Simple Summary of The Merchant of Venice Act III, Scene III, IV, V

Act III Scene III

Salient points

Antonio begs Shylock to consider his plea. Shylock conveys that he is steadfast and that come what may he will extract the penalty.

The position of law and its influence on Venetian citizens becomes

Clear. Antonio wishes for Bassanio’s return.

Shylock asks the jailer not to let Antonio importune him.

 He expresses his hatred for Antonio’s charitable attitude and

blames his interest-free loans for his losses. Antonio asks Shylock not to pursue his bond.

 Shylock dashes Antonio’s hopes of finding him merciful. He says

that he has sworn to his God that he will pursue the bond.

 Antonio had called him a dog. Now Antonio should brace for

Shylock’s fangs.

 The Duke will have to do justice to Shylock’s request

 Shylock criticizes the jailer for taking Antonio to plead with him

and others. He asks the jailer to treat him more strictly.

 Shylock, Antonio, Salarino and a Gaoler enter

 Shylock calls Antonio a fool that lent out money gratis

 He does not want Antonio to talk to him of mercy

 Antonio pleads with Shylock to hear him out

SHYLOCK:

I’ll have (pursue) my bond; speak not (argue not) against my bond: (these two lines indicate that Shylock is desperate to pursue his line of

revenge) I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond. (Shylock conveys his religious intensity; for him the bond is larger than life

now. He will pursue it.) Thou call’dst me dog before thou hadst a cause; But, since I am a dog, beware my fangs: (Shylock’s argument

is deductive. Since Antonio called him a dog, he (Antonio) must not expect anything but a dog-like behaviour from Shylock. Shylock roots and grounds his hatred for Antonio in this speech)

The duke shall grant me (deliver) justice. I do wonder, Thou naughty (indisciplined; partial, as he has favoured Antonio) gaoler, that thou art so fond to come abroad with him at his request (since the jailor has

favored Antonio and helped him speak to Shylock)

 Antonio again begs Shylock to hear him out

 Shylock very clearly conveys that the time to talk is long gone

and that the bond will be pursued

 He declares he will be cruel and not be foolishly merciful to

Christians who have harbored the traditional hatred against him

and his race.

 Salarino calls Shylock ‘an impenetrable cur’ (a hard-hearted

dog) who lived with men

 Antonio defeatedly confesses that he will not follow Shylock

with useless requests

 He knows why Shylock is after him and wants his life

 He thinks that Shylock’s determination to kill him has to do with

Shylock’s business interests. If Shylock manages to remove

Antonio from the Venetian market, he will be able to charge

interest at will.

 Salarino expresses the hope that the Duke will not grant Shylock

his suit

ANTONIO:

The duke cannot deny the course of law: (Antonio says that it

is beyond the Duke to refuse commoners justice or alter the

very course of law for him)

For the commodity (rights/agreement) that strangers

(foreigners) have with us in Venice, if it be denied (refused),

Will much impeach the justice of his state (raise doubts on the

rule of law in the state of Venice);

Note: Antonio is aware of the Venetian legal system and, on

that basis, states that the Duke had no power to alter the course of Justice. Venice was a bustling city and a major centre for trade in Europe and people from all nationalities and religions were entitled to equal legal rights. Shylock will be treated fairly by the Duke.)

Since that the trade and profit of the city consisteth of all nations (Venetian economy was very inclusive and the city’s prosperity was due to its lack of bias against foreigners.)

Therefore, go:

These griefs and losses (troubles; he has lost his ships and

now has to face the penalty) have so bated me (weakened

him), That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh

To-morrow to my bloody creditor (That by the time Shylock

looks to take a pound of flesh from Antonio, he will have no

flesh on him).

Well, gaoler, on. Pray God, Bassanio come

To see me pay his debt, and then I care not!

(All that Antonio wants is that Bassanio should be present

at the time his debt is paid in the form of a pound of Antonio’s

flesh.)

Act III Scene IV

A major scene that prepares the audience for the strategies that

Portia and Nerissa are planning to adopt to save Antonio and

help Bassanio in his efforts to do the same. Lorenzo and Portia talk and Portia hands over the manage and the charge of her Belmont house to him and Jessica and tells them that Nerissa and she intend to spend their time as nuns in a monastery till their husbands return.

Portia that she has a ‘noble’ and true judgment of divine friendship (he refers to the friendship between Antonio and Bassanio)

 He also claims not to be making these comments only because

he intends to impress Portia

 He praises Antonio and tells Portia about Antonio’s great character; the knowledge of Antonio’s character would have helped Portia in strengthening her resolve to help him out

 He calls Antonio a true gentleman and a great friend of Bassanio’s

 He also conveys that Portia’s knowledge of Antonio’ s nature would have given her greater satisfaction than her usual acts of charity.

