The Merchant of Venice

Usurer!

"If a man is righteous, and does what is lawful and right,

"if he has not exacted usury nor taken any increase

"but has withdrawn his hand from all iniquity

"and executed true judgement between men and men,

"if he has walked in my statutes

"and kept my judgement faithfully,

"then he is just and he shall surely live.

"But if he has exacted usury and taken increase,

"shall he then live?

"No, he shall not live.

If he has done any of these abominations...

"he shall surely die, says the Lord our God."

And yet you live from day to day by theft and robbery...

Antonio.

LATIN MASS IS SUNG

SINGING IN LATIN CONTINUES

Antonio.

Bassanio.

Wind's coming back, sir!

Signior Lorenzo.

CHANTING IN HEBREW

Jessica.

In truth, I know not why I am so sad.

It wearies me.

You say it wearies you.

And such a wantwit sadness makes of me that I have much ado to know myself.

Your mind is tossing on the ocean.

Believe me, sir, had I such venture forth,

the better part of my affection would be with my hopes abroad.

I should be still plucking the grass to know where sits the wind,

peering in maps for ports and piers and roads.

And every object that might make me fear misfortune to my ventures

out of doubt would make me sad.

My wind, cooling my broth, would blow me to a fever

if I thought what harm a wind too great might do at sea.

-Believe me...no.

-Why, then you're in love.

THEY LAUGH

Fie, fie, fie!

Not in love either?

Then let us say you are sad because you are not merry.

Here comes my lord Bassanio.

Good morrow, my good lord.

Good signiors. When shall we laugh? Say when.

We shall make our leisures to fit in with yours.

-Bassanio.

-Signior.

My lord Bassanio, since you have found Antonio, we too will leave you.

You look not well, Signior Antonio.

You have too much respect upon the world.

They lose it that do buy it with much care.

I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano, a stage where every man

must play his part, and mine a sad one.

Come, good Lorenzo.

Fare thee well awhile.

I'll end my exhortation after dinner.

Fare thee well.

Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing,

more than any man in all of Venice.

Well?

Tell me now...

..that which today you promised to tell me of.

'Tis not unknown to you, Antonio, how much I have disabled mine estate,

but my chief care is to come squarely out of the great debts

wherein my youth...

..something too prodigal, has left me pledged.

To you, Antonio, I owe the most in money and in love,

and from your love I have a warranty to unburden all my plots and purposes

how to get clear of all the debts I owe.

Pray, good Bassanio, let me know it.

And, if it stand...

..as you yourself still do, within the eye of honour,

be assured my purse, my person, my extremest means

lie all unlocked to your occasion.

In Belmont is a lady richly left and she is fair...

..and fairer than that word of wondrous virtues.

Sometimes, from her eyes I did receive fair...

..speechless messages.

Her name is Portia, no less a beauty than Cato's daughter, Brutus' Portia.

Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth,

for the four winds blow in from every coast renowned suitors.

O my Antonio...

..had I but the means to hold a rival place with one of them...

..then I should questionless be fortunate.

Thou knowest my fortunes are at sea.

Neither have I money nor commodity to raise a present sum.

Therefore, go forth.

Try what my credit can in Venice do.

It shall be racked, even to the uttermost,

to furnish you to Belmont, and fair Portia.

I swear to you, Nerissa, I am aweary of this great world.

You would be, sweet madam,

if your miseries were as plentiful as your good fortunes are.

And yet, from what I see, they are as sick that have it in excess

as those that starve with nothing.

If doing were as easy as knowing what were good to do,

chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages princes' palaces.

But this reasoning is not in the way to choose me a husband.

O me, the word "choose"!

I may neither choose who I would nor refuse who I dislike.

So is the will of a living daughter ruled by a dead father.

Is it not hard, Nerissa, that I cannot choose one nor refuse none?

Your father was always virtuous,

and holy men, at their death, have good inspirations.

Therefore the lottery that he devised

in these three chests of gold and silver and lead,

so that who chooses his meaning chooses you,

will no doubt only be guessed, rightly,

by someone who you shall rightly love.

Right.

What warmth is there in your affection

towards any of these princely suitors that are already come?

Pray name them, and as you name them I will describe them,

and, according to my description, level at my affection.

How say you of the French lord, Monsieur Le Bon?

Oh, God!

God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man.

I know it is a sin to be a mocker, but he...!

What say you to Falconbridge, the young baron of England?

How oddly he's suited!

And the Duke of Saxony's nephew?

Very vilely in the morning when he is sober,

and most vilely in the afternoon when he is drunk.

O Nerissa!

Wait! Wait.

If he should offer to choose, and choose the right casket,

you should refuse to perform your father's will

if you should refuse to accept him.

Therefore, for fear of the worst,

I pray thee, set a deep glass of Rhenish wine on the contrary casket.

I will do anything, Nerissa, ere I will be married to a sponge.

Three thousand ducats.

Well...

Ay, sir, for three months.

For three months?

Well...

For which, as I told you, Antonio shall be bound.

Antonio shall be bound?

Well...

May you help me?

Will you pleasure me?

Should I know your answer?

Three thousand ducats for three months, and Antonio bound.

Your answer to that.

Antonio is a good man.

Have you heard any imputation to the contrary?

No.

No, no, no, no.

My meaning in saying that he is a good man is to have you understand

that he is of good credit.

Yet his means are in question.

He hath a ship bound for Tripolis, another to the Indies.

I understand moreover, upon the Rialto,

he hath a third ship at Mexico, a fourth for England...

..and other ventures he hath squandered abroad.

But ships are but boards, sailors are but men,

there be land rats and water rats, water thieves and land thieves.

