The Merchant of Venice

(to BASSANIO) Please wait a day or two before making your choice. If you choose wrong, I’ll lose your company. So wait a while. Something tells me—not love, but something—that I don’t want to lose you, and you know that if I hated you I wouldn’t think that. But let me put it more clearly in case you don’t understand—though I know girls aren’t supposed to express their thoughts—I’m just saying I’d like you to stay here for a month or two before you undergo the test for me. I could tell you how to choose correctly, but then I’d be disregarding the oath I took. So I’ll never tell. But you might lose me by making the wrong choice. If you do choose wrong, you’ll make me wish for something very bad. I’d wish I had ignored my oath and told you everything. God, your eyes have bewitched me. They’ve divided me in two. One half of me is yours, and the other half—my own half, I’d call it—belongs to you too. If it’s mine, then it’s yours, and so I’m all yours. But in this awful day and age people don’t even have the right to their own property! So though I’m yours, I’m not yours. If there’s no chance for me to be yours, then it’s just bad luck. I know I’m talking too much, but I do that just to make the time last longer, and to postpone your test.

Let me choose now. I feel tortured by all this talking.

Tortured, Bassanio? Then confess to your crime. Tell us about the treason you’ve mixed in with your love.

The only treason I’m guilty of is worrying that I’m never going to get to enjoy you. Treason has nothing at all to do with my love. They’re as opposite as hot and cold.

Hmmm, I’m not sure I believe what you’re saying. Men under torture will confess anything.

Promise me you’ll let me live, and I’ll confess the truth.

All right then, confess and live.

“Confess and love” is more like it. Oh, torture’s fun when my torturer tells me what I have to say to go free! But let me try my luck on the boxes.

Go ahead, then. I’m locked in one of them. If you really love me, you’ll find me.—Nerissa and the rest of you, get away from him. Play some music while he chooses. Then if he loses, it’ll be his swan song, music before the end. And since swans need water to swim in, I’ll cry him a river when he loses. But on the other hand, he may win. What music should we play then? If he wins, the music should be like the majestic trumpets that blare when subjects bow to a newly crowned monarch. It’s the sweet sounds at daybreak that the dreaming bridegroom hears on his wedding morning, calling him to the church. Bassanio’s walking to the boxes now. He looks as dignified as Hercules did when he saved the princess Hesione from the sea monster. But he loves me more than Hercules loved the princess. I’ll play Hesione, and everyone else will be the bystanders watching with tear-streaked faces. We’ve all come out to see what will happen.—Go, Hercules! If you survive, I’ll live. I’m more anxious watching you fight than you are in the fight itself.

(singing)

Tell me where do our desires start,

In the heart or in the head?

How are they created, how sustained?

Answer me, answer me.

(singing)

Desires start in the eyes,

Sustained by gazing, and desires die

Very young.

Let’s all mourn our dead desires.

I’ll begin—Ding, dong, bell.

Ding, dong, bell.

You can’t always judge a book by its cover. People are often tricked by false appearances. In court, someone can deliver a false plea but hide its wickedness with a pretty voice. In religion, don’t serious men defend sins with Scripture, covering up evil with a show of good. Every sin in the world manages to make itself look good somehow. How many people are cowards at heart but wear beards like Hercules or Mars, the god of war? Take another example: beauty. It can be bought by the ounce in makeup, which works miracles. Women who wear it the most are respected the least. It’s the same thing with hair. Curly golden hair moves so nicely in the wind and makes a woman beautiful. But you can buy that kind of hair as a wig, and wigs are made from dead people’s hair. Decoration’s nothing but a danger, meant to trick and trap the viewer. A lovely, cunning shore can distract a man from the perils of a stormy sea, just as a pretty scarf can hide a dangerous dark-skinned beauty. Nowadays, everyone’s fooled by appearances. So I’ll have nothing to do with that gaudy gold box—it’s like the gold that Midas couldn’t eat. And I’ll have nothing to do with the pale silver either, the metal that common coins are made of. But this humble lead one, though it looks too threatening to promise me anything good, moves me more than I can say. So this is the one I choose. I hope I’m happy with my choice!