Portia responds telling Lorenzo that

 She never regretted being charitable and she asserts that she

will not regret being charitable in helping Antonio. The reasons

she offers are:

1. There is reason for her to believe that Antonio is very like

Bassanio

2. She bases her reasoning on the analogy of the two bulls: much

as two bulls are yoked together in a cart, friends and companions

who spend their time together have their ‘souls’ (their natures)

yoked to pull the cart of friendship

3. In such friends there is a remarkable similarity of facial

expressions, of attitudes. Antonio and Bassanio are two such

friends

 She reasons that Antonio is ‘a semblance’ (a reflection) of her

own soul as he occupies a position equal to hers in Bassanio’s

heart and in that case she has spent little effort in purchasing

(securing) him.

 She refers to Antonio’s state as that of ‘hellish cruelty’ (Shylock’s

cruelty here that has captures Antonio) Portia considers talking of her efforts as self praise and does

not want any talk over it.

 She conveys the following plan to Lorenzo:

1. She entrusts Lorenzo with the manage and the command of her

Belmont house

2. She has taken a sacred vow that she will spend her time in

prayer and meditation with Nerissa in a monastery two miles

away

3. Nerissa and Portia will live there till their husbands return and

Portia requests Lorenzo not to refuse this offer that she has

made him affectionately

 Lorenzo agrees to accept Portia’s offer readily

 Portia tells him that her servants will recognize Lorenzo and

Jessica in her place and Bassanio’s

 Lorenzo and Jessica take their leave of Portia

Balthasar: Now Balthasar……………………………. Before thee

 Portia hopes to find Balthasar as helpful and honest as she has

ever found him

 She asks him to carry a letter to Padua to her cousin Dr. Bellario

as speedily as he can

 She asks Balthasar to bring notes and garments that Dr Bellario

has to give to her

 She is to be met at the Tranect (the place where the ferries start

and load for Venice)

 There she asks Balthasar to meet her at the common ferry (the

public boat) for Venice

 Balthasar should waste no time in words and return as soon as

possible

 Balthasar exits and Portia tells Nerissa that they have work to

do and they will meet their husbands soon

 On Nerissa’s asking her if their husband’s will see them Portia

replies in the following words: They shall (their husbands will see them), Nerissa; but in such

a habit (in such an attire),

That they shall think we are accomplished

With that we lack. (Imp: There is a reference to illusions here.

Portia tells Nerissa that their husbands will not be able to

make out their identities. They will be under the impression

that Portia and Nerissa are what they are not: men)

I’ll hold thee any wager, (She is prepared to bet on the matter)

When we are both accoutered (dressed) like young men,

I’ll prove the prettier fellow of the two, (This is a funny way of

saying that Portia will be playing the dominant role between

the two of them)

And wear my dagger with the braver grace (She intends to

carry the dagger much more bravely),

And speak between the change of man and boy

With a reed voice, (A reference to the feminine voice: Portia

will speak between the tone of a boy and that of a man) and

turn two mincing steps (ladylike steps)

Into a manly stride, (into masculine steps and body

language)and speak of frays (of quarrels)

Like a fine bragging youth (a simile: like an irresponsible

young man), and tell quaint lies (strange lies),

How honourable ladies sought my love, (Portia will talk the

favorite masculine jargon: about women seeking her/his love

and she denying them in such a way that they all committed

suicide)

Which I denying, they fell sick and died;

I could not do withal(she could not manage them all together);

then I’ll repent (she will regret and wish) ,

And wish for all that, that I had not killed them (she will regret

killing them); And twenty of these puny lies (harmless but masculine lies)

I’ll tell,

That men shall swear I have discontinued school

Above a twelvemonth. (Portia will tell these lies in such a

way that people around her will think that she has been out

of school only a year back)

I have within my mind (she has planned)

A thousand raw tricks (rude jokes and words) of these bragging

Jacks (eager and excited boys),

Which I will practice (which she will try and practice on others

while she is in disguise).

 Nerissa asks her why they are to disguise as men.

 Portia tells Nerissa that she will inform her of the particulars

once they are in the coach. She also asks her to hurry up as they

had to cover twenty miles that day.

