The Merchant of Venice: Act 1, Scene 2
Enter PORTIA with her waiting-woman, NERISSA.
PORTIA
1
By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is aweary of
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this great world.
NERISSA
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You would be, sweet madam, if your miseries were in
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the same abundance as your good fortunes are; and
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yet, for aught I see, they are as sick that surfeit
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with too much as they that starve with nothing. It
7‑8. in the mean: between the extremes of too little and too much. 8. comes sooner by: acquires sooner, gets.
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is no mean happiness therefore, to be seated in the
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mean: superfluity comes sooner by white hairs, but
9. competency: moderate means.
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competency lives longer.
PORTIA
10. sentences: maxims.
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Good sentences and well pronounced.
NERISSA
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They would be better, if well followed.
PORTIA
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If to do were as easy as to know what were good
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to do, chapels had been churches and poor men's
14. divine: clergyman.
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cottages princes' palaces. It is a good divine that
15. follows his own instructions: practices what he preaches.
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follows his own instructions: I can easier teach
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twenty what were good to be done, than be one of
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the twenty to follow mine own teaching. The brain
18. for the blood: to control passion. Blood was thought of as a chief agent of the passions . . . more hot temper: impetuous temperament. 20‑21. meshes of good counsel the / cripple: nets, snares of wisdom: good counsel is portrayed as an old man incapable of action. 22. this reasoning is not in the fashion to choose me a husband: this line of reasoning is not the way to help me in choosing a husband. 24. will: desire, volition. 25. will: testament.
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may devise laws for the blood, but a hot temper
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leaps o'er a cold decree: such a hare is madness the
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youth, to skip o'er the meshes of good counsel the
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cripple. But this reasoning is not in the fashion to
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choose me a husband. O me, the word 'choose!' I
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may neither choose whom I would nor refuse whom
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I dislike; so is the will of a living daughter curbed
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by the will of a dead father. Is it not hard, Nerissa,
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that I cannot choose one nor refuse none?
NERISSA
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Your father was ever virtuous; and holy men at
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their death have good inspirations: therefore the
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lottery, that he hath devised in these three chests
30‑31. whereof: among which chests. who: whoever. chooses his meaning: i.e., guesses your father's intention correctly.
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of gold, silver and lead, whereof who chooses his
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meaning chooses you, will, no doubt, never be
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chosen by any rightly but one who shall rightly
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love. But what warmth is there in your affection
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towards any of these princely suitors that are
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already come?
PORTIA
36. over-name them: name them over.
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I pray thee, over-name them; and as thou namest
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them, I will describe them; and, according to my
38. level: aim, guess.
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description, level at my affection.
NERISSA
39
First, there is the Neapolitan prince.
PORTIA
40. colt: In Shakespeare's time Neapolitans were famous for horsemanship.
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Ay, that's a colt indeed, for he doth nothing but
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talk of his horse; and he makes it a great
42. appropriation: addition. good parts: accomplishments.
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appropriation to his own good parts, that he can
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shoe him himself. I am much afeard my lady his
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mother played false with a smith.
NERISSA
45. County: Count. Palatine: one possessing royal privileges.
47. choose: i.e., do what you please.
49. weeping philosopher: i.e., Heraclitus of Ephesus, a melancholic philosopher and Democritus . . . more 51‑52. death's-head with a bone in his mouth: Probably referring to the skull and cross-bones frequently cut on tombstones.
47. choose: i.e., do what you please.
49. weeping philosopher: i.e., Heraclitus of Ephesus, a melancholic philosopher and Democritus . . . more 51‑52. death's-head with a bone in his mouth: Probably referring to the skull and cross-bones frequently cut on tombstones.
45
Then there is the County Palatine.
PORTIA
46
He doth nothing but frown, as who should say
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"If you will not have me, choose." He hears
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merry tales and smiles not. I fear he will prove
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the weeping philosopher when he grows old,
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being so full of unmannerly sadness in his youth.
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I had rather be married to a death's-head with a
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bone in his mouth than to either of these. God
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defend me from these two!
NERISSA
54. by: concerning.
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How say you by the French lord, Monsieur
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Le Bon?
PORTIA
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God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man.
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In truth, I know it is a sin to be a mocker: but,
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he! why, he hath a horse better than the
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Neapolitan's, a better bad habit of frowning than
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the Count Palatine; he is every man in no man; if a
61. throstle: thrush.
