Chapter: ACT 3. SCENE I.

Venice. A street

[Enter SALANIO and SALARINO.]

SALANIO.
Now, what news on the Rialto?

SALARINO.
Why, yet it lives there unchecked that Antonio hath a ship
of rich lading wrack'd on the narrow seas; the Goodwins, I think
they call the place, a very dangerous flat and fatal, where the
carcasses of many a tall ship lie buried, as they say, if my
gossip Report be an honest woman of her word.

SALANIO.
I would she were as lying a gossip in that as ever knapped
ginger or made her neighbours believe she wept for the death of a
third husband. But it is true,--without any slips of prolixity or
crossing the plain highway of talk,--that the good Antonio, the
honest Antonio,--O that I had a title good enough to keep his
name
company!--

SALARINO.
Come, the full stop.

SALANIO.
Ha! What sayest thou? Why, the end is, he hath lost a
ship.

SALARINO.
I would it might prove the end of his losses.

SALANIO.
Let me say 'amen' betimes, lest the devil cross my prayer,
for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew.

[Enter SHYLOCK.]

How now, Shylock! What news among the merchants?

SHYLOCK.
You knew, none so well, none so well as you, of my
daughter's flight.

SALARINO.
That's certain; I, for my part, knew the tailor that made
the wings she flew withal.

SALANIO.
And Shylock, for his own part, knew the bird was fledged;
and then it is the complexion of them all to leave the dam.

SHYLOCK.
She is damned for it.

SALARINO.
That's certain, if the devil may be her judge.

SHYLOCK.
My own flesh and blood to rebel!

SALANIO.
Out upon it, old carrion! Rebels it at these years?

SHYLOCK.
I say my daughter is my flesh and my blood.

SALARINO.
There is more difference between thy flesh and hers than
between jet and ivory; more between your bloods than there is
between red wine and Rhenish. But tell us, do you hear whether
Antonio have had any loss at sea or no?

SHYLOCK.
There I have another bad match: a bankrupt, a prodigal,
who dare scarce show his head on the Rialto; a beggar, that used
to come so smug upon the mart; let him look to his bond: he
was wont to call me usurer; let him look to his bond: he was wont
to lend money for a Christian courtesy; let him look to his bond.

SALARINO.
Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take his
flesh: what's that good for?

SHYLOCK.
To bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing else, it will
feed my revenge. He hath disgrac'd me and hind'red me half a
million; laugh'd at my losses, mock'd at my gains, scorned my
nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine
enemies. And what's his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes?
Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections,
passions, fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons,
subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed
and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If
you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh?
If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we
not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you
in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility?
Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance
be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villaiy you teach me
I will execute; and it shall go hard but I will better the
instruction.

[Enter a Servant.]

SERVANT.
Gentlemen, my master Antonio is at his house, and desires to
speak with you both.

SALARINO.
We have been up and down to seek him.

[Enter TUBAL.]

SALANIO.
Here comes another of the tribe: a third cannot be
match'd, unless the devil himself turn Jew.

[Exeunt SALANIO, SALARINO, and Servant.]

SHYLOCK.
How now, Tubal! what news from Genoa? Hast thou found my
daughter?

TUBAL.
I often came where I did hear of her, but cannot find her.

SHYLOCK.
Why there, there, there, there! A diamond gone, cost me
two thousand ducats in Frankfort! The curse never fell upon our
nation till now; I never felt it till now. Two thousand ducats in
that, and other precious, precious jewels. I would my daughter
were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear; would she were
hearsed at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin! No news of
them? Why, so: and I know not what's spent in the search. Why,
thou--loss upon loss! The thief gone with so much, and so much to
find the thief; and no satisfaction, no revenge; nor no ill luck
stirring but what lights on my shoulders; no sighs but of my
breathing; no tears but of my shedding.

TUBAL.
Yes, other men have ill luck too. Antonio, as I heard in
Genoa,--

SHYLOCK.
What, what, what? Ill luck, ill luck?

TUBAL.
--hath an argosy cast away, coming from Tripolis.

SHYLOCK.
I thank God! I thank God! Is it true, is it true?

TUBAL.
I spoke with some of the sailors that escaped the wrack.

SHYLOCK.
I thank thee, good Tubal. Good news, good news! ha, ha!
Where? in Genoa?

TUBAL.
Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I heard, one night,
fourscore ducats.

SHYLOCK.
Thou stick'st a dagger in me: I shall never see my gold
again: fourscore ducats at a sitting! Fourscore ducats!

TUBAL.
There came divers of Antonio's creditors in my company to
Venice that swear he cannot choose but break.