Act III Scene V

 The scene opens with Launcelot and Jessica conversing with

each other in Portia’s garden

 It is a comic scene and serves the purpose of giving the actors

enough time to go back and forth before the greater and the

more important trial scene that follows

 Launcelot taunts Jessica that that the sins of the fathers (the

ancestors) are to be laid against the children and she will suffer

from the impact of Shylock’s sins

 In a rather mocking tone Launcelot tells Jessica that he is

concerned about her and fears for her

 He asks her to be happy and cheer up as she is damned

 Jessica retorts that her husband will save her as she is a Christian

now and she cannot be suffering from the Jew’s natural sin

 On this Launcelot blames the Christians who have been converting other people to the faith and says that such conversions

will be against the interest of the Christians overall as they will

raise the price of pork, the staple food that Christians eat, and

once that happens the Christians will not have enough money to

put ‘rasher’ on the coals (rasher: pork strips)

 Lorenzo enters and hears Jessica’s plaint and warns Launcelot

of serious consequences if he does not desist from taking Jessica

into tight corners

 Jessica tells Lorenzo that Launcelot and she have fallen out as

Launcelot has pronounced her damned and sinful and has also

accused Lorenzo of being a mean Christian as he has been raising

the price of hogs by converting her to Christianity

 Lorenzo tells Launcelot to ‘prepare’ for dinner

 Launcelot puns on the word ‘prepare’ and associates it with

hunger. He says that everybody at home is ‘prepared’ hungry

enough for dinner

 Lorenzo calls Launcelot a wit-snapper – a person whose vocation

it is to play with words and tells him to prepare, ‘cook and serve’,

dinner

 Launcelot tells him that ‘cover’ is the word needed for the

servants to serve dinner. (The word ‘cover’ indicated ‘cover’

the table.)

 On Lorenzo’s asking him to ‘cover’, Launcelot flatly denies and

says that he can’t cover (his head with a hat as it was considered

a social affront – Launcelot puns again: ‘cover’ the table and

‘cover’ the head)

 Lorenzo uses an apostrophe: a direct address to something

abstract to comment on Launcelot

 He remarks that Launcelot has planted in his memory an army

of good words and that he knows of many fools who do very

well in life on the basis of their verbosity. (Here Lorenzo makes

a reference to all the courtly jesters that held a royal rank and

profile and had the same ability as Launcelot to charm peoplewith words)

 Lorenzo asks Jessica what she thinks of Portia

 Jessica remarks:

1. Portia is past all expressions and no words are enough to convey

her essence

2. Bassanio should live an upright life as he has the joys of heaven

on earth (in Portia’s form) and should he not have an upright life

on earth he will never go to heaven

3. She reasons it further saying that the Gods playing a match in

sport would need a lot more to equal the scales if they placed

Portia on one as a wager, since no one mortal woman would be

able to equal Portia’s qualities

4. She opines that the poor, uncilivilised world does not have a

match for her

 Lorenzo is quick to quip that he is Jessica’s husband exactly as

Portia is Bassanio’s wife (a remark made in mock humour as he

wishes Jessica to have the same opinion of him)

 Jessica wants him to know her opinion of him and they finally

settle that Jessica will give him a fair assessment at the dinner

table as he will be able to digest her criticism among all the

other things

Simple Summary of The Merchant of Venice, Act III Scene I and II

Act III, Scene I

Salarino and Salanio enter and wonder what Rialto is abuzz with

Salarino answers that:

1. There are unconfirmed reports that Antonio has had his rich ships wrecked in the narrow seas called the Goodwins

2. This strip of water is risky and shallow and this is where many ship wrecks have taken place

3. Salarino compares the many ships with the dead remains of the human bodies. It is an example of  metaphor.

4. He personifies gossip as Report, a woman, who may or may not be true.

Salanio wishes that:

1. Report (the personified Gossip) was as untrue a woman as ever knapped (nibbled/bit) Ginger (a reference to old women in Elizabethan England), or one who tried to convince her neighbours about her loyalty to marriage by weeping on the death of her third husband. (Since she is thrice married, she is disloyal.)

2. He however wants to avoid the long phrases and talk directly.

3. He confirms that Antonio, the honest merchant, has lost his money.

Important figures of speech:

Metaphor: Salanio compares the direct and straightforward manner of talking with a highway;

Personification: Salanio continues to address gossip as a woman.

Shylock Enters:

Salanio asks Shylock what the news prevails among the merchants.

 Shylock takes it as an attempt to ridicule him and answers that the merchants are talking and gossiping about Jessica’s flight (elopement).

 Salarino insults Shylock punning on the word flight (escape and flying off), saying that he knew the ‘the tailor’ (an indirect reference to Lorenzo) that had stitched the wings of the bird (Jessica) that flew away with.

