Act 4, Scene 1

Venice. A court of justice

[Enter the DUKE: the Magnificoes; ANTONIO, BASSANIO, GRATIANO, SALARINO, SALANIO, and Others.]
Duke of Venice
1787 What, is Antonio here?
Antonio
1788 Ready, so please your Grace.
Duke of Venice
1789 I am sorry for thee; thou art come to answer
1790 A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch,
1791 Uncapable of pity, void and empty
1792 From any dram of mercy.
Antonio
1793 I have heard
1794 Your Grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify
1795 His rigorous course; but since he stands obdurate,
1796 And that no lawful means can carry me
1797 Out of his envy's reach, I do oppose
1798 My patience to his fury, and am arm'd
1799 To suffer with a quietness of spirit
1800 The very tyranny and rage of his.
Duke of Venice
1801 Go one, and call the Jew into the court.
Salarino
1802 He is ready at the door; he comes, my lord.
[Enter SHYLOCK.]
Duke of Venice
1803 Make room, and let him stand before our face.
1804 Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too,
1805 That thou but leadest this fashion of thy malice
1806 To the last hour of act; and then, 'tis thought,
1807 Thou'lt show thy mercy and remorse, more strange
1808 Than is thy strange apparent cruelty;
1809 And where thou now exacts the penalty,—
1810 Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh,—
1811 Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture,
1812 But, touch'd with human gentleness and love,
1813 Forgive a moiety of the principal,
1814 Glancing an eye of pity on his losses,
1815 That have of late so huddled on his back,
1816 Enow to press a royal merchant down,
1817 And pluck commiseration of his state
1818 From brassy bosoms and rough hearts of flint,
1819 From stubborn Turks and Tartars, never train'd
1820 To offices of tender courtesy.
1821 We all expect a gentle answer, Jew.
Shylock
1822 I have possess'd your Grace of what I purpose,
1823 And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn
1824 To have the due and forfeit of my bond.
1825 If you deny it, let the danger light
1826 Upon your charter and your city's freedom.
1827 You'll ask me why I rather choose to have
1828 A weight of carrion flesh than to receive
1829 Three thousand ducats. I'll not answer that,
1830 But say it is my humour: is it answer'd?
1831 What if my house be troubled with a rat,
1832 And I be pleas'd to give ten thousand ducats
1833 To have it ban'd? What, are you answer'd yet?
1834 Some men there are love not a gaping pig;
1835 Some that are mad if they behold a cat;
1836 And others, when the bagpipe sings i' the nose,
1837 Cannot contain their urine; for affection,
1838 Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood
1839 Of what it likes or loathes. Now, for your answer:
1840 As there is no firm reason to be render'd,
1841 Why he cannot abide a gaping pig;
1842 Why he, a harmless necessary cat;
1843 Why he, a wauling bagpipe; but of force
1844 Must yield to such inevitable shame
1845 As to offend, himself being offended;
1846 So can I give no reason, nor I will not,
1847 More than a lodg'd hate and a certain loathing
1848 I bear Antonio, that I follow thus
1849 A losing suit against him. Are you answered?
Bassanio
1850 This is no answer, thou unfeeling man,
1851 To excuse the current of thy cruelty.
Shylock
1852 I am not bound to please thee with my answer.
Bassanio
1853 Do all men kill the things they do not love?
Shylock
1854 Hates any man the thing he would not kill?
Bassanio
1855 Every offence is not a hate at first.
Shylock
1856 What! wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice?
Antonio
1857 I pray you, think you question with the Jew:
1858 You may as well go stand upon the beach,
1859 And bid the main flood bate his usual height;
1860 You may as well use question with the wolf,
1861 Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb;
1862 You may as well forbid the mountain pines
1863 To wag their high tops and to make no noise
1864 When they are fretten with the gusts of heaven;
1865 You may as well do anything most hard
1866 As seek to soften that—than which what's harder?—
1867 His Jewish heart: therefore, I do beseech you,
1868 Make no moe offers, use no farther means,
1869 But with all brief and plain conveniency.
1870 Let me have judgment, and the Jew his will.
Bassanio
1871 For thy three thousand ducats here is six.
Shylock
1872 If every ducat in six thousand ducats
1873 Were in six parts, and every part a ducat,
1874 I would not draw them; I would have my bond.
Duke of Venice
1875 How shalt thou hope for mercy, rendering none?
Shylock
1876 What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong?
1877 You have among you many a purchas'd slave,
1878 Which, fike your asses and your dogs and mules,
1879 You use in abject and in slavish parts,
1880 Because you bought them; shall I say to you
1881 'Let them be free, marry them to your heirs?