I mean pirates.

Then there is the peril of waters, winds and rocks.

The man is, notwithstanding, of good credit.

Three thousand ducats.

I think I may take his bond.

Be assured you may.

May I speak with Antonio?

If it please you, dine with us.

Yes, to smell pork, to eat of the habitation

which your prophet the Nazarite conjured the devil into.

I will buy with you, sell with you, walk with you, talk with you,

and so following, but I will not eat with you, nor drink with you,

nor pray with you.

Who is he comes here?

This is Signior Antonio. ..Antonio!

Antonio.

How like a fawning publican he looks.

Shylock!

Shylock, do you hear?

I am debating of my present store, and by the near guess of my memory,

I cannot instantly raise up the gross of full three thousand ducats.

But Tubal, a wealthy Hebrew of my tribe, will furnish me.

Benjamin.

Go, seek out Tubal.

But soft, how many months?

Rest you fair, good signior.

Your worship was the last man in our mouths.

Is he possessed how much you would?

Ay, ay, three thousand ducats.

And for three months.

Ah, I forgot. Three months, you told me so.

But soft, erm...

methought you said you neither lend nor borrow with interest.

I do never use it.

Well.

Three thousand ducats, 'tis a good round sum.

Launcelot!

The rates.

Three months...

from twelve.

Let me see the rate.

Well, Shylock... shall we be beholden to you?

Signior Antonio...

many a time, and oft in the Rialto,

you have reviled me about my moneys and my usances.

Still, I have borne it with a patient shrug,

for sufferance is the badge of all our tribe.

You call me misbeliever, cutthroat dog,

and spit upon my Jewish gabardine.

And all for use of that which is my own.

Well, it now appears you need my help.

You come to me and you say, "Shylock, we would have money."

You say so.

You, that did void your rheum upon my beard

and kick me as you spurn a stranger cur over your threshold.

Money is your suit.

What should I say to you?

Should I not say, "Hath a dog money?

"Is it possible a cur can lend three thousand ducats?"

Or shall I bend low and, in a slavish voice, with bated breath

and whispering humbleness say this,

"Fair sir, you spat on me on Wednesday last,

"you spurned me such a day, another time you called me dog.

"For these courtesies, I'll lend you thus much moneys."

I'm as like to call you so again,

to spit on you again, to spurn you too.

If you would lend this money, lend it not unto your friends.

For when did friendship take a breed for barren metal from his friend?

Lend it rather to your enemy who, if he break,

you may with better face exact the penalty.

Why, look how you storm.

I would be friends with you and have your love.

Forget the stains that you have shamed me with.

Supply your present wants,

and take not a drop of interest for my moneys...

and you'll not hear me.

This is kind I offer.

This IS kindness.

No...

This kindness I will show.

Go with me to a notary and seal me there your single bond.

And in a merry sport,

if you repay me not on such a day in such a place,

such a sum or sums as are expressed in the condition,

let the forfeit be nominated...

for an equal pound of your fair flesh...

..to be cut off

and taken in what part of your body pleaseth me.

Content, i'faith.

I'll seal to such a bond, and say there is much kindness in the Jew.

You shall not seal such a bond for me.

I'd rather live in my necessity.

Why, fear not, man.

I will not forfeit it.

Within these two months, that's a month before this bond expires,

I do expect return of thrice three times the value of this bond.

O Father Abraham, what these Christians are,

whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect the thoughts of others.

I pray you, tell me this.

If he should break his day, what should I gain

by the exaction of the forfeiture?

A pound of a man's flesh taken from a man

is not so estimable, profitable neither,

as flesh of muttons, beefs, or goats.

I say, to buy his favour, I extend this friendship.

If he will take it, so.

If not, adieu.

And, for my love, I pray you, wrong me not.

Shylock...

..I will seal unto this bond.

Dislike me not for my complexion,

the shadowed livery of the burnished sun,

to whom I am a neighbour and near bred.

Yallah! Yallah!

Bring me the fairest creature northward born,

where the sun's fire scarce thaws the icicles,

and let us make incision for your love

to prove whose blood is reddest, his or mine.

I tell thee, lady, this aspect of mine hath feared the valiant.

Yea, by my love I swear,

the most regarded virgins of our clime have loved it too.

LAUGHTER

I would not change this hue,

except to steal your thoughts, my gentle queen.

In terms of choice,

I am not solely led by nice direction of a maiden's eyes.

Instead, the lottery of my destiny

bars me the right of voluntary choosing.

But if my father had not restrained me,

and hedged me by his wit

to yield myself as wife to him who wins me by that means I told you...

..yourself, renowned prince, then stood as fair as...

any comer I have looked on yet for my affection.

Even for that, I thank you.

Therefore, I pray you, lead me to the caskets to try my fortune.

Yes?

I pray you, Leonardo, these things being bought and orderly bestowed,

return in haste,

for I do feast tonight my best esteemed acquaintance.

Let supper be ready at the latest by nine o'clock.

See that these letters are delivered.

And put the livery to the making.

Certainly my conscience would forbid me to run from this Jew, my master.

Ho!

I pray you, which way to the master Jew's?

Do you not know me, Father?

Lord, how art thou changed!

How dost thou and thy master agree?

I brought him a present.

Famished in his service, Father.

I'm glad you've come.

Give your present to one Master Bassanio,

who indeed gives rare new liveries.

THUNDER RUMBLES

Bassanio!

Bassanio!

Gratiano.

I have a suit to you.

You have obtained it.

You must not deny me I must go with you to Belmont.

Why, then you must.

But hear thee, you are too wild, too rude, too bold of voice,

things that become you happily enough

and in such eyes as ours appears not false.

