<h2><SPAN name="chap07"></SPAN>THE MERCHANT OF VENICE</h2>
<p>Shylock, the Jew, lived at Venice. He was a usurer who had amassed an
immense fortune by lending money at great interest to Christian merchants.
Shylock, being a hard-hearted man, exacted the payment of the money he
lent with such severity that he was much disliked by all good men, and
particularly by Antonio, a young merchant of Venice; and Shylock as much
hated Antonio, because he used to lend money to people in distress, and
would never take any interest for the money he lent; therefore there was
great enmity between this covetous Jew and the generous merchant Antonio.
Whenever Antonio met Shylock on the Rialto, (or Exchange) he used to
reproach him with his usuries and hard dealings, which the Jew would bear
with seeming patience, while he secretly meditated revenge.</p>
<p>Antonio was the kindest man that lived, the best conditioned, and had the
most unwearied spirit in doing courtesies; indeed, he was one in whom the
ancient Roman honor more appeared than in any that drew breath in Italy.
He was greatly beloved by all his fellow-citizens; but the friend who was
nearest and dearest to his heart was Bassanio, a noble Venetian, who,
having but a small patrimony, had nearly exhausted his little fortune by
living in too expensive a manner for his slender means, at young men of
high rank with small fortunes are too apt to do. Whenever Bassanio wanted
money Antonio assisted him; and it seemed as if they had but one heart and
one purse between them.</p>
<p>One day Bassanio came to Antonio and told him that he wished to repair his
fortune by a wealthy marriage with a lady whom he dearly loved, whose
father, that was lately dead, had left her sole heiress to a large estate;
and that in her father’s lifetime he used to visit at her house,
when he thought he had observed this lady had sometimes from her eyes sent
speechless messages that seemed to say he would be no unwelcome suitor;
but not having money to furnish himself with an appearance befitting the
lover of so rich an heiress, he besought Antonio to add to the many favors
he had shown him by lending him three thousand ducats.</p>
<p>Antonio had no money by him at that time to lend his friend; but expecting
soon to have. some ships come home laden with merchandise, he said he
would go to Shylock, the rich moneylender, and borrow the money upon the
credit of those ships.</p>
<p>Antonio and Bassanio went together to Shylock, and Antonio asked the Jew
to lend him three thousand ducats upon any interest he should require, to
be paid out of the merchandise contained in his ships at sea.</p>
<p>On this, Shylock thought within himself: “If I can once catch him on
the hip, I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. He hates our
Jewish nation; he lends out money gratis; and among the merchants he rails
at me and my well-earned bargains, which he calls interest. Cursed be my
tribe if I forgive him!”</p>
<p>Antonio, finding be was musing within himself and did not answer, and
being impatient for the money, said:</p>
<p>“Shylock, do you hear? Will you lend the money?”</p>
<p>To this question the Jew replied: “Signor Antonio, on the Rialto
many a time and often you have railed at me about my moneys and my
usuries, and I have borne it with a patient shrug, for sufferance is the
badge of all our tribe; and then you have called me unbeliever, cutthroat
dog, and spit upon my Jewish garments, and spurned at me with your foot,
as if I was a cur. Well, then, it now appears you need my help, and you
come to me and say, ‘Shylock, lend me moneys.’ Has a dog
money? Is it possible a cur should lend three thousand ducats? Shall I
bend low and say, ‘Fair sir, you spit upon me on Wednesday last;
another time you called me dog, and for these courtesies I am to lend you
moneys.”’</p>
<p>Antonio replied: “I am as like to call you so again, to spit on you
again, and spurn you, too. If you will lend me this money, lend it not to
me as to a friend, but rather lend it to me as to an enemy, that, if I
break, you may with better face exact the penalty.”</p>
<p>“Why, look you,” said Shylock, “how you storm! I would
be friends with you and have your love. I will forget the shames you have
put upon me. I will supply your wants and take no interest for my money.”</p>
<p>This seemingly kind offer greatly surprised Antonio; and then Shylock,
still pretending kindness and that all he did was to gain Antonio’s
love, again said he would lend him the three thousand ducats, and take no
interest for his money; only Antonio should go with him to a lawyer and
