English Literature for Boys and Girls Part 40

PORTIA. Why, this bond is forfeit: And lawfully by this the Jew may claim A pound of flesh, to be by him cut off Nearest the merchant's heart. Be merciful; Take thrice thy money; bid me tear the bond.

SHYLOCK. When it is paid according to the tenour.

It doth appear you are a worthy judge; You know the law, your exposition Hath been most sound; I charge you by the law, Whereof you are a well-deserving pillar, Proceed to judgment: by my soul I swear, There is no power in the tongue of man To alter me: I stay here on my bond.

ANTONIO. Most heartily I do beseech the court To give the judgement.

PORTIA. Why then, thus it is.

You must prepare your bosom for his knife.

SHYLOCK. O n.o.ble judge! O excellent young man!

PORTIA. For the intent and purpose of the law Hath full relation to the penalty, Which here appeareth due upon the bond.

SHYLOCK. 'Tis very true: O wise and upright judge!

How much more elder art thou than thy looks!

PORTIA. Therefore, lay bare your bosom.

SHYLOCK. Ay, his breast: So says the bond;--Doth it not, n.o.ble judge?

Nearest his heart, those are the very words.

PORTIA. It is so. Are there balance here, to weigh The flesh?

SHYLOCK. I have them ready.

PORTIA. Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge, To stop his wounds, lest he do bleed to death.

SHYLOCK. Is it so nominated in the bond?

PORTIA. It is not so express'd. But what of that?

'Twere good you do so much for charity.

SHYLOCK. I cannot find it; 'tis not in the bond.

PORTIA. Come, merchant, have you anything to say?"

Antonio answers, "But little." He is prepared for death, and takes leave of Ba.s.sanio. But Shylock is impatient. "We trifle time," he cries; "I pray thee, pursue sentence."

"PORTIA. A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine; The court awards it, and the law doth give it.

SHYLOCK. Most rightful judge!

PORTIA. And you must cut this flesh from off his breast; The law allows it; and the court awards it.

SHYLOCK. Most learned judge!--A sentence; come, prepare.

PORTIA. Tarry a little;--there is something else.

This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood; The words expressly are, a pound of flesh: But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate Unto the state of Venice.

GRATIANO. O upright judge!--Mark, Jew;--O learned judge!

SHYLOCK. Is that the law?

PORTIA. Thyself shall see the act; For, as thou urgest justice, be a.s.sur'd, Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desir'st.

GRATIANO. O learned judge,--Mark, Jew;--a learned judge!

SHYLOCK. I take this offer then,--pay the bond thrice, And let the Christian go.

Ba.s.sANIO. Here is the money.

PORTIA. Soft; The Jew shall have all justice;--soft;--no haste;-- He shall have nothing but the penalty.

GRATIANO. O Jew! An upright judge, a learned judge!

PORTIA. Therefore, prepare thee to cut off the flesh.

Shed thou no blood; nor cut thou less, nor more, But just a pound of flesh: if thou tak'st more, Or less, than a just pound,--be it but so much As makes it light, or heavy, in the substance, Or the division of the twentieth part Of one poor scruple,--nay, if the scale do turn But in the estimation of a hair,-- Thou diest, and all thy goods are confiscate.

GRATIANO. A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew!

Now, infidel, I have thee on the hip.

PORTIA. Why doth the Jew pause? Take thy forfeiture.

SHYLOCK. Give me my princ.i.p.al, and let me go.

Ba.s.sANIO. I have it ready for thee; here it is.

PORTIA. He hath refus'd it in the open court; He shall have merely justice, and his bond.

GRATIANO. A Daniel, still say I; a second Daniel!

I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word.

SHYLOCK. Shall I not have barely my princ.i.p.al?

PORTIA. Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture, To be so taken at thy peril, Jew."

So, seeing himself beaten on all points, the Jew would leave the court. But not yet is he allowed to go. Not until he has been fined for attempting to take the life of a Venetian citizen, not until he is humiliated, and so heaped with disgrace and insult that we are sorry for him, is he allowed to creep away.

The learned lawyer is loaded with thanks, and Ba.s.sanio wishes to pay him n.o.bly for his pains. But he will take nothing; nothing, that is, but the ring which glitters on Ba.s.sanio's finger. That Ba.s.sanio cannot give--it is his wife's present and he has promised never to part with it. At that the lawyer pretends anger. "I see, sir," he says:--

"You are liberal in offers: You taught me first to beg; and now, methinks, You teach me how a beggar should be answered."

Hardly have they parted than Ba.s.sanio repents his seemingly churlish action. Has not this young man saved his friend from death, and himself from disgrace? Portia will surely understand that his request could not be refused, and so he sends Gratiano after him with the ring. Gratiano gives the ring to the lawyer, and the seeming clerk begs Gratiano for his ring, which he, following his friend's example, gives.

In the last act of the play all the friends are gathered again at Belmont. After some merry teasing upon the subject of the rings the truth is told, and Ba.s.sanio and Gratiano learn that the skillful lawyer and his clerk were none other than their young and clever wives.

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