But where you are not known, why, there they show something too...

liberal.

Pray you, take pain to dilute with some cold drops of modesty

your skipping spirit, lest through your wild behaviour

I be misconstrued in the place I go and lose my hopes.

Signior Bassanio, hear me!

If I do not put on a sober habit, talk with respect,

and swear but now and then,

look demurely, nay more, while grace is saying,

hood mine eyes thus with my hat...

..and sigh and say, "Amen," never trust me more.

Well, we shall see your bearing.

Oof!

Nay, but I bar tonight.

You shall not gauge me by what we do tonight.

God bless your worship.

Signior Bassanio.

Many thanks.

Would you something from me?

Here is my son, sir, a poor boy.

Not a poor boy, sir,

but the rich Jew's man that would, sir, as my father shall specify.

He hath a great infection, sir, as one would say, to serve.

Indeed, sir.

The short and the long is, I serve the Jew,

and have a desire, as my father shall specify.

To be brief, the very truth is,

as my father, being an old man, shall fruitify unto you...

I have here a dish of doves I would bestow upon your worship.

And my suit is... >

In very brief, the suit is impertinent to myself,

as your worship shall know by this honest old man.

And, though I say it, though old man, yet poor man, my father.

One speak for both. What would you?

Serve you, sir.

That is the very defect of the matter, sir.

You have obtained your suit, if it be preferment

to leave a rich Jew's service

to become the follower of so poor a gentleman.

The old proverb is very well parted between my master Shylock and you, sir.

You have the grace of God, sir, and he has enough.

LAUGHTER

You speak it well.

Give him a livery more guarded than his fellows'. See it done.

I'm sorry you will leave my father so.

Our house is hell, and you, a merry devil,

did rob it of some taste of tediousness.

And, Launcelot, soon at supper shall you see Lorenzo,

who is thy new master's guest.

Give him this letter.

Do it secretly.

And so farewell.

I would not have my father see me talk with thee.

Adieu.

Tears exhibit my tongue.

Most beautiful pagan, most sweet Jew.

O Lorenzo, if thou keep promise, I shall end this strife,

becoming Christian and your loving wife.

THUNDER CLAPS

-<

-Jessica.

Well...

..you will see, your eyes will be the judge,

the difference of old Shylock and Bassanio.

You will not gourmandise with him, as you have done with me,

nor sleep and snore and wear apparel out.

Not with him.

-Jessica, I say!

-Why, Jessica.

Who bids you call?

I do not bid you call.

Your worship was used to say I could do nothing without bidding.

-Oh.

-DOOR OPENS

Call you?

-What's your will?

-I am bid forth to supper, Jessica. Here are my keys.

Wherefore should I go?

I am not bid for love.

Oh, they flatter me.

Yet I will go and feed upon the prodigal Christian.

Jessica, my girl, look to my house.

BELL CHIMES

Oh, I am right loath to go.

There is some ill abrewing towards my rest...

..for I did dream of money bags tonight.

I beseech you, sir, go.

My young master expects your reproach.

And so do I his.

And they have conspired together.

I will not say you shall see a masque,

but if you do, it was not for nothing that my nose fell ableeding

on Black Monday last at six o'clock in the morning.

What, are there masques?

Hear you me, Jessica,

clamber not you up to the casements then,

nor thrust your head into the public street

to gaze on Christian fools with varnished faces.

Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter my sober house.

Oh, by Jacob's staff, I swear I have no mind of feasting forth tonight.

But I will go.

Go you before, sirrah. Say I will come.

I will go before, sir.

Mistress, look out the window for all this.

There will come a Christian boy will be worth a Jewess' eye.

What says that fool of Hagar's offspring, ha?

His words were, "Farewell, mistress."

Nothing else.

The fool is kind enough, but a huge feeder.

Snailslow in profit, and he sleeps by day more than a tomcat.

Therefore, I part with him.

Well, Jessica, go in.

Perhaps I will return immediately.

Do as I bid you.

Farewell. And if my fortune be not crost,

I have a father, you a daughter, lost.

MEDIEVAL MUSIC PLAYS

How do I know if I do choose the right?

The one of them contains my picture, Prince.

If you choose that, then I am yours withal.

Some god direct my judgement!

HE SHOUTS

Let me see.

"Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath."

Hmm.

Must give? For what?

For lead? Hazard for lead?

This casket, my friends, threatens.

Men who hazard all do it in hope of fair advantages.

A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross, eh?

I'll then nor give nor hazard aught for lead, ah? Mm-mm.

What says the silver with her virgin hue?

"Who chooseth me...

"shall gain as much as he deserves."

Pause there, Morocco,

and weigh thy value with an even hand, ha?

I do in birth deserve her, and in fortunes,

and in graces, and in qualities of breeding!

Ah!

What if I stray no further but choose here?

All: Hmm.

"Who chooseth me...

"will gain what many men...

"desire."

ALL: Hmm. Huh?

Why, that's the lady!

All of the world desires her!

From the four corners of the earth, they come to kiss this shrine,

this mortal breathing saint.

Deliver me the key. Here do I choose, and thrive as I may.

There, take it, Prince.

And if my form lie there, I am yours.

EXOTIC MUSIC PLAYS

Ha!

GASPS

O hell.

What have we here?

"All that glistens is not gold.

"Often have you heard that told.

"Gilded tombs do worms enfold.

"Fare you well, but your suit is cold."

GENTLE MUSIC PLAYS

LAUGHTER

For all of my fortune, Shylock, I give thanks.

To best esteemed acquaintances.

Antonio, good health.

I know the hand. In faith, it is a fair hand,

-and whiter than the paper it writ on is the fair hand that writ.