there sign in merry sport a bond that, if he did not repay the money by a
certain day, he would forfeit a pound of flesh, to be cut off from any
part of his body that Shylock pleased.</p>
<p>“Content,” said Antonio. “I will sign to this bond, and
say there is much kindness in the Jew.”</p>
<p>Bassanio said Antonio should not sign to such a bond for him; but still
Antonio insisted that he would sign it, for that before the day of payment
came his ships would return laden with many times the value of the money.</p>
<p>Shylock, hearing this debate, exclaimed: “O Father Abraham, what
suspicious people these Christians are! Their own hard dealings teach them
to suspect the thoughts of others. I pray you tell me this, Bassanio: if
he should break his day, what should I gain by the exaction of the
forfeiture? A pound of man’s flesh, taken from a man, is not so
estimable, profitable, neither, as the flesh of mutton or beef. I say, to
buy his favor I offer this friendship: if he will take it, so; if not,
adieu.”</p>
<p>At last, against the advice of Bassanio, who, notwithstanding all the Jew
had said of his kind intentions, did not like his friend should run the
hazard of this shocking penalty for his sake, Antonio signed the bond,
thinking it really was (as the Jew said) merely in sport.</p>
<p>The rich heiress that Bassanio wished to marry lived near Venice, at a
place called Belmont. Her name was Portia, and in the graces of her person
and her mind she was nothing inferior to that Portia, of whom we read, who
was Cato’s daughter and the wife of Brutus.</p>
<p>Bassanio being so kindly supplied with money by his friend Antonio, at the
hazard of his life, set out for Belmont with a splendid train and attended
by a gentleman of the name of Gratiano.</p>
<p>Bassanio proving successful in his suit, Portia in a short time consented
to accept of him for a husband.</p>
<p>Bassanio confessed to Portia that he had no fortune and that his high
birth and noble ancestry were all that he could boast of; she, who loved
him for his worthy qualities and had riches enough not to regard wealth in
a husband, answered, with a graceful modesty, that she would wish herself
a thousand times more fair, and ten thousand times more rich, to be more
worthy of him; and then the accomplished Portia prettily dispraised
herself and said she was an unlessoned girl, unschooled, unpractised, yet
not so old but that she could learn, and that she would commit her gentle
spirit to be directed and governed by him in all things; and she said:
“Myself and what is mine to you and yours is now converted. But
yesterday, Bassanio, I was the lady of this fair mansion, queen of myself,
and mistress over these servants; and now this house, these servants, and
myself are yours, my lord; I give them with this ring,” presenting a
ring to Bassanio.</p>
<p>Bassanio was so overpowered with gratitude and wonder at the gracious
manner in which the rich and noble Portia accepted of a man of his humble
fortunes that he could not express his joy</p>
<p>and reverence to the dear lady who so honored him, by anything but broken
words of love and thankfulness; and, taking the ring, he vowed never to
part with it.</p>
<p>Gratiano and Nerissa, Portia’s waiting-maid, were in attendance upon
their lord and lady when Portia so gracefully promised to become the
obedient wife of Bassanio; and Gratiano, wishing Bassanio and the generous
lady joy, desired permission to be married at the same time.</p>
<p>“With all my heart, Gratiano,” said Bassanio, “if you
can get a wife.”</p>
<p>Gratiano then said that he loved the Lady Portia’s fair
waiting-gentlewoman, Nerissa, and that she had promised to be his wife if
her lady married Bassanio. Portia asked Nerissa if this was true. Nerissa
replied:</p>
<p>“Madam, it is so, if you approve of it.”</p>
<p>Portia willingly consenting, Bassanio pleasantly said:</p>
<p>“Then our wedding-feast shall be much honored by your marriage,
Gratiano.”</p>
<p>The happiness of these lovers was sadly crossed at this moment by the
entrance of a messenger, who brought a letter from Antonio containing
fearful tidings. When Bassanio read Antonio’s letter, Portia feared
it was to tell him of the death of some dear friend, he looked so pale;
and, inquiring what was the news which bad so distressed him, he said:</p>
<p>“Oh, sweet Portia, here are a few of the unpleasantest words that
ever blotted paper! Gentle lady, when I first imparted my love to you, I
freely told you all the wealth I had ran in my veins; but I should have
told you that I had less than nothing, being in debt.”</p>