1882 Why sweat they under burdens? let their beds
1883 Be made as soft as yours, and let their palates
1884 Be season'd with such viands? You will answer
1885 'The slaves are ours.' So do I answer you:
1886 The pound of flesh which I demand of him
1887 Is dearly bought; 'tis mine, and I will have it.
1888 If you deny me, fie upon your law!
1889 There is no force in the decrees of Venice.
1890 I stand for judgment: answer; shall I have it?
Duke of Venice
1891 Upon my power I may dismiss this court,
1892 Unless Bellario, a learned doctor,
1893 Whom I have sent for to determine this,
1894 Come here to-day.
Salarino
1895 My lord, here stays without
1896 A messenger with letters from the doctor,
1897 New come from Padua.
Duke of Venice
1898 Bring us the letters; call the messenger.
Bassanio
1899 Good cheer, Antonio! What, man, courage yet!
1900 The Jew shall have my flesh, blood, bones, and all,
1901 Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood.
Antonio
1902 I am a tainted wether of the flock,
1903 Meetest for death; the weakest kind of fruit
1904 Drops earliest to the ground, and so let me.
1905 You cannot better be employ'd, Bassanio,
1906 Than to live still, and write mine epitaph.
[Enter NERISSA dressed like a lawyer's clerk.]
Duke of Venice
1907 Came you from Padua, from Bellario?
Nerissa
1908 From both, my lord. Bellario greets your Grace.
[Presents a letter.]
Bassanio
1909 Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?
Shylock
1910 To cut the forfeiture from that bankrupt there.
Gratiano
1911 Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew,
1912 Thou mak'st thy knife keen; but no metal can,
1913 No, not the hangman's axe, bear half the keenness
1914 Of thy sharp envy. Can no prayers pierce thee?
Shylock
1915 No, none that thou hast wit enough to make.
Gratiano
1916 O, be thou damn'd, inexecrable dog!
1917 And for thy life let justice be accus'd.
1918 Thou almost mak'st me waver in my faith,
1919 To hold opinion with Pythagoras
1920 That souls of animals infuse themselves
1921 Into the trunks of men. Thy currish spirit
1922 Govern'd a wolf who, hang'd for human slaughter,
1923 Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet,
1924 And, whilst thou lay'st in thy unhallow'd dam,
1925 Infus'd itself in thee; for thy desires
1926 Are wolfish, bloody, starv'd and ravenous.
Shylock
1927 Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond,
1928 Thou but offend'st thy lungs to speak so loud;
1929 Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall
1930 To cureless ruin. I stand here for law.
Duke of Venice
1931 This letter from Bellario doth commend
1932 A young and learned doctor to our court.
1933 Where is he?
Nerissa
1934 He attendeth here hard by,
1935 To know your answer, whether you'll admit him.
Nerissa
1936 DUKE OF VENICE.
1937 With all my heart: some three or four of you
1938 Go give him courteous conduct to this place.
1939 Meantime, the court shall hear Bellario's letter.
Clerk
1940 'Your Grace shall understand that at the receipt
1941 of your letter I am very sick; but in the instant that your
1942 messenger came, in loving visitation was with me a young doctor
1943 of Rome; his name is Balthazar. I acquainted him with the cause
1944 in controversy between the Jew and Antonio the merchant; we
1945 turn'd o'er many books together; he is furnished with my opinion
1946 which, bettered with his own learning,—the greatness whereof I
1947 cannot enough commend,—comes with him at my importunity to fill
1948 up your Grace's request in my stead. I beseech you let his lack
1949 of years be no impediment to let him lack a reverend estimation,
1950 for I never knew so young a body with so old a head. I leave him
1951 to your gracious acceptance, whose trial shall better publish his
1952 commendation.'
Duke of Venice
1953 YOU hear the learn'd Bellario, what he writes;
1954 And here, I take it, is the doctor come.
[Enter PORTIA, dressed like a doctor of laws.]
Duke of Venice
1955 Give me your hand; come you from old Bellario?
Portia
1956 I did, my lord.
Duke of Venice
1957 You are welcome; take your place.
1958 Are you acquainted with the difference
1959 That holds this present question in the court?
Portia
1960 I am informed throughly of the cause.
1961 Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew?
Portia
1962 DUKE OF VENICE.
1963 Antonio and old Shylock, both stand forth.
Portia
1964 Is your name Shylock?
Shylock
1965 Shylock is my name.
Portia
1966 Of a strange nature is the suit you follow;
1967 Yet in such rule that the Venetian law
1968 Cannot impugn you as you do proceed.
[To ANTONIO.]