-Love news, in faith.

Meet me tonight.

This is the penthouse under which Lorenzo desired us to make stand?

His hour is almost past.

And it is a marvel he outstays his hour for lovers always run before the clock.

That ever holds.

Who rises from a feast with that keen appetite that he sits down?

Well... Sweet friends, your patience for my long delay.

Ho! Who's within?

Who are you?

Tell me for more certainty, albeit I swear that I do know your tongue.

Lorenzo, and thy love.

Lorenzo, certain, and my love indeed,

for who I love so much?

And now who knows but you, Lorenzo, whether I am yours?

Heaven and thy thoughts are witness that thou art.

-Here! Catch this casket.

-NO!

It is worth the pains.

I'm glad 'tis night. You do not look on me for I am much ashamed of my disguise.

But love is blind and lovers cannot see the pretty follies that themselves commit.

THUNDER CLAPS

For if they could, Cupid himself would blush to see me thus transformed into a boy.

PANTING

Descend, for you must be my torchbearer.

Why, 'tis an office of discovery, love, and I should be obscured.

So are you, sweet, even in the lovely garnish of a boy.

But come at once, for the close night doth play the runaway.

I will gild myself with some more ducats and be with you straight.

Contend me, but I love her, heartily.

For she is wise, if I can judge of her,

and fair, she is, if that mine eyes be true

and true she is, as she hath proved herself.

And therefore, like herself, wise, fair and true,

-shall she be placed in my constant soul.

-No!

THUNDER CLAPS

Who's there?

-Signior Antonio!

-Fie, fie, Gratiano.

'Tis ten o'clock, our friends all wait for you.

No masque tonight.

The wind has come about, Bassanio soon will come aboard.

I have sent twenty out to seek for you.

Jessica!

Jessica!

Jessica!

I will make some speed of my return.

Hurry not business for my sake, but stay the very riping of the time.

And for the Jew's bond that he has of thee, let it not enter your mind of love.

CROWD: Leva i remi. Rema. Avanti!

Be merry and employ your chiefest thoughts to courtship,

such fair displays of love as may conveniently become you there.

CROWD: Tira!

Oh...ehi!

Oh...ehi!

Oh...ehi!

Oh...ehi...

No!

No!

No, no.

Jessica!

No.

I never heard a passion so confused,

so strange, outrageous and so variable

as the dog Jew did utter in the streets.

"My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter!"

The villain Jew with outcries raised the Duke

who went with him to search Bassanio's ship.

He came too late, the ship was under sail.

Let good Antonio look he keep his day or he shall pay for this.

Marry, well remembered.

I reasoned with a Frenchman yesterday

who told me, in the narrow seas that part the French and English,

there miscarried a vessel of our country richly fraught.

I thought upon Antonio when he told me

and wished in silence that it were not his.

Madam! Madam!

Madam!

Oh...

Madam! Quick! Quick!

I pray you, the Prince of Aragon hath taken his oath

and comes to his election presently.

Musica!

STRINGED INSTRUMENTS PLAY

"Who chooses me must give and hazard all he has."

You shall look fairer ere I give or hazard.

LAUGHTER

What says the golden chest?

Ha!

Let me see.

"Who chooses me shall gain what many men desire."

I will not choose what many men desire

because I will not jump with common spirits

and rank me with the barbarous multitude.

"Who chooses me shall get as much as he deserves."

And well said, too.

I will assume desert.

Give me a key for this

and instantly unlock my fortunes here.

Too long a pause for that which you find there.

What's here?

The portrait of a blinking idiot presenting me a schedule?

Did I deserve no more than a fool's head?

Is that my prize?

Are my deserts no better?

To offend and judge are distinct offices and of opposing natures.

With one fool's head,

I came to woo.

But I go away with two.

CHATTERING

Antonio's ship is wrecked, gone down with all hands, all the merchandise lost.

Come on up! Come on up!

Who is that there?

Jew! The Jew! Hey! Take some pleasure with us!

Taste my Christian flesh!

MEDIEVAL MUSIC PLAYS

What news on the Rialto?

Why, yet it lives there unchecked that Antonio hath a ship of rich lading wrecked on the narrow seas.

The Goodwins, I think they call the place,

a very dangerous flat and fatal where the carcasses of many a tall ship lie buried.

-What say you?

-I would it might prove the end of his losses.

How now, Shylock?

What news amongst the merchants?

You knew of my daughter's flight.

None so well.

None so well as you.

And Shylock for his own part knew the bird was fledged,

and then it is the complexion of them all to leave the dam.

She be damned for it.

Tell us, do you hear whether Antonio have had any loss at sea or no?

Let him look to his bond.

He was wont to call me usurer. Let him look to his bond.

He was wont to lend money for Christian courtesy.

Let him look to his bond.

Hello, Jew! >

I'm sure if he forfeit, you'll not take his flesh. What's that good for?

To bait fish withal.

If it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge.

He hath disgraced me

and hindered me half a million,

laughed at my losses,

mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains,

cooled my friends, heated mine enemies,

and what's his reason? I am a Jew!

Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands?

Organs, dimensions?

Senses, affections, passions?

Fed with the same food?

Hurt with the same weapons?

Subject to the same diseases?

Healed by the same means?

Warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is?

If you prick us, do we not bleed?

If you tickle us, do we not laugh?

If you poison us, do we not die?

And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that.

If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge.

If a Christian wrong a Jew,

what should his sufferance be by Christian example?

Why, revenge.

The villainy you teach me I will execute.

And it shall go hard, but I will better the instruction.

Antonio is at his house. We should speak with him.