 Salanio also continues the pun (and the insult) and mocks Shylock suggesting that Shylock knew that Jessica was in that age when daughters elope with their lovers (the pun being that the mother bird knows that the fledgling will fly away)

 Shylock responds with his own pun on the word ‘dam’ and curses Jessica (dam: the mother bird; damn: the curse)

 Salarino and Salanio tell Shylock that

1. He is in no position to judge Jessica

2. That the difference between Jessica’s ‘flesh’ (here character) and his is as stark as between ‘ivory’ and ‘jet’

3. That the difference between her blood and Shylock’s is as plain as it is between Rhenish wine and Red wine

 Shylock tells Salarino and Salanio that he has run into a bad deal with Antonio

 He calls Antonio a bankrupt, a prodigal, who once used to insult Shylock and call him a ‘userer’ (a term of insult). Antonio used to lend money out of courtesy to people, damaging Shylock’s business. Now he will have a hard time saving himself from the penalty.

 Salarino hopes that Shylock will not pursue the bond in letter and spirit if the Bond is forfeited. He wonders what a pound of flesh is good for.

 Shylock’s answers and reveals his intentions in the following speech:

To bait fish withal: (he will catch fish with Antonio’s flesh) if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. (Antonio’s flesh will satisfy Shylock’s revenge if nothing else)  same weapons, (does he not eat what others eat? Is he not hurt with the same weapons that hurt others?) subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, (is he not subject to the same diseases and cures that others are used to?) warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? (does not the weather behave with the Jew as it does with everybody else?)

If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? (if you penetrate a Jews’ body with a needle it will bleed; if you tickle a Jew he will laugh) if you poison us, do we not die? (the effect of poison on the body of the Jew is that same as it is on the body of others) and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? (and if a Jew is wronged ill treated,

he will seek revenge much as any other man would do the same) If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. (Since a Jew is no different from the others in respect of his human qualities, he will be very like the others is respect to revenge)

If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. (Shylock refers to the one quality that Christians are supposed to have: humility. But they don’t have it. They are revengeful.) If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. (Therefore, Shylock argues that by the Christian example, the Jew shall show no mercy if a Christian has wronged him.) The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction. (The evil behavior taught by the Christians will be practiced against them. And Shylock will be more aggressive than the Christians in his execution of revenge.)

Tubal Enters

 Tubal, a friend of Shylock’s and a Jew, enters. Shylock asks him if he has been to Genoa to look for Jessica and Lorenzo.

 Tubal announces that he cannot find Jessica.

 Shylock rants against his daughter, and he wishes her dead as he bemoans his losses. He refers in particular to:

1. A diamond that cost him two thousand ducats in Frankfort that Jessica has carried with her

2. The Jewish race, Shylock says, has felt the curse so strongly for the first time (in light of his personal loss). Shylock uses a Biblical allusion to carry the point home. He refers to the Curse of God on the Jews that condemned them to exile.)

3. He wishes Jessica dead at his foot with the jewels in ear

4. He wishes that she was placed in her coffin (hearsed) at his foot with his money in the coffin

5. He laments that he has spent an incalculable sum in her search and has not been able to find his daughter, who has robbed him. He calls his misfortune ‘loss upon loss’.

 Tubal informs Shylock of Antonio’s great loss. One of his other ships, coming from Tripolis, has been reported missing.

 Shylock is especially embittered when Tubal reports that Jessica spent eighty ducats in one night. Shylock is saddened by the news but the news of Antonio’s loss gladdens him.

 Tubal informs him of Antonio’s many creditors

 He informs him also about a turquoise (a precious metal) ring Jessica has taken with her—given to Shylock in his bachelor days by a woman named Leah, presumably Jessica’s mother— and has traded that ring for a monkey.

 Shylock’s spirits brighten, however, when Tubal reports that Antonio’s ships have run into trouble and that Antonio’s creditors are certain Antonio is ruined.

 He asks Tubal to hire him a lawyer to pursue his bond well in advance (fourteen days before the bond is forfeited)

 He declares that he will pursue the bond to the bitter end. He will try to eliminate Antonio as it will lead him to better profits (Antonio used to oppose Shylock’s moneylending.)

 He asks Tubal to see him at the Synagogue (the Jewish temple).

Act III Scene II

In Belmont, Portia begs Bassanio to delay choosing the casket for a day or two.

 If Bassanio chooses incorrectly, Portia reasons, she will lose his company.

 She tells him that she feels that she will not lose him (although she stops initially short of confessing love)

 Her instincts that Bassanio will make the right selection cannot be said to be guided by hate, if not love

 She confesses that a maiden in the affairs of love and marriage has no speech ‘tongue’ to express herself; only ‘thought’

 She would like to detain Basaanio for a month or two before he risks his chances in casket selection

 She wishes she could teach Bassanio how to choose right but expresses her helplessness as she will break her oath to the will of her father

 If Bassanio moves towards making the wrong casket selection and fails to get Portia, Portia will have the wish and the desire of breaking the oath she has been under. Thus Bassanio’s failure will ‘make’ Portia wish a sin (sin of breaking her oath)

 Bassanio’s ‘eyes’ (his gaze) should be ‘beshrewed’ (treated as the culprit) as it has cast a spell on Portia

 Portia declares openly that she is not her own mistress now. She gives her ‘one half’ to Bassanio and the other half that comes to her goes to him too. Portia is entirely his.