Portia
1969 You stand within his danger, do you not?
Antonio
1970 Ay, so he says.
Portia
1971 Do you confess the bond?
Antonio
1972 I do.
Portia
1973 Then must the Jew be merciful.
Shylock
1974 On what compulsion must I? Tell me that.
Portia
1975 The quality of mercy is not strain'd;
1976 It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
1977 Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
1978 It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
1979 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
1980 The throned monarch better than his crown;
1981 His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
1982 The attribute to awe and majesty,
1983 Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
1984 But mercy is above this sceptred sway,
1985 It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
1986 It is an attribute to God himself;
1987 And earthly power doth then show likest God's
1988 When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
1989 Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
1990 That in the course of justice none of us
1991 Should see salvation; we do pray for mercy,
1992 And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
1993 The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
1994 To mitigate the justice of thy plea,
1995 Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
1996 Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.
Shylock
1997 My deeds upon my head! I crave the law,
1998 The penalty and forfeit of my bond.
Portia
1999 Is he not able to discharge the money?
Bassanio
2000 Yes; here I tender it for him in the court;
2001 Yea, twice the sum; if that will not suffice,
2002 I will be bound to pay it ten times o'er
2003 On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart;
2004 If this will not suffice, it must appear
2005 That malice bears down truth. And, I beseech you,
2006 Wrest once the law to your authority;
2007 To do a great right do a little wrong,
2008 And curb this cruel devil of his will.
Portia
2009 It must not be; there is no power in Venice
2010 Can alter a decree established;
2011 'Twill be recorded for a precedent,
2012 And many an error by the same example
2013 Will rush into the state. It cannot be.
Shylock
2014 A Daniel come to judgment! Yea, a Daniel!
2015 O wise young judge, how I do honour thee!
Portia
2016 I pray you, let me look upon the bond.
Shylock
2017 Here 'tis, most reverend doctor; here it is.
Portia
2018 Shylock, there's thrice thy money offer'd thee.
Shylock
2019 An oath, an oath! I have an oath in heaven.
2020 Shall I lay perjury upon my soul?
2021 No, not for Venice.
Portia
2022 Why, this bond is forfeit;
2023 And lawfully by this the Jew may claim
2024 A pound of flesh, to be by him cut off
2025 Nearest the merchant's heart. Be merciful.
2026 Take thrice thy money; bid me tear the bond.
Shylock
2027 When it is paid according to the tenour.
2028 It doth appear you are a worthy judge;
2029 You know the law; your exposition
2030 Hath been most sound; I charge you by the law,
2031 Whereof you are a well-deserving pillar,
2032 Proceed to judgment. By my soul I swear
2033 There is no power in the tongue of man
2034 To alter me. I stay here on my bond.
Antonio
2035 Most heartily I do beseech the court
2036 To give the judgment.
Portia
2037 Why then, thus it is:
2038 You must prepare your bosom for his knife.
Shylock
2039 O noble judge! O excellent young man!
Portia
2040 For the intent and purpose of the law
2041 Hath full relation to the penalty,
2042 Which here appeareth due upon the bond.
Shylock
2043 'Tis very true. O wise and upright judge,
2044 How much more elder art thou than thy looks!
Portia
2045 Therefore, lay bare your bosom.
Shylock
2046 Ay, 'his breast':
2047 So says the bond:—doth it not, noble judge?—
2048 'Nearest his heart': those are the very words.
Portia
2049 It is so. Are there balance here to weigh
2050 The flesh?
Shylock
2051 I have them ready.
Portia
2052 Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge,
2053 To stop his wounds, lest he do bleed to death.
Shylock
2054 Is it so nominated in the bond?
Portia
2055 It is not so express'd; but what of that?
2056 'Twere good you do so much for charity.
