The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice

ACT III SCENE I	Venice. A street.
	Enter SALANIO and SALARINO
SALANIO	Now, what news on the Rialto?
SALARINO	Why, yet it lives there uncheck'd that Antonio hath
	a ship of rich lading wrecked on the narrow seas;
	the Goodwins, I think they call the place; a very	5
	dangerous flat and fatal, where the carcasses of many
	a tall ship lie buried, as they say, if my gossip
	Report be an honest woman of her word.
SALANIO	I would she were as lying a gossip in that as ever
	knapped ginger or made her neighbours believe she	10
	wept for the death of a third husband. But it is
	true, without any slips of prolixity or crossing the
	plain highway of talk, that the good Antonio, the
	honest Antonio,--O that I had a title good enough
	to keep his name company!--	15
SALARINO	Come, the full stop.
SALANIO	Ha! what sayest thou? Why, the end is, he hath
	lost a ship.
SALARINO	I would it might prove the end of his losses.
SALANIO	Let me say 'amen' betimes, lest the devil cross my	20
	prayer, for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew.
	Enter SHYLOCK
	How now, Shylock! what news among the merchants?
SHYLOCK	You know, none so well, none so well as you, of my
	daughter's flight.
SALARINO	That's certain: I, for my part, knew the tailor	25
	that made the wings she flew withal.
SALANIO	And Shylock, for his own part, knew the bird was
	fledged; and then it is the complexion of them all
	to leave the dam.
SHYLOCK	She is damned for it.	30
SALANIO	That's certain, if the devil may be her judge.
SHYLOCK	My own flesh and blood to rebel!
SALANIO	Out upon it, old carrion! rebels it at these years?
SHYLOCK	I say, my daughter is my flesh and blood.
SALARINO	There is more difference between thy flesh and hers	35
	than between jet and ivory; more between your bloods
	than there is between red wine and rhenish. But
	tell us, do you hear whether Antonio have had any
	loss at sea or no?
SHYLOCK	There I have another bad match: a bankrupt, a	40
	prodigal, who dare scarce show his head on the
	Rialto; a beggar, that was used to come so smug upon
	the mart; let him look to his bond: he was wont to
	call me usurer; let him look to his bond: he was
	wont to lend money for a Christian courtesy; let him	45
	look to his bond.
SALARINO	Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take
	his flesh: what's that good for?
SHYLOCK	To bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing else,
	it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and	50
	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? hath not a Jew hands, organs,	55
	dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with
	the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
	to the same diseases, healed by the same means,
	warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as
	a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?	60
	if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison
	us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not
	revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will
	resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian,
	what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian	65
	wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by
	Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany you
	teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I
	will better the instruction.
	Enter a Servant
Servant	Gentlemen, my master Antonio is at his house and	70
	desires to speak with you both.
SALARINO	We have been up and down to seek him.
	Enter TUBAL
SALANIO	Here comes another of the tribe: a third cannot be
	matched, unless the devil himself turn Jew.
	Exeunt SALANIO, SALARINO, and Servant
SHYLOCK	How now, Tubal! what news from Genoa? hast thou	75
	found my daughter?
TUBAL	I often came where I did hear of her, but cannot find her.
SHYLOCK	Why, there, there, there, there! a diamond gone,
	cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfort! The curse
	never fell upon our nation till now; I never felt it	80
	till now: two thousand ducats in that; and other
	precious, precious jewels. I would my daughter
	were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear!
	would she were hearsed at my foot, and the ducats in
	her coffin! No news of them? Why, so: and I know	85
	not what's spent in the search: why, thou loss upon
	loss! the thief gone with so much, and so much to
	find the thief; and no satisfaction, no revenge:
	nor no in luck stirring but what lights on my
	shoulders; no sighs but of my breathing; no tears	90
	but of my shedding.
TUBAL	Yes, other men have ill luck too: Antonio, as I
	heard in Genoa,--
SHYLOCK	What, what, what? ill luck, ill luck?
TUBAL	Hath an argosy cast away, coming from Tripolis.	95
SHYLOCK	I thank God, I thank God. Is't true, is't true?
TUBAL	I spoke with some of the sailors that escaped the wreck.
SHYLOCK	I thank thee, good Tubal: good news, good news!
	ha, ha! where? in Genoa?
TUBAL	Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I heard, in one	100
	night fourscore ducats.
SHYLOCK	Thou stickest a dagger in me: I shall never see my
	gold again: fourscore ducats at a sitting!
	fourscore ducats!
TUBAL	There came divers of Antonio's creditors in my	105
	company to Venice, that swear he cannot choose but break.
SHYLOCK	I am very glad of it: I'll plague him; I'll torture
	him: I am glad of it.
TUBAL	One of them showed me a ring that he had of your
	daughter for a monkey.	110
SHYLOCK	Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal: it was my
	turquoise; I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor:
	I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys.
TUBAL	But Antonio is certainly undone.
SHYLOCK	Nay, that's true, that's very true. Go, Tubal, fee	115
	me an officer; bespeak him a fortnight before. I
	will have the heart of him, if he forfeit; for, were
	he out of Venice, I can make what merchandise I
	will. Go, go, Tubal, and meet me at our synagogue;
	go, good Tubal; at our synagogue, Tubal.	120
	Exeunt