Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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Enter Lorenzo and Jessica. LORENZO
The moon shines bright. In such a night as this,
When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees
And they did make no noise, in such a night
Troilus, methinks, mounted the Trojan walls
And sighed his soul toward the Grecian tents 5
Where Cressid lay that night. JESSICA In such a night
Did Thisbe fearfully o’ertrip the dew
And saw the lion’s shadow ere himself
And ran dismayed away. 10 LORENZO In such a night
Stood Dido with a willow in her hand
Upon the wild sea-banks, and waft her love
To come again to Carthage. JESSICA In such a night 15
Medea gathered the enchanted herbs
That did renew old Aeson. LORENZO In such a night
Did Jessica steal from the wealthy Jew,
And with an unthrift love did run from Venice 20
As far as Belmont. | Lorenzo and Jessica are gazing at the beautiful Belmont night sky. They list off a bunch of things (from Greek mythology) that happened on nights like this, including Troilus weeping over Cressida, Thisbe running away from a lion, Dido waiting for her lover, Medea gathering herbs for Jason, and (not a Greek myth) Jessica running away with Lorenzo. |
JESSICA In such a night
Did young Lorenzo swear he loved her well,
Stealing her soul with many vows of faith,
And ne’er a true one. 25 LORENZO In such a night
Did pretty Jessica, like a little shrew,
Slander her love, and he forgave it her. JESSICA
I would out-night you did nobody come,
But hark, I hear the footing of a man. 30 | Jessica teases that Lorenzo swore his love for her but was full of lies, and Lorenzo jokes that she is slandering their love, but he forgives her for it. |
Enter Stephano, a Messenger. LORENZO
Who comes so fast in silence of the night? STEPHANO A friend. LORENZO
A friend? What friend? Your name, I pray you,
friend. STEPHANO
Stephano is my name, and I bring word 35
My mistress will before the break of day
Be here at Belmont. She doth stray about
By holy crosses, where she kneels and prays
For happy wedlock hours. LORENZO Who comes with her? 40 STEPHANO
None but a holy hermit and her maid.
I pray you, is my master yet returned? | They're interrupted by a messenger, who says that Portia is on her way home. Oddly, she keeps stopping to pray along the roadside at holy crosses. |
LORENZOHe is not, nor we have not heard from him.—
But go we in, I pray thee, Jessica,
And ceremoniously let us prepare 45
Some welcome for the mistress of the house. | Jessica and Lorenzo decide they should go in and prep the house for Portia. |
Enter Lancelet, the Clown. LANCELET Sola, sola! Wo ha, ho! Sola, sola! LORENZO Who calls? LANCELET Sola! Did you see Master Lorenzo? Master
Lorenzo, sola, sola! 50 LORENZO Leave holloaing, man! Here. LANCELET Sola! Where, where? LORENZO Here! | Lorenzo and Jessica are interrupted when Lancelet enters the scene and plays at his usual idiocy. |
LANCELET Tell him there’s a post come from my master
with his horn full of good news. My master will 55
be here ere morning, sweet soul. Lancelet exits. LORENZO, to Jessica
Let’s in, and there expect their coming.
And yet no matter; why should we go in?—
My friend Stephano, signify, I pray you,
Within the house, your mistress is at hand, 60
And bring your music forth into the air. Stephano exits. How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank.
Here will we sit and let the sounds of music
Creep in our ears; soft stillness and the night
Become the touches of sweet harmony. 65
Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patens of bright gold.
There’s not the smallest orb which thou behold’st
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still choiring to the young-eyed cherubins. 70
Such harmony is in immortal souls,
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it. Enter Stephano and musicians. Come, ho! and wake Diana with a hymn.
