William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

 

William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Arden, 2010

 

Gratiano: And let my liver rather heat with wine

Than my heart cool with mortifying groans. (1.1.81-2)

 

Gratiano: … ‘I am Sir Oracle,

And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark.’ (1.1.94-5)

 

Jew: …I will buy

with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you

and so following. But I will not eat with you, drink with

you nor pray with you. … (1.3.31-4)

 

Jew: Signior Antonio, many a time and oft

In the Rialto you have rated me

About my moneys and my usances.

Still have I borne it with a patient shrug,

For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe.

You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,

And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine,

And all for use of that which is mine own.

Well, then, it now appears you need my help. (1.3.102-110)

 

Bassanio: I like not fair terms and a villain’s mind. (1.3.175)

 

Bassanio: …Pay thee, take pain

To allay with some cold drops of modesty

Thy skipping spirit… (2.2.177-9)

 

Jew: What, are there masques? Here you me, Jessica,

Lock up my doors, and when you hear the drum

And the vile squealing of the wry-necked fife,

Clamber not you up to the casements then,

Nor thrust your head into the public street

To gaze on Christian fools with varnished faces;

But stop my house’s ears—I mean my casements—

Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter

My sober house. … (2.5.27-35)

All that glitters is not gold,

Often have you heard that told.

Many a man his life hath sold

But my outside to behold.

Gilded timber do worms infold,

Had you been as wise as bold,

Young in limbs, in judgement old,

Your answer had not been inscrolled,

Fare you well, your suit is cold. (2.7.65-73)

 

Salarino: his flesh. What’s that good for?

Jew: 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? (3.1.47-53)

 

Bassanio: 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? … (3.1.73-7)

 

Bassanio: … Look on beauty,

And you shall see ‘tis purchased by weight,

Which therein works a miracle in nature,

Making them lightest that wear most of it:

So are those crisped snaky golden locks,

Which maketh such wanton gambols with the wind

Upon supposed fairness, often know

To be the dowry of a second head,

The skull the bred them in the sepulchre.

Thus, ornament is but the guilded shore

To a most dangerous sea; the beauteous scarf

Veiling an Indian beauty; in a word,

The seeming truth, which cunning times put on

To entrap the wisest. Therefore, then, thou gaudy gold,

Hard food for Midas, I will none of thee;

Nor none of thee, thou pale and common drudge

‘Tween man and man. But thou, thou meagre lead,

Which rather threaten’st than dost promise aught,

Thy paleness moves me more than eloquence,

And here choose I; joy be the consequence. (3.2.88-107) [purchased…weight – bought according to weight like cosmetics; lightest – wanton; crisped – curled; second head – wig]

 

Bassanio: With all my heard, so thou canst get a wife.

Gratiano: I thank 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. (3.2.195-8)

 

Jew: I’ll have my bond. Speak not against my bond;

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

Thou call’dst me dog before thou hadst a cause,

But, since I am a dog, beware my fangs. (3.3.4-7)

 

Jessica: I shall be saved by my husband; he hath made me

a Christian!

Clown: Truly, the more to blame he; we were Christians

enow before, e’en as many as could well live one by

another. This making of Christians will raise the price

of hogs. (3.5.17-21)

 

Duke: We all expect a gentle answer, Jew! (4.1.33)

 

Jew: 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 answered?

…

Some that are mad if they behold a cat!

And others, when the bagpipe sings i’th’nose,

Cannot contain their urine: …

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 answered?

Bassanio: This is no answer, thou unfeeling man,

To excuse the current of thy cruelty!

Jew: I am not bound to please thee with my answers! (4.1.39-64)

 

Duke: How shalt thou hope for mercy, rendering none?

Jew: What judgement 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,

‘Let them be free, marry them to your heirs.

Why sweat they under burdens? Let their beds

Be made as soft as yours, and let their palates

Be seasoned with such viands?’ You will answer:

‘The slaves are ours.’ So do I answer you.

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 judgement: answer, shall I have it? (4.1.87-102)

 

Portia: The quality of mercy is not strained:

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.

‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown. (4.1.180-5)

 

Gratiano: Beg that thou mayst have leave to hang thyself,

And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state,

Thou hast not left the value of a cord;

Therefore thou must be hanged at the state’s charge. (4.1.360-3)