Shylock
2057 I cannot find it; 'tis not in the bond.
Portia
2058 You, merchant, have you anything to say?
Antonio
2059 But little: I am arm'd and well prepar'd.
2060 Give me your hand, Bassanio: fare you well.!
2061 Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you,
2062 For herein Fortune shows herself more kind
2063 Than is her custom: it is still her use
2064 To let the wretched man outlive his wealth,
2065 To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow
2066 An age of poverty; from which lingering penance
2067 Of such misery doth she cut me off.
2068 Commend me to your honourable wife:
2069 Tell her the process of Antonio's end;
2070 Say how I lov'd you; speak me fair in death;
2071 And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge
2072 Whether Bassanio had not once a love.
2073 Repent but you that you shall lose your friend,
2074 And he repents not that he pays your debt;
2075 For if the Jew do cut but deep enough,
2076 I'll pay it instantly with all my heart.
Bassanio
2077 Antonio, I am married to a wife
2078 Which is as dear to me as life itself;
2079 But life itself, my wife, and all the world,
2080 Are not with me esteem'd above thy life;
2081 I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all
2082 Here to this devil, to deliver you.
Portia
2083 Your wife would give you little thanks for that,
2084 If she were by to hear you make the offer.
Gratiano
2085 I have a wife whom, I protest, I love;
2086 I would she were in heaven, so she could
2087 Entreat some power to change this currish Jew.
Nerissa
2088 'Tis well you offer it behind her back;
2089 The wish would make else an unquiet house.
Shylock
2090 These be the Christian husbands! I have a daughter;
2091 Would any of the stock of Barabbas
2092 Had been her husband, rather than a Christian!
2093 We trifle time; I pray thee, pursue sentence.
Portia
2094 A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine.
2095 The court awards it and the law doth give it.
Shylock
2096 Most rightful judge!
Portia
2097 And you must cut this flesh from off his breast.
2098 The law allows it and the court awards it.
Shylock
2099 Most learned judge! A sentence! Come, prepare.
Portia
2100 Tarry a little; there is something else.
2101 This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood;
2102 The words expressly are 'a pound of flesh':
2103 Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh;
2104 But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed
2105 One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods
2106 Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate
2107 Unto the state of Venice.
Gratiano
2108 O upright judge! Mark, Jew: O learned judge!
Shylock
2109 Is that the law?
Portia
2110 Thyself shalt see the act;
2111 For, as thou urgest justice, be assur'd
2112 Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desir'st.
Gratiano
2113 O learned judge! Mark, Jew: alearned judge!
Shylock
2114 I take this offer then: pay the bond thrice,
2115 And let the Christian go.
Bassanio
2116 Here is the money.
Portia
2117 Soft!
2118 The Jew shall have all justice; soft! no haste:—
2119 He shall have nothing but the penalty.
Gratiano
2120 O Jew! an upright judge, a learned judge!
Portia
2121 Therefore, prepare thee to cut off the flesh.
2122 Shed thou no blood; nor cut thou less nor more,
2123 But just a pound of flesh: if thou tak'st more,
2124 Or less, than a just pound, be it but so much
2125 As makes it light or heavy in the substance,
2126 Or the division of the twentieth part
2127 Of one poor scruple; nay, if the scale do turn
2128 But in the estimation of a hair,
2129 Thou diest, and all thy goods are confiscate.
Gratiano
2130 A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew!
2131 Now, infidel, I have you on the hip.
Portia
2132 Why doth the Jew pause? Take thy forfeiture.
Shylock
2133 Give me my principal, and let me go.
Bassanio
2134 I have it ready for thee; here it is.
Portia
2135 He hath refus'd it in the open court;
2136 He shall have merely justice, and his bond.
Gratiano
2137 A Daniel still say I; a second Daniel!
2138 I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word.
Shylock
2139 Shall I not have barely my principal?
Portia
2140 Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture
2141 To be so taken at thy peril, Jew.
Shylock
2142 Why, then the devil give him good of it!
2143 I'll stay no longer question.
Portia
2144 Tarry, Jew.
2145 The law hath yet another hold on you.
2146 It is enacted in the laws of Venice,
2147 If it be prov'd against an alien
2148 That by direct or indirect attempts
2149 He seek the life of any citizen,
2150 The party 'gainst the which he doth contrive
2151 Shall seize one half his goods; the other half
2152 Comes to the privy coffer of the state;
2153 And the offender's life lies in the mercy
2154 Of the duke only, 'gainst all other voice.
2155 In which predicament, I say, thou stand'st;
2156 For it appears by manifest proceeding
2157 That indirectly, and directly too,
2158 Thou hast contrived against the very life
2159 Of the defendant; and thou hast incurr'd
2160 The danger formerly by me rehears'd.
2161 Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the duke.
Gratiano
2162 Beg that thou mayst have leave to hang thyself;
2163 And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state,
2164 Thou hast not left the value of a cord;
2165 Therefore thou must be hang'd at the state's charge.
Duke of Venice
2166 That thou shalt see the difference of our spirits,
2167 I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it.
2168 For half thy wealth, it is Antonio's;
2169 The other half comes to the general state,
2170 Which humbleness may drive unto a fine.
Portia
2171 Ay, for the state; not for Antonio.
Shylock
2172 Nay, take my life and all, pardon not that:
2173 You take my house when you do take the prop
2174 That doth sustain my house; you take my life
2175 When you do take the means whereby I live.
Portia
2176 What mercy can you render him, Antonio?
Gratiano
2177 A halter gratis; nothing else, for God's sake!
Antonio
2178 So please my lord the Duke and all the court
2179 To quit the fine for one half of his goods;
2180 I am content, so he will let me have
2181 The other half in use, to render it
2182 Upon his death unto the gentleman
2183 That lately stole his daughter:
2184 Two things provided more, that, for this favour,
2185 He presently become a Christian;
2186 The other, that he do record a gift,
2187 Here in the court, of all he dies possess'd
2188 Unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter.
Duke of Venice
2189 He shall do this, or else I do recant
2190 The pardon that I late pronounced here.
Portia
2191 Art thou contented, Jew? What dost thou say?
Shylock
2192 I am content.
Portia
2193 Clerk, draw a deed of gift.
Shylock
2194 I pray you, give me leave to go from hence;
2195 I am not well; send the deed after me
2196 And I will sign it.
Duke of Venice
2197 Get thee gone, but do it.
Gratiano
2198 In christening shalt thou have two god-fathers;
2199 Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had ten more,
2200 To bring thee to the gallows, not to the font.
[Exit SHYLOCK.]