With sweetest touches pierce your mistress’ ear, 75
And draw her home with music. Music plays. JESSICA
I am never merry when I hear sweet music. | The clown finally tells Lorenzo that he's gotten a message announcing that Bassanio will be home before morning. Lorenzo again says they really should rush inside and prepare for Portia's return, then changes his mind. Instead, he tells Stephano to bring some music outside. Lorenzo and Jessica go back to stargazing. |
LORENZO
The reason is, your spirits are attentive.
For do but note a wild and wanton herd
Or race of youthful and unhandled colts, 80
Fetching mad bounds, bellowing and neighing loud,
Which is the hot condition of their blood,
If they but hear perchance a trumpet sound,
Or any air of music touch their ears,
You shall perceive them make a mutual stand, 85
Their savage eyes turned to a modest gaze
By the sweet power of music. Therefore the poet
Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and
floods,
Since naught so stockish, hard, and full of rage, 90
But music for the time doth change his nature.
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night, 95
And his affections dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music. | Lorenzo speaks sweetly to Jessica about the power of music and how she should never trust someone who isn't moved by it. |
Enter Portia and Nerissa. PORTIA
That light we see is burning in my hall.
How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world. 100 NERISSA
When the moon shone we did not see the candle. PORTIA
So doth the greater glory dim the less.
A substitute shines brightly as a king
Until a king be by, and then his state
Empties itself as doth an inland brook 105
Into the main of waters. Music, hark! NERISSA
It is your music, madam, of the house. PORTIA
Nothing is good, I see, without respect.
Methinks it sounds much sweeter than by day. NERISSA
Silence bestows that virtue on it, madam. 110 PORTIA
The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark
When neither is attended, and I think
The nightingale, if she should sing by day
When every goose is cackling, would be thought
No better a musician than the wren. 115
How many things by season seasoned are
To their right praise and true perfection!
Peace—how the moon sleeps with Endymion
And would not be awaked! Music ceases. | Portia and Nerissa, who are getting close to home, are also philosophizing about music. Portia sees a candle in her house and marvels at how far its little light shines. The two women then discuss some profound ideas, like how a candle is bright until you compare it to the moon; and how music, seeming sweet during the day, is even sweeter at night when everything's quiet and you can hear it better. |
LORENZO That is the voice, 120
Or I am much deceived, of Portia. PORTIA
He knows me as the blind man knows the cuckoo,
By the bad voice. LORENZO Dear lady, welcome home. PORTIA
We have been praying for our husbands’ welfare, 125
Which speed we hope the better for our words.
Are they returned? LORENZO Madam, they are not yet,
But there is come a messenger before
To signify their coming. 130 PORTIA Go in, Nerissa.
Give order to my servants that they take
No note at all of our being absent hence—
Nor you, Lorenzo—Jessica, nor you. A trumpet sounds. LORENZO
Your husband is at hand. I hear his trumpet. 135
We are no tell-tales, madam, fear you not. PORTIA
This night methinks is but the daylight sick;
It looks a little paler. ’Tis a day
Such as the day is when the sun is hid. | Lorenzo hears Portia's voice and they all greet each other. |
PORTIA
We have been praying for our husbands’ welfare, 125
Which speed we hope the better for our words.
Are they returned? LORENZO Madam, they are not yet,
But there is come a messenger before
To signify their coming. 130 | Portia reminds everyone that she and Nerissa were off praying for their husbands' well-being. |
PORTIA Go in, Nerissa.
Give order to my servants that they take
No note at all of our being absent hence—
Nor you, Lorenzo—Jessica, nor you. A trumpet sounds. LORENZO
Your husband is at hand. I hear his trumpet. 135
We are no tell-tales, madam, fear you not. PORTIA
This night methinks is but the daylight sick;
It looks a little paler. ’Tis a day
Such as the day is when the sun is hid. | Lorenzo says the two men are on their way home, and Portia tells Nerissa to make sure none of the servants mention of their absence. She instructs Lorenzo and Jessica to keep quiet, too. A trumpet announces Bassanio's approach, and Lorenzo says he and Jessica won't say boo. |
Enter Bassanio, Antonio, Gratiano, and their followers. BASSANIO
We should hold day with the Antipodes 140
If you would walk in absence of the sun. PORTIA
Let me give light, but let me not be light,
For a light wife doth make a heavy husband,
And never be Bassanio so for me.