SHYLOCK.
I am very glad of it; I'll plague him, I'll torture him; I
am glad of it.

TUBAL.
One of them showed me a ring that he had of your daughter
for a monkey.

SHYLOCK.
Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal: It was my
turquoise; I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor; I would not
have given it for a wilderness of monkeys.

TUBAL.
But Antonio is certainly undone.

SHYLOCK.
Nay, that's true; that's very true. Go, Tubal, fee me an
officer; bespeak him a fortnight before. I will have the heart of
him, if he forfeit; for, were he out of Venice, I can make what
merchandise I will. Go, Tubal, and meet me at our synagogue; go,
good Tubal; at our synagogue, Tubal.

[Exeunt.]

 Solanio and Salerio meet again in the Venetian streets to gossip. Salerio sadly reports there's still a rumor out there that one of Antonio's ships has been wrecked, and he hasn't been able to find anyone to disprove it. They lament that Antonio's fortunes are poor, but they're interrupted by Shylock or, as they say, the devil in the "likeness of a Jew." Solanio asks Shylock for gossip from the marketplace, but Shylock points out the gossip he brings is likely old news to those two: Jessica has run off. Solanio and Salerio joke that it was about time she left the nest. As Shylock laments that his own flesh and blood has deserted him, the other two men are less than sensitive. They say Jessica was no more like Shylock than white wine to red. Talk turns to the fate of Antonio's ships, and Shylock whines about that too--though it's unclear whether he's gleeful or upset. Either way, he keeps reiterating that Antonio needs to "look to his bond," suggesting that he has no plans to be merciful if Antonio forfeits. Salerio scoffs that he's sure, in the case of a forfeit, that Shylock wouldn't actually want a pound of Antonio's flesh. Right? Shylock gives an illuminating speech on the nature of prejudice, though it's laced with vicious hatred and his desire for a pound of Antonio's flesh. Shylock suggests he can use Antonio's flesh as fish bait, but the most important thing the human meat will feed is Shylock's hunger for revenge. Shylock lists off the little and big cruelties to which Antonio has subjected him and points out that Antonio's reason for all this hatred is simply that Shylock is a Jew. He asks, in earnest, whether a Jew doesn't feel everything a Christian does, summed up by the masterful and immortalized line "If you prick us, do we not bleed?" Shylock's speech culminates in a note about revenge, just as it began. Jews, being wronged, will seek revenge just as Christians do. If anything, Shylock has learned this example of revenge-taking from the Christians themselves. "The villainy you teach me, I will execute," he says. A servant then enters to announce that Antonio would like to speak to Solanio and Salerio. As those two leave to see Antonio, Tubal, a Jewish friend of Shylock's, enters with his own news. Tubal seems to have just returned from Genoa, where he was looking for Jessica. Shylock is distraught when he learns that Tubal kept hearing about the girl but had no luck in actually finding her. However, we're not sympathetic toward Shylock for too long, as he immediately mourns not his daughter but his money. Shylock wishes he could see his daughter again. Aw. Oh wait, actually, he wishes he could see her dead, laid out at his feet with all his wealth around her, which he could promptly take back again. Further, he's really peeved that this search is costing him so much, on top of the actual loss itself. Mostly, he's sad that he's getting nothing but trouble, that no one but he is feeling pain, and that his pain is everyone else's fault. Tubal comforts him by essentially saying, "Don't worry, other people are leading miserable lives too." Thankfully, Shylock doesn't feel bad for too long after he hears Tubal's news from Genoa about Antonio. Apparently, Antonio's Tripoli venture has failed, and the man is practically ruined. Shylock profusely thanks God. Tubal's joyous news about Antonio's failed venture is immediately tempered by bad news. In Genoa, Tubal heard that Jessica had spent eighty ducats in one night. This is big money. Tubal wisely elects to change the subject and goes back to talking about how many Venetians have come to him with the news that Antonio can't possibly pay back his debt and must break his bond with Shylock. It seems here that Shylock's anger and frustration at Jessica gets channeled into his already-hot hatred of Antonio. Glad for Antonio's misery, Shylock promises to plague and torture the man. Tubal seems interested in feeding the flames of Shylock's anger, as he further adds that Jessica gave away Shylock's turquoise ring to a merchant in return for... a monkey. But the good news for Shylock to fall back upon is Antonio's complete and utter ruin. Shylock sends Tubal off to get an officer of the law so they can prepare for the rightful collection of Antonio's flesh at the forfeit. Shylock gloats that with Antonio out of the way, business will be better for him in Venice. After all of this hateful, vengeful talk about material goods, Shylock tells Tubal to meet him later at the synagogue.