Duke of Venice
2201 Sir, I entreat you home with me to dinner.
Portia
2202 I humbly do desire your Grace of pardon;
2203 I must away this night toward Padua,
2204 And it is meet I presently set forth.
Duke of Venice
2205 I am sorry that your leisure serves you not.
2206 Antonio, gratify this gentleman,
2207 For in my mind you are much bound to him.
[Exeunt DUKE, Magnificoes, and Train.]
Bassanio
2208 Most worthy gentleman, I and my friend
2209 Have by your wisdom been this day acquitted
2210 Of grievous penalties; in lieu whereof
2211 Three thousand ducats, due unto the Jew,
2212 We freely cope your courteous pains withal.
Antonio
2213 And stand indebted, over and above,
2214 In love and service to you evermore.
Portia
2215 He is well paid that is well satisfied;
2216 And I, delivering you, am satisfied,
2217 And therein do account myself well paid:
2218 My mind was never yet more mercenary.
2219 I pray you, know me when we meet again:
2220 I wish you well, and so I take my leave.
Bassanio
2221 Dear sir, of force I must attempt you further;
2222 Take some remembrance of us, as a tribute,
2223 Not as fee. Grant me two things, I pray you,
2224 Not to deny me, and to pardon me.
Portia
2225 You press me far, and therefore I will yield.
[To ANTONIO]
Portia
2226 Give me your gloves, I'll wear them for your sake.
[To BASSANIO]
Portia
2227 And, for your love, I'll take this ring from you.
2228 Do not draw back your hand; I'll take no more;
2229 And you in love shall not deny me this.
Bassanio
2230 This ring, good sir? alas, it is a trifle;
2231 I will not shame myself to give you this.
Portia
2232 I will have nothing else but only this;
2233 And now, methinks, I have a mind to it.
Bassanio
2234 There's more depends on this than on the value.
2235 The dearest ring in Venice will I give you,
2236 And find it out by proclamation:
2237 Only for this, I pray you, pardon me.
Portia
2238 I see, sir, you are liberal in offers;
2239 You taught me first to beg, and now methinks
2240 You teach me how a beggar should be answer'd.
Bassanio
2241 Good sir, this ring was given me by my wife;
2242 And, when she put it on, she made me vow
2243 That I should neither sell, nor give, nor lose it.
Portia
2244 That 'scuse serves many men to save their gifts.
2245 And if your wife be not a mad-woman,
2246 And know how well I have deserv'd this ring,
2247 She would not hold out enemy for ever
2248 For giving it to me. Well, peace be with you!
[Exeunt PORTIA and NERISSA.]
Antonio
2249 My Lord Bassanio, let him have the ring:
2250 Let his deservings, and my love withal,
2251 Be valued 'gainst your wife's commandment.
Bassanio
2252 Go, Gratiano, run and overtake him;
2253 Give him the ring, and bring him, if thou canst,
2254 Unto Antonio's house. Away! make haste.
[Exit GRATIANO.]
Bassanio
2255 Come, you and I will thither presently;
2256 And in the morning early will we both
2257 Fly toward Belmont. Come, Antonio.
[Exeunt.]

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Word definitions on hover

Notes

TLN 1790archaic vocab
“stony adversary, an inhuman wretch, Uncapable of pity”
The Duke describes Shylock before he enters: 'stony' means without feeling, 'Uncapable of pity' is early modern English for incapable of it. The Duke's framing shapes how the court -- and audience -- sees Shylock before he speaks a word.
TLN 1795archaic vocab
“since he stands obdurate, And that no lawful means”
'Obdurate' means stubbornly hardened against persuasion or mercy, especially in a moral or religious sense. Antonio accepts that Shylock cannot be moved and braces himself for death rather than asking the court to break the law.
TLN 1797archaic vocab
“out of his envy's reach”
Here 'envy' does not mean jealousy of someone's possessions; it means active malice or ill-will. Antonio uses it to say no lawful argument can get him out of Shylock's malice-driven pursuit.
TLN 1822archaic vocab
“I have possess'd your Grace of what I purpose, And by our holy Sabbath”
'Possess'd your Grace' means informed you fully, made you aware. Shylock is saying he has already told the Duke everything he intends. He swears by 'our holy Sabbath' -- the Jewish day of rest, Saturday -- making his oath explicitly Jewish in its grounding.