<p>Bassanio then told Portia what has been here related, of his borrowing the
money of Antonio, and of Antonio’s procuring it of Shylock the Jew,
and of the bond by which Antonio had engaged to forfeit a pound of flesh
if it was not repaid by a certain day: and then Bassanio read Antonio’s
letter, the words of which were:</p>
<p>Sweet Bassanio, my ships are all lost, my bond to the Jew is forfeited,
and since in paying it is impossible I should live, I could wish, to see
you at my death; notwithstanding, use your pleasure. If your love for me
do not persuade you to come, let not my letter.’</p>
<p>“Oh, my dear love,” said Portia, “despatch all business
and begone; you shall have gold to pay the money twenty times over, before
this kind friend shall lose a hair by my Bassanio’s fault; and as
you are so dearly bought, I will dearly love you.”</p>
<p>Portia then said she would be married to Bassanio before he set out, to
give him a legal right to her money; and that same day they were married,
and Gratiano was also married to Nerissa; and Bassanio and Gratiano, the
instant they were married, set out in great haste for Venice, where
Bassanio found Antonio in prison.</p>
<p>The day of payment being past, the cruel Jew would not accept of the money
which Bassanio offered him, but insisted upon having a pound of Antonio’s
flesh. A day was appointed to try this shocking cause before the Duke of
Venice, and Bassanio awaited in dreadful suspense the event of the trial.</p>
<p>When Portia parted with her husband she spoke cheeringly to him and bade
him bring his dear friend along with him when he returned; yet she feared
it would go hard with Antonio, and when she was left alone she began to
think and consider within herself if she could by any means be
instrumental in saving the life of her dear Bassanio’s friend. And
notwithstanding when she wished to honor her Bassanio she had said to him,
with such a meek and wifelike grace, that she would submit in all things
to be governed by his superior wisdom, yet being now called forth into
action by the peril of her honored husband’s friend, she did nothing
doubt her own powers, and by the sole guidance of her own true and perfect
judgment at once resolved to go herself to Venice and speak in Antonio’s
defense.</p>
<p>Portia had a relation who was a counselor in the law; to this gentleman,
whose name was Bellario, she wrote, and, stating the case to him, desired
his opinion, and that with his advice he would also send her the dress
worn by a counselor. When the messenger returned he brought letters from
Bellario of advice how to proceed, and also everything necessary for her
equipment.</p>
<p>Portia dressed herself and her maid Nerissa in men’s apparel, and,
putting on the robes of a counselor, she took Nerissa along with her as
her clerk; setting out immediately, they arrived at Venice on the very day
of the trial. The cause was just going to be heard before the Duke and
Senators of Venice in the Senate House when Portia entered this high court
of justice and presented a letter from Bellario, in which that learned
counselor wrote to the duke, saying he would have come himself to plead
for Antonio but that he was prevented by sickness, and he requested that
the learned young Doctor Balthasar (so he called Portia) might be
permitted to plead in his stead. This the Duke granted, much wondering at
the youthful appearance of the stranger, who was prettily disguised by her
counselor’s robes and her large wig.</p>
<p>And now began this important trial. Portia looked around her and she saw
the merciless Jew; and she saw Bassanio, but he knew her not in her
disguise. He was standing beside Antonio, in an agony of distress and fear
for his friend.</p>
<p>The importance of the arduous task Portia had engaged in gave this tender
lady courage, and she boldly proceeded in the duty she had undertaken to
perform. And first of all she addressed herself to Shylock; and allowing
that he had a right by the Venetian law to have the forfeit expressed in
the bond, she spoke so sweetly of the noble quality of MERCY as would have
softened any heart but the unfeeling Shylock’s, saying that it
dropped as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath; and how
mercy was a double blessing, it blessed him that gave and him that
received it; and how it became monarchs better than their crowns, being an
attribute of God Himself; and that earthly power came nearest to God’s
in proportion as mercy tempered justice; and she bade Shylock remember
that as we all pray for mercy, that same prayer should teach us to show