 She curses the time (the naughty times) that puts barriers between ‘the owners’ and ‘their rights’ {between Bassanio and Portia}

 Despite her declaration, if Portia and Bassanio can’t get together, the blame should lie on Fortune not on Portia

 If it is proved so Portia blames Fortune, not herself (as she has dedicated herself to Bassanio already)

 She blames her desire of keeping Bassanio with her for extended

period of time for her long speech as she intends to hold him back from choosing the casket for as long as she can

 In response to Portia Bassanio says that he is living on the ‘rack’, a torture bed, hinting at his emotional torture (he is desperate to make the selection)

 Portia plays along the torture bed metaphor and asks Bassanio what treason (crime) has been mixed with his love

 Bassanio answers that the only treason (crime) there has ever been is that he has doubted his success in love. He argues that much as there will never be friendship between fire and ice, there will never be treason in Bassanio’s love.

 Portia still playfully refers to the Rack. She says that as men on the rack will say anything to ensure their life and save them from torture so will Bassanio say anything to save himself.

 Playing the rack metaphor further Bassanio asks Portia to ‘promise me life’ (tell him the secret of the caskets)

 Portia asks Bassanio to proceed for casket selection and says that he must choose the one that she is locked in

 She tells Bassanio that he will find her if he loves her

 She asks for music while Bassanio makes the casket selection saying that music will bring about romance in the effort:

1. If Bassanio loses he will be like the dying swan whose grave will be Portia’s tears (simile)

2. If Bassanio wins, he will be like a new crowned monarch before whom his subjects will bow

3. Music will be like the sound of the drums into the ears of the dreaming bridegroom summoning him to marriage on the day of the wedding, if Bassanio wins.

 She remarks on how Bassanio moves towards the caskets, comparing Bassanio with Hercules (the young Alcides) when he saved the Trojan Princess, Hesoine, from virgin sacrifice to the Sea Monster (she uses a classical allusion). At that time the whole of Troy gathered to mourn (howl) at the spectacle.

 Presently Portia compares herself with the virgin who is about to be sacrificed and people around her (Nerissa and others) with the Dardinian (Trojan) wives who are so tense and miserable that their faces are tear-streaked.

 She asks Bassanio to approach the caskets in the manner of Hercules and conveys to him that she is much more anxious than he is considering that she is merely a spectator and not a participant in the exercise.

Notes on the song

 The song guides Bassanio towards the right selection of the casket. It tells him that ‘Fancy’ (attraction) is false and dies very much in the cradle where it is born. Therefore, they should not pay attention to Fancy (attraction). {Bassanio should not pay any attention to the charm and the fancy of the gold and the silver caskets}

Bassanio says:

 What appears does not always become true

 The world (society) is misled by outward embellishments (decoration)

 The most corrupt plea (request) in law is that which is uttered smoothly and presented in a melodious voice to conceal the evil intent

 In religion errors are sanctioned by pious looking men who justify them citing the text (religious books)

 The most plain vice (sin) is that which appears as virtue on the outside

 Cowards with scary hearts and temperaments try to look brave sporting the beard of Hercules and Mars (the God of war)

 Beauty is not always natural; it is created and purchased in the form of cosmetics (by the weight)

 The outward appearance could be miraculous if beautiful and those who are beautiful in this way are light of character (not serious people)

 The crispy/snaky/golden locks (the blonde hair) that sway in the wind on the heads of beautiful women may actually be artificial; their true possessor might be dead with her head in the tomb (sepulchre)

 In this manner ornament (fake show) is very like (simile) the peaceful and misleading shore to an actually stormy sea; the beautiful scarf on the face of an Indian beauty (ordinary looking woman)

 Outward charm is the falsehood that cunning people assume to befool the wise.

 Gold should therefore be rejected as it was once the curse for king Midas (allusion to the King whose touch would convert everything to Gold)

 Silver should also be rejected as it is a common metal that exchanges hands in the form of coins

 Lead, which threatens instead of promising anything, with its lackluster appearance impresses Bassanio more than the fine words written on the gold and silver

 He chooses lead and wishes himself joy.