TLN 1825historical topical
“let the danger light Upon your charter and your city's freedom”
Shylock warns the Duke that denying an alien creditor his legal bond would damage Venice's commercial constitution -- its 'charter' (the formal laws guaranteeing all merchants equal legal rights) and its 'city's freedom' (the civic liberties that made Venice a great trading republic). Venice's prosperity depended on foreign merchants trusting that contracts would be enforced without national or religious bias.
TLN 1830archaic vocab
“say it is my humour: is it answer'd?”
'Humour' here means a whim, a particular mood or disposition -- not something funny. The word comes from the medieval theory that the body was ruled by four fluids (humours); an excess of any one produced a characteristic temperament. Shylock is saying his hatred of Antonio is simply his fixed nature -- not something he owes anyone an explanation for.
TLN 1837archaic vocab
“for affection, Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood”
'Affection' here means powerful feeling or emotional bias, not fondness. It 'sways' (rules, controls) the passion toward whatever the feeling likes or loathes. Shylock is saying that emotion, not reason, is the real governor of the human will.
TLN 1858rhetorical device
“You may as well go stand upon the beach, And bid the main flood bate”
Antonio uses anaphora -- the repetition of 'You may as well' at the start of each clause -- to build a list of impossibilities: commanding the sea to lower itself, persuading a wolf not to kill, ordering pines not to sway in storms. The repetition creates a drumbeat of futility, each example more hopeless than the last. Antonio is telling Bassanio to stop arguing with Shylock and let the law proceed.
TLN 1875biblical allusion
“How shalt thou hope for mercy, rendering none?”
The Duke echoes one of the most quoted verses of the New Testament: 'there shall be judgement merciless to him that sheweth no mercy' (James 2:13). The argument is that mercy must be reciprocal: those who seek God's mercy at judgment must practice it toward others. Shylock's retort cuts through the theology: he is doing no wrong under the law, so he has nothing to fear from judgment.
historical The quality of mercy: mercy, justice, and equity
TLN 1902archaic vocab
“I am a tainted wether of the flock, Meetest for death; the weakest kind of fruit Drops earliest to the ground”
A 'wether' is a castrated male sheep -- essentially useless for breeding, kept only until slaughter. 'Tainted' means diseased or marked for culling. Antonio is calling himself the most expendable member of the flock: already past his prime, already ruined financially, and therefore the right one to be sacrificed so Bassanio can live. The image combines biblical pastoral with bleak self-assessment.
TLN 1911wordplay
“Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew”
Gratiano puns on 'sole' (the bottom of the shoe, where Shylock is sharpening his knife) and 'soul' (the immaterial part of the person). He says Shylock is not sharpening the knife on his shoe-sole but on his own soul -- the knife's cruelty is making his soul sharp (hard, merciless). The pun is crude and vicious, part of Gratiano's sustained verbal assault.
TLN 1916archaic vocab
“O, be thou damn'd, inexecrable dog!”
'Inexecrable' is an unusual coinage meaning 'not to be cursed sufficiently' -- too hateful for any curse to reach. Gratiano is saying no amount of damning can match how cursed Shylock already is. The word intensifies the insult: ordinary execration falls short. Gratiano's language in this scene is the most viciously antisemitic in the play.
historical The 'Jew' on the Elizabethan stage
TLN 1919classical allusion
“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”
Gratiano invokes the Greek philosopher Pythagoras's teaching that souls pass from body to body after death -- including into animals. He claims Shylock's soul previously inhabited a wolf that was hanged for killing a human, and even while hanging the wolf's soul slipped into Shylock's mother's womb and infected him with its wolfish bloodlust. The insult is a twisted version of the transmigration-of-souls doctrine.
classical Pythagoras and the transmigration of souls
TLN 1927archaic vocab
“Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond, Thou but offend'st thy lungs to speak so loud”
Shylock dismisses Gratiano with contemptuous calm: 'rail' means to shout abusively (as Gratiano has been doing), and 'the seal' is the wax seal that makes a legal document binding. Until Gratiano's shouting can magically break that seal, he is only damaging his own lungs. The image positions Shylock as legally invulnerable to verbal attack -- he stands on solid legal ground.
TLN 1940stage direction note
“'Your Grace shall understand that at the receipt of your letter I am very sick”
The Clerk reads aloud a letter from the real Doctor Bellario of Padua -- a famous jurist the Duke summoned to resolve the legal dispute. Bellario is too ill to come but recommends a young doctor named Balthazar. This is Portia's cover: she has traveled to Padua, consulted Bellario, and come in his place. Bellario's vouching for 'Balthazar' is what gets Portia into the court.