mercy. Shylock only answered her by desiring to have the penalty forfeited
in the bond.</p>
<p>“Is he not able to pay the money?” asked Portia.</p>
<p>Bassanio then offered the Jew the payment of the three thousand ducats as
many times over as he should desire; which Shylock refusing, and still
insisting upon having a pound of Antonio’s flesh, Bassanio begged
the learned young counselor would endeavor to wrest the law a little, to
save Antonio’s life. But Portia gravely answered that laws once
established never be altered. Shylock, hearing Portia say that the law
might not be altered, it seemed to him that she was pleading in his favor,
and he said:</p>
<p>“A Daniel is come to judgment! O wise young judge, how I do honor
you! How much elder are you than your looks!”</p>
<p>Portia now desired Shylock to let her look at the bond; and when she had
read it she said: “This bond is forfeited, and by this the Jew may
lawfully claim a pound of flesh, to be by him cut off nearest Antonio’s
heart.” Then she said to Shylock, “Be merciful; take the money
and bid me tear the bond.”</p>
<p>But no mercy would the cruel Shylock show; and he said, “By my soul,
I swear there is no power in the tongue of man to alter me.”</p>
<p>“Why, then, Antonio,” said Portia, “you must prepare
your bosom for the knife.” And while Shylock was sharpening a long
knife with great eagerness to cut off the pound of flesh, Portia said to
Antonio, “Have you anything to say?”</p>
<p>Antonio with a calm resignation replied that he had but little to say, for
that he had prepared his mind for death. Then he said to Bassanio:</p>
<p>“Give me your hand, Bassanio! Fare you well! Grieve not that I am
fallen into this misfortune for you. Commend me to your honorable wife and
tell her how I have loved you!”</p>
<p>Bassanio in the deepest affliction replied: “Antonio, I am married
to a wife who is as dear to me as life itself; but life itself, my wife,
and all the world are not esteemed with me above your life. I would lose
all, I would sacrifice all to this devil here, to deliver you.”</p>
<p>Portia hearing this, though the kind-hearted lady was not at all offended
with her husband for expressing the love he owed to so true a friend as
Antonio in these strong terms, yet could not help answering:</p>
<p>“Your wife would give you little thanks, if she were present, to
hear you make this offer.”</p>
<p>And then Gratiano, who loved to copy what his lord did, thought he must
make a speech like Bassanio’s, and he said, in Nerissa’s
hearing, who was writing in her clerk’s dress by the side of Portia:</p>
<p>“I have a wife whom I protest I love. I wish she were in heaven if
she could but entreat some power there to change the cruel temper of this
currish Jew.”</p>
<p>“It is well you wish this behind her back, else you would have but
an unquiet house,” said Nerissa.</p>
<p>Shylock now cried out, impatiently: “We trifle time. I pray
pronounce the sentence.”</p>
<p>And now all was awful expectation in the court, and every heart was full
of grief for Antonio.</p>
<p>Portia asked if the scales were ready to weigh the flesh; and she said to
the Jew, “Shylock, you must have some surgeon by, lest he bleed to
death.”</p>
<p>Shylock, whose whole intent was that Antonio should bleed to death, said,
“It is not so named in the bond.”</p>
<p>Portia replied: “It is not so named in the bond, but what of that?
It were good you did so much for charity.”</p>
<p>To this all the answer Shylock would make was, “I cannot find it; it
is not in the bond.”</p>
<p>“Then,” said Portia, “a pound of Antonio’s flesh
is thine. The law allows it and the court awards it. And you may cut this
flesh from off his breast. The law allows it and the court awards it.”</p>
<p>Again Shylock exclaimed: “O wise and upright judge! A Daniel is come
to judgment!” And then he sharpened his long knife again, and
looking eagerly on Antonio, he said, “Come, prepare!”</p>
<p>“Tarry a little, Jew,” said Portia. “There is something
else. This bond here gives you no drop of blood; the words expressly are,
‘a pound of flesh.’ If in the cutting off the pound of flesh
you shed one drop of Christian blood, your lands and goods are by the law
to be confiscated to the state of Venice.”</p>
<p>Now as it was utterly impossible for Shylock to cut off the pound of flesh
without shedding some of Antonio’s blood, this wise discovery of
Portia’s, that it was flesh and not blood that was named in the
bond, saved the life of Antonio; and all admiring the wonderful sagacity
of the young counselor who had so happily thought of this expedient,
plaudits resounded from every part of the Senate House; and Gratiano
