The Merchant of Venice: ACT IV , SCENE I. Venice. A court of justice.

The Merchant of Venice: ACT IV


	Introduction

	ACT I

	ACT II

	ACT III

	ACT IV

		SCENE I. Venice. A court of justice.

		SCENE II. The same. A street.

	ACT V

	About the Play

	Feedback



	Search:
	for:

SCENE I. Venice. A court of justice.

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

DUKE

What, is Antonio here?

ANTONIO

Ready, so please your grace.

DUKE

      I am sorry for thee: thou art come to answer
      A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch
5     uncapable of pity, void and empty
      From any dram of mercy.

ANTONIO

      I have heard
      Your grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify
      His rigorous course; but since he stands obdurate
10    And that no lawful means can carry me
      Out of his envy's reach, I do oppose
      My patience to his fury, and am arm'd
      To suffer, with a quietness of spirit,
      The very tyranny and rage of his.

DUKE

15 Go one, and call the Jew into the court.

SALERIO

He is ready at the door: he comes, my lord.

Enter SHYLOCK

DUKE

      Make room, and let him stand before our face.
      Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too,
      That thou but lead'st this fashion of thy malice
20    To the last hour of act; and then 'tis thought
      Thou'lt show thy mercy and remorse more strange
      Than is thy strange apparent cruelty;
      And where thou now exact'st the penalty,
      Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh,
25    Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture,
      But, touch'd with human gentleness and love,
      Forgive a moiety of the principal;
      Glancing an eye of pity on his losses,
      That have of late so huddled on his back,
30    Enow to press a royal merchant down
      And pluck commiseration of his state
      From brassy bosoms and rough hearts of flint,
      From stubborn Turks and Tartars, never train'd
      To offices of tender courtesy.
35    We all expect a gentle answer, Jew.

SHYLOCK

      I have possess'd your grace of what I purpose;
      And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn
      To have the due and forfeit of my bond:
      If you deny it, let the danger light
40    Upon your charter and your city's freedom.
      You'll ask me, why I rather choose to have
      A weight of carrion flesh than to receive
      Three thousand ducats: I'll not answer that:
      But, say, it is my humour: is it answer'd?
45    What if my house be troubled with a rat
      And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats
      To have it baned? What, are you answer'd yet?
      Some men there are love not a gaping pig;
      Some, that are mad if they behold a cat;
50    And others, when the bagpipe sings i' the nose,
      Cannot contain their urine: for affection,
      Mistress 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 render'd,
55    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;
60    So can I give no reason, nor I will not,
      More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing
      I bear Antonio, that I follow thus
      A losing suit against him. Are you answer'd?

BASSANIO

This is no answer, thou unfeeling man,
65 To excuse the current of thy cruelty.

SHYLOCK

I am not bound to please thee with my answers.

BASSANIO

Do all men kill the things they do not love?

SHYLOCK

Hates any man the thing he would not kill?

BASSANIO

Every offence is not a hate at first.

SHYLOCK

70 What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice?

ANTONIO

      I pray you, think you question with the Jew:
      You may as well go stand upon the beach
      And bid the main flood bate his usual height;
      You may as well use question with the wolf
75    Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb;
      You may as well forbid the mountain pines
      To wag their high tops and to make no noise,
      When they are fretten with the gusts of heaven;
      You may as well do anything most hard,
80    As seek to soften that--than which what's harder?--
      His Jewish heart: therefore, I do beseech you,
      Make no more offers, use no farther means,
      But with all brief and plain conveniency
      Let me have judgment and the Jew his will.

BASSANIO

85 For thy three thousand ducats here is six.

SHYLOCK

      What judgment shall I dread, doing
      Were in six parts and every part a ducat,
      I would not draw them; I would have my bond.

DUKE

How shalt thou hope for mercy, rendering none?

SHYLOCK

90    What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong?
      You have among you many a purchased slave,
      Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules,
      You use in abject and in slavish parts,
      Because you bought them: shall I say to you,
95    Let them be free, marry them to your heirs?
      Why sweat they under burthens? let their beds
      Be made as soft as yours and let their palates
      Be season'd with such viands? You will answer
      'The slaves are ours:' so do I answer you:
100   The pound of flesh, which I demand of him,
      Is dearly bought; 'tis mine and I will have it.
      If you deny me, fie upon your law!
      There is no force in the decrees of Venice.
      I stand for judgment: answer; shall I have it?

DUKE

105   Upon my power I may dismiss this court,
      Unless Bellario, a learned doctor,
      Whom I have sent for to determine this,
      Come here to-day.

SALERIO

      My lord, here stays without
110   A messenger with letters from the doctor,
      New come from Padua.

DUKE

Bring us the letter; call the messenger.

BASSANIO

      Good cheer, Antonio! What, man, courage yet!
      The Jew shall have my flesh, blood, bones and all,
115   Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood.