But God sort all! You are welcome home, my lord. 145 | The guys enter and there's much ado as Bassanio introduces Antonio to Portia, who welcomes him graciously. |
Gratiano and Nerissa talk aside. BASSANIO
I thank you, madam. Give welcome to my friend.
This is the man, this is Antonio,
To whom I am so infinitely bound. PORTIA
You should in all sense be much bound to him,
For as I hear he was much bound for you. 150 ANTONIO
No more than I am well acquitted of. PORTIA
Sir, you are very welcome to our house.
It must appear in other ways than words;
Therefore I scant this breathing courtesy. GRATIANO, to Nerissa
By yonder moon I swear you do me wrong! 155
In faith, I gave it to the judge’s clerk.
Would he were gelt that had it, for my part,
Since you do take it, love, so much at heart. | Off to the side, Gratiano and Nerissa are squabbling. |
PORTIA
A quarrel ho, already! What’s the matter? GRATIANO
About a hoop of gold, a paltry ring 160
That she did give me, whose posy was
For all the world like cutler’s poetry
Upon a knife, “Love me, and leave me not.” NERISSA
What talk you of the posy or the value?
You swore to me when I did give it you 165
That you would wear it till your hour of death,
And that it should lie with you in your grave.
Though not for me, yet for your vehement oaths,
You should have been respective and have kept it.
Gave it a judge’s clerk! No, God’s my judge, 170
The clerk will ne’er wear hair on ’s face that had it. GRATIANO
He will, an if he live to be a man. NERISSA
Ay, if a woman live to be a man. | Portia turns her attention to the quarrel, and Gratiano says Nerissa's only fussing about a little ring. Nerissa, of course, points out that the ring isn't the issue—it's that Gratiano had sworn to take the ring to his grave. |
GRATIANO
Now, by this hand, I gave it to a youth,
A kind of boy, a little scrubbèd boy, 175
No higher than thyself, the judge’s clerk,
A prating boy that begged it as a fee.
I could not for my heart deny it him. PORTIA
You were to blame, I must be plain with you,
To part so slightly with your wife’s first gift, 180
A thing stuck on with oaths upon your finger,
And so riveted with faith unto your flesh.
I gave my love a ring and made him swear
Never to part with it, and here he stands.
I dare be sworn for him he would not leave it 185
Nor pluck it from his finger for the wealth
That the world masters. Now, in faith, Gratiano,
You give your wife too unkind a cause of grief.
An ’twere to me I should be mad at it. | Gratiano, however, keeps insisting that he gave the ring to the young clerk who begged for it as a fee for his service. Portia backs up Nerissa, pointing out that she also gave her husband a ring on the same promise that he'd keep it forever, and of course he wouldn't ever, ever think of giving it away, right? |
BASSANIO, aside
Why, I were best to cut my left hand off 190
And swear I lost the ring defending it. GRATIANO
My Lord Bassanio gave his ring away
Unto the judge that begged it, and indeed
Deserved it, too. And then the boy, his clerk,
That took some pains in writing, he begged mine, 195
And neither man nor master would take aught
But the two rings. PORTIA What ring gave you, my lord?
Not that, I hope, which you received of me. BASSANIO
If I could add a lie unto a fault, 200
I would deny it, but you see my finger
Hath not the ring upon it. It is gone. | Poor Bassanio, naturally, is shaking in his boots. So much so that he thinks maybe he should just cut off his left hand and swears he lost it defending the ring. |
PORTIA
Even so void is your false heart of truth.
