubal
  120. 1225 I spoke with some of the sailors that escaped the wrack.
  121. Shylock
  122. 1226 I thank thee, good Tubal. Good news, good news! ha, ha!
  123. 1227 Where? in Genoa?
  124. Tubal
  125. 1228 Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I heard, one night,
  126. 1229 fourscore ducats.
  127. Shylock
  128. 1230 Thou stick'st a dagger in me: I shall never see my gold
  129. 1231 again: fourscore ducats at a sitting! Fourscore ducats!
  130. Tubal
  131. 1232 There came divers of Antonio's creditors in my company to
  132. 1233 Venice that swear he cannot choose but break.
  133. Shylock
  134. 1234 I am very glad of it; I'll plague him, I'll torture him; I
  135. 1235 am glad of it.
  136. Tubal
  137. 1236 One of them showed me a ring that he had of your daughter
  138. 1237 for a monkey.
  139. Shylock
  140. 1238 Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal: It was my
  141. 1239 turquoise; I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor; I would not
  142. 1240 have given it for a wilderness of monkeys.
  143. Tubal
  144. 1241 But Antonio is certainly undone.
  145. Shylock
  146. 1242 Nay, that's true; that's very true. Go, Tubal, fee me an
  147. 1243 officer; bespeak him a fortnight before. I will have the heart of
  148. 1244 him, if he forfeit; for, were he out of Venice, I can make what
  149. 1245 merchandise I will. Go, Tubal, and meet me at our synagogue; go,
  150. 1246 good Tubal; at our synagogue, Tubal.
  151. [Exeunt.]