No Fear Shakespeare-Merchant Of Venice

Act 3-Scene 1

SOLANIO and SALARINO enter

SOLANIO

So, what's the news on the Rialto?

SALARINO

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.

SOLANIO

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!-

SALARINO

Come on, get to the point.

SOLANIO

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

SALARINO

I hope that's all he loses.

SOLANIO

Let me say "amen" quickly, before the devil comes in and stops my prayer-because here comes the devil, disguised as a Jew.
(SHYLOCK enters.)
How's it going, Shylock? What's the news among the merchants?

SHYLOCK

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

SALARINO

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

SOLANIO

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

SHYLOCK

She'll be damned for it.

SALARINO

That's true-if the devil's judging her.

SHYLOCK

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

SOLANIO

No! Your flesh still rebels at your age?

SHYLOCK

I mean my daughter is my flesh and blood.

SALARINO

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?

SHYLOCK

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.

SALARINO

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

SHYLOCK

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.

One of ANTONIO's SERVANTS enters.

SERVANT

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

SALARINO

We've been looking for him everywhere.

TUBAL enters.

SOLANIO

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

SOLANIO, SALARINO, and ANTONIO'sSERVANT exit.

SHYLOCK

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

TUBAL

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

SHYLOCK

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.

TUBAL

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

SHYLOCK

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

TUBAL

He's had a ship wrecked coming from Tripolis.

SHYLOCK

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

TUBAL

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

SHYLOCK

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

TUBAL

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

SHYLOCK

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

TUBAL

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

SHYLOCK

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

TUBAL

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

SHYLOCK

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.

TUBAL

But Antonio's certainly ruined.

SHYLOCK

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.

They exit.