The Merchant of Venice

So, what’s the news on the Rialto?

Well, there’s a rumor that Antonio had a ship carrying expensive cargo that shipwrecked in the English Channel on the Goodwin Sands, a very dangerous sandbar. Many ships have sunk there, according to rumors.

I hope this new rumor is a lie, like the gossiping widow’s claim that she was sorry her third husband died! But it’s true—I don’t want to get all mushy and go on and on, but the good Antonio, the honest Antonio—oh, if I only had a title good enough to match his!—

Come on, get to the point.

What are you saying? Well, the point is, he’s lost a ship.

I hope that’s all he loses.

Let me say “amen” quickly, before the devil comes in and stops my prayer—because here comes the devil, disguised as a Jew.

How’s it going, Shylock? What’s the news among the merchants?

You knew—no one knew, no one knew as well as you did—about my daughter’s plans to run away.

That’s true. I even knew the tailor who made the disguise she wore when she ran off.

And Shylock knew his daughter was ready to run away. It’s natural for children to leave their parents.

She’ll be damned for it.

That’s true—if the devil’s judging her.

My own flesh and blood turned against me! A rebel!

No! Your flesh still rebels at your age?

I mean my daughter is my flesh and blood.

You two are totally different. Your flesh is more different from hers than coal is from ivory. There’s more difference between your bloods than between red wine and white. But tell us, did you hear anything about Antonio’s loss at sea?

That’s another bad deal I’ve made!—a bankrupt, a spendthrift, who now has to hide his head on the Rialto, a beggar who used to look so smug in front of the other merchants. Let him think about his own debt. He liked to call me a loan shark; let him think about his debt to me. He used to lend money as a favor between Christians; but now, let him think about his own debt.

But you won’t take his flesh if he can’t pay. What’s that good for?

I’ll use it for fish bait. You can’t eat human flesh, but if it feeds nothing else, it’ll feed my revenge. He’s insulted me and cost me half a million ducats. He’s laughed at my losses, made fun of my earnings, humiliated my race, thwarted my deals, turned my friends against me, riled up my enemies—and why? Because I’m a Jew. Doesn’t a Jew have eyes? Doesn’t a Jew have hands, bodily organs, a human shape, five senses, feelings, and passions? Doesn’t a Jew eat the same food, get hurt with the same weapons, get sick with the same diseases, get healed by the same medicine, and warm up in summer and cool off in winter just like a Christian? If you prick us with a pin, don’t we bleed? If you tickle us, don’t we laugh? If you poison us, don’t we die? And if you treat us badly, won’t we try to get revenge? If we’re like you in everything else, we’ll resemble you in that respect. If a Jew offends a Christian, what’s the Christian’s kind and gentle reaction? Revenge. If a Christian offends a Jew, what punishment will he come up with if he follows the Christian example? Of course, the same thing—revenge! I’ll treat you as badly as you Christians taught me to—and you’ll be lucky if I don’t outdo my teachers.

(to SOLANIO and SALARINO) My master Antonio is at his house and would like to speak to you both.

We’ve been looking for him everywhere.

Here comes another Jew. You couldn’t find a third like these two unless the devil himself turned into a Jew.

Hello, Tubal. Any news from Genoa? Did you find my daughter?

I went to many places where I heard news about her, but I couldn’t find her.

Oh, oh, oh! One of the stolen diamonds cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfurt! I never felt the curse of the Jews until now. I never felt it until now—two thousand ducats in that diamond, and other precious, precious jewels! I wish my daughter were dead at my feet wearing those jewels! I wish she were in her coffin here, with the ducats in her coffin! You couldn’t find out anything about them? Why? I don’t even know how much I’m spending to find them. Loss upon loss! The thief left with so much, and I’m spending so much to hunt down the thief—and still I’m not satisfied! I haven’t gotten my revenge. The only luck I have is bad luck. Nobody suffers but me. Nobody’s crying except me.

Well, other men have bad luck too. Antonio, as I heard in Genoa—

What, what, what? Bad luck, bad luck?

He’s had a ship wrecked coming from Tripolis.

Thank God, thank God! Is it true, is it true?

I spoke with some of the sailors who survived the wreck.

Thank you, Tubal. Good news, good news! Ha, ha, heard in Genoa.

I also heard that your daughter spent eighty ducats in Genoa one night.

Oh, you’re sticking a dagger in me! I’ll never see my gold again. Eighty ducats in one shot! Eighty ducats!

I came to Venice with a number of Antonio’s creditors who say he won’t be able to avoid going bankrupt.

I’m very glad about that. I’ll hound him. I’ll torture him. I’m very glad.

One creditor showed me a ring he got from your daughter in exchange for a monkey.

Damn her! You’re torturing me, Tubal. That was my turquoise ring! Leah gave it to me before we were married. I wouldn’t have given it away for a whole jungle of monkeys.

But Antonio’s certainly ruined.

That’s true, that’s very true. Tubal, go find me a police officer to arrest Antonio. Get him ready two weeks ahead of time.—I’ll take Antonio’s heart if he can’t pay. With him out of Venice, I can make whatever bargains I want when I lend money.—Go, Tubal. Meet me at the synagogue.