How now, Tubal?

What news from Genoa?

-Have you found my daughter?

-I often came where I did hear of her, but cannot find her.

Why...?

There, there, there.

A diamond gone.

Cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfurt.

The curse never fell upon our nation till now.

I never felt it.

Till now.

I would my daughter were dead at my foot...

..and the jewel in her ear.

No news of them?

BELL CHIMES

Ah, loss upon loss.

The thief gone with so much and so much to find the thief.

And no satisfaction,

no revenge,

no luck stirring,

but what lights on my shoulders?

No...

sighs,

but of my breathing.

No tears, but of my shedding.

Yes, other men have ill luck, too.

Antonio, as I heard in Genoa.

What?

-What, what?

-Ill luck?

There's a ship, wrecked, coming from Tripolis.

Oh, I thank God.

I thank God.

Oh!

Heard you in Genoa what?

Your daughter spent in Genoa,

as I heard,

one night, four score ducats.

Oh, you stick a dagger in me.

I shall never see my gold again.

Four score ducats!

At a sitting!

Four score ducats!

There came various of Antonio's creditors in my company to Venice

that swear he cannot choose but break.

I am very glad of it. I'll plague him.

I'll torture him. I am glad of it.

One of them showed me a ring he had of your daughter for a monkey.

How dare her!

Tubal, you torture me.

It was my turquoise.

I had it of Leah, her mother, when I was a bachelor.

I would not have given it away for a wilderness of monkeys.

But Antonio is certainly undone.

That is true.

Tubal, go, find me an officer.

Bespeak him a fortnight before.

I will have Antonio's heart if he forfeit.

Go, go, Tubal, at our synagogue, good Tubal.

CREW: Oh...ehi! Oh...ehi!

Madam!

There is alighted at your gate a young Venetian,

one who comes to signify the approaching of his lord.

I have not seen so likely an ambassador of love!

A day in April never came so sweet to show how costly summer was at hand as this...

Oh! ..forerunner comes before his lord.

No more, I pray you. I'm half afraid you will say anon he is some kin to you,

you spin such highday wit in praising him.

Come. Come, Nerissa,

for I long to see quick Cupid's post that comes so mannerly.

Bassanio, lord Love, if your will it be.

FANFARE PLAYS

CREW: Oh...ehi! Oh...ehi...

There's something tells me, but it is not love.

I would not lose you.

And yourself knows hate counsels not in such a quality.

I would detain you here a month or two before you venture for me.

I could teach you how to choose right, but then I'd break my oath.

That will I never do.

So may you miss me

and if you do, you make me wish that sin that I had broke my oath.

Contend me with your eyes

for they have o'erlooked me and divided me.

One half of me is yours, the other half yours, mine own, I would say, but if mine, then yours and so...

all yours.

Let me choose, for as I am, I live upon the rack.

Upon the rack, Bassanio?

Then confess what treason there is mingled with your love.

None, but that ugly treason of mistrust

which makes me fear the enjoying of my love.

Ay, but I fear you speak upon the rack,

-when men enforced do speak anything.

-Promise me life

and I'll confess the truth.

Well, then...

..confess and live.

Confess and love has been the very sum of my confession.

But let me to my fortune and the caskets.

Away, then.

I am locked in one of them.

# Tell me where is fancy bred

# Or in the heart or in the head?

# How begot

# How nourished

# Reply

# Reply

# Reply

# Reply. #

So may the outward shows be least themselves.

The world is still deceived with ornament.

In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt

but being seasoned with a gracious voice

obscures the show of evil?

In religion,

what damned error but some sober brow will bless it

and approve it with a text,

hiding the grossness with fair...

..ornament?

Look on beauty

and you shall see

'tis purchased

by the weight.

Therefore, thou gaudy gold, I will none of you.

Nor none of you, O pale and common drudge 'tween man and man.

But you, O meagre lead,

which rather threatenest than dost promise aught,

your paleness moves me more...

..than eloquence.

Here choose I.

Joy be the consequence.

O love, be moderate, allay your ecstasy,

I feel too much your blessing make it less for fear I surfeit.

What find I here?

Fair Portia's counterfeit.

THEY CHEER

Oh, what demigoddess comes so near creation?

Move these eyes?

Or whether, riding on the balls of mine, seem they in motion?

But her eyes, how could he see to do them?

But look how far the substance of my praise does wrong this shadow in underpraising it,

so far this shadow doth limp behind the substance.

LAUGHTER, MUSIC PLAYS

Here's the scroll, the continent and summary of my fortune.

"You that choose not by the view

"Chances fair and chooses true

"Since this fortune falls on you

"Be content and seek no new

"If you be well pleased with this

"Then hold your fortune for your bliss

"Turn you where your lady is

"And claim her with a loving kiss."

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

A gentle scroll!

Fair lady,

by your leave, I come by note to give.

And...to receive.

Like one of two contending in a prize

That thinks he has done well in people's eyes

Hearing applause and universal shout

Giddy in spirit, still gazing in a doubt

As doubtful whether what I...see be true

Until confirmed, signed, ratified by you.

APPLAUSE

You see me, Lord Bassanio, where I stand, such as I am.

Though for myself alone I would not be ambitious in my wish to wish myself much better,

yet for you, I would be treble 20 times myself.

A thousand times more fair,

ten thousand times more rich,

that only to stand high in your account, I might in virtues,

beauties,

livings,

friends,

exceed account.

But the full sum of me is sum of something which, to term in gross...

..is an unlessoned girl,

unschooled, unpractised.

Happy in this, she is not yet so old that she may learn.

Happier than this, she is not bred so dull that she may learn.