(to herself) All my other emotions are vanishing into thin air, as all my doubts and desperation and fears and jealousy are all flying away! Oh, I need to calm down, make my love and my joy less intense. I’m feeling this too strongly. Please make my love less, or I’m going to overindulge, making myself sick.

(opening the lead box) What do we have here? A picture of beautiful Portia! What artist captured her likeness so well? Are these eyes moving? Or do they just seem to move as my eyes move? Her sweet breath forces her lips open, a lovely divider of lovely lips. And look at her hair, looking like a golden mesh to trap the hearts of men, like little flies in a cobweb. The painter was like a spider in creating it so delicately. But her eyes—how could he keep looking at them long enough to paint them? I would’ve expected that when he finished one of them, it would have enraptured him and kept him from painting the other. But I’m giving only faint praise of the picture, just as the picture, as good as it is, is only a faint imitation of the real woman herself. Here’s the scroll that sums up my fate:

(he reads)

“You who don’t judge by looks alone,

Have better luck, and make the right choice.

Since this prize is yours,

Be happy with it, and don’t look for a new one.

If you’re happy with what you’ve won

And accept this prize as your blissful destiny,

Then turn to where your lady is,

And claim her with a loving kiss.”

A nice message. My lady, with your permission, this note authorizes me to give myself to you with a kiss. But I’m in a daze, like someone who’s just won a contest and thinks that all the applause and cheering is for him, but isn’t sure yet. And so, beautiful lady, I’m standing here just like that, wondering whether all this can be true until you tell me it is.

You see me standing here, Lord Bassanio. What you see is what you get. Though I wouldn’t wish to be better for my own sake, for your sake I wish I were twenty times more than myself—a thousand times more beautiful and ten thousand times richer—just so you might value me more, so my good qualities, beauty, possessions, and friends would be more than you could calculate. What you’re getting is an innocent and inexperienced girl. I’m happy that at least I’m not too old to learn new things. I’m even happier that I’m not stupid, and I can learn. I’m happiest of all that I’m yours now, my lord, my king, and you can guide me as you wish. Everything I am and everything I have now belongs to you. Just a minute ago I was the owner of this beautiful mansion, master of these servants, and queen over myself. But as of right this second all these things are yours. With this ring I give them all to you. If you ever give away this ring or lose it, it means our love’s doomed, and I’ll have a right to be angry with you. (she gives BASSANIO the ring)

Madam, you’ve left me speechless, but my feelings are responding to your words. I’m as confused as a crowd of people going wild after hearing their prince give a speech. But the day I take this ring off will be the day I die. If you see me without it, you can be confident I’m dead.

My lord and lady, it’s now our turn, who have been watching as our dreams came true. Now we can shout, “Congratulations, congratulations, my lord and lady!”

My Lord Bassanio, and my dear lady, I wish you all the joy I can wish for. And when you get married, I hope I can be married at the same time.

Absolutely, if you can find a wife by then.

I think I’ve found one already, thanks to you, my lord. I can fall in love just as quickly as you can, and I loved Nerissa as soon as I laid eyes on her. You fell in love with Portia, and I fell in love with Nerissa, because I’m not in the habit of delaying any more than you are, my lord. Your fate depended on those boxes, and it turns out that mine did too. I couldn’t help but chase her. I started making love vows to her till my mouth was dry. Then finally she said she loved me and would marry me if you two got married as well.

Is that true, Nerissa?

Yes, madam, it is, if it’s all right with you.

And do you mean what you’re saying, Gratiano?

Yes, my lord.

Then we’d be honored to have you join us in our wedding ceremony.

(to NERISSA) Let’s bet them a thousand ducats that we will have a son first.

You want to stake the money down now?

Hey, if I lay down my “stake,” I’ll never be able to have a son. But who’s this coming? Lorenzo and his pagan girlfriend? What, and my old Venetian friend Salerio?