exclaimed, in the words which Shylock had used:</p>
<p>“O wise and upright judge! Mark, Jew, a Daniel is come to judgment!”</p>
<p>Shylock, finding himself defeated in his cruel intent, said, with a
disappointed look, that he would take the money. And Bassanio, rejoiced
beyond measure at Antonio’s unexpected deliverance, cried out:</p>
<p>“Here is the money!”</p>
<p>But Portia stopped him, saying: “Softly; there is no haste. The Jew
shall have nothing but the penalty. Therefore prepare, Shylock, to cut off
the flesh; but mind you shed no blood; nor do not cut off more nor less
than just a pound; be it more or less by one poor scruple, nay, if the
scale turn but by the weight of a single hair, you are condemned by the
laws of Venice to die, and all your wealth is forfeited to the state.”</p>
<p>“Give me my money and let me go,” said Shylock.</p>
<p>“I have it ready,” said Bassanio. “Here it is.”</p>
<p>Shylock was going to take the money, when Portia again stopped him,
saying: “Tarry, Jew. I have yet another hold upon you. By the laws
of Venice your wealth is forfeited to the state for having conspired
against the life of one of its citizens, and your life lies at the mercy
of the duke; therefore, down on your knees and ask him to pardon you.”</p>
<p>The duke then said to Shylock: “That you may see the difference of
our Christian spirit, I pardon you your life before you ask it. Half your
wealth belongs to Antonio, the other half comes to the state.”</p>
<p>The generous Antonio then said that he would give up his share of Shylock’s
wealth if Shylock would sign a deed to make it over at his death to his
daughter and her husband; for Antonio knew that the Jew had an only
daughter who had lately married against his consent a young Christian
named Lorenzo, a friend of Antonio’s, which had so offended Shylock
that he had disinherited her.</p>
<p>The Jew agreed to this; and being thus disappointed in his revenge and
despoiled of his riches, he said: “I am ill. Let me go home. Send
the deed after me, and I will sign over half my riches to my daughter.”</p>
<p>“Get thee gone, then,” said the duke, “and sign it; and
if you repent your cruelty and turn Christian, the state will forgive you
the fine of the other half of your riches.”</p>
<p>The duke now released Antonio and dismissed the court. He then highly
praised the wisdom and ingenuity of the young counselor and invited him
home to dinner.</p>
<p>Portia, who meant to return to Belmont before her husband, replied,
“I humbly thank your Grace, but I must away directly.”</p>
<p>The duke said he was sorry he had not leisure to stay and dine with him,
and, turning to Antonio, he added, “Reward this gentleman; for in my
mind you are much indebted to him.”</p>
<p>The duke and his senators left the court; and then Bassanio said to
Portia: “Most worthy gentleman, I and my friend Antonio have by your
wisdom been this day acquitted of grievous penalties, and I beg you will
accept of the three thousand ducats due unto the Jew.”</p>
<p>“And we shall stand indebted to you over and above,” said
Antonio, “in love and service evermore.”</p>
<p>Portia could not be prevailed upon to accept the money. But upon Bassanio
still pressing her to accept of some reward, she said:</p>
<p>“Give me your gloves. I will wear them for your sake.” And
then Bassanio taking off his gloves, she espied the ring which she had
given him upon his finger. Now it was the ring the wily lady wanted to get
from him to make a merry jest when she saw her Bassanio again, that made
her ask him for his gloves; and she said, when she saw the ring, “And
for your love, I will take this ring from you.”</p>
<p>Bassanio was sadly distressed that the counselor should ask him for the
only thing he could not part with, and he replied, in great confusion,
that be could not give him that ring, because it was his wife’s gift
and he had vowed never to part with it; but that he would give him the
most valuable ring in Venice, and find it out by proclamation.</p>
<p>On this Portia affected to be affronted, and left the court, saying,
“You teach me, sir, how a beggar should be answered.”</p>
<p>“Dear Bassanio,” said Antonio, “let him have the ring. Let My
love and the great service he has done for me be valued against your
wife’s displeasure.” Bassanio, ashamed to appear so ungrateful,
yielded, and sent Gratiano after Portia with the ring; and then the
“clerk” Nerissa, who had also given Gratiano a ring, begged his
ring, and Gratiano (not choosing to be outdone in generosity by his lord) gave
it to her. And there was laughing among these ladies to think, when they got
