Shakespeare's Comedy The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice

Please see the bottom of this page for extensive explanatory notes, commentary, and other helpful Merchant of Venice resources.

ACT III SCENE IV	Belmont. A room in PORTIA'S house.
[ Enter PORTIA, NERISSA, LORENZO, JESSICA, and BALTHASAR ]
LORENZO	Madam, although I speak it in your presence,
	You have a noble and a true conceit
	Of godlike amity; which appears most strongly
	In bearing thus the absence of your lord.
	But if you knew to whom you show this honour,
	How true a gentleman you send relief,
	How dear a lover of my lord your husband,
	I know you would be prouder of the work
	Than customary bounty can enforce you.
PORTIA	I never did repent for doing good,	10
	Nor shall not now: for in companions
	That do converse and waste the time together,
	Whose souls do bear an equal yoke Of love,
	There must be needs a like proportion
	Of lineaments, of manners and of spirit;
	Which makes me think that this Antonio,
	Being the bosom lover of my lord,
	Must needs be like my lord. If it be so,
	How little is the cost I have bestow'd
	In purchasing the semblance of my soul	20
	From out the state of hellish misery!
	This comes too near the praising of myself;
	Therefore no more of it: hear other things.
	Lorenzo, I commit into your hands
	The husbandry and manage of my house
	Until my lord's return: for mine own part,
	I have toward heaven breathed a secret vow
	To live in prayer and contemplation,
	Only attended by Nerissa here,
	Until her husband and my lord's return:	30
	There is a monastery two miles off;
	And there will we abide. I do desire you
	Not to deny this imposition;
	The which my love and some necessity
	Now lays upon you.
LORENZO	Madam, with all my heart;
	I shall obey you in all fair commands.
PORTIA	My people do already know my mind,
	And will acknowledge you and Jessica
	In place of Lord Bassanio and myself.	40
	And so farewell, till we shall meet again.
LORENZO	Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you!
JESSICA	I wish your ladyship all heart's content.
PORTIA	I thank you for your wish, and am well pleased
	To wish it back on you: fare you well Jessica.
[Exeunt JESSICA and LORENZO]
	Now, Balthasar,
	As I have ever found thee honest-true,
	So let me find thee still. Take this same letter,
	And use thou all the endeavour of a man
	In speed to Padua: see thou render this
	Into my cousin's hand, Doctor Bellario;	50
	And, look, what notes and garments he doth give thee,
	Bring them, I pray thee, with imagined speed
	Unto the tranect, to the common ferry
	Which trades to Venice. Waste no time in words,
	But get thee gone: I shall be there before thee.
BALTHASAR	Madam, I go with all convenient speed.
[Exit]
PORTIA	Come on, Nerissa; I have work in hand
	That you yet know not of: we'll see our husbands
	Before they think of us.
NERISSA	Shall they see us?
PORTIA	They shall, Nerissa; but in such a habit,	60
	That they shall think we are accomplished
	With that we lack. I'll hold thee any wager,
	When we are both accoutred like young men,
	I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two,
	And wear my dagger with the braver grace,
	And speak between the change of man and boy
	With a reed voice, and turn two mincing steps
	Into a manly stride, and speak of frays
	Like a fine bragging youth, and tell quaint lies,
	How honourable ladies sought my love,	70
	Which I denying, they fell sick and died;
	I could not do withal; then I'll repent,
	And wish for all that, that I had not killed them;
	And twenty of these puny lies I'll tell,
	That men shall swear I have discontinued school
	Above a twelvemonth. I have within my mind
	A thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks,
	Which I will practise.
NERISSA	Why, shall we turn to men?
PORTIA	Fie, what a question's that,
	If thou wert near a lewd interpreter!
	But come, I'll tell thee all my whole device
	When I am in my coach, which stays for us	82
	At the park gate; and therefore haste away,
	For we must measure twenty miles to-day.
[Exeunt]

Next: The Merchant of Venice, Act 3, Scene 5

______

Explanatory Notes for Act 3, Scene 4
From The Merchant of Venice. Ed. Felix E. Schelling. New York: American Book Co.

Portia intrusts her house to the keeping of Lorenzo and Jessica, and, giving it out that she intends to retire with Nerissa to a neighboring monastery until their plighted lords' return, sends a messenger to her cousin Bellario, and tells Nerissa of her plan to visit Venice in disguise.

6. [To] How true a gentleman, the dative case. In modern English we use the dative only when it comes between the verb and its object: "You send your friend money."

7. lover. This word was commonly used of friendship between men. See Coriolanus, v. 2. 14: "Thy general is my lover."

9. customary bounty [your ordinary benevolence] can enforce you [to be].

11. Nor shall not. The double negative as above, i. 2. 28.

15. lineaments, features.

22. the praising of myself. "The frequently precedes a verbal that is followed by an object" (Abbott).

25. husbandry, stewardship.

34. The which. See above, i. 3. 4, and note thereon.

34. my love and some necessity Now lays. Note the singular verb with two subjects.

49. Padua, famous for the learned jurists of its university.

52. with imagined speed, such as can only be thought. Compare Henry V, iii. prologue: "Thus with imagined wing our swift scene flies."

53. tranect, perhaps better traject from the Italian traghetto, a ferry.

59. Before they think of us [of our seeing them].

63. accoutred, dressed.

66. And speak between, etc. And speak with high, shrill voice such as boys have when they are changing from childhood to manhood.

67. mincing, short, dainty.

72. I could not do withal, I could not help it. A very common phrase and capable of no other interpretation. Cf. below, iv. 1. 412, and the note thereon.

77. Jacks, a term of contempt. See Much Ado About Nothing, i. 1. 185: "Do you play the flaunting Jack?"

81. all my whole device. Compare 1 Henry VI, i. I. 126: "All the whole army."

82. my coach. Towards the close of Elizabeth's reign coaches had become very common in England, although the queen had ridden to her coronation on horseback.

_______

How to cite the explanatory notes:
Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice. Ed. Felix E. Schelling. New York: American Book Co., 1903. Shakespeare Online. 20 Feb. 2011. (date when you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/merchant_3_4.html >.

______

Related Articles