Happiest of all,

is that her gentle spirit commits itself to yours to be directed...

..as by her governor,

her lord...

..her king.

This house, these servants,

and this same myself

are yours,

my lord's.

I give them with this ring,

which when you part from, lose or give away...

..let it presage the ruin of your love.

And give me vantage to exclaim on you.

(Madam...)

You have bereft me of all words.

Only my blood speaks to you in my veins,

there is such confusion in my powers.

But when this ring parts from this finger...

..then parts life from hence...

O, then be bold to say Bassanio's dead.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

-HE CLEARS THROAT

-My lord Bassanio, my gentle lady,

I wish you all the joy that you can wish

and when your honours mean to solemnise the bargain of your faith,

I do beseech you, even at that time,

I may be married, too.

With all my heart.

If you can get a wife. SHE GIGGLES

I thank you, your lordship, you have got me one.

My eyes, my lord, can look as swift as yours. You...saw the mistress...

I beheld the maid.

Is it true, Nerissa?

-Madam, it is!

-Oh!

-And do you, Gratiano, mean good faith?

-Yes, faith, my lord.

Our feast shall be much honoured in your marriage.

APPLAUSE

We'll play with them the first boy for a thousand ducats.

-What, and stake down?

-No.

We shall never win at that sport with stake down.

LAUGHTER

< Ho, there! Ho!

But who comes here?

There are some shrewd contents in yond same paper,

that do steal the colour from Bassanio's cheek.

Some dear friend dead, else nothing in the world could turn the constitution of any constant man.

What, worse and worse!

With leave, Bassanio,

I am half yourself

and I must freely have half of anything that this same letter brings you.

O sweet Portia, they are a few of the unpleasantest words that ever blotted paper.

Gentle lady,

when I did first impart my love to you,

I freely told you all the wealth I had ran in my veins.

I was a gentleman and then I told you true. And yet, dear lady,

rating myself at nothing,

you shall see how much I was a braggart.

When I told you my estate was nothing,

I should have then told you I was worse than nothing,

for, indeed, I have engaged myself to a dear friend,

who engaged my dear friend to his mere enemy...

..to feed my means.

Here is a letter, lady. The paper is the body of my friend,

and every word in it a gaping wound issuing lifeblood.

But is it true, Salerio? What, all his ventures failed? What, not one hit?

From Tripolis, from Mexico, from England?

Not one, my lord. Besides, it should appear that if he had the present money to discharge the Jew,

he would not take it.

He plies the duke at morning and at night and doth impeach the freedom of the state

if they deny him justice. Twenty merchants, the duke himself

and the magnificoes of greatest port have all persuaded with him,

but none can drive him from the envious plea of forfeiture, of justice, and his bond.

When I was with him,

I have heard him swear to Tubal and to Cush, his countrymen,

that he would rather have Antonio's flesh

than twenty times the value of the sum that he did owe him.

And I know, my lord,

if law, authority and power deny not...

..it will go hard with poor Antonio.

-Is it your dear friend that is thus in trouble?

-The dearest friend to me.

What sum owes he the Jew?

For me, 3,000 ducats.

No more?

Pay him 6,000 and deface the bond.

Double 6,000 and then treble that before a friend of this description

should lose a hair through Bassanio's fault.

Let me hear the letter of your friend.

"Sweet Bassanio, my ships have all miscarried, my creditors grow cruel,

"my estate is very low.

"My bond to the Jew is forfeit and since in paying it, it is impossible I should live,

"all debts are cleared between you and I...

"if I might but see you at my death.

"Notwithstanding, use your pleasure.

"If love do not persuade you to come, let not my letter."

O love...

Dispatch all business and be gone! First...

..go with me to church and call me wife.

Then away to Venice, to your friend.

For never shall you lie by Portia's side with an unquiet soul.

You shall have gold to pay the petty debt twenty times over.

When it is paid, bring your true friend along.

Meantime, myself and Nerissa will live as maids and widows.

Come, away,

for you shall hence

upon your wedding day.

Gaoler, look to him, tell me not of mercy.

This is the fool lent out money gratis. Gaoler, look to him.

-Hear me yet, good Shylock.

-I'll have my bond. Speak not against my bond.

I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond.

You called me dog before you had a cause.

But since I am a dog, beware my fangs.

The duke will grant me justice.

I do wonder, you wicked gaolers, you are so fond to come abroad with him at his request.

-I pray you, hear me speak!

-I'll have my bond, I will not hear you speak.

I'll have my bond, therefore speak no more.

I'll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool,

to shake their head, relent and sigh and yield to Christian intercessors.

I'll have no speaking, follow not.

I will have my bond.

It is the most impenetrable cur that ever kept with men.

Let him alone.

I'll follow him no more with bootless prayers.

He seeks my life.

His reason well I know.

I'm sure the duke will never grant this forfeiture to hold!

The duke cannot deny the course of law.

For the commodity that strangers have with us in Venice, if it be denied,

will much impeach the justice of the state.

Therefore, go.

Oh!

These griefs and losses have so bated me

that I shall hardly find a pound of flesh tomorrow for my bloody creditor.

Pray God, Bassanio come to see me pay his debt.

Then I care not.

Madam, if you knew to whom you show this honour,

how true a gentleman you send relief, how dear a lover of my lord your husband,

I know you would be prouder of the work than customary kindness would allow you.

I never did repent for doing good, I shall not now.

For in companions that do converse and waste the time together

there needs must be a like proportion of lineaments, of manners and of spirit.

Which makes me think that this Antonio,

being the bosom lover of my lord,

must needs be like my lord. If it be so, how little is the cost I have bestowed

in purchasing the semblance of my soul from out of this state of hellish cruelty.