TLN 1960archaic vocab
“I am informed throughly of the cause”
'Throughly' is an early modern form of 'thoroughly' -- fully, completely. Portia's first substantive line in the courtroom establishes her authority by claiming total command of the case.
TLN 1969archaic vocab
“You stand within his danger, do you not?”
'Danger' here is a legal term meaning liability or power over -- being in someone's legal power, subject to their claim. Antonio stands within Shylock's legal right to collect, having defaulted on the bond.
TLN 1975rhetorical device
“The quality of mercy is not strain'd; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven”
Portia's famous speech argues that mercy is not compelled (not 'strain'd' = constrained) but falls freely, like rain -- a natural gift, not an obligation. She builds through metaphor (rain, crown, sceptre) to theology: earthly power is most like God's when it mixes mercy with strict justice. The speech is formally a plea, not a ruling -- Shylock is free to reject it.
historical The quality of mercy: mercy, justice, and equity
TLN 1990biblical allusion
“in the course of justice none of us Should see salvation; we do pray for mercy”
Portia argues that if God applied strict justice to human sin, no one could be saved. We ask God for mercy in our prayers (the Lord's Prayer: 'forgive us our debts'), so those prayers themselves teach us to show mercy to others. This is a direct appeal to Christian soteriology -- the doctrine that humans cannot earn salvation but must receive it as God's free gift.
TLN 2006historical topical
“Wrest once the law to your authority; To do a great right do a little wrong”
Bassanio asks Portia to bend the law -- to use the court's authority to override the strict legal outcome for the sake of justice. 'Wrest' means to force or twist. Portia flatly refuses: a single illegal exception sets a precedent that will corrupt the entire legal system. This is the argument for rule of law over judicial discretion.
TLN 2014biblical allusion
“A Daniel come to judgment! Yea, a Daniel! O wise young judge, how I do honour thee!”
Daniel is the young Jewish prophet of the Hebrew Bible famous for wise legal judgment: in the story of Susanna (apocryphal but widely read), he exposes two false witnesses who accused a virtuous woman, saving her by cross-examining them separately. Shylock praises the disguised Portia as another Daniel, a brilliant young judge who sees the truth. The irony is sharp: the same Daniel-parallel will soon be turned against Shylock by Gratiano.
TLN 2019cultural context
“An oath, an oath! I have an oath in heaven. Shall I lay perjury upon my soul?”
Shylock refuses to accept even three times the bond's value because he has sworn an oath to heaven to demand the penalty -- and breaking an oath sworn to God is perjury, a mortal sin. He is in a bind: accepting the money would void an oath sworn in God's name. The refusal is partly stubbornness, but it is also, in his terms, an act of religious integrity.
TLN 2027archaic vocab
“When it is paid according to the tenour.”
'Tenour' (modern spelling: tenor) is a legal term for the precise wording and terms of a document. Shylock will accept money only if paid exactly as the bond specifies -- he is insisting on literal compliance, not any substitute. This is the word that Portia will use to turn the tables on him: the 'tenour' specifies flesh and no blood.
TLN 2052historical topical
“Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge, To stop his wounds, lest he do bleed to death”
Portia asks Shylock to hire a surgeon at his own expense ('on your charge') to stanch Antonio's wounds. Shylock refuses unless it is in the bond: 'I cannot find it; 'tis not in the bond.' The exchange is a small-scale preview of the blood-clause trap: Shylock's hyper-literal reading of the bond is what will destroy him.
TLN 2062classical allusion
“Fortune shows herself more kind Than is her custom: it is still her use To let the wretched man outlive his wealth”
Antonio personifies Fortune as a cruel goddess who normally makes the ruined man live long enough to watch his own misery. Fortune's 'custom' and 'use' (habit) is to prolong suffering; she is being 'kind' to Antonio by cutting his life short before the poverty arrives. The image of Fortune as a fickle, sometimes pitiless deity is a standard classical and medieval topos.
classical Fortune and her wheel
TLN 2077cultural context
“I am married to a wife Which is as dear to me as life itself; But life itself, my wife, and all the world, Are not with me esteem'd above thy life”
Bassanio tells Antonio that his wife, his own life, and the whole world together do not outweigh Antonio's life for him. This is the Renaissance friendship-ideal pushed to its extreme: the perfect friend counts his friend above his spouse. Portia, present in disguise, immediately signals the problem -- 'Your wife would give you little thanks for that.' The speech is both a genuine expression of devotion and, dramatically, a setup for the ring-test.
historical Renaissance friendship and the friend-versus-love ideal
TLN 2091biblical allusion
“Would any of the stock of Barabbas Had been her husband, rather than a Christian!”
Barabbas was the criminal released by Pilate instead of Jesus at the crowd's demand (Matthew 27:15-26). Shylock bitterly says he would rather his daughter had married a descendant of a notorious criminal than a Christian. The name also glances at the Jewish hero-villain of Marlowe's play The Jew of Malta (c. 1590), whose protagonist is called Barabas -- Shylock's predecessor on the Elizabethan stage.