ANTONIO

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

Enter NERISSA, dressed like a lawyer's clerk

DUKE

Came you from Padua, from Bellario?

NERISSA

From both, my lord. Bellario greets your grace.

Presenting a letter

BASSANIO

Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?

SHYLOCK

To cut the forfeiture from that bankrupt there.

GRATIANO

125   Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew,
      Thou makest thy knife keen; but no metal can,
      No, not the hangman's axe, bear half the keenness
      Of thy sharp envy. Can no prayers pierce thee?

SHYLOCK

No, none that thou hast wit enough to make.

GRATIANO

130   O, be thou damn'd, inexecrable dog!
      And for thy life let justice be accused.
      Thou almost makest me waver in my faith
      To hold opinion with Pythagoras,
      That souls of animals infuse themselves
135   Into the trunks of men: thy currish spirit
      Govern'd a wolf, who, hang'd for human slaughter,
      Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet,
      And, whilst thou lay'st in thy unhallow'd dam,
      Infused itself in thee; for thy desires
140   Are wolvish, bloody, starved and ravenous.

SHYLOCK

      Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond,
      Thou but offend'st thy lungs to speak so loud:
      Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall
      To cureless ruin. I stand here for law.

DUKE

145   This letter from Bellario doth commend
      A young and learned doctor to our court.
      Where is he?

NERISSA

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

DUKE

150   With all my heart. Some three or four of you
      Go give him courteous conduct to this place.
      Meantime the court shall hear Bellario's letter.

Clerk

      Your grace shall understand that at the receipt of
155   your letter I am very sick: but in the instant that
      your messenger came, in loving visitation was with
      me a young doctor of Rome; his name is Balthasar. I
      acquainted him with the cause in controversy between
      the Jew and Antonio the merchant: we turned o'er
160   many books together: he is furnished with my
      opinion; which, bettered with his own learning, the
      greatness whereof I cannot enough commend, comes
      with him, at my importunity, to fill up your grace's
      request in my stead. I beseech you, let his lack of
165   years be no impediment to let him lack a reverend
      estimation; for I never knew so young a body with so
      old a head. I leave him to your gracious
      acceptance, whose trial shall better publish his
      commendation.

DUKE

170 You hear the learn'd Bellario, what he writes:
And here, I take it, is the doctor come.

Enter PORTIA, dressed like a doctor of laws

Give me your hand. Come you from old Bellario?

PORTIA

I did, my lord.

DUKE

      You are welcome: take your place.
175   Are you acquainted with the difference
      That holds this present question in the court?

PORTIA

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

DUKE

Antonio and old Shylock, both stand forth.

PORTIA

180 Is your name Shylock?

SHYLOCK

Shylock is my name.

PORTIA

      Of a strange nature is the suit you follow;
      Yet in such rule that the Venetian law
      Cannot impugn you as you do proceed.
185   You stand within his danger, do you not?

ANTONIO

Ay, so he says.

PORTIA

Do you confess the bond?

ANTONIO

I do.

PORTIA

Then must the Jew be merciful.

SHYLOCK

190 On what compulsion must I? tell me that.

PORTIA

      The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
      It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
      Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
      It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
195   'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: 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;
200   But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
      It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
      It is an attribute to God himself;
      And earthly power doth then show likest God's
      When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
205   Though justice be thy 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
210   To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
      Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
      Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.

SHYLOCK

My deeds upon my head! I crave the law,
The penalty and forfeit of my bond.

PORTIA

215 Is he not able to discharge the money?

BASSANIO

      Yes, here I tender it for him in the court;
      Yea, twice the sum: if that will not suffice,
      I will be bound to pay it ten times o'er,
      On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart:
220   If this will not suffice, it must appear
      That malice bears down truth. And 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.

PORTIA

225   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 by the same example
      Will rush into the state: it cannot be.

SHYLOCK

230 A Daniel come to judgment! yea, a Daniel!
O wise young judge, how I do honour thee!

PORTIA

I pray you, let me look upon the bond.

SHYLOCK

Here 'tis, most reverend doctor, here it is.

PORTIA

Shylock, there's thrice thy money offer'd thee.

SHYLOCK

235   An oath, an oath, I have an oath in heaven:
      Shall I lay perjury upon my soul?
      No, not for Venice.

PORTIA

      Why, this bond is forfeit;
      And lawfully by this the Jew may claim
240   A pound of flesh, to be by him cut off
      Nearest the merchant's heart. Be merciful:
      Take thrice thy money; bid me tear the bond.

SHYLOCK

      When it is paid according to the tenor.
      It doth appear you are a worthy judge;
245   You know the law, your exposition
      Hath been most sound: I charge you by the law,
      Whereof you are a well-deserving pillar,
      Proceed to judgment: by my soul I swear
      There is no power in the tongue of man
250   To alter me: I stay here on my bond.