Portia says that:

 All her feelings except those leading to love have vanished

 Feelings such as those that led her to doubt Bassanio, become rashly hopeless, shiver in fear and harbor jealousy have all fled away

 She wants her love to be moderate and not drive her into excessive ecstasy (Figure of speech Apostrophe: love is addressed here directly)

 The joy of love should be like gentle rain upon her (figure of speech, metaphor: joy of love is to fall on her like soft rain)

 She has felt the blessing of love in excess; it must be less or she will be surfeited (too full with it).

Bassanio finds Portia’s picture in the casket

 He calls the artist who has drawn Portia’s sketch ‘a demi God’

 He calls the artist ‘a demi God’ as the artist has succeeded in capturing Portia very closely in the image (that Bassanio has found)

1. Bassanio wonders if Portia’s eyes are moving

2. Or whether he feels that they are moving (Bassanio comments upon liveliness in the picture. The picture is so full of life that its stillness is gone.)

 Portia’s lips in the picture are parted only by her sweet breath; such a barrier is welcome even between two sweet friends (metaphor again: the upper lip and the lower lip are the two friends that are separated by Portia’s fragrant breath)

 Bassanio compares the painter (who has done the portrait) with the spider (metaphor again), who has woven a golden web in Portia’s hair to capture the hearts (feelings) of men.

 Portia’s golden hair thus capture the feelings of men faster than gnats (insects trapped in cobwebs)

 Bassanio wonders how the painter could have done the eyes; how he was able to resist the brilliance of Portia’s gaze. In Bassanio’s love stricken assessment, Portia’s one eye should have had the power to steal both the eyes of the painter and, thus, the painting should have had only one eye.

 Finally Bassanio says that he is far from able to convey the beauty of the portrait much as the portrait is far from able to convey Portia’s beauty: the degree by which he can’t convey the beauty of the portrait corresponds with the degree by which the portrait cant convey Portia’s beauty.

 He picks up the scroll and reads it finally, calling it the essence and gist of his destiny

The Scroll:

1. Bassanio is told that his choice has not been influenced by his outward appearance

2. On his true choice Bassanio stands a fair chance of success

3. This ‘fortune’ (Portia and her wealth) falls to him he should be happy and satisfied

4. Bassanio’s happiness should augur him well; his luck has and will fetch him happiness

5. He should turn to Portia and claim her with a loving kiss Bassanio calls the scroll ‘gentle’ and turns to Portia to claim her as instructed

 He intends to accept her in marriage and asks her to accept him

 He uses a SIMILE to convey that his state is like that of a contender who has impressed the general public but is not quite able to believe that he has done so, although people have appreciated him

 Continuing the simile Bassanio says that such a contender is Giddy (nauseated/exhausted) in his response to the crowd and dazed, not quite able to understand that the ‘peals of praise’ (sound of applause) are meant for him

 Bassanio calls Portia ‘thrice fair’ and tells her that his confusion is as great as that of the above mentioned contender

 He asks her to confirm/ratify and sign his achievement for him

Portia: You see me, Lord Bassanio, where I stand, (Portia refers to her own condition and state here; asking Bassanio to look over her perspective) Such as I am (in her state as Portia, the heiress of Belmont): though for myself alone I would not be ambitious in my wish (For the woman Portia, who has inherited her father’s estate, she does not want anything more from life), To wish myself much better (she has no need to want to be better); yet, for you I would be trebled twenty times myself (For his sake/ so as to be worthy of him, she wants that she should be sixty times her better in her attitude and approach); A thousand times more fair (a thousand times prettier), ten

thousand times more rich (ten thousand times richer); That only to stand high in your account (so that she could win his complete affection), I might in virtue, beauties, livings, friends, Exceed account (people might say that Portia is the full of qualities/ pretty/has friends and inheritance); but the full sum of me (but in totality) Is sum of something, which, to term in gross, (her value put crudely) Is an unlesson’d girl, unschool’d, unpractised; {is that she is an uneducated/ untaught girl; unexposed to society and cultures (she undervalues herself)} Happy in this, she is not yet so old But she may learn (Her biggest happiness being that she is not so old that she may not learn) and; happier than this (still happier thinking), She is not bred so dull but she can learn (that her upbringing has given her the means to learn); Happiest of all is that her gentle spirit Commits itself to yours to be directed (and her greatest source of happiness is that she and her essence is Bassanio’s to direct), As from her lord, her governor, her king (that Bassanio is her Lord, Governor and King).