By heaven, I will ne’er come in your bed
Until I see the ring! 205 NERISSA, to Gratiano Nor I in yours
Till I again see mine! BASSANIO Sweet Portia,
If you did know to whom I gave the ring,
If you did know for whom I gave the ring, 210
And would conceive for what I gave the ring,
And how unwillingly I left the ring,
When naught would be accepted but the ring,
You would abate the strength of your displeasure. | Portia says she won't share a bed with Bassanio until she sees the ring, and Nerissa makes the same threat to Gratiano. Bassanio tries to cover his butt, saying Portia would be more forgiving if she knew the circumstances under which he gave the ring away. |
PORTIA
If you had known the virtue of the ring, 215
Or half her worthiness that gave the ring,
Or your own honor to contain the ring,
You would not then have parted with the ring.
What man is there so much unreasonable,
If you had pleased to have defended it 220
With any terms of zeal, wanted the modesty
To urge the thing held as a ceremony?
Nerissa teaches me what to believe:
I’ll die for ’t but some woman had the ring! | Portia responds that if he had known how worthy she was, he wouldn't have given it away at all. |
BASSANIO
No, by my honor, madam, by my soul, 225
No woman had it, but a civil doctor,
Which did refuse three thousand ducats of me
And begged the ring, the which I did deny him
And suffered him to go displeased away,
Even he that had held up the very life 230
Of my dear friend. What should I say, sweet lady?
I was enforced to send it after him.
I was beset with shame and courtesy.
My honor would not let ingratitude
So much besmear it. Pardon me, good lady, 235
For by these blessèd candles of the night,
Had you been there, I think you would have begged
The ring of me to give the worthy doctor. | There's some squabbling about whether the ring was given to a woman, and Bassanio tries to explain the whole thing: the 3,000 ducats, the civil doctor (lawyer), the seeming ungratefulness, etc. |
PORTIA
Let not that doctor e’er come near my house!
Since he hath got the jewel that I loved, 240
And that which you did swear to keep for me,
I will become as liberal as you:
I’ll not deny him anything I have,
No, not my body, nor my husband’s bed.
Know him I shall, I am well sure of it. 245
Lie not a night from home. Watch me like Argus.
If you do not, if I be left alone,
Now by mine honor, which is yet mine own,
I’ll have that doctor for my bedfellow. | Portia then says if the doctor ever comes around her house, she'll have to share everything with him (her home, her body, her huband's bed) since he's the one who now holds her oath in the form of the ring she gave Bassiano. |
NERISSA
And I his clerk. Therefore be well advised 250
How you do leave me to mine own protection. GRATIANO
Well, do you so. Let not me take him, then,
For if I do, I’ll mar the young clerk’s pen. ANTONIO
I am th’ unhappy subject of these quarrels. PORTIA
Sir, grieve not you. You are welcome 255
notwithstanding. BASSANIO
Portia, forgive me this enforcèd wrong,
And in the hearing of these many friends
I swear to thee, even by thine own fair eyes,
Wherein I see myself— 260 PORTIA Mark you but that!
In both my eyes he doubly sees himself,
In each eye one. Swear by your double self,
And there’s an oath of credit. BASSANIO Nay, but hear me. 265
Pardon this fault, and by my soul I swear
I never more will break an oath with thee. | Nerissa chimes in that she'd have to sleep with the doctor's clerk, and Gratiano is not okay with that. |
ANTONIO
I once did lend my body for his wealth,
Which but for him that had your husband’s ring
Had quite miscarried. I dare be bound again, 270
My soul upon the forfeit, that your lord
Will never more break faith advisedly. PORTIA
Then you shall be his surety. Give him this,
Giving Antonio a ring.