ANTONIO

Most heartily I do beseech the court
To give the judgment.

PORTIA

Why then, thus it is:
You must prepare your bosom for his knife.

SHYLOCK

255 O noble judge! O excellent young man!

PORTIA

      For the intent and purpose of the law
      Hath full relation to the penalty,
      Which here appeareth due upon the bond.

SHYLOCK

'Tis very true: O wise and upright judge!
260 How much more elder art thou than thy looks!

PORTIA

Therefore lay bare your bosom.

SHYLOCK

      Ay, his breast:
      So says the bond: doth it not, noble judge?
      'Nearest his heart:' those are the very words.

PORTIA

265 It is so. Are there balance here to weigh
The flesh?

SHYLOCK

I have them ready.

PORTIA

Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge,
To stop his wounds, lest he do bleed to death.

SHYLOCK

270 Is it so nominated in the bond?

PORTIA

It is not so express'd: but what of that?
'Twere good you do so much for charity.

SHYLOCK

I cannot find it; 'tis not in the bond.

PORTIA

You, merchant, have you any thing to say?

ANTONIO

275   But little: I am arm'd and well prepared.
      Give me your hand, Bassanio: fare you well!
      Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you;
      For herein Fortune shows herself more kind
      Than is her custom: it is still her use
280   To let the wretched man outlive his wealth,
      To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow
      An age of poverty; from which lingering penance
      Of such misery doth she cut me off.
      Commend me to your honourable wife:
285   Tell her the process of Antonio's end;
      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,
290   And he repents not that he pays your debt;
      For if the Jew do cut but deep enough,
      I'll pay it presently with all my heart.

BASSANIO

      Antonio, I am married to a wife
      Which is as dear to me as life itself;
295   But life itself, my wife, and all the world,
      Are not with me esteem'd above thy life:
      I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all
      Here to this devil, to deliver you.

PORTIA

Your wife would give you little thanks for that,
300 If she were by, to hear you make the offer.

GRATIANO

      I have a wife, whom, I protest, I love:
      I would she were in heaven, so she could
      Entreat some power to change this currish Jew.

NERISSA

'Tis well you offer it behind her back;
305 The wish would make else an unquiet house.

SHYLOCK

      These be the Christian husbands. I have a daughter;
      Would any of the stock of Barrabas
      Had been her husband rather than a Christian!

Aside

We trifle time: I pray thee, pursue sentence.

PORTIA

310 A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine:
The court awards it, and the law doth give it.

SHYLOCK

Most rightful judge!

PORTIA

And you must cut this flesh from off his breast:
The law allows it, and the court awards it.

SHYLOCK

315 Most learned judge! A sentence! Come, prepare!

PORTIA

      Tarry a little; there is something else.
      This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood;
      The words expressly are 'a pound of flesh:'
      Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh;
320   But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed
      One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods
      Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate
      Unto the state of Venice.

GRATIANO

O upright judge! Mark, Jew: O learned judge!

SHYLOCK

325 Is that the law?

PORTIA

      Thyself shalt see the act:
      For, as thou urgest justice, be assured
      Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desirest.

GRATIANO

O learned judge! Mark, Jew: a learned judge!

SHYLOCK

330 I take this offer, then; pay the bond thrice
And let the Christian go.

BASSANIO

Here is the money.

PORTIA

      Soft!
      The Jew shall have all justice; soft! no haste:
335   He shall have nothing but the penalty.

GRATIANO

O Jew! an upright judge, a learned judge!

PORTIA

      Therefore prepare thee to cut off the flesh.
      Shed thou no blood, nor cut thou less nor more
      But just a pound of flesh: if thou cut'st more
340   Or less than a just pound, be it but so much
      As makes it light or heavy in the substance,
      Or the division of the twentieth part
      Of one poor scruple, nay, if the scale do turn
      But in the estimation of a hair,
345   Thou diest and all thy goods are confiscate.

GRATIANO

A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew!
Now, infidel, I have you on the hip.

PORTIA

Why doth the Jew pause? take thy forfeiture.

SHYLOCK

Give me my principal, and let me go.

BASSANIO

350 I have it ready for thee; here it is.

PORTIA

He hath refused it in the open court:
He shall have merely justice and his bond.

GRATIANO

A Daniel, still say I, a second Daniel!
I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word.

SHYLOCK

355 Shall I not have barely my principal?

PORTIA

Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture,
To be so taken at thy peril, Jew.

SHYLOCK

Why, then the devil give him good of it!
I'll stay no longer question.

