The quality of mercy is not straind, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown; His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest Gods When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, Though justice be thy plea, consider this, That, in the course of justice, none of us Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much To mitigate the justice of thy plea; Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice Must needs give sentence gainst the merchant there. SHYLOCK My deeds upon my head! I crave the law, The penalty and forfeit of my bond. PORTIA Is he not able to discharge the money? BASSANIO Yes, here I tender it for him in the court; Yea, twice the sum: if that will not suffice, I will be bound to pay it ten times oer, On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart: If this will not suffice, it must appear That malice bears down truth. And I beseech you, Wrest once the law to your authority: To do a great right, do a little wrong, And curb this cruel devil of his will. PORTIA It must not be; there is no power in Venice Can alter a decree established: Twill be recorded for a precedent, And many an error by the same example Will rush into the state: it cannot be. SHYLOCK A Daniel come to judgment! yea, a Daniel! O wise young judge, how I do honour thee! PORTIA I pray you, let me look upon the bond. SHYLOCK Here tis, most reverend doctor, here it is. PORTIA Shylock, theres thrice thy money offerd thee. SHYLOCK An oath, an oath, I have an oath in heaven: Shall I lay perjury upon my soul? No, not for Venice. 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 merchants heart. Be merciful: Take thrice thy money; bid me tear the bond. SHYLOCK When it is paid according to the tenor. 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 judgment. PORTIA Why then, thus it is: You must prepare your bosom for his knife. SHYLOCK O noble 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, noble 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 expressd: but what of that? Twere good you do so much for charity. SHYLOCK I cannot find it; tis not in the bond. PORTIA You, merchant, have you any thing to say? ANTONIO But little: I am armd and well prepared. Give me your hand, Bassanio: fare you well! Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you; For herein Fortune shows herself more kind Than is her custom: it is still her use To let the wretched man outlive his wealth, To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow An age of poverty; from which lingering penance Of such misery doth she cut me off. Commend me to your honourable wife: Tell her the process of Antonios end; Say how I loved you, speak me fair in death; And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge Whether Bassanio had not once a love. Repent but you that you shall lose your friend, And he repents not that he pays your debt; For if the Jew do cut but deep enough, Ill pay it presently with all my heart. BASSANIO Antonio, I am married to a wife Which is as dear to me as life itself; But life itself, my wife, and all the world, Are not with me esteemd above thy life: I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all Here to this devil, to deliver you. PORTIA Your wife would give you little thanks for that, If she were by, to hear you make the offer. GRATIANO I have a wife, whom, I protest, I love: I would she were in heaven, so she could Entreat some power to change this currish Jew. NERISSA Tis well you offer it behind her back; The wish would make else an unquiet house. SHYLOCK These be the Christian husbands. I have a daughter; Would any of the stock of Barrabas Had been her husband rather than a Christian! Aside We trifle time: I pray thee, pursue sentence. PORTIA A pound of that same merchants 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: Take then thy bond, take thou thy 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 shalt see the act: For, as thou urgest justice, be assured Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desirest. GRATIANO O learned judge! Mark, Jew: a learned judge! SHYLOCK I take this offer, then; pay the bond thrice And let the Christian go. BASSANIO 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 cutst 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 you on the hip. PORTIA Why doth the Jew pause? take thy forfeiture. SHYLOCK Give me my principal, and let me go. BASSANIO I have it ready for thee; here it is. PORTIA He hath refused 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 principal? PORTIA Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture, To be so taken at thy peril, Jew. SHYLOCK Why, then the devil give him good of it! Ill stay no longer question. PORTIA Tarry, Jew: The law hath yet another hold on you. It is enacted in the laws of Venice, If it be proved against an alien That by direct or indirect attempts He seek the life of any citizen, The party gainst the which he doth contrive Shall seize one half his goods; the other half Comes to the privy coffer of the state; And the offenders life lies in the mercy Of the duke only, gainst all other voice. In which predicament, I say, thou standst; For it appears, by manifest proceeding, That indirectly and directly too Thou hast contrived against the very life Of the defendant; and thou hast incurrd The danger formerly by me rehearsed. Down therefore and beg mercy of the duke. GRATIANO Beg that thou mayst have leave to hang thyself: And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state, Thou hast not left the value of a cord; Therefore thou must be hangd at the states charge. DUKE That thou shalt see the difference of our spirits, I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it: For half thy wealth, it is Antonios; The other half comes to the general state, Which humbleness may drive unto a fine. PORTIA Ay, for the state, not for Antonio. SHYLOCK Nay, take my life and all; pardon not that: You take my house when you do take the prop That doth sustain my house; you take my life When you do take the means whereby I live. PORTIA What mercy can you render him, Antonio? GRATIANO A halter gratis; nothing else, for Gods sake
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 09:16:17 +0000
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