And bid him keep it better than the other. ANTONIO
Here, Lord Bassanio, swear to keep this ring. 275 BASSANIO
By heaven, it is the same I gave the doctor! PORTIA
I had it of him. Pardon me, Bassanio,
For by this ring, the doctor lay with me. NERISSA
And pardon me, my gentle Gratiano,
For that same scrubbèd boy, the doctor’s clerk, 280
In lieu of this, last night did lie with me. She shows a ring. | Antonio cuts off all the quarreling. Having just barely escaped Shylock's knife, he's ready to risk his life again as a guarantee that Bassanio will, from this moment on, be faithful to Portia. Portia, hearing this, hands Antonio her ring to give to Bassanio, who must swear to take better care of it than he did the last one. Bassanio is shocked to get the same ring back, saying something like "Wow! I gave this to the doctor!" Portia says, "Yep. I slept with the doctor." Nerissa hands her ring back to Gratiano, too, adding casually that she slept with the doctor's clerk. |
GRATIANO
Why, this is like the mending of highways
In summer, where the ways are fair enough!
What, are we cuckolds ere we have deserved it? PORTIA
Speak not so grossly.—You are all amazed. 285 She hands a paper to Bassanio. Here is a letter; read it at your leisure.
It comes from Padua from Bellario.
There you shall find that Portia was the doctor,
Nerissa there, her clerk. Lorenzo here
Shall witness I set forth as soon as you, 290
And even but now returned. I have not yet
Entered my house.—Antonio, you are welcome,
And I have better news in store for you
Than you expect. Unseal this letter soon. Handing him a paper.
There you shall find three of your argosies 295
Are richly come to harbor suddenly.
You shall not know by what strange accident
I chancèd on this letter. | Gratiano laments that he's been made a cuckold (cheated on) before he even deserved it, but then Portia clears everything up. She hands over a letter from the mysterious Doctor Bellario, who has written that Portia was the doctor at Shylock's trial and Nerissa the clerk. Further, Portia has somehow gotten a letter for Antonio announcing that three of his ships randomly have made it safely (and richly) to harbor. |
ANTONIO I am dumb. BASSANIO
Were you the doctor and I knew you not? 300 GRATIANO
Were you the clerk that is to make me cuckold? NERISSA
Ay, but the clerk that never means to do it,
Unless he live until he be a man. | Antonio says "I am dumb" (speechless). |
BASSANIO, to Portia
Sweet doctor, you shall be my bedfellow.
When I am absent, then lie with my wife. | Then everyone makes up. Bassanio says the doctor can sleep with his wife anytime, since the doctor is his wife. |
ANTONIO
Sweet lady, you have given me life and living;
For here I read for certain that my ships
Are safely come to road. PORTIA How now, Lorenzo?
My clerk hath some good comforts too for you. 310 | Antonio praises Portia for giving him his life and his work back with her good news. |
NERISSA
Ay, and I’ll give them him without a fee. Handing him a paper. There do I give to you and Jessica,
From the rich Jew, a special deed of gift,
After his death, of all he dies possessed of. | Then Nerissa gives Lorenzo the good news that he and Jessica will get half of Shylock's fortune now and the rest as an inheritance. |
LORENZO
Fair ladies, you drop manna in the way 315
Of starvèd people. | Everyone is pretty impressed with the ladies. |
PORTIA It is almost morning,
And yet I am sure you are not satisfied
Of these events at full. Let us go in,
And charge us there upon inter’gatories, 320
And we will answer all things faithfully. | Portia says she's sure they still have questions, but those can wait till everyone is settled in. |
GRATIANO
Let it be so. The first inter’gatory
That my Nerissa shall be sworn on is
Whether till the next night she had rather stay
Or go to bed now, being two hours to day. 325
But were the day come, I should wish it dark
Till I were couching with the doctor’s clerk.
Well, while I live, I’ll fear no other thing
So sore as keeping safe Nerissa’s ring. They exit. | Gratiano closes the play wondering, since it's so close to morning, whether he can sleep with Nerissa now or whether he has to wait through another day. Either way, from this day on he'll make keeping her ring safe—and thereby, his oath—his top priority. |