Welcome, Lorenzo and Salerio. I hope my position in this new house is firm enough to allow me the right to welcome my friends. (to PORTIA) With your permission, Portia, I welcome my good friends and countrymen.

I do too, my lord. They’re entirely welcome.

(to BASSANIO) Thank you, sir. I didn’t intend to come see you. But I ran into Salerio on the way, and he begged me to come along with him until I couldn’t say no.

That’s true, and with good reason. This letter is for you from Signor Antonio. (he gives BASSANIO a letter)

Before I open this letter, please tell me how my good friend is doing.

He’s not sick, my lord, but he’s very upset, and his problems are serious. His letter will tell you how he’s doing.

(pointing at JESSICA) Nerissa, welcome this stranger. —Salerio, welcome. Any news from Venice? How’s the great merchant Antonio doing? I know he’ll be happy to hear of our success. We’re like the ancient hero Jason, we went looking for the Golden Fleece and we won it!

I wish you’d won the fleece he lost.

Something bad in that letter is making Bassanio turn pale. Some good friend of his must have died, because nothing else in the world could change a man so much. What, does the news only get worse?—Please, Bassanio, I’m half of you, so let me bear half the burden this letter brings you.

Oh Portia, these are some of the worst words that ever stained a piece of paper. My darling, when I gave my love to you, I told you that all the wealth I had ran within my veins—that I have noble blood, but no money. When I said that, I told you the truth. But my dear, when I said I was worth nothing, I was actually bragging—I should’ve said that I was worse than nothing. I’ve borrowed money from a dear friend who in turn borrowed money from his mortal enemy for my sake. Here’s a letter, my dear. The paper’s like my friend’s body, and every word in it is a bleeding wound on that body.—But is it true, Salerio? Have all his business ventures failed? Not even one success? He had ships to Tripolis, Mexico, England, Lisbon, North Africa, and India, and not one of these ships avoided the rocks?

Not one, my lord. Anyway, even if he had the money now, the Jew probably wouldn’t take it. I’ve never seen a creature with a human shape who was so eager to destroy a man. He’s at the duke’s morning and night, accusing the state of harming free trade if they deny him justice. Twenty merchants, the duke himself, and the highest-ranking Venetian nobles have all tried to persuade him to forget his contract, but nobody can do it. He’s determined to get the penalty specified in his contract with Antonio.

When I was still living with him I heard him swear to Tubal and Cush, his countrymen, that he’d rather have Antonio’s flesh than twenty times the sum Antonio owed. And I know that unless the law intervenes, it’ll be bad news for poor Antonio.

Is this your good friend who’s in so much trouble?

Yes, he’s my best friend, the kindest man and most courteous to others. He’s more honorable than anyone else in Italy.

How much does he owe the Jew?

Three thousand ducats.

What, that’s all? Pay him six thousand and cancel the debt. I’d pay twelve thousand before I’d let a friend like that suffer in the slightest because of you. First come with me to church to get married. Then you can leave for Venice to see your friend. You have to go, because you’ll never sleep next to me peacefully without settling this. I’ll give you enough gold to pay back your debt twenty times over. When it’s paid, bring your friend back. Until you get back, Nerissa and I will live like virgins and widows. Come on, let’s go, because you’re going to leave me the same day we get married. Put on a happy face, and welcome your friends. Since it’s costing me a lot to marry you, I’ll think of you as even more precious. But let me hear the letter from your friend.

(he reads) “Dear Bassanio, my ships have all been wrecked. My creditors are getting mean. My money’s almost run out. I couldn’t pay my debt to the Jew on the due date. Since I’ll certainly die when he takes his collateral out of my flesh, all debts are cleared between you and me if I can just see you again before I die. In any case, do what you want. If your affection for me doesn’t convince you to come, don’t let my letter do so.”

Oh, my darling, make your arrangements and go!

Since you’re letting me leave, I’ll hurry. But I won’t sleep till I get back.