Myself and what is mine to you and yours Is now converted (Everything that is hers is Bassanio’s): but now I was the lord

Of this fair mansion, master of my servants (before Bassanio

succeeded Portia was the owner of the house, servants and

her own Queen) Queen o’er myself: and even now, but now,

This house, these servants and this same myself Are yours, my lord: (But at this very moment she giver herself and all her possessions to Bassanio) marked by the giving of this ring)

Which when you part from, lose, or give away,

Let it presage the ruin of your love

And be my vantage to exclaim on you. (If, and as and when,

Bassanio loses the ring, the loss will give Portia the

justification to accuse Bassanio and lead to the destruction

of their love)

Bassanio confesses that Portia has robbed him of all words; that he has no ability to thank her

 He blushes (blood speaks to you in my veins)

 He also says that he is terribly confused in his thoughts as a

result of his great success

 In a simile, he compares his own confusion with the confusion

of a favorite Prince after the Prince has delivered a great speech

 The buzzing of the crowd around the Prince is such that the

Prince is not able to understand the response

 Every little response of the crowd gets mixed with the other

responses and what comes out is a ‘wild nothing’ (no meaningful

interpretation)

 The one element of the Prince’s understanding is that the crowd

is happy with him, and he can feel the joy – both expressed and

unexpressed

 He promises Portia that he will not let the ring part from his

finger ever

 That the parting of the ring will be akin to Bassanio’s death

 Portia should then say that Bassanio is dead. Nerissa tells Portia and Bassanio that:

 It is now her time and Gratiano’s that the two of them, having seen Portia and Bassanio prosper in their hopes of wedlock, would like to celebrate the event

 Gratiano expresses his joy at the union of Bassanio and Portia

 He calls it the happiest event in their lives

 He expresses his wish to marry at the time Bassanio and Portia

will ‘solemnise the bargain of your faith’ (formalize their

marriage).

Bassanio wonders who it is that Gratiano wishes to marry. Gratiano:

I thank your lordship (he thanks Bassanio), you have got me

one (Bassanio has found him a wife without quite realising

it). My eyes, my lord, can look as swift as yours: (He congratulates

himself on being as alert as his friend and master, Bassanio.

He tells us why in the next line) You saw the mistress, I beheld the maid; (While Bassanio wooed Portia, Gratiano set her eyes on Nerissa) You loved, I loved, for intermission. {While Bassanio expressed his love for Portia, Gratiano expressed his love for Nerissa

as he does not believe in ‘intermission’ (wasting time) either}

No more pertains to me, my lord, than you. (It does not suit

him to waste time much as it does not suit Bassanio)

Your fortune stood upon the casket there (while Bassanio’s

fate depended on the selection of the right casket)

And so did mine too (even Gratiano’s luck and fate depended

on Bassanio’s right casket selection), as the matter falls (to

conclude); For wooing here until I sweat again (he made the effort to

impress and persuade Nerissa about marriage), And sweating until my very roof was dry (metaphor: it means that he was completely exhausted trying to persuade Nerissa) With oaths of love (with promises of love), at last, if promise last (finally, he managed to get a promise), I got a promise of this fair one here (he managed to get Nerissa’s word) To have her love, provided that your fortune (to be able to obtain her love if you were lucky enough to get her mistress)

Achieved her mistress.

 Portia asks Nerissa if this is all true

 Nerissa replies in the positive and tells her that she has taken

fancy to Gratiano

 Bassanio asks Gratiano if he meant to marry Nerissa and gets a

reply in the positive

 At this point Lorenzo and Jessica along with Salerio enter

Bassanio: Lorenzo………………………….. welcome

1. Bassanio welcomes Lorenzo and Salerio in Belmont

2. He wonders if his newly acquired status as the Lord of Belmont

gives him the capacity to welcome Lorenzo and Jessica there

3. He welcomes them on behalf of Portia

 Portia welcomes them too

 Lorenzo tells them that he did not intend to be there in Belmont

but Salerio requested him to accompany him there and that despite

his saying no many times Salerio insisted that he be there

 Salerio tells them that Antonio has sent Bassanio a letter that he

has borne from Venice

 Bassanio asks them how Antonio is

 Salerio makes an indirect reference to Antonio’s sickness; that

he is sick in mind and body

 Bassanio reads the letter

Portia: There are some shrewd contents……brings you

1. Portia notices the changing expression of Bassanio and says

that contents of the letter are shrewd (sharp/bitter)

2. She tries to guess what the letter could contain. It could be thenews of a dead friend; or something equally grave as Bassanio’s

constitution (complexion) would not have changed in this manner

as no ordinary letter would have changed it in any firm man

3. Portia notices Bassanio’s constitution getting worse and worse

and finally asks what the letter contains

4. Portia tells him that she is Bassanio’s half and therefore must

have half the share of everything that Bassanio gets

1. Bassanio tells Portia that:

 The letter contains some of the most unpleasant words that were

ever written by man

 When he first declared his love for Portia he told her that all his

wealth was his gentleman’s background (it ran in his veins)