This comes too near the praising of myself. Therefore, no more of it. Hear other things.

Lorenzo, I commit into your hands the husbandry and manage of my house until my lord's return.

For my own part, I have towards heaven breathed a secret vow

to live in prayer and contemplation, only attended by Nerissa here,

-until my husband and her lord's return.

-Madam, with all my heart, I shall obey you in all fair commands.

Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you.

Go, speed to Padua, render this into my cousin's hands, old Bellario. Go!

Is it not so, cousin Bellario?

SINGING

See, Jessica.

Look how the floor of heaven is thick inlaid with patterns of bright gold.

Is not the smallest orb that you behold

but in his motion like an angel sings?

Such harmony is in immortal souls.

But whilst this muddy vesture of decay doth grossly close it in,

we cannot hear it.

Hm. I am never merry when I hear sweet music.

The reason is your spirits are attentive.

The man that hath no music in himself

nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds

is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils.

The motions of his spirit are as dull as night

and his affections are as dark as Erebus.

Let no such man be trusted.

Mark the music.

# Sweet rose... #

We shall see our husbands before they think of us.

-Shall they see us?

-They shall, Nerissa,

but in such a habit that they shall think we are accomplished with what we lack.

I'll hold you any wager, when we are both accoutred like young men,

I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two!

Go one and call the Jew to the court.

Make room and let him stand before our face.

He is come, my lord.

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

that you but lead'st this fashion of your malice to the last hour of the act

and then 'tis thought you'll show your mercy and remorse,

more strange than is your strange apparent cruelty.

What say you, Jew? We all expect a gentle answer.

I have informed 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 human 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 by a rat

and I am pleased to give ten thousand ducats to have it killed?

-What, are you answered yet?

-No.

Some men there are love not a gaping pig,

some that are mad if they behold a cat,

and others when the bagpipe sings in the nose cannot contain their urine.

For affection, master 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 will I not, more than a lodged hate

and a certain loathing I bear Antonio,

that I follow thus this losing suit against him.

-Are you answered?

-ALL: No!

This is no answer, you unfeeling man, to excuse the current of your cruelty.

I am not bound to please you with my answers.

Do all men kill the things they do not love?

Hates any man the thing he would not kill?

Every offence is not a hate at first.

You would have a serpent sting you twice?

I pray you...

..think...you question with the Jew.

You may as well go stand upon the beach

and bid the main flood lower its usual height.

You may as well...

question with the wolf why he has made the ewe bleat for the lamb.

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 just and plain conveniency let me have judgement and the Jew his will.

ALL: No!

You loaned three thousand ducats.

Here is six.

THEY GASP

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.

How shall you hope for mercy, giving none?

What judgment should I fear, 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.

Their palates seasoned with your food.

You will answer, "The slaves are ours."

So do I answer you.

The pound of flesh that I demand of him is dearly bought.

'Tis mine.

'Tis mine!

'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 judgment. Answer.

-Shall I have it?

-THEY GASP

THEY ALL SHOUT

Silence! Silence! Silence!

Upon my power I may dismiss this court

unless Bellario, a learned doctor that I have sent for to determine this, come here today.

My lord!

Here stays without a messenger with letters from the doctor new come from Padua.

Come you from Padua, from old Bellario?

From both, my lord. Bellario greets your grace.

Why do you whet your knife so earnestly?

To cut the forfeiture from that bankrupt there.

Can no prayers pierce you?

No, none that YOU have wit enough to make.

Be you damned, inexecrable dog,

-and for your life let justice be accused.

-Till you can rail the seal from off my bond,

you but offend your lungs to speak so loud.

Prepare your wit, good youth, or it will fall to cureless ruin.

I stand here for law.

I stand for law!

Silence! Silence!

This letter does commend a young and learned doctor to our court.

-Well, where is he?

-He attendeth here hard by to know your answer, whether you'll admit him.

Go, give him courteous conduct to this place. Meantime, the court shall hear Bellario's letter.

"Your grace shall understand that at the receipt of your letter, I am very sick

"but in the instant your messenger came there was with me a young doctor of Rome

"whose name is Balthasar. He comes at my asking to take my place.

"I beseech you, let his lack of years be no impediment,

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

"I leave him to your gracious acceptance."

You heard Bellario, what he writes. Oh, and here, I take it, is the doctor come.

You are welcome.

Take your place.

Are you acquainted with the difference that holds this present question in the court?

I am informed thoroughly of the case. Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew?

Antonio and old Shylock, both stand forth.

-Is your name Shylock?

-Shylock...is my name.

Of a strange nature is the suit you follow, yet in such rule that the Venetian law

cannot deny you as you do proceed.

You stand within his power, do you not?

-Ay, so he says.

-Do you confess the bond?

I do.

Then must the Jew be merciful.

On what compulsion must I? Tell me that.

The quality of mercy is not strained.

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath.

It is twice blessed.

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

'Tis mightiest in the mighty.

It becomes the throned monarch better than his crown.

His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,

the attribute to awe and majesty

wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings.

But mercy is above this sceptred sway.

It is enthroned in the heart of kings.

It is an attribute to God himself...

..and earthly power doth then show likest God's when mercy seasons justice.

Therefore, Jew, though justice be your plea, consider this.

That in the course of justice, none of us should see salvation.

We do pray for mercy

and that same prayer doth teach us all to render the deeds of mercy.

I have spoke thus much to mitigate the justice of your plea,

which if you follow this strict course of Venice

must needs give sentence against the merchant there.

My deeds upon my head.

I crave the law,

the penalty and forfeit of my bond.

Is he not able to discharge the money?