TLN 2101historical topical
“This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood; The words expressly are 'a pound of flesh'”
Portia's reversal: the bond says 'a pound of flesh' -- it does not mention blood. Under Venetian law (in the play's logic), shedding 'one drop of Christian blood' while cutting the flesh would mean confiscation of all Shylock's goods. The trap is that flesh cannot be cut without blood, making the bond impossible to execute. Portia is not breaking the law -- she is out-arguing Shylock with his own literalism.
historical The 'Jew' on the Elizabethan stage
TLN 2131archaic vocab
“Now, infidel, I have you on the hip.”
'On the hip' is a wrestling term: to have someone on the hip is to have them in a hold from which they cannot escape, at your mercy. Gratiano's line echoes Shylock's own words from an earlier scene (3.1): Shylock had said he would 'have Antonio's hip' in return for his past humiliations. Gratiano now throws the phrase back at him with venom.
TLN 2145historical topical
“The law hath yet another hold on you. It is enacted in the laws of Venice, If it be prov'd against an alien That by direct or indirect attempts He seek the life of any citizen”
Portia springs a second trap: a separate Venetian statute making it a capital crime for a non-citizen ('alien') to attempt the life of a citizen, with the penalty of forfeiture of all goods and the offender's life in the Duke's hands alone. Shylock, as a Jew, is a resident alien in Venice -- not a full citizen -- making this law applicable to him.
historical The 'Jew' on the Elizabethan stage
TLN 2166cultural context
“That thou shalt see the difference of our spirits, I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it.”
The Duke emphasizes that he is pardoning Shylock to demonstrate the difference between Christian and Jewish 'spirits' -- meaning not souls but characters, dispositions. The pardon is held out as proof of Christian generosity against Shylock's refusal to show mercy. For a modern reader, the phrasing makes the pardon a form of religious triumphalism rather than simple clemency.
historical The quality of mercy: mercy, justice, and equity
TLN 2173rhetorical device
“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.”
Shylock uses an architectural metaphor (the prop that holds up a house) to argue that taking his wealth is the same as taking his life: money is his 'means whereby I live,' and without it he has nothing. The speech is built on a chiasmic pattern -- house/prop/house, life/means/live -- that mirrors the logical dependency. It is one of the most moving speeches in the scene.
TLN 2181archaic vocab
“to render it Upon his death unto the gentleman That lately stole his daughter”
'In use' is a legal term from the law of trusts: Antonio will hold Shylock's confiscated half 'in use' -- meaning as a trustee, not outright owner -- and render (deliver, hand over) the principal to Lorenzo on Shylock's death. 'The gentleman that lately stole his daughter' is Lorenzo, who eloped with Jessica. The wording acknowledges the elopement as a kind of theft, even from Antonio's perspective.
TLN 2185historical topical
“He presently become a Christian;”
Antonio's condition -- that Shylock convert to Christianity immediately ('presently' = at once) -- was the most debated clause in the scene for centuries. Forced conversion was illegal under canon law but practiced in various forms across Europe. In the play's Christian frame, the conversion can be read as spiritual mercy; for modern readers it is compulsion destroying Shylock's identity.
historical The 'Jew' on the Elizabethan stage
TLN 2198wordplay
“In christening shalt thou have two god-fathers; Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had ten more, To bring thee to the gallows, not to the font.”
Gratiano puns on 'godfathers': in Christian baptism, a godfather is a sponsor who stands witness at the christening. But in English law a jury of twelve men was sometimes called 'godfathers' of the accused. Gratiano says if he had been judge, Shylock would have had ten more godfather-jurors -- a full jury of twelve -- to sentence him to the gallows instead of the baptismal font. The pun links conversion with execution, mercy with death.
TLN 2212archaic vocab
“We freely cope your courteous pains withal.”
'Cope' here means to requite, repay, or make adequate return for. Bassanio is offering the three thousand ducats as payment for 'your courteous pains' (your kind labors). The disguised Portia is being offered her own money back as a fee for saving her husband's friend.
TLN 2227stage direction note
“And, for your love, I'll take this ring from you. Do not draw back your hand; I'll take no more; And you in love shall not deny me this.”
The ring Portia demands is the one she gave Bassanio at Belmont, making him swear never to part with it. She is now, in her lawyer's disguise, demanding it as payment. This sets up the 'ring test' of Act 5: when Bassanio gives the ring away to the 'lawyer,' Portia will pretend to accuse him of infidelity. The trick is a comic trap she has engineered, testing whether Bassanio's loyalty to Antonio (pressured by Antonio himself) will make him break his vow to her.