PORTIA

360   Tarry, Jew:
      The law hath 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
365   He seek the life of any citizen,
      The party 'gainst the which he doth contrive
      Shall seize one half his goods; the other half
      Comes to the privy coffer of the state;
      And the offender's life lies in the mercy
370   Of the duke only, 'gainst all other voice.
      In which predicament, I say, thou stand'st;
      For it appears, by manifest proceeding,
      That indirectly and directly too
      Thou hast contrived against the very life
375   Of the defendant; and thou hast incurr'd
      The danger formerly by me rehearsed.
      Down therefore and beg mercy of the duke.

GRATIANO

      Beg that thou mayst have leave to hang thyself:
      And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state,
380   Thou hast not left the value of a cord;
      Therefore thou must be hang'd at the state's charge.

DUKE

      That thou shalt see the difference of our spirits,
      I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it:
      For half thy wealth, it is Antonio's;
385   The other half comes to the general state,
      Which humbleness may drive unto a fine.

PORTIA

Ay, for the state, not for Antonio.

SHYLOCK

      Nay, take my life and all; pardon not that:
      You take my house when you do take the prop
390   That doth sustain my house; you take my life
      When you do take the means whereby I live.

PORTIA

What mercy can you render him, Antonio?

GRATIANO

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

ANTONIO

      So please my lord the duke and all the court
395   To quit the fine for one half of his goods,
      I am content; so he will let me have
      The other half in use, to render it,
      Upon his death, unto the gentleman
      That lately stole his daughter:
400   Two things provided more, that, for this favour,
      He presently become a Christian;
      The other, that he do record a gift,
      Here in the court, of all he dies possess'd,
      Unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter.

DUKE

405 He shall do this, or else I do recant
The pardon that I late pronounced here.

PORTIA

Art thou contented, Jew? what dost thou say?

SHYLOCK

I am content.

PORTIA

Clerk, draw a deed of gift.

SHYLOCK

410   I pray you, give me leave to go from hence;
      I am not well: send the deed after me,
      And I will sign it.

DUKE

Get thee gone, but do it.

GRATIANO

      In christening shalt thou have two god-fathers:
415   Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had ten more,
      To bring thee to the gallows, not the font.

Exit SHYLOCK

DUKE

Sir, I entreat you home with me to dinner.

PORTIA

      I humbly do desire your grace of pardon:
      I must away this night toward Padua,
420   And it is meet I presently set forth.

DUKE

      I am sorry that your leisure serves you not.
      Antonio, gratify this gentleman,
      For, in my mind, you are much bound to him.

Exeunt Duke and his train

BASSANIO

      Most worthy gentleman, I and my friend
425   Have by your wisdom been this day acquitted
      Of grievous penalties; in lieu whereof,
      Three thousand ducats, due unto the Jew,
      We freely cope your courteous pains withal.

ANTONIO

And stand indebted, over and above,
430 In love and service to you evermore.

PORTIA

      He is well paid that is well satisfied;
      And I, delivering you, am satisfied
      And therein do account myself well paid:
      My mind was never yet more mercenary.
435   I pray you, know me when we meet again:
      I wish you well, and so I take my leave.

BASSANIO

      Dear sir, of force I must attempt you further:
      Take some remembrance of us, as a tribute,
      Not as a fee: grant me two things, I pray you,
440   Not to deny me, and to pardon me.

PORTIA

You press me far, and therefore I will yield.

To ANTONIO

Give me your gloves, I'll wear them for your sake;

To BASSANIO

      And, for your love, I'll take this ring from you:
      Do not draw back your hand; I'll take no more;
445   And you in love shall not deny me this.

BASSANIO

This ring, good sir, alas, it is a trifle!
I will not shame myself to give you this.

PORTIA

I will have nothing else but only this;
And now methinks I have a mind to it.

BASSANIO

450   There's more depends on this than on the value.
      The dearest ring in Venice will I give you,
      And find it out by proclamation:
      Only for this, I pray you, pardon me.

PORTIA

      I see, sir, you are liberal in offers
455   You taught me first to beg; and now methinks
      You teach me how a beggar should be answer'd.

BASSANIO

      Good sir, this ring was given me by my wife;
      And when she put it on, she made me vow
      That I should neither sell nor give nor lose it.

PORTIA

460   That 'scuse serves many men to save their gifts.
      An if your wife be not a mad-woman,
      And know how well I have deserved the ring,
      She would not hold out enemy for ever,
      For giving it to me. Well, peace be with you!

Exeunt Portia and Nerissa

ANTONIO

465   My Lord Bassanio, let him have the ring:
      Let his deservings and my love withal
      Be valued against your wife's commandment.

BASSANIO

      Go, Gratiano, run and overtake him;
      Give him the ring, and bring him, if thou canst,
470   Unto Antonio's house: away! make haste.

Exit Gratiano

      Come, you and I will thither presently;
      And in the morning early will we both
      Fly toward Belmont: come, Antonio.

Exeunt

Return to top of page ... or ... Go to next scene