Yes, here, I tender it for him in court,

yea, twice the sum.

If that is not enough, I will be bound to pay it ten times o'er

on forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart!

If this is not enough it must appear that malice bears down on truth. CROWD SHOUTS

I beseech you, wrest once the law to your authority

to do a great right, do a little wrong

and curb this cruel devil of his will.

It must not be. There is no power in Venice can alter a decree established.

'Twill be recorded for a precedent

and many an error of the same example will rush into the state.

-It cannot be.

-A Daniel come to judgment.

-CROWD SHOUTS

-Yea, a Daniel.

O wise young judge, how I do honour you.

I pray you, let me look upon the bond.

Most reverend doctor, here it is.

Shylock, there is twice the money offered you.

An oath, an oath.

I have an oath in heaven.

Shall I lay perjury upon my soul?

No. Not for Venice.

Why, this bond is forfeit

and lawfully at this time the Jew may claim a pound of flesh

to be by him cut off nearest the merchant's heart.

Be merciful.

Take twice your money, bid me tear the bond.

When it is paid, according to the terms.

Most heartily I do beseech the court...

..to give the judgment.

Then thus it is.

HE WHISPERS

You must prepare your bosom for his knife.

O noble judge...

..excellent young man.

For the intent and purpose of the law has full relation to the penalty

which here appeareth due upon the bond.

'Tis very true, O wise and upright judge.

How much more elder are you than you look.

-Therefore, lay bare your bosom.

-Ay, his breast.

So says the bond, does it not, noble judge?

Nearest the heart.

-Those are the very words.

-It is so.

Are there balances here to weigh the flesh?

I have them...here.

SHYLOCK SHARPENS BLADE

Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge

to stop his wounds lest he should bleed to death.

Is it so nominated in the bond?

It is not so expressed but what of that?

'Twere good you do so much for charity.

I cannot find it. 'Tis not in the bond.

You, merchant, have you anything to say?

But little.

I am armed and well prepared.

Give me your hand, Bassanio.

Fare thee well.

Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you.

For herein doth Fortune show herself more kind than is her custom.

Commend me to thy honourable wife.

Tell her the process of Antonio's end.

SHARPENS BLADE

Say how I loved you, speak me fair in death.

And when the tale is told,

bid her be judge whether Bassanio had not once a love.

Repent but you that you shall lose your friend..

...and you repent not that he pays your debt.

For if the Jew do cut but deep enough,

I'll pay it instantly with all my heart.

Antonio, 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 esteemed above your life.

I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all,

here to this devil...

..to deliver you.

I have a wife, whom, I protest, I love. >

I would she were in heaven, so she could entreat some power

to change this cursed Jew!

I have a daughter!

Would that any of the stock of Barabbas been her husband

rather than a Christian.

We trifle time. I pray you, pursue sentence.

You may proceed. >

A pound of that same merchant's flesh is yours.

-The court awards it and the law does give it.

-Most rightful judge.

And you must cut this flesh from off his breast.

The court awards it and the law allows it.

Most learned judge.

A sentence.

Come.

Prepare.

SHYLOCK SHARPENS BLADE

-TARRY...

-Aggh!

-..a little.

There is something else.

This bond does give you here no drop of blood.

The words expressly are "a pound of flesh".

Take then your bond, take then your pound of flesh,

but in the cutting of it, if you do shed one drop of Christian blood...

..your lands and goods are by the laws of Venice confiscate

unto the state of Venice.

O upright judge!

Mark, Jew.

Learned judge!

Is that the law?

Yourself shall see the act.

For as you urge on justice,

be assured you shall have justice more than you desire.

Well...

I take the offer, then.

Pay the bond twice

and let the Christian go.

-Here is the money.

-Soft. The Jew shall have all justice.

No haste. He shall have nothing but the penalty.

Therefore, prepare you to cut off the flesh.

Shed then no blood

nor cut you less nor more but just a pound of flesh.

If you take more or less than a just pound

be it but so much as makes it light or heavy

in the substance or division of the twentieth part of one poor scruple,

nay, if the scale do turn but in the estimation of a hair...

..you die and all your goods are confiscate.

A second Daniel!

LAUGHTER

Now, infidel, I have you on the hip!

Why does the Jew pause?

Shall I not have even my principal?

You shall have nothing but your forfeiture,

to be so taken at your peril, Jew.

Why, then the devil give him good of it.

-I'll stay no longer question.

-Tarry, Jew.

The law has yet another hold on you.

It is enacted in the laws of Venice,

if it be proved against an alien that by direct or indirect attempts

he seek the life of any citizen,

the party 'gainst which he does contrive

shall seize one half of his goods.

The other half comes to the privy coffer of the state...

..and the offender's life lies in the mercy of the Duke only,

'gainst all other voice.

In which predicament, I say you stand.

Down, therefore...

..and beg mercy of the Duke.

Beg that you may have leave to hang yourself.

< That you shall see the difference in our spirit,

< I pardon you your life before you ask it.

For half your wealth, it is Antonio's,

the other half shall come to the general state.

Nay, take my life and all pardon not that.

You take my house when you take the prop

that doth sustain my house.

You take my life...

..when you take the means whereby I live.

What mercy can you render him, Antonio?

A halter gratis, nothing else, for God's sake.

So please, my lord the Duke and all the court...

..forego the fine of one half of his goods.

I am content so he will let me use the other half, in trust...

..relinquish it upon his death...

..unto the gentleman that lately stole his daughter.

One thing provided more, that, for this favour...

..he shall presently become a Christian.

SHYLOCK WHIMPERS

He shall do this or else I do recant the pardon

I late pronounced here.

Are you contented, Jew?