Venice. A court of justice. Enter the DUKE, the Magnificoes, ANTONIO, BASSANIO, GRATIANO, SALERIO, and others DUKE What, is Antonio here? ANTONIO Ready, so please your grace. DUKE I am sorry for thee: thou art come to answer A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch uncapable of pity, void and empty From any dram of mercy. ANTONIO I have heard Your grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify His rigorous course; but since he stands obdurate And that no lawful means can carry me Out of his envy's reach, I do oppose My patience to his fury, and am arm'd To suffer, with a quietness of spirit, The very tyranny and rage of his. DUKE Go one, and call the Jew into the court. SALERIO He is ready at the door: he comes, my lord.
Enter SHYLOCK DUKE Make room, and let him stand before our face.
Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too, That thou but lead'st this fashion of thy malice To the last hour of act; and then 'tis thought Thou'lt show thy mercy and remorse more strange Than is thy strange apparent cruelty;And where thou now exact'st the penalty, Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh, Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture, But, touch'd with human gentleness and love, Forgive a moiety of the principal;Glancing an eye of pity on his losses, That have of late so huddled on his back, Enow to press a royal merchant down And pluck commiseration of his state From brassy bosoms and rough hearts of flint, From stubborn Turks and Tartars, never train'd To offices of tender courtesy.
We all expect a gentle answer, Jew. SHYLOCK I have possess'd your grace of what Ipurpose;
And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn To have the due and forfeit of my bond:
If you deny it, let the danger light Upon your charter and your city's freedom.
You'll ask me, why I rather choose to have A weight of carrion flesh than to receive Three thousand ducats: I'll not answer that:
But, say, it is my humour: is it answer'd?
What if my house be troubled with a rat And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats To have it baned? What, are you answer'd yet?
Some men there are love not a gaping pig;Some, that are mad if they behold a cat;
And others, when the bagpipe sings i' the nose, Cannot contain their urine: for affection, Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood Of what it likes or loathes. Now, for your answer:
As there is no firm reason to be render'd, Why he cannot abide a gaping pig;Why he, a harmless necessary cat;
Why he, a woollen bagpipe; but of force Must yield to such inevitable shame As to offend, himself being offended;So can I give no reason, nor I will not, More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing I bear Antonio, that I follow thus A losing suit against him. Are you answer'd? BASSANIO This is no answer, thou unfeeling man, To excuse the current of thy cruelty. SHYLOCK I am not bound to please thee with my answers. BASSANIO Do all men kill the things they do not love? SHYLOCK Hates any man the thing he would not kill? BASSANIO Every offence is not a hate at first. SHYLOCK What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice? ANTONIO I pray you, think you question with the Jew:
You may as well go stand upon the beach And bid the main flood bate his usual height;You may as well use question with the wolf Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb;You may as well forbid the mountain pines To wag their high tops and to make no noise, When they are fretten with the gusts of heaven;You may as well do anything most hard, As seek to soften that--than which what's harder?--His Jewish heart: therefore, I do beseech you, Make no more offers, use no farther means, But with all brief and plain conveniency Let me have judgment and the Jew his will. BASSANIO For thy three thousand ducats here is six. SHYLOCK What judgment shall I dread, doing Were in six parts and every part a ducat, I would not draw them; I would have my bond. DUKE How shalt thou hope for mercy, rendering none? SHYLOCK What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong?
You have among you many a purchased slave, Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules, You use in abject and in slavish parts, Because you bought them: shall I say to you, Let them be free, marry them to your heirs?
Why sweat they under burthens? let their beds Be made as soft as yours and let their palates Be season'd with such viands? You will answer 'The slaves are ours:' so do I answer you:
The pound of flesh, which I demand of him, Is dearly bought; 'tis mine and I will have it.
If you deny me, fie upon your law!
There is no force in the decrees of Venice.
I stand for judgment: answer; shall I have it? DUKE Upon my power I may dismiss this court, Unless Bellario, a learned doctor, Whom I have sent for to determine this, Come here to-day. SALERIO My lord, here stays without A messenger with letters from the doctor, New come from Padua. DUKE Bring us the letter; call the messenger. BASSANIO Good cheer, Antonio! What, man, courage yet!
The Jew shall have my flesh, blood, bones and all, Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood. ANTONIO I am a tainted wether of the flock, Meetest for death: the weakest kind of fruit Drops earliest to the ground; and so let me You cannot better be employ'd, Bassanio, Than to live still and write mine epitaph.
Enter NERISSA, dressed like a lawyer's clerk DUKE Came you from Padua, from Bellario? NERISSA From both, my lord. Bellario greets your grace.
Presenting a letter BASSANIO Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly? SHYLOCK To cut the forfeiture from that bankrupt there. GRATIANO Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew, Thou makest thy knife keen; but no metal can, No, not the hangman's axe, bear half the keenness Of thy sharp envy. Can no prayers pierce thee? SHYLOCK No, none that thou hast wit enough to make. GRATIANO O, be thou damn'd, inexecrable dog!
And for thy life let justice be accused.