The Merchant of Venice: Act 3, Scene 1
[Enter] SOLANIO and SALERIO.
SOLANIO
1
Now, what news on the Rialto?
SALERIO
2. uncheck'd: unhindered; i.e., not denied.
2
Why, yet it lives there uncheck'd that Antonio hath
3
a ship of rich lading wrecked on the narrow seas;
4. Goodwins: Goodwin Sands, off the Kentish coast near the Thames estuary.
4
the Goodwins, I think they call the place; a very
5
dangerous flat and fatal, where the carcasses of many
6‑7. my gossip / Report: i.e., Dame Rumor. Gossip, literally "godparent," was used of a female crony or confidante and thus developed its present sense.
6
a tall ship lie buried, as they say, if my gossip
7
Report be an honest woman of her word.
SOLANIO
8
I would she were as lying a gossip in that as ever
9. knapp'd: chewed.
9
knapp'd ginger or made her neighbors believe she
10
wept for the death of a third husband. But it is
11. slips of prolixity: exaggerations because of long-windedness. 11‑12. crossing the / plain highway of talk: departing from honest plain speech.
11
true, without any slips of prolixity or crossing the
12
plain highway of talk, that the good Antonio, the
13
honest Antonio,O that I had a title good enough
14
to keep his name company!
SALERIO
15. Come, the full stop: i.e., come to the point.
15
Come, the full stop.
SOLANIO
16
Ha! what sayest thou? Why, the end is, he hath
17
lost a ship.
SALERIO
18
I would it might prove the end of his losses.
SOLANIO
19. cross: thwart.
19
Let me say "amen" betimes, lest the devil cross my
20
prayer, for here he comes in the likeness of
21
a Jew.
Enter SHYLOCK.
22
How now, Shylock! what news among the
23
merchants?
SHYLOCK
24
You knew, none so well, none so well as you, of my
25
daughter's flight.
SALERIO
26
That's certain: I, for my part, knew the tailor
27. withal: with, by means of.
27
that made the wings she flew withal.
SOLANIO
28
And Shylock, for his own part, knew the bird was
29. fledge: fledged, ready to fly. complexion: natural disposition, tendency. 30. dam: mother.
29
fledge; and then it is the complexion of them all
30
to leave the dam.
SHYLOCK
31
She is damned for it.
SOLANIO
32
That's certain, if the devil may be her
33
judge.
SHYLOCK
34
My own flesh and blood to rebel!
SOLANIO
35‑36. rebels it at these years: Solanio pretends to understand "flesh and blood" as a reference to Shylock's genitals.
35
Out upon it, old carrion! rebels it at these
36
years?
SHYLOCK
37
I say, my daughter is my flesh and
38
blood.
SALERIO
39
There is more difference between thy flesh and hers
40
than between jet and ivory; more between your bloods
41. rhenish: i.e., a German white wine from the Rhine valley.
41
than there is between red wine and rhenish. But
42
tell us, do you hear whether Antonio have had any
43
loss at sea or no?
SHYLOCK
44. match: bargain.
44
There I have another bad match: a bankrupt, a
45
prodigal, who dare scarce show his head on the
46. smug: neat, spruce.
46
Rialto; a beggar, that was used to come so smug upon
47
the mart; let him look to his bond: he was wont to
48
call me usurer; let him look to his bond: he was
49. for a Christian cur'sy: out of Christian courtesy.
49
wont to lend money for a Christian cur'sy; let him
50
look to his bond.
SALERIO
51
Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take
52
his flesh: what's that good for?
SHYLOCK
53
To bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing else,
54
it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and
55
hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses,
56
mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my
57
bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine
58
enemies; and what's his reason? I am a Jew. Hath
59
not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs,
60. dimensions: bodily proportions.
60
dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with
61
the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
62
to the same diseases, healed by the same means,
63
warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as
64
a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?
65
if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison
66
us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not
67
revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will
68
resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian,
69. what is his humility? Revenge: Shylock is being bitterly sarcastic. . . . more 70. his: the Jew's. sufferance: patient endurance.
69
what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian
70
wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by
71
Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany you
72
teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I
73
will better the instruction.
Enter a MAN from Antonio.
Servant
74
Gentlemen, my master Antonio is at his house and
75
desires to speak with you both.
SALERIO
76
We have been up and down to seek him.
Enter TUBAL.
SOLANIO
77
Here comes another of the tribe: a third cannot be
78. match'd: found to match them.
78
match'd, unless the devil himself turn Jew.
Exeunt Gentlemen [SOLANIO, SALERIO,
with Servant.]
SHYLOCK
79
How now, Tubal! what news from Genoa? Hast thou
80
found my daughter?
TUBAL
81
I often came where I did hear of her,
82
but cannot find her.
SHYLOCK
83
Why, there, there, there, there! a diamond gone,
84. Frankfort: Frankfort was famous for its fairs, at which all kinds of merchandise was bought and sold.
84
cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfort! The curse
85
never fell upon our nation till now; I never felt it
86
till now: two thousand ducats in that; and other
87
precious, precious jewels. I would my daughter
88
were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear!
89. hears'd: coffined.
89
would she were hears'd at my foot, and the ducats in
90
her coffin! No news of them? Why, so: and I know
91
not what's spent in the search: why, thou loss upon
92
loss! the thief gone with so much, and so much to
93
find the thief; and no satisfaction, no revenge:
94
nor no ill luck stirring but what lights on my
95
shoulders; no sighs but of my breathing; no tears
96
but of my shedding.
TUBAL
97
Yes, other men have ill luck too: Antonio, as I
98
heard in Genoa,
SHYLOCK
99
What, what, what? ill luck, ill luck?
TUBAL
100
Hath an argosy cast away, coming from
101
Tripolis.
SHYLOCK
102
I thank God, I thank God. Is't true, is't
103
true?
TUBAL
104
I spoke with some of the sailors that escaped
105
the wreck.
SHYLOCK
106
I thank thee, good Tubal: good news, good news!
107
ha, ha! where? in Genoa?
TUBAL
108
Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I heard, in one
109
night fourscore ducats.
SHYLOCK
110
Thou stickest a dagger in me: I shall never see my
111
gold again: fourscore ducats at a sitting!
112
fourscore ducats!
TUBAL
113
There came divers of Antonio's creditors in my
114‑115. cannot choose / but break: cannot avoid defaulting on his debt.
114
company to Venice, that swear he cannot choose
115
but break.
SHYLOCK
116
I am very glad of it: I'll plague him; I'll torture
117
him: I am glad of it.
TUBAL
118
One of them showed me a ring that he had of your
119
daughter for a monkey.
SHYLOCK
120
Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal: it was my
121. Leah: Most commentators assume that "Leah" was the name of Shylock's wife.
121
turquoise; I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor:
122
I would not have given it for a
123
wilderness of monkeys.
TUBAL
124
But Antonio is certainly undone.
SHYLOCK
125‑126. fee me an officer: i.e., hire a sheriff's officer or baliff for me. 126. bespeak: engage a fortnight before: two weeks in advance.
125
Nay, that's true, that's very true. Go, Tubal, fee
126
me an officer; bespeak him a fortnight before. I
127
will have the heart of him, if he forfeit; for, were
128‑129. make what merchandise I / will: drive whatever bargains I please.
128
he out of Venice, I can make what merchandise I
129
will. Go, go, Tubal, and meet me at our synagogue;
130
go, good Tubal; at our synagogue, Tubal.
Exeunt.