 Bassanio told Portia that he was a gentleman and he did not

misinform her

 Yet, in telling her that he had no wealth he bragged and spoke a

lie as he was in debt

 At the time he told Portia that he was valued at a zero he should

actually have told her that he was worse than zero

 He has been bound to a dear friend (Antonio)

 It is on his account that Antonio has got indebted further to his

enemies

 He shows Portia the letter and in a metaphor

a) Compares the letter to the body of Antonio

b) Every word of the letter to the open and bleeding wound on

Antonio’s body

 He asks Salerio if none of his ships have returned from Tripolis,

Mexico and England, Lisbon, Barbary and India

 He asks if all Antonio’s ships have been drowned: not one has

escaped the rocks that destroy merchants?

Salerio: Not one…………………………………his bondSalerio answers in the negative. He confirms that Antonio’s ships

have drowned indeed.

 He also tells Bassanio that Shylock won’t accept the money

even if he is offered it

 He confirms that Shylock has been importuning the Duke (who

had the authority to sanction the bond) day and night

 He calls Shylock a creature who in the shape of man is desperate

to ruin Antonio

 Shylock has been questioning the freedom of Venetian law and

constitution as he has so far not been given the chance to move

court for Antonio’s flesh and if he has been denied Justice

 Twenty merchants, the Duke and the Magnificoes have tried to

convince Shylock to drop his cruel plea

 But they have not been able to move him from the envious plea

that he be given his bond, its forfeiture and Justice

Jessica: When I was ……………………….. poor Antonio

 Jessica tells Bassanio that she heard Shylock swear to Tubal

and Chus, his two friends, that

a) Shylock will have Antonio’s pound of flesh

b) He will deny even twenty times the value of money he

lent Antonio if he is made that offer

 She tells them that law and power of authority alone can save

Antonio; Shylock will destroy him

Portia asks Bassanio if his friend Antonio is in such trouble and

in response to that Bassanio answers:

 He calls Antonio his dearest friend and the kindest man

 Antonio is one in whom the best and untired spirit for helping

others is visible

 He is someone in whom the ancient Roman values live on

 It is thus ironical that he has to face Shylock’s ire

Portia asks him further what sum he owes the Jew and Bassanio

gives her the three thousand ducats figure. To this Portia responds: PORTIA

What, no more (Is three thousand ducats responsible for such

a fate; she is amazed at the paltry sum of money)?

Pay him six thousand, and deface (cancel, destroy) the bond;

Double six thousand, and then treble that, (multiple twelve by

three and pay him thirty six thousand and pay the bond)

Before a friend of this description (before a friend of Antonio’s

nature and description)

Shall lose a hair through Bassanio’s fault (loses his life or faces

any risks on Bassanio’s account).

First go with me to church and call me wife (she tells Bassanio

to undertake the oath of marriage first),

And then away to Venice to your friend (and then tells him to

go to Antonio);

For never shall you lie by Portia’s side (as Bassanio should

never be by Portia’s side with a guilty heart)

With an unquiet soul (a guilty heart). You shall have gold

To pay the petty debt twenty times over (she tells him to carry

so much gold with him as to pay the debt twenty times over)

:

When it is paid, bring your true friend along (when the debt is

settled Antonio may join Bassanio in Belmont).

My maid Nerissa and myself meantime (she and Nerissa)

Will live as maids and widows (will live as women whose

husbands are not there with them). Come, away!

For you shall hence upon your wedding-day (she invites

Bassanio to walk the aisle/participate in the marriage

ceremony first):

Bid your friends welcome (she asks him to welcome his

friends), show a merry cheer (and be cheerful):

Since you are dear bought, I will love you dear (she tells him

that he is her rare possession, another metaphor, and shewill love him very much) .

But let me hear the letter of your friend (She asks him to read

her the letter).

BASSANIO reads the letter aloud:

 Antonio’s ships have all been lost

 His creditors are after him for the debt he has to settle

 His finances are running very low

 His bond to the Jew has been violated

 He will lose his life as he has no option but to pay the penalty

 He absolves Bassanio from all the debts that Bassanio owes

him

 He expresses the wish to see Bassanio before he loses his life

 But he also tells him to travel back to Venice at his leisure and

not in forced by the letter

PORTIA asks Bassanio to conclude all his business here and go to

Venice as soon as possible.

BASSANIO tells Portia that:

 He will start for Venice as she has given him the leave to do do

 And he will try to save his friend and come back to her as soon

as he can

 He will not rest and lie down till he gets back

 Nor will he rest till he is united with Portia once again.