home, how they would tax their husbands with giving away their rings and swear
that they had given them as a present to some woman.</p>
<p>Portia, when she returned, was in that happy temper of mind which never
fails to attend the consciousness of having performed a good action. Her
cheerful spirits enjoyed everything she saw: the moon never seemed to
shine so bright before; and when that pleasant moon was hid behind a
cloud, then a light which she saw from her house at Belmont as well
pleased her charmed fancy, and she said to Nerissa:</p>
<p>“That light we see is burning in my hall. How far that little candle
throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.” And
hearing the sound of music from her house, she said, “Methinks that
music sounds much sweeter than by day.”</p>
<p>And now Portia and Nerissa entered the house, and, dressing themselves in
their own apparel, they awaited the arrival of their husbands, who soon
followed them with Antonio; and Bassanio presenting his dear friend to the
Lady Portia, the congratulations and welcomings of that lady were hardly
over when they perceived Nerissa and her husband quarreling in a corner of
the room.</p>
<p>“A quarrel already?” said Portia. “What is the matter?”</p>
<p>Gratiano replied, “Lady, it is about a paltry gilt ring that Nerissa
gave me, with words upon it like the poetry on a cutler’s knife:
‘Love me, and leave me not.’”</p>
<p>“What does the poetry or the value of the ring signify?” said
Nerissa. “You swore to me, when I gave it to you, that you would
keep it till the hour of death; and now you say you gave it to the lawyer’s
clerk. I know you gave it to a woman.”</p>
<p>“By this hand,” replied Gratiano, “I gave it to a youth,
a kind Of boy, a little scrubbed boy, no higher than yourself; be was
clerk to the young counselor that by his wise pleading saved Antonio’s
life. This prating boy begged it for a fee, and I could not for my life
deny him.”</p>
<p>Portia said: “You were to blame, Gratiano, to part with your wife’s
first gift. I gave my Lord Bassanio a ring, and I am sure be would not
part with it for all the world.”</p>
<p>Gratiano, in excuse for his fault, now said, “My Lord Bassanio gave
his ring away to the counselor, and then the boy, his clerk, that took
some pains in writing, he begged my ring.”</p>
<p>Portia, hearing this, seemed very angry and reproached Bassanio for giving
away her ring; and she said Nerissa had taught her what to believe, and
that she knew some woman had the ring. Bassanio was very unhappy to have
so offended his dear lady, and he said with great earnestness:</p>
<p>“No, by my honor, no woman had it, but a civil doctor who refused
three thousand ducats of me and begged the ring, which when I denied him
he went displeased away. What could I do, sweet Portia? I was so beset
with shame for my seeming ingratitude that I was forced to send the ring
after him. Pardon me, good lady. Had you been there, I think you would
have begged the ring of me to give the worthy doctor.”</p>
<p>“Ah!” said Antonio, “I am the unhappy cause of these
quarrels.”</p>
<p>Portia bid Antonio not to grieve at that, for that be was welcome
notwithstanding; and then Antonio said:</p>
<p>“I once did lend my body for Bassanio’s sake; and but for him
to whom your husband gave the ring I should have now been dead. I dare be
bound again, my soul upon the forfeit, your lord will never more break his
faith with you.”</p>
<p>“Then you shall be his surety,” said Portia. “Give him
this ring and bid him keep it better than the other.”</p>
<p>When Bassanio looked at this ring be was strangely surprised to find it
was the same he gave away; and then Portia told him how she was the young
counselor, and Nerissa was her clerk; and Bassanio found, to his
unspeakable wonder and delight, that it was by the noble courage and
wisdom of his wife that Antonio’s life was saved.</p>
<p>And Portia again welcomed Antonio, and gave him letters which by some
chance had fallen into her hands, which contained an account of Antonio’s
ships, that were supposed lost, being safely arrived in the harbor. So
these tragical beginnings of this rich merchant’s story were all
forgotten in the unexpected good fortune which ensued; and there was
leisure to laugh at the comical adventure of the rings and the husbands
that did not know their own wives, Gratiano merrily swearing, in a sort of
rhyming speech, that—</p>
<p class="poem">
While he lived, he’d fear no other thing<br/>
So sore, as keeping safe Nerissa’s ring.</p>
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