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throstle sing, he falls straight a capering: he will
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fence with his own shadow: if I should marry him, I
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should marry twenty husbands. If he would despise
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me, I would forgive him, for if he love me to madness,
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I shall never requite him.
NERISSA
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What say you, then, to Falconbridge, the young baron
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of England?
PORTIA
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You know I say nothing to him, for he understands
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not me, nor I him: he hath neither Latin, French,
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nor Italian, and you will come into the court and
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swear that I have a poor pennyworth in the English.
72. is a proper man's picture: is handsome in appearance.
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He is a proper man's picture, but, alas, who can
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converse with a dumb-show? How oddly he is
74. suited: appareled, dressed. doublet: coat, upper garment.
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suited! I think he bought his doublet in Italy, his
75. round hose: short, tight-fitting breeches. bonnet: soft, cap-like hat. The satire in this passage on the international character of an English gallant's costume was commonplace at this time.
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round hose in France, his bonnet in Germany
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and his behavior every where.
NERISSA
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What think you of the Scottish lord, his
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neighbor?
PORTIA
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That he hath a neighborly charity in him, for he
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borrowed a box of the ear of the Englishman and
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swore he would pay him again when he was able.
82‑83. became his surety and sealed under for another: guaranteed the Scot's payment (of a box on the ear) and pledged himself to pay the Englishman with another blow (an allusion to French promises to back the Scots in their quarrels with the English).
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I think the Frenchman became his surety and sealed
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under for another.
NERISSA
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How like you the young German, the Duke of
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Saxony's nephew?
PORTIA
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Very vilely in the morning, when he is sober, and
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most vilely in the afternoon, when he is drunk: when
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he is best, he is a little worse than a man, and
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when he is worst, he is little better than a beast:
90. fall: befall. fell: befell.
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and the worst fall that ever fell, I hope I shall
91. make shift: manage, contrive.
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make shift to go without him.
NERISSA
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If he should offer to choose, and choose the right
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casket, you should refuse to perform your father's
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will, if you should refuse to accept him.
PORTIA
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Therefore, for fear of the worst, I pray thee, set a
96. rhenish wine: a German white wine from the Rhine valley. contrary: wrong.
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deep glass of rhenish wine on the contrary casket,
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for if the devil be within and that temptation
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without, I know he will choose it. I will do any
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thing, Nerissa, ere I'll be married to a sponge.
NERISSA
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You need not fear, lady, the having any of these
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lords: they have acquainted me with their
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determinations; which is, indeed, to return to their
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home and to trouble you with no more suit, unless
104. sort: manner, way.
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you may be won by some other sort than your father's
105. imposition: conditions imposed (if they fail to choose the right casket); see II.i.38‑42.
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imposition depending on the caskets.
PORTIA
106. Sibylla: the Cumaean Sibyl. Apollo promised her that her years would equal the number of grains of sand she held in her hand.
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If I live to be as old as Sibylla, I will die as
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chaste as Diana, unless I be obtained by the manner
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of my father's will. I am glad this parcel of wooers
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are so reasonable, for there is not one among them
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but I dote on his very absence, and I pray God grant
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them a fair departure.
NERISSA
112
Do you not remember, lady, in your father's time, a
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Venetian, a scholar and a soldier, that came hither
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in company of the Marquis of Montferrat?
PORTIA
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Yes, yes, it was Bassanio as I think, he was so
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called.
NERISSA
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True, madam: he, of all the men that ever my
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foolish eyes looked upon, was the best deserving
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a fair lady.
PORTIA
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I remember him well, and I remember him worthy
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of thy praise.
Enter a SERVINGMAN.
122
How now! what news?
Servant
123. four: Nerissa has actually named six suitors, possibly a sign of revision. strangers: foreigners.
123
The four strangers seek for you, madam, to take
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their leave: and there is a forerunner come from a
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fifth, the Prince of Morocco, who brings word the
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prince his master will be here tonight.
PORTIA
127
If I could bid the fifth welcome with so good a
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heart as I can bid the other four farewell, I should
129. condition: disposition, character.
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be glad of his approach: if he have the condition
130. complexion of a devil: Devils were always represented as black in Shakespeare's day. 131. shrive me: act as my confessor; and grant me absolution. 132. Sirrah: form of address used on inferiors.
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of a saint and the complexion of a devil, I had
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rather he should shrive me than wive me.
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Come, Nerissa. Sirrah, go before.
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Whiles we shut the gates upon one wooer,
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another knocks at the door.
Exeunt.